Stop worrying about over-communicating. You’re almost certainly not doing it. Newsflash: It’s not your customers’ job to remember to do business with you. It’s your job to remind them. You’re not the only business they can buy from and I would suggest it’s your responsibility to regularly remind them of why they should buy from you as opposed to any other options or choices they may have.
Whether it’s emails, direct mail, phone calls or contacts through social media, you need to be keeping in regular contact with your customers. A question I get asked frequently is “how often?”
The short, simple answer to this is “at least once a week”.
Here’s another way to look at it: if you haven’t sent 50 emails to your customers over the past year then you’ve almost certainly missed out on thousands, or possibly tens of thousands of pounds of revenue.
The next question I’m often asked at this point is something along the lines of “don’t you worry about people unsubscribing from your list?”
No. I encourage it. Every email I send has an unsubscribe link at the bottom. The truth is, if you’re not getting some complaints or unsubscribes then you’re definitely not communicating enough.
It’s not one of my goals or purposes in business to never upset or offend anyone. I don’t set out to do that deliberately, but my responsibility to my family, my staff and my customers is to make sure they remember to do business with me. And so it is for you too.
Look at it like this: if someone is not interested in what you are offering, then they’re not going to buy. They’ll opt out anyway. So don’t get yourself worked up about it. Get over the fear of inconveniencing the recipient and regularly deliver communications of value.
The keyword here is “value”. It’s my job to make sure all my communications to my customers are perceived, by them, as interesting, useful and relevant. If I can’t manage all three with every single piece of communication, then in the immortal words of Meat Loaf, “two out of three ain’t bad”.
Look, if you’re frightened to death at the notion of sending out 50 pieces of communication a year then halve it. Aim for 25. That’s one every fortnight. Now, that isn’t anywhere near enough, and you will be leaving money on the table with that type of frequency, BUT you and I both know that 25 times a year is at least five times more than your most “aggressive” competitor is communicating with them, which is why your sales will be a ton more than his… IF you do it properly.
Here are five pointers to keep you on track:
Communication Pointer No. 1
Avoid sales schlock
Don’t abuse your customers with marketing fluff. Avoid vanity announcements that only interest you, and for goodness sake, avoid “read all about our great product/latest promotion” rubbish.
People aren’t interested – sorry to burst your bubble. I keep getting an email from God-knows-what business imploring me to download their free brochure or like them on Facebook. Really, that’s the pull? A free brochure? A like on Facebook? Get real.
What’s in it for me?
Communication Pointer No. 2
Make it matter
One of my favourite direct marketing tactics going back over 10 years now was for an IT services company. They sent out email alerts with very timely news about viruses and breaking IT issues. It was really smart. This branded the company and kept them top of mind. They weren’t always selling. They gave value. You need to do the same.
Give your readers useful information. Do a series. Have a pull. Make it count or you’ll be wasting your time and money.
You have to be seen as interesting, useful and relevant. That’s a tough hurdle to get over. Offers and discounts can definitely be helpful here as well.
Communication Pointer No. 3
Mix up the media
Your marketing strategy can’t consist only of email blasts. Not even email marketing companies do that (have you noticed how Google is advertising more and more in print media at the moment?).
You need to integrate your tactics. Increase the frequency and relevance by using direct mail, SMS text, PR, and advertising.
When you use multiple media, you increase your response rate.
Communication Pointer No. 4
Tell stories
We model this pretty well for you in the very publication that you’re reading right now. Most of our messages are wrapped around a story. You see the same thing every single week with NBTV. Is this easy? No, but neither is it rocket science. It just requires a modicum of thought over and above that indulged in by normal people. But building a super-successful business is not the norm – and normal people don’t do it.
Communication Pointer No. 5
Who’s talking to your customers?
If you think sending your customers something once every six months is enough then ask yourself this: how many times are my many, many competitors communicating with my customers?
Your competitors are reaching out to your customers. Trust me. To flourish and thrive you want to control a conversation. You want to deliver content that’s interesting and relevant and ideally has an incentive to take action. That way you’ll be on the right track.
You don’t have to sell with every communication – indeed I would urge you not to. You’re doing this to build a relationship and to pull them closer to you.
I learned a long time ago that, every time I send an email, I make a sale, and that every time I make a sale, I make money. That’s why a big chunk of my Monday morning 90-minute session is spent writing my emails for the week. It’s why I give them great thought, it’s why I segment my list and my database to determine who gets what and it’s been a core part of my strategy for many years now as we have built multiple £million-plus businesses.
You need to increase your frequency of communication, don’t you…
