No.

Keep in mind that today’s message is speaking to the service providers among you. The question re-stated is simply: Can a service business generate sales and quotes through direct mail and the interent without actually sending people into the field for meetings?

Sure, it’s possible. But I would submit to you that the service provider who constantly meets with hot prospects gets more successful and does so much quicker.

Why?  Well first of all you get instant feedback from your prospect when you’re eyeball to eyeball. An email marketing exchange cannot give you this type of personal give and take. Another great reason is that your closing percentage will be much higher in person and the dollar amount will be greater all things being equal.

Am I suggesting to forgoe your internet marketing program? No, hardly.  I’m suggesting that you never pass up a face to face.

Monday, a local business owner called and said he was referred by one of  my clients. This business owner happens to be an exclusive distributor of a unique overhead, wireless projection system for schools and offices. The manufacturer is in Japan and his firm sells the products here.  He has two outside salespeople and the only type of advertising he does is an online SEO campaign.

He is very proud of his SEO campaign because this company promised him #1 placement on page 1 of Google. And lo and behold after 2 weeks, he is #1 in the keywords he selected.

All of this for a paltry 1700.00 per month. As long as he writes the check he stays on top. By the way, did you catch the part about who selected the keywords?  The owner of the business had to select them and then the SEO company simply goes to Adwords and buys the clicks.

So if the owner is so pleased- why was he calling me?????

The flaw in this program is that nobody is buying. And further, his prospects don’t type in the keywords that he chose. Business owners shouldn’t choose keywords, marketing people should.

Most of his keywords were simply his business name and then his business category. Oue SEO company wasn’t concerned with how many prospects he receives, their only mission was to give him #1 placement based on his chosen keywords.  S – C – A – M.

I determined through Adwords analytics that they were only spending 235.00 per month of his 1700.00 to keep him at #1 in his keyword selections.

Moral: If SEO sharks promise you #1 placement, RUN. You are looking for advice on selecting the correct keywords and testing and managing those keywords to drive hot prospects to your door and then you’re looking for conversion.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Of all the local store marketing techniques that we utilize, none has created as much fervor in the past 6 months as that of email marketing.

Just evoking the phrase email marketing in a room full of business owners illicits wildly different perceptions. Depending on the person, he or she may feel email marketing is disliked and not accepted by the general public. Another may feel that email newsletter blasts are not exactly what they need. Still another would love to learn more because they have heard more business owners are having success, they just don’t know where to start. ( At the beginning always works well.)

And all of these perceptions are right. And they’re wrong.

Email marketing is no different than any other marketing tactic. It should not stand alone, nor should you ignore it. At IntriMarketing we have adopted all best practices and mixed in our unique blend of local store marketing techniques to provide a wonderful communication system for prospecting and building relationships.

Make no mistake- email marketing is a powerful marketing tool that is just coming into it’s own. The power lies in being able to replicate a personal touch with thousands and tens of thousands of individuals all in a single instant.

Email marketing is becoming the cornerstone of our client’s Internet Technology platform. It controls the flow of traffic directly where we want it to go. Namely, a landing page, a website or even a blog.

Mass communication with prospects and clients is not possible in any other practical way.

Let’s look at the future of email marketing. Ajay Segal heads up a very successful, cutting edge direct mail firm named Gartner’s. In a recent article he says the following, “In the very near future (2 to three years out) companies that have not fully evolved email marketing as a tool will be at an extreme disadvantage.”

I tend to agree and I see this trend today. However I feel there will be a shift in the effectiveness of email marketing “blasts” as practiced by many today. The days of purchasing an email list that has been “stolen” for lack of a better word, from list companies who purge surveys- are definitely numbered.

Email blasting is the electronic version of getting a call at dinner from a window salesman. These types of marketers have always existed and they give email marketing a black eye.

I am of the opinion that email marketing will be successful when utilized as follows:

• Autoresponse, mail merged emails to your clients informing them of relevant opportunities they may have a real interest in. (Not to constantly upsell them.)
• Company newsletters sent out on a regular basis. Done properly your clients will look forward to reading these informative pieces. Also keeps you “top of mind” which is crucial in marketing.
• Specific topics targeted to specific groups. For example- you own a bookstore and someone buys the latest Harry Potter novel. Their name goes into a “Harry Potter” database. Guess what happens in 3 months when you receive a brand new copy of Harry Potter? Everyone in that silo gets an email, mail merged notification of Harry Potter’s newest novel.  This is powerful marketing.

So there you have it. If you’re not involved in email marketing, I recommend you get started now, but do it right.

1. Persistence

2. Confidence

I have worked with a lot of business owners in the local marketing arena. I’ve watched as they take money at the register, talked to them as they clean the windows, joked with them as they cook food.

Most of these people I meet are great individuals, truly the fundamental backbone of our economy. But as I have said many times- the 80/20 rule applies here. 20 out of every 100 owners are screaming success stories in their own right. The other 80 struggle day to day.

For the record, the 80% that struggle do not exhibit both of the traits above. The successful 20% ONLY exhibit these traits.  Sorry this message seems so simplistic, but that’s as deep as I’m going to get with this article.

Good news: Persistence and confidence are conscious, learned patterns of behavior.

Bad news: Learning these patterns isn’t easy.

Here’s two quick steps in the right direction.

ONE- You must rid yourself of all external noise about “the bad economy”, “your personal problems”, “my employees suck”, “my suppliers are terrible”, “global warming is right around the corner,”……etc.

TWO- Then you must consciously force positive, good thoughts into your mind as soon as you begin working each day. Treat everyone you meet as the most important person in the world. (Because in their mind they are, AND they are all potential referral sources to you.)

Maybe you don’t buy any of this, but what do you have to lose?

You are your own success story waiting to happen. But only you can apply persistence and confidence.

Try it tommorrow.

If you’re trying to improve your level of service and aren’t quite sure what your customers want, there’s a surefire way to find out.

Ask.

I sent an electronic survey out to 100 customers , friends and prospects asking what they really wanted from my IntriMarketing Blog.  The answers confirmed they enjoy my concepts and views but they pointed out something that was sorely missing.

Real tips and advice on local marketing that they could use NOW.

With that in mind- enjoy the first installment- Some LSM ideas that most businesses could and should be doing right now (and the cost is close to zero):

Salon Idea: If you are near a salon, go and meet the owner. Introduce yourself and explain your business to the owner. Mention that you would like the owner to enjoy your product or service for free, and further that you would like to offer it to each of the beauticians. Depending on your business this idea will create a BUZZ in the salon, because the beauticians have a captive audience all day and they must make up conversation. Have them become your salespeople.

Community Theme Mailer: Identify 5-10 local, non-competing business owners in your immediate area. Build a relationship and then invite them to a meeting regarding a personal mailing idea. Show them a professional mailing envelope with glossy white advertisements inserted. The theme on the envelope is your choice for your area. You will send 10,000 out to selected targets each month. Everyone divides the cost evenly, and because their is no “mailing company” making a profit- this will be the lowest cost method for your business owners. Of course you pay ZERO, that’s the cost for your efforts.

Pizza partners: If you can get pizza delivery companies to allow you to place a coupon sticker on every box going out- you will have some great exposure if your business warrants this.

Thanks! And expect more of these practical soon.