You Can Learn A Lot From Your Customers

Everyone knows that you can learn a lot from customers.  But how many people actually reach out to them and ask for their opinion?  A company that I recently consulted for reaches out to hundreds of customers daily but never asks them what they think of their products, services customer service agents, or service. Getting feedback from your customers is easy to do and takes very little time - it's an essential part of marketing.

Using surveys to ask about customer satisfaction or to generate ideas for your business is essential. What most companies don't realize is that collecting customer feedback is easy to do with the right tools and well defined goals. Collecting information should be part of every business.Each touch you have with a customer is an opportunity to collect information.

Whether you are a retail business or run your business online, collecting information can be as simple as asking.  I've seen a variety of techniques that are effective for surveying customers and gathering information.  Here are just a few:

1.  Use SurveyMonkey or another online survey solution.  These are inexpensive and esy to design.  Use posting options to send links via email or post online.

2.  Print survey cards that can be included with an order.  If you are selling physical products, whether shipping or checking out at the counter, be sure to include a paper survey card.

3.  Print information about your survey on a customer receipt.  When you hand over a receipt or send via email, let your customers know about your survey and how they can provide feedback.

4.  Offer an incentive.  If you can offer a free product or discount for those who complete your survey, you can dramatically improve response rates.  Find low cost options that provide value to your customers.

5.  Create a contest.  Establishing a contest around that encourages customers to send you there feedback can be an exciting way to gather information.  Video contests, testimonial submissions, and user videos can give you new ideas and information that enhance your business.

These methods are great for collecting information.  The key is to consider what information is vital to your business?  What type of information for customers can improve your service, sales, and marketing?  Take time to ask the right questions and the results can be of tremendous value.

I find that surveys that take less than 5 minutes to do are completed more often than longer surveys - unless their is an incentive. Depending on the size of the incentive, individuals are usually willing to complete surveys of different length.  Experiment with survey format and length to improve response rates.

Make surveys an essential part of your overall marketing program.  Use surveys to evaluate your business and collect vital information.  Also use the touch to collect customer testimonials that you can publish online and off.  Customers are always your greatest asset!

Today's Marketing Topic: Word of Mouth Marketing (WOM)

Your products and services will always be subject to those who like to gossip and share information on their blogs, Facebook accounts, and tweets.  Knowing this simple fact is the key to using Word of Mouth (WOM) marketing. WOM is the best way to make your business famous.

WOM strengthens the consumer-marketer bond, makes people talk about your company and gives customers the opportunity to comment on your products by ‘spreading the word.’

Basic Elements - Word of Mouth Marketing

• Products and services information

• Gifts and rewards for customers

• Sending messages among friends and family

• Gathering people by similar hobbies and features, for instance, the wish to be famous

WOM should not be used to mislead potential customers, but rather to leverage your audience in a positive way. Your customers are meant to be respected and valued. Show them with integrity and intelligence that you appreciate them being your customers and encourage them to speak to others about your products or services

Using resources like online newsletters, emails, and blogs are a great way to provide value and get others to share knowledge of your brand or products with others.  When valuable content is distributed, provide tools people need to share it with like minded people.  This could include: social bookmarks, email a friend, etc.  Making it easy for others to share your information goes a very long way.

Viral marketing is like the ripple effect on water when throwing a pebble into it. One valuable step to get big results!  If you've been reading my blog, you know how much I love blogging.  If you have your own blog or are thinking of starting one, consider the following benefits of blogging from the perspective of WOM marketing.

•No costs for promotion –uses others to help distribute your content.

•Increases reputation and credibility by people spreading the word about your blog and company.

WordPress’s Tell a Friend Plugin – Spread the Word Quickly!

Some blog sites have added great tools to help distribute valuable content that you may offer.  The ‘Tell a friend’ plugin of WordPress is the most famous tool used for viral marketing. It is a free plugin added in blogs that lets people pass along sites to others.

• Visitors will click on the ‘Tell a Friend’ button, if you place it in your blog. In this way visitors will spread the word easily from the pop-up.

• Telling others about your blog has never been so easy. Just fill out the e-mail form and send them to your friends!

This tool supports major free e-mail providers such as Hotmail, Google, etc. Once you are in your account, it pulls your address book! It sends hundreds of e-mails at a time choosing the addresses from your contacts. It will give your blog a larger exposure.

When ever you initiate an online marketing campaign, consider the value of Word of Mouth marketing.  By leveraging your customers and other who are interested in what you have to offer, you can take your marketing to new heights!

Thanks to Mark Doyle from Internet Marketing Agency for his guest post today.  Mark can be reached at mark@theoutsourcingcompany.com

P.S. If you liked today's post, reach out to Mark Doyle, leave a comment, or retweet it!

Give Me Specifics!

One of the most powerful techniques in marketing is giving specifics… or NOT! When selling or marketing products, you need to know when to give specific examples, testimonials, or evidence, and when to hold back. For example let’s explore the commercials that offer a faster Internet connection.

Cable companies like Comcast and others highlight the fact that their Internet connection speeds are “Up to 2 times faster” than some other brand. By being specific, customers and potential customers can see the benefit of what is being offered. This helps to justify price and remove obstacles to purchase.

At the same time that Comcast is giving you specifics, they are also being smart about what they are not telling you. For example, Comcast might be more expensive than other competitors with a similar offering. Or, they may require the purchase of an upgraded package in order to get the faster service too. In this example, Comcast is being as selective about what they are telling you as well as what they aren’t telling you.

Are you being specific in your marketing?

Being a strong marketer means being able to tell the difference between situations that require specifics and those that do not. One of the main points I wish to get across is that using specifics in your marketing messages are ideal when your product or service meet an obvious or latent need. “Do you laundry in half the time”, “Save gas with our new fuel efficient model”, etc. are good starting points to address obvious needs but don’t quite do enough to generate a desired action.

“Our New Washer Allows You to Do 30% More Laundry in Half the Time,” “Save 40% More Gasoline Then Other Similarly Priced Vehicles,” “Save $32/month With Our Automated Payment Plan”. Whatever you are selling or promoting, be specific when meeting a customer need.

If you are not sure if there is a need, then you must focus on your market segment and work directly with customers/prospects to determine what need or problem your product solves. When you’ve identified the needs, work on messaging that can address needs in both a direct and indirect manner. Test your messages but do so intelligently. Pair up specific and less specific messages to see which has a positive effect.

Fight marketing fire with marketing fire

One way to determine possible messaging is to look at what your competitors are doing. How are your competitors marketing similar products or services? If you’re a retailer and are running a sale on a particular item, announcing the sale itself may not enough. If your competitors are offering lots of details, you may have to fight fire with fire. What’s the price they are offering on the item? What do you get with your purchase? How does your offer compare to your competitors’? Be specific. If you offer isn’t as good, choose to be less specific or direct to draw attention and interest.

Sometimes being vague is a good strategy. If your goal is to pique interest, then test both general and specific messages. “Whiten Teeth” is a good message if you have uncovered a need. “Make Teeth 27% Whiter With [product name]” may be even better. Specifics help people make comparisons and can also add a dimension of reality that can’t be acquired anywhere else.

The Best Marketing Messages Come From Testing

The reality is that you can plan your messaging based on solid market research, past messages and behaviors, but nothing replaces real live testing. Find inexpensive ways to test your messaging like pay-per-click advertising or email. Take the winners and build marketing messages that enhance them over time.

By testing on a regular basis you can continue to refine your marketing and improve your results. Even the top marketers rely on testing to keep their ads, emails, and other direct marketing from becoming stale or ineffective. Before delivering your next campaign, consider how to position the specifics of your message and how you are going to test it. If you do, you’re sure to win!

How To Use Blogging From a Marketing Perspective

Thanks for all the great feedback on my interview with ABC World News last week on the 25th anniversary of New Coke.  It looks like the best way to get everyone to retweet my posts is to appear on a national news program!  Again, thanks for commemorating the important day in marketing history and allowing me to think back to what it was like during the "cola wars."

This week I wanted to change gears a little bit and respond to a number of you who have been asking me about blogging in general.. how do I start a blog?  How can I use blogging from an Internet marketing and search engine optimization perspective (watch the video).

Sometimes the best way to teach is to actually show someone how to do something. The same is true with link building. I have a lot of experience in building links and I can tell you that I'm amazed at how many people are abusing blogs... submitting lame comments and putting their URL in the comment field. This is not only ineffective, it's a waste of time.

The next time you're using a blog to build links to your web site or publish original content, keep the above method in mind. Best of luck!

Marketing Opportunity or Disaster?

Last week I had a great opportunity to talk to ABC World News about the 25th anniversary of New Coke.  During the marketing interview I couldn't help but think about what it must have been like for the marketing team immediately after New Coke was launched.

For those of you who weren't old enough to remember one the of the most significant marketing events of all time, let me explain what was happening twenty five years ago.  There were two major brands, Coca-cola and Pepsi.  Pepsi was the new kid on the block and they were eating Coca-cola's lunch.  They still had a long way to go but were making significant headway.  The Coca-cola guys (and ladies) said, "We need to do something significant if we are going to maintain our market share."

Well, something significant they did indeed.  Coca-cola reformulated their beverage.  This would soon become one of the most significant marketing case studies of all time.  The reason being that much of the market research said that consumers would prefer the new formulation and would therefore consume more Coca-cola.  However, it appears as though Coca-cola didn't take notice of some of the opinions of die-hard Coca-cola drinkers who were resisting a change. The result - disaster (or in reality opportunity).

By ignoring the voice of their best customers, New Coke was destined for failure.  As marketing professionals, we love data - especially when it serves us.  And although the majority of research showed users preferring the New Coke formula, loyal customers weren't supportive.  When the new formula was introduced there was a backlash and the biggest marketing launch of all time was over before it even started.

It wasn't long until Coca-cola started planning for a relaunch in the form of Coca-cola Classic.  They didn't want to give up on New Coke all together, but clearly they had to do something.  There are stories of Pepsi closing their offices the day that New Coke launched professing - "We Won!"  They knew they had Coca-cola on the run, but they underestimated the power of marketing.

The marketing team and executive teams at Coca-cola responded quickly and in just 3 months, relaunched the original formula saying, "We heard you and have brought back the original."  People flocked to stores and bought Coca-cola in droves.  Even Pepsi fans were getting in on the action to taste the formula that everyone wanted back so much.  

I'd like to give the marketing guys at Coca-cola all the credit.  Did they know that the New Coke would be a failure?  Were they planning a relaunch of the original formula since day one?  Was this a PR stunt?  We'll probably never know!  Regardless of whether or not this was planned, the response by Coca-cola was an opportunity created from near disaster.

The next time you launch a product that doesn't do well, remember Coca-cola and how they managed to turn a negative into a positive.  Today Coca-cola is on top of the Cola Wars and continues to be the beverage of choice for many throughout the world.  Your marketing can be effective when you do your research, look at it objectively, and utilize your best customers for product improvement ideas.  Doing so is nothing short of refreshing!