Developing Electronic Relationships
We all wonder how best to spend our marketing dollars.
We wonder how to get our marketing messages across effectively. We
also wonder how to maintain a rapport with our customers when they only
come into our retail space occasionally. Traditional marketing
strategies never quite left us satisfied that we were hitting the mark
– these concerns were never quite addressed. Perhaps, the answers to
all of these questions are only a click of the mouse away?
It’s clear that the Internet is here to stay and chances are by now that you have a website established. The next logical step in your electronic marketing (e-marketing) strategy is to develop and launch a regular form of communication. An e-newsletter can be an extremely effective means of engaging consumers with your brand on a regular basis. All you have to do is land in their e-mail inbox. It’s no surprise to discover that e-mail marketing still has some negative baggage. It still might make you think of unsolicited electronic messages (SPAM) clogging computer systems, but think again. New research suggests that consumers are extremely receptive to relevant e-marketing strategies. The key word here is “relevant.” Ipsos-Reid reports that roughly 8 out of 10 Canadian Internet users have registered themselves to receive e-mail from various commercial websites. Canadians who have
registered have done so at an average of nine sites, up from about eight in 2004. Market watchers believe that privacy legislation, such as the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), introduced in Canada last year, and anti-spam laws in the United States are helping to restore the image of e-mail advertising by reducing the amount of unsolicited spam clogging inboxes.
Focus your initial marketing efforts on gathering “permission-based” e-mail addresses while at the same time developing the look and feel of your electronic newsletter. Have a sign-up sheet or guest book at your check out with a small sign asking if customers would like to leave their e-mail address to receive notice of special offers, floral care tips and trends. You may also wish to run a contest for the sole purpose of mining e-mail addresses. As each entrant fills out a ballot, there will be a place for them to disclose their information. The prize could be a free floral delivery for six months or a dinner for two at a local restaurant. The cost for the prize will be worth it to build a base of permission-based e-mail addresses.
Your electronic newsletter must be easy to navigate and nice to look at. Always have an introduction/editorial that is an overview of your offers and keep the format in easy-to-read sections that are blocked off from each other. If you have a section in your newsletter on Mother’s Day, create a link to your website featuring the arrangements being offered for this occasion. A bit of trivia about Mother’s Day or the flowers used in the featured arrangements will make it interesting. It would be wise to hire someone who knows how to develop electronic newsletters and who understands how to design the newsletter so that it isn’t blocked out by every SPAM filter. You want to make sure your newsletter is actually being received by your target. Ask your consultant to structure the newsletter so you can edit the template each month by simply updating the copy and inserting new links and images. If your newsletter has a prompt to “forward to a friend” you’ll benefit from some viral marketing if they do send it along to someone else who may be interested. Now that you have a template and a war chest of permission-based e-mail addresses, you’re ready to start your campaign.
Two great benefits to sending an e-newsletter include reaching the recipient immediately and no cost for postage. There’s also compelling evidence to suggest that more electronic newsletters are opened than newsletters sent via traditional snail mail. In fact, ThinData Inc. reports that 65 per cent of some of their clients’ electronic newsletters are read versus about 33 per cent of traditional direct mail efforts. Being able to track the number of consumers who open and click through your electronic newsletter will allow you to understand how effective your marketing efforts are.
Electronic marketing is measurable. Traditionally, we would place ads in the newspaper or send flyers to area households and hope that either the customer would mention the marketing piece or bring in the attached coupon. We weren’t exactly sure if our advertising was actually converting prospects into buyers. Work closely with your web developer to ensure that you can track who clicks through to your website and how many of the e-newsletters are opened. Encourage readers to click through by promoting a special offer to e-newsletter recipients that allows them a discount to pre-order that Mother’s Day bouquet. The consumer will rest assured that they don’t have to scramble at the last minute and neither will your staff!
An electronic newsletter sent to a group of customers who’ve requested it will prove to be far more effective at driving business to your door than traditional shotgun marketing methods. As people get your e-newsletter on a routine basis, they will be reminded regularly of your business. As people read your newsletter, they will begin to get a sense of your communication style – they will start to feel as though they know you. As people click through on the newsletter links to your website or on your e-mail address to ask questions, they will be interacting with your business and become more engaged with your brand. One-to-one marketing is defined by its ability to differentiate customers instead of products. It’s about speaking directly to the consumer as though you were having an intimate conversation. An electronic newsletter may prove to be the best way to develop relationships with your customers that allows communication to flow both ways. After all, the best relationships are those where we not only speak, but listen too!
Michelle Brisebois is a marketing professional with experience in the food, pharmaceutical and financial services industries. She specializes in brand strategies.
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