Customers hunker down in a recession, underscoring the importance of retaining loyal clients since it’s almost impossible to attract new ones during a downturn.
Small-business owners confront the flip side of the problem: There's little money for an aggressive marketing plan and they don’t have the deep pockets of General Electric (GE), Microsoft (MSFT) or Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).
What to do?
The solution starts with service. It's important to build lasting relationships with your customers and cut costs wherever possible.
You’ve got only a few arrows in your quiver -- and they’re expensive -- so make each shot count. Target your audience and tailor your message as needed to individual customers. Don’t shoot blindly, figuring you’ll hit something, because that something is likely to be your foot.
Here are some steps you can take to institute an effective, low-cost marketing program:
1. Use email rather than snail mail.
Email is faster, cheaper, and you can zap your messages directly to good prospects, meeting the needs and tastes of different customers. Be honest: When was the last time you opened an envelope sent bulk rate that screamed, "Do not destroy!"?
2. Keep your email messages short.
This is truly a case where less is more. Old-time newspaper editors were on to something when they told cub reporters, "Write short, tight, and sweet."
3. Respect your customers.
Have a point, and get to it -- immediately. Remember that your customers’ time is valuable and you’re one of many competing for it. Make your messages compelling and cut the blather.
4. Be distinctive.
Your customers almost certainly get lots of unsolicited emails each day, so you’ve got to stand out. Make good use of your company’s logo. An email’s subject line will make or break your campaign. Think of it as a headline on a news story -- you want to grab readers' attention and compel them to click. "Big controversy breaks out at Board of Solid Waste Management" won’t cut it.
5. Sell answers.
Offer your customers a way to save money or do their jobs better, or entice them with goods or services they need and can afford. Underscore the return your customers will receive by buying from you.
6. Say thanks.
No need to get sappy or put it in iambic pentameter, but be sure to include a line thanking your customers for their business.
7. Provide contact information.
Make it easy for customers to find you. A marketing program, even a clever one, is worthless if the customer doesn’t know how to find you. Put your contact information under your company’s logo and at the end of the message. Include walk-in address, mailing address, email address, and phone number, as well as key words for any discounts or promotions.
8. Work with your customers.
Remember that they face the same crunch you do. Consider selling in smaller-than-normal lots to keep the cash flowing, or letting your best customers pay an agreed-upon amount within 30 days and the balance within 60. You’ll also get noticed if you can fill orders or contracts quickly. With luck, speed will reduce your overhead.
9. Work, work, work.
Remember that profit is your reward for providing vital goods or services to your customers. Unlike a frou-frou restaurant where the gratuity is tacked on to the bill no matter how surly or incompetent the waiter, you’ve got to continually earn the trust of your customers with good prices and good service.
10. Listen to your customers.
You’re not the phone company before deregulation introduced competition to the sector, so be responsive to complaints and suggestions. Routine bitching from loonies is part of the psychic cost of doing business, but always keep the customer's perspective in mind.
Author: Scott Reeves
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