Last Thursday, I went to the Art of Marketing Conference and thought I’d share some of what I learned:
Be where your customers already are
If your customers or potential customers frequent a particular website, discussion board, etc., you should be there in some meaningful way too.
Post reviews of your products
You’re out with friends and one of them tells you about a product they think is amazing. Now, you’re thinking about getting it for yourself, but if you’re like 75 to 80 percent of people, you’ll search online for reviews about it first.
Testimonials, positive and negative, can help you make sales. Even the negative ones may reinforce buying a product. For example, you want a simple camera for taking photos without a lot of buttons. A professional photographer posts how they dislike a camera because it’s too simple for them and doesn’t have a lot of functions. Now, you know you’ve found a camera that’s perfect for you.
Create a workplace that reflects your company values
Ask yourself: What can you do in your workplace to get your staff to care more? At CityMax, for example, we encourage people to always be learning new skills. The result is we have an unlimited book budget for anything that will help you with your work directly or indirectly. I’ve seen people with books on business, psychology, creativity, programming and design.
Send the perfect thank-you gift
When you want to thank a customer, instead of sending the usual gifts, you can go one step further. Check their tweets (search their name at search.twitter.com) and see if they’ve got any special interests like a baseball team. Then, you can send them a thank-you card with a gift catered to them like a baseball jersey. This may be particularly useful to do with a customer who brings in a lot of repeat business. They’ll remember you better and they have a great story to tell about how they got the gift.
Test a marketing campaign before you launch it
Before you spend lots of money on a marketing campaign, test it as much as you can beforehand. For example, Google posted several videos for people to view for a future television ad. One stood out in terms of likes and views compared to all others. That video ended up being used for their Superbowl commercial — they bet on a sure winner. Here’s the video: