Carm Capriotto for JASPER (Blog 2 of 6)

Marketing for customer retention and recruitment can be a daunting task. I’ve had the privilege to interview a few smart people when it comes to understanding the value of newsletters, direct mail and social media. In the end, along with your own experience and equipped with expert advice, you ultimately make your decision based on your budget, acceptable ROI, and which medium you feel will have the most impact on your customer and market.

I’ve found shop owners lean heavily on social media and some use a blended approach. Many business coaches recommend your marketing spend is a percent of your sales. You can budget for that and create a calendar of your marketing initiatives of all types. Your goal is to build customer retention and a recruitment campaign.

Below I’ve listed a few bullet points that provide insight from my interviews with shop owners and marketing specialists. I’ve come to understand that there is no magic bullet. But what I have uncovered is that you must ‘Always Be Marketing’ to quote shop owner Greg Buckley.

The list contains some very reflective statements. Don’t gloss over them. Look at them carefully and see if they excite you to action or help you improve what you are currently doing.

At the end of the list I’ll give you a few links so you can hear the entire context of these interviews and listen to your industry colleagues share their marketing strategies and insights.

• Today marketing is a blend of social media, direct mail, newsletters, women’s clinics, community events and more.
• We get over 6,000 advertising messages bombarding us each day.
• On social media, you need to be active and have a strategy.
• Be respectful of the Facebook algorithm. Look at Facebook like the King/Queen at Homecoming. The most popular in the school gets crowned. Your posts need to become popular.
• You need original (organic) content for social media and newsletters. No canned content. Someone can create the post but your ideas or pictures rule.
• Inject personality so people can relate to you.
• Run a Facebook “Like: Campaign.” Don’t be afraid to buy a Facebook ‘Like’. Pay a community group X amount of dollars per like in a short amount of time.
• Posting on Facebook is easier than you think. You can post 5 engagements for the week in one hour on a Monday morning.
• You want to be known before a prospect comes in the door. Use your Social Media strategy to accomplish that.
• Newsletters need to be fun and interactive. Surprisingly, millennials like to get mail.
• Social media has clutter. Mail does not have as much clutter as in the past.
• With direct mail, your customer can always review it later. It is easier than finding it again in social media.
• Websites may become obsolete in the future as Google and Facebook ramp up their strategy to keep the user on their site. Facebook is becoming more search friendly. It may give Google a run.

The content library on the Remarkable Results Radio website can easily serve up every episode that contains important marketing and social media talk.

• Find all episodes about marketing here.
• Find all episodes about social media here.
• A great interview on newsletters here.
• Keeping pace with your website here.  (A JASPER Authorized Vendor)