Motivated To Learn

I know how important regular newsletters are to keep in touch with my customers. But finding time to write is the challenge. Sure, I could hire a ghostwriter, but I prefer to write my own information whenever possible. I’ve tried sending a newsletter out every week and actually kept it up for almost a year. Then I ran out of steam.

Because I use Aweber, I can still keep in touch with my subscribers on a regular basis. I have a schedule for posting to each of my blogs and have Aweber set to send out an automatic broadcast every time my blog is updated. Not only that, I have Aweber linked to my Twitter account, so a tweet is also sent mentioning my new post.

Although I’m still interacting, I’ve been feeling the need to send a newsletter on a regular basis as well. Monthly will probably fit my schedule best and since the blog updates will be sent too, should be enough. If I’m able to write a few months worth of content at once, I can load it all into my Aweber account and have the newsletters sent on schedule. That way I can write everything once and forget about it for awhile.

Thanks to programs like the Aweber autoresponder, it’s now easier than ever to contact the people that are interested in my products and services. How do you keep in touch with your clients?

Technorati Tags: autoresponder, newsletters, contacting clients

Small businesses are really starting to jump on the social media bandwagon. They are finally realizing how beneficial marketing this way can be. I just listened to a case study from a company called Naked Pizza that reported $200,000 in extra business as a result of using Twitter. People learn to know, like, and trust you. The result is word of mouth advertising that does more to promote your business than all of the paid advertising that you could do.

I took my granddaughter for a walk today and stopped in at a local children’s consignment store. The owner has a website and I was curious as to how she promotes herself online. I found out that the store has a Facebook Fan page. Recently, the store had a special sale which was advertised in a number of places, including Facebook. The result was an extremely successful day. Each of the customers were asked how they found out about the sale. The answer – the Facebook Fan page. If you’re still wondering whether social marketing is effective, talk to business owners that have taken the plunge and see how enthusiastic they are about the results.

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Twitter, business promotion

Although I usually rely on the web stats from my hosting service, I know a lot of people use Google Analytics to keep track of the traffic coming to their site. I found this video showing the various features and how useful the information can be. Hope you find it useful.

[tag]google analytics[/tags]

I’ve been reading a number of reports on the results of social media. According to one of them, as many as 80% of consumers use social media for recommendations before purchasing a product. I know for myself how valuable I find Twitter. Just yesterday, I was having trouble installing a new software application I’d downloaded. One comment on Twitter and the company responded within five minutes asking what the problem was. Try getting that level of service from email or phone calls.

I’m in the process of starting a Facebook Fan Page, so I can’t say a lot about that just yet. My current Facebook account is a personal one and I like to keep it for family and friends. Lisa and Diane, the creators of the Mefest Women’s Show in Waterloo, rely on a Facebook group to keep in touch with their hundreds of followers.They can’t say enough about the benefits.

A case study was done on a restaurant in the states that asked their customers to become fans on their restaurant Facebook Fan page. The results: the Facebook users visited more often, told their friends, and spent more when they came to dine.  The Facebook users were a small percentage of the total customers though, so the study was inconclusive. Still, it shows that these channels shouldn’t be ignored. Isn’t it time you added social media to your marketing campaign?

Technorati Tags: social media, Twitter, Facebook

When a person walks through your door or uses your service, do you become memorable to them? Do they tell their friends about your business and sing your praises? Or are their comments negative? In these days of social media, experiences are shared with hundreds of people and you risk losing more than just that one customer. How can you make your customer service amazing?

I’m one of those people that will allow poor customer service without voicing my displeasure at the time. But I will never use that service or go to that establishment again. And I will tell everyone I know to stay away. At the same time, when I encounter excellent customer service, I come back again and again, bringing others with me. Competing on the basis of price alone could never produce that kind of loyalty.

My oldest son, Daniel, is the manager of the Food Basics in Waterloo. A fairly new store, many people either don’t know it exists or aren’t sure what to expect from a Basics grocery store. My son has learned that excellent customer service is what will keep people coming back week after week. He keeps the store spotlessly clean and attractive and his employees enjoy working there.  Daniel makes sure that all of his staff do their best to make their customers feel special. Little things like notifying them when a shipment comes in, to the big things like making sure that when a person arrives with a complaint, they leave the store happy. As a result, people are telling other people and new customers are even coming from outside of Waterloo.

That’s the kind of customer service we want. Satisfied people telling others on Twitter, Facebook, or at their jobs about what a great business we have and how highly they recommend it. That kind of feedback does more than thousands of dollars spent on advertising.

Technorati Tags: customer service, feedback, advertising