Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Your Customers Provide Your Best Source for Additional Revenue

Remember, nothing will give you a bigger return on your advertising investment than the time you invest or the dollars you spend on promoting to your customers. You can increase the return on your marketing by becoming more involved with your customers. You must be nice to them, express an interest in their needs as customers and friends, know their names, and customize offerings to their needs. Customers remember personal attention. Nothing will be more effective at building loyalty and repeat business than letting customers know they are important and that you truly care about fulfilling their needs.

Consider statement stuffers, postcards, and courtesy telephone calls to stay in touch with your customers, introduce them to special offers and up-sell additional services. Newsletters are also a good way to stay in touch and add customer value with educational information as well as new product announcements. Websites, blogs, and other social media formats such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are also excellent avenues to exchange educational ideas and build customer loyalty.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

What Is Marketing?

Many businesses operate under the false impression that marketing is simply advertising to sell products or services. In reality, a successful marketing plan entails much more. Everything a company does is marketing. A comprehensive, strategic marketing plan is an investment in the company's future.

A good marketing plan comprises a host of fresh ideas and strategies that drive prospects to you, while delivering the right message to those prospects at every customer interaction with your company. It will also satisfy both the customer's stated and unstated wants and needs. A truly effective marketing plan builds such a high level of value, trust, and loyalty with customers that it creates a shield to protect their customers from competitors. It differentiates the company to such a degree that it reduces competition as the company pursues untapped market space.

In the following months, RND will be posting ideas to help you build an effective marketing program. We welcome your feedback and ideas. Visit our website to see what we can offer you.