Tuesday 3 January 2012

Why Return On Investment No Longer Works In Marketing

We have all heard how we must get a ROI or return on investment for everything and that has been fine for many years in marketing to people and other businesses.

Although you will still be able to use this form of marketing for your business it is not as effective as it used to be and in many cases will damage your long term relationship with your clients and yes even your prospects.

The buying public have become sensitive to pushy or transaction marketing and tend to pull away from it as soon as they feel their choice is being taken away from them.

How then can you get them to buy from you?

Well it's called relationship or community marketing where it's not about ROI but ROE return on Engagement, how much you are valued as a reliable source of advice and information rather than how cleverly you can sell to them.

What has to be taken into account here are a number of factors:

1) At any one given time only 3% of the people you are marketing to are likely to be looking to buy right now.

2) With the rise in the internet and Social media platforms such as Google+, Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and LinkedIn just to name but a few, there is so much choice and opportunity for people to research before they buy.

3) Customer service is not just about remembering their name when they come into your shop / business they want to feel you care all the time not just when they are buying.

4) Once people decide to buy they want to be able to buy NOW! and get on with their lives so being in touch often is key to getting and keeping them as clients.

5) The real value of a business is not how good your product is but how a customer feels when they buy from you.

Bearing all this in mind have a look how you are interacting with your customers!
Are you meeting them on their level? i.e. do you have a Facebook page? Twitter profile? You Tube channel?

These are all places where you can interact with your customers freely and easily (if set up correctly) for just 10 mins/day and as a result you will be the place they come to when they are ready to buy, you will be the place they recommend to their friends and family and yes you will be the place they mention in their social networks for the whole world to see.

This is why a return on your Engagement is much more powerful than your Investment.... if you want more information on this subject then let me know and I will post further blogs or you can email me direct if you have a specific query that needs resolving at realtimemarketingonline@live.com



Looking forward to hearing from you soon. P.S. Remember you have a choice how you feel about things in life don't let others or the inner voice of doubt stop you from being who you really are! Enjoy life and have a great day...

No comments:

Post a Comment