You might have noticed Sky News getting their knickers in a twist around the turn of the year as to the volume of sales that are now conducted online.
Depending on whether you look at the government’s own figures or places like the website internetretailing.net, everyone seems agreed that e-commerce (i.e. online sales) accounted for between 11% and 12% of all retail sales in 2014. Now, don’t get me wrong, the numbers involved here are very, very big BUT… everyone seems to be missing the blindingly obvious, which is that if 12% of sales are made online then that means that at least 88% of retail sales are NOT made online.
D’oh!
In our own business, direct mail, once again, was our best performing marketing pillar last year when sent to existing customers (sending direct mail to cold lists can be a sure fire way to lose money – so be careful there).
In Mastermind, some of our most successful members have turned regular leafleting (i.e. leaflets delivered door-to-door) into their own method for the rhythmic acquisition of customers. Same level of response, month after month – so they keep on doing it.
Tracey McInnes’ telemarketing business, Pro Com almost doubled in size in 2014 as more and more bigger businesses wise up to the power of actually speaking to people. Shock horror.
We bring new members into EC every week because we have a chat on the phone with them. This needs allocation of resource to staffing and training people to have the right sorts of conversations, but it works really well.
Trade shows, exhibitions and tombola driven referral programmes are other examples of “old” traditional media that’s kicking ass in 2015.
And here’s the thing, 88% of business is being transacted this way.
Now, I’m not suggesting that you turn away from, or ignore, the massive opportunities that are presented online.
We still do a lot of AdWords, a ton of emailing and pay great attention to our websites.
Remarketing, especially, and Facebook ads are pillars that continue to increase their ROI month-on-month.
But it’s not all there is and pausing for a few minutes this month and making sure that your marketing activity is appropriately balanced between the old traditional stuff that continues to perform well and the bright, shiny new kids on the block would be a smart thing to do.
Be particularly wary of so-called ‘gurus’. There was one numpty on the radio at the start of January urging businesses to “divert all their marketing spend to social media and online”. Bonkers isn’t strong enough. It’s utter bollocks, but of course, when you know your numbers, you already know that.
It’s why Call Tracking Numbers (the guys at Invoco do a great job) are so important, as is a tightly defined offer that really is compelling and that runs with an appropriate, but tight, deadline.
Cos then you can definitely track response from take-up of the offer.
Bottom line, all this bright shiny new stuff does matter. And there are opportunities there for many businesses. But there are even bigger opportunities with the marketing pillars that ain’t so sexy or new…but deliver great returns.
Be smart this month,
