Touchpoints: Crucial To Marketing & Revenue

My recent flight to San Francisco was an opportunity to experience the airline industry since starting my blog. I flew Southwest and it was a great experience. I was definitely not expecting to write about the glory of being packed in like tuna, but here we are.

Southwest's marketing strength is with their flight attendants and the whole philosophy that has developed excellent relationships with this crucial touchpoint. No, that doesn't mean you can touch the flight attendants. Let me explain the term for those that may not have heard it used before or just would enjoy some additional enlightenment.

What is a Touchpoint?

Let's take a bank for instance. A customer has vast possibilities to get in contact with a bank. Touchpoints in banking can include client service advisers, receipts, events, offerings, financial expert reports, mailings, website, research reports, sponsoring, word of mouth, e-banking, regional office or contacts by phone with the client service advisers, etc. In other words anything that reaches that actual user. The small stuff, the big stuff and everything in between.

When I fly, it does not really matter to me who I fly with. I am not a "core customer", but I wanted to become one after that flight. And this is the key to your marketing strategy. How do we improve the experience at our touchpoints to convert and keep more business?

The flight attendants were not ugly, we quite helpful and even added some levity and humor to their announcements. They always smiled and you could tell that all their antics were encouraged. Airlines are the same to me. Just get me there in one piece, on time, and we're all good. Pilots, I expect them to fly. The colors of the plane or their log, who cares? How you treat me: Priceless.

Does your marketing strategy include how your touchpoints interact with others? Is your web site friendly, and more importantly, are you and your employees? This will gain and keep more clientele than any fancy logo or some warm and fuzzy tag line.

Develop a strategy and training to make these required skill sets second nature. And above all, keep in your QC to ensure that these policies are followed and that your customers can be heard, if and when there is ever a lapse.

Best, Edwin Dearborn

Networking Spider Generates More Sales

I flew to San Francisco today for an impromptu business meeting. Little did I know that the person I was going to see had already planned to attend a networking meeting for lunch. So, I went along as her guest, as members are encouraged to do so.

While everyone had their 30 seconds, to pitch their wares, one person referred to himself as a "Networking Spider." I just loved that self-ordained title. But, it got me thinking.

Many business people may be looking at how to use the web more effectively, and this is, no doubt, a necessary strategy.

But in reality, talking to people directly and doing so often is so more effective in building relationships. Again, do not think that you should now throw away your PPC campaign or all the other actions you are taking to maximize your marketing effectiveness on the web. Continue by all means!

What I am talking about is ensuring that you do not lose that human touch in business. Not only is it healthy by getting connected with others to share ideas and leads, but it really gives you a finger on the pulse of the world around you. Nothing is better than face-to-face contact.

After the lunch, the person who invited me wowed me with a spreadsheet of all the business she had contracted and sold as a result of this networking group. It was 40% of her income of a very profitable business. She has been a member for 14 years and it was paying off. The key to her success is that she demostrated persistence and hard work, qualities of an Outlier.

Want more business, more sales and more revenue? Become a Networking Spider!

Best, Edwin Dearborn

Marketing Suveys: The Base of Better Promotion & PR Campaigns

I am amazed on how few people use surveys in their marketing and public relations campaigns. One of the main reasons is, "Where do I start?"



While market research is vast and sometimes a complex subject, one can do something on an immediate basis, and that is to thoroughly analyze what and who is already driving sales. What made the sales in the past is a portal to discovering how to increase those sales even more.



To understand this vital process in marketing and PR, you need to start with an understanding of the word analysis. In short, the word analysis means to break something down to its component parts and to analyze not only each of these parts, but how they interrelate to each other and act as a whole. In other words, what makes this up and how do they work together to bring about the dynamic aspect of the whole.



Marketing surveys and analysis can simply start by looking into the vital aspects of those who have already purchased from you or an industry similar to the one you are in. Such key data to discover would be:



* What promotional action (internet, google ads, networking, referrals, mailers, etc.) originally brought the customer to you?



* What about that campaign was the successful aspect? Was there a particular offer in that campaign that caused their response? What exactly made them respond to that campaign?



* If a referral, why is that they choose you and not someone else to send their friends to?



* Where do they live? What is their income bracket? Age? Profession? Gender?



Well, you get the idea. You want to know their particular qualities and how all these qualities work together. For instance, you may find that those who are referred to you are of one age group and those who respond to your google ads comprise another. This then shows you that you have two different publics. Now you can develop PR and marketing strategies to develop even more leads like that.



I will give you an example. I had one organization that I worked with that found that 85% of their income came from about 20% of their clients. Many purchased their products, but a small handful were heavy purchasers. It was discovered upon thorough research and market analysis that these people: 1.) Owned their own business, 2.) Their business had been established for over five years, 3.) The majority were male, 4.) They were all homeowners, 5.) Their common compliant for purchasing was to develop better skills.



This can then be turned into a mailing list of that public, as well as designing a PR and marketing strategy to join networking groups that have these type of people and targeting this public in their internet ads.



To increase sales, discover who and what is driving them in the first place.

Best, Edwin Dearborn