Compelling Communications

Your TO DO list (You do have one, don’t you?) most likely contains tasks that you plan to complete today, this week or this month. A lot of them, when accomplished, may not make a huge difference in your business.

We all become so absorbed in the day-to-day operations that we sometimes fail to see the big picture. Choose one (or all) of the following TO DO items to help focus on your company (or your job) as a whole.

• Learn about trends in your industry, in marketing, in finance, etc. Adjust your service or way of doing business accordingly.
• Evaluate your website, then make improvements.
• Evaluate all your marketing materials.
• Create one new marketing piece that truly reflects your company today.
• Throw away those old company brochures that have been stacked in the closet for 3-5 years. They may be out of date and won’t project the kind of image you want for your company.

Call us today to learn how we can help! 800-779-0067 Visit our website.

Mine are:  Focus. Action. Results

Focus. Keep your eyes on the prize. Do one thing at a time and give it your full attention. Focus on your best, most profitable customers.

Action. Stop procrastinating and take action, even if it means delegating those things you put off.

Results. Avoid activities that don’t bring results. Take a “time inventory” one day keeping track of what you do every minute. Then cross out those that don’t align with your focus and bring results and stop spending time that way.

It’s that time of year again – Valentine’s day. How do you share the love with your customers? Here are some ideas of how to express your love (and appreciation) for your clients all year long!

1) Keep in touch. If you want to communicate that you really care, send friendly notes or emails to your customers.

2) Thank your customers. Simply saying “Thank you for your business.” says a lot.

3) Refer your customers to others who are looking for their services. Most service companies get their customers from referrals – so actively work on referrals for your customers.

4) Surprise your customers. Purchase a promotional item that your customer will view as valuable and send it at non-holiday times of the year. Be sure your logo and contact information are imprinted on it!

5) Get to know your customers well enough that you can forward articles of interest to them.

6) Listen to them. Ask your customers if they are happy with your service. Then listen to them and make appropriate changes if necessary.

Today’s office technology can boost office productivity but the effects on customers may be less than positive. Automated voice mail systems, for example, may send a signal to your customers that your office efficiency is more important than they are.

It is important to continually re-examine how your employees handle the customer and what the customer experiences when trying to contact someone in your organization. Use the following checklist to determine your Customer Awareness Score.

• Are your phones answered by a “real” person?
• If your phones are answered by an automated attendant, does your customer have the option of pressing a number to reach a “real” person?
• Do you promptly return calls from your customers?
• If a recorded message plays when customers are on hold, do you review and change it frequently?
• Is your correspondence personally signed?
• Is the tone of your letters, emails and other written correspondence warm, friendly and inviting to your customers?
• Do you create opportunities for interaction with your customers such as follow-up calls after service?
• Do you genuinely like your customers?
• Is the person(s) who handles complaint calls adequately trained to pleasantly resolve problems?

Give yourself 10 points for each “yes” answer. Your total will indicate your Customer Awareness Score. If you scored 80 or above, you’re doing great!

June Van Klaveren owns Compelling Communications and can be reached at 800-779-0067 or through the web site at www.compelcom.com.

This article may be freely published in any e-zine, newsletter, newspaper, magazine, website, etc. as long as my name and bio remain in tact. Please send me a link when you run my work. Just be sure to NOT edit them in any way and to always INCLUDE the credit line at the bottom. Copyright laws apply!

Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook can quickly decrease your productivity but it doesn’t have to. Here are a couple of ways to maximize time management on social media sites.

If you use social media for research, find blogs, and sites that provide the type of information you seek. Subscribe to their RSS feeds or bookmark these sites.

If you use social media for networking, build a community. Both Facebook and LinkedIn allow you to form “groups” that you can then target.

If you use social media for sales & marketing, focus on publicizing your brand and products.

Once you have the purpose for using social media for business clearly stated, create your  strategy to support it.

Consider this.

• Enter an allotted time for your social media activities on your calendar.
• Visit sites where you find your customers and participate in online discussions.
• Keep your focus. It’s easy to get caught up in the latest video posted by a friend or read about a friend’s vacation – but keep your focus on your prime business objects. Save the fun stuff for later in the evening on the laptop!

After you know your desired results from social media, decide the amount of time each day or week you want to spend – and don’t spend more than that! It can be a time sucker if you let it. It’s all up to you.

June Van Klaveren, Compelling Communications, helps companies tame the social media monster. Contact her at 800-779-0067!

1. Never let a day pass without doing at least one marketing activity.
2. Create a personal nametag or pin with your company name and logo on it and wear it to all networking activities.
3. Read market research studies about your profession, niche market and the products and services of your customers.
4. Send customer service surveys to clients after providing them service. Use the comments to improve your business.
5. Identify a new market in which you would like to work.
6. Create a new service or product.
7. Offer various levels of service so your clients will have a choice.
8. Attend a marketing seminar and make notes of the best three things you learned. Then incorporate them!
9. Read a new marketing book (with highlighter in hand). Mark three activities you want to do – then do them.
10. Join LinkedIn; then join groups in your industry.
11. Create a company page in FaceBook.
12. Brainstorm with trusted advisors or friends.
13. Publish an e-letter for clients and prospects.
14. Review your brochure; then update it or have a new one created.
15. Carry your business cards wherever you go.
16. Print a slogan or your elevator speech on letterhead, fax cover sheets, invoices and email signature.
17. Include testimonials from customers in your literature.
18. Publish an article at www.ezinearticles.com.
19. Join an organization designed to generate leads (BNI).
20. Distribute promotional products such as pens, mouse pads or other items related to your industry. (Visit www.dogwoodpromotions.com.)

Check your marketing compass regularly to be sure you're on track!

It’s easy to get so involved in the day-to-day activities that we forget about marketing. By using something like our Marketing Compass, it’s easy to to keep track of your marketing activities each week, month and quarter. This is a work in progress that we’ll continue to develop.

I hope you find it useful. Marketing Compass.

Outsourcing your marketing may be one of the best moves you make this year.

I’ve been asked recently about outsourcing marketing functions versus hiring a staff person to be in charge of marketing in a company. Being a company to which a lot of marketing activities are outsourced, here’s the way I see it.

With the downsizing that’s occurred over the past couple of years, there are countless companies like mine – mini agencies, freelancers and contractors – who bring a fresh perspective to their clients’ marketing challenges. It’s not unusual to find yourself in the position of trying to market your own services and hitting a wall. You may know your business top to bottom, which is good. But it’s sometimes bad when you start trying to verbalize what your company brings to its customers – from the customer’s perspective, instead of your own. Plus, by outsourcing your marketing, you receive the benefits of experience in other industries the company may have worked with.

Outsourcing helps you keep on schedule. By outsourcing your marketing, you can be assured that your marketing will get done on time!

Bottom line – you’ll save both time and money by outsourcing rather than hiring – if, and only if, you find the right person with whom you feel most comfortable.

How to choose an outsourcing partner.

Find out the following information:

• Length of time in business
• Clients currently working with
• Number of clients currently working with
• Client references/testimonials
• Case studies of marketing successes
• How your company is unique
• What services offered – and – what services are outsourced to service partners
• Pricing structure – project based or monthly retainer

Promoting your site must be top of mind now that you have that new or redesigned site. After all, just having a site out there won’t help unless you let people know about it!

Though there are hundreds of tips for promoting your site, here is a practical list of 10 ideas for promoting your site.

1. Put your web address with starburst that says “NEW” on everything you print. Print the URL on all letterhead, invoices, service tickets, ads, business cards, newsletters, brochures, postcards, signs.
2. Mention your new site in bulletins or newsletters.
   
3. Let users know the site has been redesigned. A small note on the home page should indicate the new features of your site.
   
4. Add your URL to your email signature and that of any employees who use email.
   
5. Announce your site to those on your email lists. Write a draft to send out to your lists. Then send a second message within a few days of launching your new site. Include a link to your site in the announcement.
6. Send a press release to your local media and industry trade publications about your new web site and include a link.
7. Take advantage of postcards.
   Mail (or leave behind a postcard) showing your new site and highlighting the special features you want the reader to explore.
8. Purchase items (specialty advertising items) bearing your web site address.
9. Mention your new site in your on-hold phone message.
10. Be sure you’ve registered your site with Google and Yahoo!
11. Mention your new site (and include a link)  on Twitter or FaceBook or other social media sites.
    

Want to use this article in your newsletter, magazine or web site? Just include this complete blurb with it: “June Van Klaveren creates The Edge Up, an ezine for small business owners who want to gain the competitive edge with strategic marketing that really work. Visit www.compelcom.com. Or call 800-779-0067!”