About three weeks ago my next-door neighbor’s water line exploded and flooded the parking area of our neighborhood. Within hours a crew was on site digging up the concrete to repair the pipe beneath the ground.
Fortunately for our community, water services haven’t been interrupted that often during the repair period. Though when it was interrupted, the contractor decided to alert us by taping a half sheet of paper on our doors the day prior which provided the date and hours that the water would be turned off.
I felt the communication was very fitting and got the word out quite appropriately. The only recommendation I would have made is providing the message in both English and Spanish to accommodate my Spanish-speaking neighbors.
With his simple half sheet note, that contractor did something that many businesses don’t do very well: communicate with customers, employees and potential clients using the most effective means available.
These days, everyone is talking about social media and the role it plays in communicating with the public. Facebook is by far the most popular social media site out there. In fact, if you’re not on Facebook, MySpace or Twitter, others can make you feel like you just crawled from beneath a rock! But what is important to remember is that though there are more choices than ever to draw customers and reach potential clients, you have to make sure that you’re choosing the right marketing platform to fit your needs.
• Think about your audience. Social media tends to be more popular with audiences that regularly use the internet. If someone doesn’t use the internet on a regular basis, you can’t think that they’re going to log on just because your want them to.
The Yellow Pages is still the best place for people to find services-related companies like plumbers, carpet cleaners and even pizza delivery shops. Though I am seeing more plumbers, electricians and gardeners with their own web sites. In fact, real estate companies often partner with service-related vendors because more and more people use the internet when looking for their next house.
• Put yourself in your customers’ shoes. As a marketer or business person, your main objective is to sell your product or service. But there are times when your goal can overshadow your strategy. Think like your customer! How can you make their lives easier? How will your product change their lives for the better?
• If you have a lot of materials to share, social media probably isn’t the best place for you to reach out to your customers. I still find that printing information out and reviewing it later is how I’m able to digest complicated materials.
Though you can probably view your insurance policy online, most companies will still mail out your entire policy and declarations page. In addition to being able to print out this document and put it in a safe place, it gives the policyholder the opportunity to read and review the document at their leisure if they have questions or concerns.
• Don’t be afraid to diversity your marketing plan. For years, companies were limited by how they could reach their customers. But nowadays with so many tools available, don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.
Marketing is not a one shot deal. You don’t just spend a lot of money on one television ad or one online advertising campaign and think that will be enough to attract thousands of new customers.
Think about how many messages the average person gets in one day through their TV set, car radio during their commute, in e-mails, on billboards, mobile texts – it’s overwhelming to say the least. So, when you have that opportunity to break through all of that clutter and noise to capture your customer’s attention, you’d better make it good. Choose your marketing tools wisely.
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