Tag Archive for Budgeting

Introducing Our New Referral Rewards Program

2013/03/07 eMarketing, eNewsletters, Entrepreneurship, Financial, Growing Your Business, Marketing, Marketing Budgets, Online Marketing, Running Your Business, Sales, Social Media One comment
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Budget-CuttingAs part of my 2013 marketing plan, I decided to devise a plan to reward those who help us grow our business by making it easier for them to grow theirs. So, I analyzed others’ programs, tossed around a few different ideas, and finally …

I’m pleased to announce our brand new Referral Rewards program!

Now, this program is not exclusively for new clients, as I found many such programs to be. Why would I choose to reward new clients and not those who are already contributing to my business success? That made no sense to me. So, instead, I designed it so that Referral Rewards can be included in our initial contract with new clients or as a contract addendum with our existing clients.

I also didn’t want to make the program overly complicated, and I didn’t necessarily see any point in putting an expiration date on it, since there is no limit to my gratitude for those who refer business to me :)

As a result, Referral Rewards is literally as simple as 1-2-3! Here’s how it works:

  1. Sign on with us for any of our email marketing services: Email Newsletters, Online Event Promotion, Online Surveys, Social Campaigns (these are customized “landing pages” for new visitors to your Facebook Page – like the one on my own Facebook Page right now), or SaveLocal deals (a unique – and uniquely affordable! – program for brick-and-mortar businesses like retail, restaurants, etc)
  2. Refer any of our email marketing services to your clients, colleagues – even businesses you patronize (such as restaurants, dry cleaners, home improvement contractors – you name it!)
  3. Earn 10% off your monthly invoice with us for every referral who signs on with us for any of those services – up to a maximum of 50% savings off your monthly invoice!

Referral Rewards will be credited to the referrer’s monthly invoice for every month during which both referrer and referred remain our client. Referral Rewards are based on email marketing-related services only (i.e., Email Newsletters, Online Surveys, Online Event Promotion, Social Campaigns, and SaveLocal deal program).

ONCE YOU’RE IN THE PROGRAM, THERE’S NO EXPIRATION DATE ON YOUR SAVINGS, as long as both you and the referred party/parties remain our client.

The sooner you sign up to participate, the sooner you’ll be earning Referral Rewards that will help grow your business while saving money on your marketing!

Call me today at (609) 631-5997 or (207) 659-1211 and let’s get started!

Branding is Dead; Long Live Branding.

2012/06/21 Growing Your Business, Marketing, Marketing Budgets, Running Your Business No comments
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Branding is Dead; Long Live BrandingI recently came across a couple of online articles touting the demise of branding, which prompted this post. The title, of course, is a play on the traditional proclamation made upon the death of a monarch to announce the ascension of the heir to the throne. So … is branding dead??

A recent LinkedIn survey revealed that 37% of small to medium sized businesses still view the company logo as the main focus of the company brand. And 32% see branding as relevant only to large businesses. Wow.

With such a narrow view of branding, it’s understandable that roughly one-third of small and medium sized businesses might think branding is dead. Read more

It Ain’t Over ‘Til …

2011/11/08 eMarketing, eNewsletters, Goals, Marketing, Marketing Budgets, Online Marketing, Sales No comments
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It’s not that I mind being thought of as a magician.

I love the fact that my clients are thrilled to pieces with the email marketing programs I put together for them.

It’s just that I know it’s never going to end well when a client praises the initial effort but then just sits back and waits for “the magic” to happen.

What do I mean? Here’s an example …

For over a year, the client kept telling me how very happy they were with the monthly email newsletter we’d been sending out on their behalf. They were consistently receiving positive feedback from their existing customers, and the reports we’d been providing proved that prospective customers were also being engaged, including specifically what they were most interested in. Website and Facebook Page traffic was likewise increasing, directly traceable to the eNewsletter through embedded links.

So what’s the problem, you ask? Because their salesperson had failed to convert these engaged and interested leads into sales, the client’s revenues suffered and they ended up cutting this very effective initiative from their marketing budget.

Really?

There were absolutely no other marketing efforts that provided (as the eNewsletter did) detailed, verifiable reports about who was reading, responding to, or taking action based upon those other marketing efforts. And despite the detailed reports we had consistently provided indicating all this and more with regard to the eNewsletter, they just didn’t want to recognize the red flag that was waving – the one that said, “Hey – let’s have a look at that salesperson’s process!”

Of course, if a salesperson is diligently following up and finding that the marketing is not producing qualified prospects, the marketing can (and should) be tweaked. But when the follow-up is not being done (or not being done properly), why would you cut the marketing rather than undertake some targeted training and ongoing coaching of the under-performing salesperson?

The result, unfortunately, will be that the under-performing salesperson will now have even fewer qualified prospects to work with – not the best way for either her or her employer to meet their sales objectives.

Just as “No job is complete until the paperwork is done,” no marketing is complete until the follow-up is done!

So … How are you following up your own marketing efforts? Which metrics or analytics do you find most useful, and what do you do with that information to either achieve your sales goals or tweak your marketing efforts?

Please comment here – I’d love to hear about your successes or help you with your challenges!

Will Your Marketing Budget Last the Year?

2011/09/19 Attitude, eMarketing, eNewsletters, Financial, Marketing, Online Marketing, Social Media No comments
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September always feels like a fresh start for me.

I suppose it’s related to memories of “Back to School,” with its pristine notebooks and newly sharpened pencils. It’s a “clean slate” sort of feeling, and it’s exciting to contemplate what can be written in the pages of that notebook in the upcoming months.

Speaking of sharpening our pencils, how’s your 2011 marketing budget holding up?

By this time in the year, it’s not unusual for businesses to be adjusting marketing budgets for the 4th quarter, in order to weed out what’s not working and make the most of what’s available to close out the year.

I know …. I used to find myself in the same position every year.

But since I’ve been utilizing social media, online, and email marketing to reach my past, present, and future clients, you know what I’ve found? That I don’t have to adjust much – if at all! It’s a relief to know that the budgets I set in December last me through the following year!

The reason for that is simple: I’m no longer spending as much on offline marketing that just wasn’t producing the ROI I needed. Offline marketing is now an adjunct to my online efforts, not the other way around.

Now, not every business can utilize the exact same online-to-offline ratios I use – and I don’t recommend anyone completely forego their offline efforts. The key is to balance those two sides of the marketing coin in a way that makes sense for your business.

What I do know, however, is that I’ve yet to find a specific type of business that can’t benefit from the cost effectiveness of online marketing, whether combined with more traditional marketing and advertising efforts or not.

So, if you’re looking at your fourth quarter marketing budget and wondering how you’re going to make it last through December, there are a few things you can do right now:

Shift a portion of your 4Q2011 marketing budget to online efforts

… especially those that are targeted to reach your past and present customers as well as those currently in your pipeline. It is less expensive to convince someone who knows you to purchase your goods or services than it is to find new interested, qualified prospects. (Yes, you still need to attract new people to your pipeline, but think about how many are already there, just waiting for a reason to buy from you! Save some cash in the 4th quarter by concentrating your efforts on the low-hanging fruit.)

Work with a social media, online, and email marketing specialist

… to, first, determine your online marketing strategy and then, second, put together a 4Q eMarketing plan to be integrated into and complement your existing marketing plan.

Put some analytics in place

… and resolve to review and analyze them on a monthly and quarterly basis. Don’t assume something is or is not working because your sales team says so. Objective analytics are the most valuable aspect of your marketing program.

Finally, take a moment now to block out time in your late November/early December calendar to …

Start working on a 2012 budget

… that will allow for a predictable and sustainable monthly investment in the marketing initiatives that work, based on your analytics.

You will be glad every day next year that you took the time now to position yourself for success in 2012!

 
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