“Valued Customer, you won’t want to miss this…”

Guess what the thought pattern of the average person is:

• Check out who sent it
• Do I even know them
• If I do, have I done business with them?
• If not, then how can I be a Customer?
• If so, then how about calling me by my name? If I am so ‘Valued?’
  After all, I did spend some of my money with you.

ACTION: SEND TO TRASH BIN

Total time to reach TRASH IT decision?  About 5 seconds.

So, my suggestion is if you’re planning an e-mail campaign, whatever you do, DO NOT use something as pathetic as VALUED CUSTOMER in your subject line.  It’s the equivalent of the often over-used “Have a Nice Day” or “Your call is very important to us…”  They claim one thing while by their very nature revealing something different.

Here are some tips for creating a “successful” website:

1. TRAFFIC- Just having a website doesn’t mean that people will know it exists. You need to make sure it is “highly visible” to YOUR POTENTIAL CLIENTS. This involves generating traffic to your website.  The most common way of doing this is through Search Engine Optimization or SEO.  This is a key element to long term success. There are a number of methods to generate traffic to your site, such as:  (a) print and online  advertising; (b) using Social Media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Linked In to spread the word;  (c) building an e-mail list;  (d) blogging; (e) podcasting; (f) posting videos; (g) bookmark sharing; (h) article marketing; (i) buzz marketing.

But generating “visits” to your website is meaningless unless those “visits” are from TARGETED visitors who have a potential interest in what you have to sell.

2. CONVERSIONS (CONTENT)- Once at your site, you need to engage the user and have them take an action. Either contact you, remember you or make a purchase. This involves effective, convincing COPY. The words that will be used to sell or motivate your prospect to take action. These words can come in a few forms: a) written words b) words in a video you may have on your site. c) words in an audio on your site d) any combination of a-c.

The critical component of copywriting is something that most site owners forget about or do not budget properly for.  A good copywriter who can create engaging words and stimulate your site’s visitors to take action does not come cheaply. But they are often worth far more than what you pay them in terms of your long term return on investment.

Search Engine spiders love to see a site that has fresh and ever changing content. It shows that the site is alive and has activity.

3. FOLLOW THROUGH – So, you have your customer hooked on the line. They’ve found your site and been convinced to take an action. Just like in fishing, it isn’t over until they’re reeled in and on the boat in the cooler.
Let’s say you’ve come as far as capturing their name, address and phone number. How well do you respond to and treat that lead? This is the same whether you have a website or a brick-and-mortar business.

After the sale has been made, I’ve seen countless businesses lose a critical marketing opportunity by failing to Follow Up with the client and take some basic steps such as asking for referrals or getting a testimonial.  Even more businesses lose the opportunities afforded by developing a long term relationship with their clients. It’s a well known fact in the marketing world that

4. MEASUREMENT - I’ve been in marketing for a number of years and am constantly surprised by the number of business owners who have little clue as to how their customers came to do business with them and what their customers thought of the experience.

You need a system in place to measure your success and failures and analyze them, taking appropriate actions to constantly refine your methods to make them better and increase your rate of success. This will help insure that your website and your business will be there for the long haul.

In Conclusion, let me point out that I offer SOLUTIONS to all the pitfalls pointed out above. I’d love the chance to work with you to help create a long term success for your website and your business.

What?  You DON’T have a website? Well just give me a call and we can correct that oversight. My expert team of Designers, Project Managers, SEO Specialists and Copywriters can create a complete look for your business.

But, after you’ve delivered that first bit of information to your prospect, do you send him any further information?

If you are like most Internet marketers, you don’t.  Probably because of all the effort you think it will take and the subtle doubts floating in your mind that all that work may NOT lead to a sale.

Yet, when you don’t follow that initial message with additional information later on, you let a valuable prospect slip from your grasp! This is a potential customer who may have been very interested in your products, but who lost your contact information, or was too busy to make a purchase when your first message reached him.

Often, a prospect will purposely put off making a purchase, to see if you find him important enough to follow up with later. When he doesn’t receive a follow up message from you, he will take his business elsewhere.

Are you losing profits due to inconsistent and ineffective follow up?

Following up with leads is more than just a process – it’s an art. In order to be effective, you need to design a follow up system, and stick to it, EVERY DAY! If you don’t follow up with your prospects consistently, INDIVIDUALLY, and in a timely fashion, then you might as well forget the whole follow up process.

Consistent follow up gets results!

When I first started marketing and following up with prospects, I used a follow up method that I now call the “List Technique.” I had a large database containing the names and e-mail addresses of people who had specifically requested information about my products and services. These prospects had already received my first letter by the time they requested more information, so I used the company’s latest news as a follow up piece.

I would write follow up newsletters every now and then, and send them, in one mass mailing, to everyone who had previously requested information from me. While this probably did help me win a few additional orders, it wasn’t a very good follow up method. Why isn’t the “List Technique” very effective?

• The List Technique isn’t consistent. Proponents of the List Technique tend to only send out follow up messages when their companies have “big news”.
• List Technique messages don’t give the potential customer any additional information about the product or service in question. He can’t make a more informed buying decision after receiving a newsletter! If someone is wondering whether your company sells the best knick-knacks, what does he care that you’ve just moved your headquarters?
• List Technique messages convey a “big list” mentality to your potential customers. When I used to write follow up messages using the List Technique, I was writing news bulletins to everyone I knew! I should have been sending a personal message to each individual who wanted to know more about my products.

What follow up method really works?

Following up with each lead individually, multiple times, but at set intervals, and with pre-written messages, will dramatically increase sales! Others who use this same technique confirm that they have all at least doubled the sales of various products! In order to set this system up, though, you need to do some planning.

First, you’ll need to develop your follow up messages. If you’ve been marketing on the Internet for any length of time, then you should already have a first informative letter. Your second letter marks the beginning of the follow up process, and should go into more detail than the first letter. Fill this letter with details that you didn’t have the space to add to the first letter. Stress the BENEFITS of your products or services!

Your next 2-3 follow up messages should be rather short. Include lists of the benefits and potential uses of your products and services. Write each letter so that your prospects can skim the contents, and still see the full force of your message.

The next couple of follow up messages should create a sense of urgency in your prospect’s mind. Make a special offer, giving him a reason to order NOW instead of waiting any longer. After reading these follow up messages, your prospect should want to order immediately!

Phrase each of your final 1 or 2 follow up messages in the form of a question. Ask your prospect why he hasn’t yet placed an order? Try to get him to actually respond. Ask if the price is to high, the product isn’t the right color or doesn’t have the right features, or if he is looking for something else entirely. (By this time, it’s unlikely that this person will order from you. However, his feedback can help you modify your follow up letters or products, so that other prospects will order from you.)

The timing of your follow up letters is just as important as their content. You don’t want one prospect to receive a follow up the day after he gets your initial informative letter, while another prospect waits weeks for a follow up!

Always send an initial, informative letter as soon as it is requested, and send the first follow up 24 hours afterwards. You want your hot prospects to have information quickly, so that they can make informed buying decisions!

Send the next 2-3 follow up messages between 1 and 3 days apart. Your prospect is still hot, and is probably still shopping around! Tell him about the benefits of your products and services, as opposed to your competitors’. You will make the sale!

Send the final follow up messages later on. You certainly don’t want to annoy your prospect! Make sure that these last letters are at least 4 days apart.

Following up effectively seems complicated, but it doesn’t have to be! So many potential customers are lost because of poor follow up – don’t you want to be one of the few to get it right?

Our team can create a series of follow up e-mail messages that can be delivered via an Autoresponder. We’ll do the design, copy, graphics – everything you need.  We’ll even help you secure your own automated Genie and system to help you consistently keep track of your prospects;  send out promotional mailings; deliver newsletters to clients; track the effectiveness of your marketing efforts and so much more.  All with minimal initial effort on your part.

Or, if you prefer to get started right away, you can sign up for your own affordable Autoresponder marketing system by clicking here.  Then, give us a call at 877-MAZIARZ and we’ll get started on creating your own personalized “Follow Up Genie.”

It all started when I recently checked my e-mail and saw one of the typical “so and so is now following you on Twitter” e-mails.  Except this one said Maggiano’s.  It was different and it was a name that I thought I recognized. So, I opened the  e-mail to find out more about this new follower… Here is the screen I was greeted with:

I then clicked on the link in the e-mail to find out more about my new follower and was taken to their Twitter Profile:

Here is where I GOT VERY INTERESTED.  Just glancing through the feed, I noticed that they:

• Have an e-mail club where you can get discounts
• Give Club Members a free meal on their birthday
• Have daily contests
• Follow up on how people liked their experience
• Let people know in advance about delivery delays

Each of these examples on it’s own stands out as something that most businesses COULD do if they really wanted to. Doing even one or two of these things would let you stand high and above your competition in the minds of your customers and prospects.  But to see ONE PLACE DOING THEM ALL and making PERFECT USE of a social media like Twitter to do so is COMPLETELY UNHEARD OF AND TRULY OUTSTANDING!!

So, without further delay, I quickly went to their website (proving that using Twitter can drive targeted traffic to your website).  Here is what I saw there:

As impressed as I was when I visited their Twitter Page, I was BLOWN AWAY when I got to their website. I’ve highlighted the reasons why on the image.  But let me summarize:

GREAT DESIGN – I love the tasteful colors and the subtle texture effect of the background.

ONLINE ORDERING – There are services that let restaurants do this efficiently. But how many REAL RESTAURANTS actually take the time to offer it?

ONLINE RESERVATIONS – Think about it – this can be accomplished for any business. Whether it is a restaurant, tanning salon, garage, carpet cleaner, hair salon, barber shop, manicurist, etc.  Plus, you could even print out a coupon when your client makes a successful appointment.  Or a receipt – so when they walk in, they hand the receipt to a receptionist and immediately go ahead of any “walk-ins” because they have an appointment.  Then, using some other twists, how about offering them a reminder text message to their cell phone? It is certainly do-able and I can help make it happen for YOUR BUSINESS if you want.

E-MAIL CLUB – Capturing your client’s and prospect’s e-mail addresses is something you should be doing. Give them some kind of reward for joining and something on their birthday and other unadvertised bargains throughout the year. You can use any of the popular foundation services to help you manage your e-mail list. I can help you get started with that if you’d like.

SOCIAL MEDIA CONNECTIONS – On Maggiano’s website you will also find the Social Media connect buttons for Facebook and Twitter making it easy for people to connect to them and get advance notice on deals, etc.

IN CLOSING…

The clincher for me was that Maggiano’s took the time to find me – someone located near one of their locations. Exactly how they did find me on Twitter could be as simple as a search for folks living in a city near one of their locations. But they made a proactive use of Social Media to get themselves a client and CERTAINLY got their name in a prominent place in my mind.  Your business can do this too! I can help make it happen! Start this year off right – just give me a call or an e-mail and we’ll get you ‘hooked up’ and on the road to success!

877-MAZIARZ