Being in business means always staying alert to discover the most lucrative, cost effective, methods to bring more traffic into your establishment or onto your website. It's not enough to simply open your doors or launch your site and expect that you will be a success. Customers have to find you and know what it is that you have to offer. It used to be that direct mail or some other form of print media was the most commonly used method. Pretty costly though when you consider the expense when compared to the actual return on investment. Some of you reading this may still be effectively using print media and I commend you. However, may I suggest that you're not maximizing your reach or profitability.
While my primary line of work for well over a decade has been that of a merchant services rep (i.e. credit card processing), I have discovered and assisted my merchants with marketing ideas. I was an early adopter and promoter for the creative use of gift cards. These were, and still are, great tools for increasing sales. Place a sign at the cash register that says something like, "Purchases in excess of $50 entitles you to a gift card good for 10% off on your next visit". A customer comes to checkout with their $35 worth of goods, sees the sign and they just may be encouraged to go back and look for something else to get over the $50 threshold. And guess what, you've increased your sale that day and... they'll be back. Maybe you make the card worth a set dollar amount on their next visit. The bottom line is that they will be back or possibly, they give the card to someone else that has never been in your store before. Or, whenever a customer has a return, rather than giving them their money back, put the return on a gift card or at least give them the option and maybe bump it with a 10% addition. This could be the encouragement they need so you can keep the money in the drawer.
Several years ago, I began encouraging all my merchants, no matter what type of business they were in, to start trying to capture customer's emails. By simply putting a sheet on the checkout counter asking for them to opt-in for "special VIP discounts and alerts", merchants were soon finding that their database of customers was increasing. This enabled them to alert customers of special discounts on certain items or on slower days. Or, providing them with a heads up of new arrivals. This type of direct marketing worked, and still does to a certain extent, today. Maybe you experienced some of the benefits of email marketing and even the greatly reduced costs of getting the word out. Many of my merchants also utilized auto-responders, at my suggestion, to automate and streamline this form of marketing.
It is my belief that the previous benefits of email marketing are beginning to weaken. Take your own inbox as an example. How much junk-mail do you receive on a daily basis? How much of it do you actually look at or simply delete? I have several email accounts for various reasons and I'd estimate that well over 100 emails are tossed in the trash daily. So, my question to you is, do you stop direct email marketing or add in some other ideas? To put it quite bluntly, if you're not utilizing Mobile Text Marketing you're missing out on a HUGE opportunity to drive sales.
Look around you, mobile phones, and more specifically, smart phones are everywhere. Over 80% of the population carries a cellular device at all times. Think about this for a second... when your cell phone rings or you get notification of a text... what do you do? You look at it don't you? This is exactly why you need to discover the power of Mobile Text Marketing.
Recent Jupiter Research reported 30% of consumers welcome coupons and special offers sent directly to their phones. 93% of text messages are read within 15 minutes, over 20% respond to the offer and 22% of recipient's forward messages to friends. Consider the potential here! Once you incorporate Mobile Text Marketing you can't help but expand awareness of your store or brand and Increase $ale$.
Having a slow day... send a text message blast with a special today only offer
Have a new product that you want to promote... send a text message blast
Want to run a contest or survey your customers... send a text message blast
Have excess or seasonal merchandise to liquidate... send a text message blast
Okay, I'm pretty sure that by now you get my point. You absolutely must stay ahead of the competition when it comes to marketing and you must get on this bandwagon NOW. There are numerous providers available so do your homework and find the one that best fits your needs. I did! The programs and their dashboards are really quite simple to set up and run and it is, in my opinion the most cost efficient highest ROI marketing you can do for your business.
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