Create Promotions Drive Action
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This document discusses creating effective offers and promotions for marketing campaigns. It begins by defining offers and promotions as tools to elicit customer responses and achieve business objectives like sales and lead generation. It then covers five types of common offers including coupons, Facebook promotions, and local deals. The document outlines a five-step process for creating successful offers: setting goals, selecting the right offer type, controlling offer details, distributing and promoting the offer, and following up on results. It emphasizes using offers to reward loyalty, drive word-of-mouth, and thank customers. The presentation concludes by providing next steps and resources for creating effective marketing offers and promotions.
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Create Promotions Drive Action
- 1. Halfmoon YogaHalfmoon Yoga B•B•Q Campaigns That Drive Action: Offers and Promotions Increase and reward loyalty while driving new customers to your door. © 2014 Prescriptions For Online Success Series
- 2. 2013 Constant Contact All Star Award Winner Kim Butler, The URL Dr. KimButler@TheURLdr.com facebook.com/theurldr @theurldr #theurldrwebinar
- 3. Grow with Constant Contact Get results fast, with affordable, easy-to-use engagement marketing tools and free coaching. Offers & Promotions Events & Registrations Newsletters & Announcements Feedback & Surveys
- 4. Agenda What are offers and promotions? Types of offers and promotions 5 steps to creating a great offer Next steps
- 5. What are offers & promotions? | Types of offers & promotions | 5 steps to creating a great offer | Next steps
- 6. marketing What are offers & promotions? At its core, marketing is about eliciting a physical and measureable response
- 7. Pull response What are campaigns? What are offers & promotions? Push content
- 8. What are offers & promotions? What is an offer or promotion? SAVE! Reward customers Achieve objectives
- 9. What are offers & promotions? Goal and objectives
- 10. What are offers & promotions? The three things you really want 1 2 3 Profitable sales Buyer contact info Control: of deal terms, offer period
- 11. What are offers & promotions? The three things you really want 1 2 3 Control: of deal terms, offer period Profitable Sales Buyer Contact Info What other discount can we give besides 50%? Can we include restrictions? Can there be a limit to the number sold? Can there be an expiration date? Can there be less than a 50% revenue share?
- 12. Control: of deal terms, offer period What are offers & promotions? The three things you really want 1 2 3 Profitable sales Buyer Contact Info Does the offer fit your business model? Do you control the pricing? Does it take all of your profits to run the offer or promotion? If you offer $40 of food for $20, are you now losing money on each one sold?
- 13. What are offers & promotions? The three things you really want 1 2 3 Control: of deal terms, offer period Profitable Sales Buyer contact info
- 14. What are offers & promotions? Myth of quantity vs. quality Where do the names come from? Ideally: You use your list of names Other deal companies: You use their list of names
- 15. Control over who receives the deal Better qualified referrals Measurement of how many new customers the deal brought in What are offers & promotions? Advantages of using your list
- 16. Say “Thank you!” Send them regular emails Offer another exclusive deal Encourage them to follow you on social networks What are offers & promotions? What you do with their info…
- 17. What are offers & promotions? | Types of offers & promotions | 5 steps to creating a great offer | Next steps
- 18. Types of offers & promotions coupons Facebook promotion local deals
- 19. Types of offers & promotions Standard coupon
- 20. A marketing effort associated with Facebook, where you drive customers to take advantage of an offer and specific call to action. Types of offers & promotions Facebook promotion:
- 21. Types of offers & promotions Facebook promotion: Why use one? Meet your customers where they are. Build up your fan base. Drive visibility AND business results. Use Facebook as a piece of your overall campaign. Build your email list.
- 22. Types of offers & promotions Facebook promotion: Why use one? to receive discounts, promotions and exclusive content The #1 reason people like a Facebook Page is
- 23. Deals allow customers of your business to enjoy a product or service at a discount. Types of offers & promotions Local deal:
- 24. Types of offers & promotions Local deal: Why use one? Reward your current customers. Grow your promotional reach. Attract new customers. Generate revenue.
- 25. 25 A digital coupon that’s sent to your email list, is an “open” offer, doesn’t require a prior purchase, and is easily shared via social media. Types of offers & promotions Trackable coupon: SAVE!
- 26. Types of offers & promotions Trackable coupon: Why use one? Rewards sharing of coupon via social channels Gain insights and data on sharing and new vs. current customers Grow your contact list SAVE!
- 27. What are offers & promotions? | Types of offers & promotions | 5 steps to creating a great offer | Next steps
- 28. 5 steps to creating a great offer 1. Goal of the offer Answer first… write them down! What will “success” look like? Who is the offer for? Who will your audience be?
- 29. Are you… selling a product? offering a service? promoting a cause? 5 steps to creating a great offer 1. Goal of the offer Can you offer… a discount? exclusive content? a sweepstakes?
- 30. 5 steps to creating a great offer 2. Select the right type of offer If… you want to grow your list you want revenue coupon, product promotion, local deal social campaign, trackable coupon Special Offer
- 31. Coupon or discount “How-to” guide related to your business Special discount for fans on social media Sweepstakes or contest 5 steps to creating a great offer 2. Select the right type of offer for Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
- 32. Downloadable content Online event registrations Coupon or discount Sweepstakes or contest Free consult or demo 5 steps to creating a great offer 2. Select the right type of offer for Business-to-Business (B2B)
- 33. Fundraising drive Sweepstakes or contest Downloadable PDF of resources or tips Online event registrations 5 steps to creating a great offer 2. Select the right type of offer for nonprofit organizations
- 34. 5 steps to creating a great offer 3. Create and control Price Expiration of offer # of offers Available Terms & Restrictions P.E.A.R.!
- 35. 5 steps to creating a great offer 4. Distribute, promote, share
- 36. 36 Share the link to your offer: promotion via your social networks Use a share bonus to showcase other parts of your business 5 steps to creating a great offer 4. Distribute, promote, share Offer $5, $10 or 10% off the “next” deal
- 37. 5 steps to creating a great offer 5. Results & follow-up % • Ensure staff is trained to redeem or honor offers and coupons. • Collect list sign-ups at redemption. • Collect information about their experience with the deal. • Use the same tools to follow up: email, social media and surveys.
- 38. The most important thing you have to do after the event Thank you.Say
- 39. 5 steps to creating a great offer How did you do? Day 1 Day 5 Day 9 END Target (Revenue, # of coupons sold, new fans, downloads, etc.)
- 40. 5 steps to creating a great offer Do it again! 1 2 1 2
- 41. What are offers & promotions? | Types of offers & promotions | 5 steps to creating a great offer | Next steps
- 42. Promotion exercise… 1 Choose your offer type. 2 Write down the goal of your offer. 3 Choose the offer that will accomplish your goal. 4 Set the price, expiration, number of offers and terms.
- 43. Next steps 5 don’ts of deals Don’t assume you have to offer a steep discount. Don’t assume getting someone through the door once is enough. Don’t use deals as a way just to sell unwanted inventory. Don’t forget to redeem the coupons! Don’t forget to say “Thank you!”
- 44. Next steps Offers & Deals aren’t always about new customers Encourage word of mouth Reward loyalty THANK YOU! Bonus Offer!
- 45. Halfmoon YogaHalfmoon Yoga B•B•Q © 2014 Next Steps Want help? www.TheURLdr.com The URL Dr. is your partner in online marketing & web design
- 46. Halfmoon YogaHalfmoon Yoga B•B•Q © 2014 email survey promos events www.TheURLdr.com
- 49. Halfmoon YogaHalfmoon Yoga B•B•Q Win the chance for your small business to be on the radio To Enter: Like The URL Dr.’s Facebook page
- 50. Halfmoon YogaHalfmoon Yoga B•B•Q Win the chance for your small business to be on the radio To Enter: Like The URL Dr.’s Facebook page www.PrescriptionsForOnlineSuccess.com/ask-the-url-dr-question/
- 51. Halfmoon YogaHalfmoon Yoga B•B•Q Get started today… www.TheURLdr.com Constant Contact Toolkit Want to learn more? PrescriptionsForOnlineSuccess.com Select Webinars and Radio Online webinars & Radio show Want help? 301-363-2710 KimButler@TheURLDr.com The URL Dr. is your partner… © 2014
Editor's Notes
- Welcome to Our Prescriptions for Online Success Webinar Series. Today we’re focusing on Campaigns that drive with online Offers and Promotions. I’m going to be showing you how to increase and reward loyalty while driving new customers to your door.
- I am Kim Butler, The URL Dr., and I am a Constant Contact Platinum Level Solution Provider, a Constant Contact Authorized Local Expert, and winner of the 2013 Constant Contact All Star Award. Our presentation today is provided by Constant Contact but the information provided here is based on best practices and can be utilized by any small business or nonprofit, regardless of whether or not you are using Constant Contact. If you have questions during or after the presentation, you can use the hashtag #theurldrwebinar on Twitter to ask your questions. I’ll be responding to questions from all the webinars this month at that hashtag.
- For those of you not familiar with Constant Contact’s new Toolkit product, it provides you with the ability to send email newsletters, online coupons, social promotions on Facebook, local deals, feedback and online surveys, and market events, all through one tool for one low price. I’ve been using Constant Contact in my own business and I recommend Toolkit to all my clients. I truly believe this is the best and most cost effective online marketing tool available to small businesses. At the core of marketing is the idea that it’s intended to elicit a physical, measurable response…you don’t create and send newsletters, or post updates, or solicit feedback or plan events without some objective in mind, some goal in mind that your campaign is intended to achieve. We often refer to the “call to action” as part of your communications…the request for someone to join your mailing list, to visit your store, to sign up for your annual fundraising gala…because at the end of the day that’s what marketing is all about. It’s about getting someone with whom you, your business or your organization has a relationship to take an action that will help your organization to succeed. This webinar isn’t intended to educate you about goals/objectives, but I have a wonderful webinar on demand called How to Market Your Small Business in 2014, that deals in large part with helping you develop goals and objectives, so I would invite you to search for this webinar on our PrescriptionsForOnlineSuccess.com website or TheURLdr.com website. Today we’re here to talk about marketing campaigns: those collections of marketing activities that make up an effort intended to drive an action that leads to achieving a specific goal. Specifically we’ll be focusing on newsletters and announcements, and their close cousin, social engagement. Simply put, these activities are primarily about communication, and about connecting with your readers. But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t also a great way to drive action. And today we’re going to talk about how you can deliver the most effective newsletters possible.
- Here’s what we’re going to do today… [click to build] What are offers & promotions? why run them? what are the types of goals a small business or nonprofit can hope to achieve? [click to build] Types of offers & promotions – we’ll look at standard offers and promotions as well as what’s known as plus or advanced. [click to build] Next – 5 steps to creating a great offer. Things you need to know when setting up your offer or promotion. [click to build] Then we’ll talk about next steps you can take to get started. I also want to make a quick not about “for” and “non” profits, and industry verticals…I’m often asked how the things I’m talking about should be adjusted or changed for a nonprofit or a services (B2B firm) or someone in a different industry vertical. I hear “I’m not a brick-and-mortar business, so how does this apply to me. The good news is that the principles that will be discussed are largely universal…they can benefit a non-profit just as much as they can a for-profit, a B2B business can follow these just as readily as a B2C, that a restaurant can succeed with these ideas just as readily as a yoga studio, a church or a book store. Yes, you may have different considerations to make for your select audiences, but in large part what we’re teaching are best practices, and they’re best practices across the board.
- So what exactly are offers and promotions?
- I want to give you a simple definition, or a framework, for what marketing really is. You already know, generally, what it is – but when I say the word marketing, I mean something very specific and it’s important that we are on the same page. My definition of marketing has three simple parts – you define an audience: a group of people that you want to target. You reach out to them with a message that is specific to that audience. And you seek to elicit a physical and measurable response. A click, a reply, a call, a purchase, a referral – these are all actions that represent a decision made by a human to react to your message. Keep this in mind as we discuss marketing and marketing campaigns and the ways to deliver the most effective campaigns. You’re doing these things because you want people – your customers, your clients, your donors or supporters – to DO SOMETHING. [click to next slide]
- First, let’s talk about “campaigns” - -what does that word really mean? Very simply there are two parts to a campaign First, you [click to build] push out some sort of content (and we’ll talk more about “what content” in a bit) to your followers, supporters, etc Second, you hope to [click to build] “pull” some sort of response from them – you want them to read, forward or share what you sent, show up, call, attend – you want them to take an action of some sort Think about a campaign in terms of push/pull and more importantly do not think about it as just putting an offer out there and making the sale … in this new marketing world, it’s more like a conversation – which lends itself to that advantage we talked about that you have over big business. As a small company, you can engage in a conversation that feels and in fact IS much less like a sales gimmick and more like nurturing a relationship. If you’re doing it right, it will seem like that from both sides of that conversation.
- In the case of offers and promotions, what you’re “pushing” are rewards or incentives to your customers and supporters (and through them to prospective customers or supporters or clients). What you hope to pull back are results that allow you to achieve the objective of the offer: more revenue, new people through your door or brought to your cause, greater demand for your expertise, etc.
- When you’re creating an offer or promotion, it’s important to consider the goals and objectives. What do you hope to accomplish with this marketing effort? [click to build] Do you want to increase revenue? [click to build] Grow your email contact list? [click to build] Or do you want to expand your social reach? You can seek to get all three through one campaign…
- So let’s talk about the three things you really want in the process of building an offer or promotion… [click through each item, noting that we’re going to go into more detail on each in a moment]
- First is control over the promotion, and it should be control over all aspects of the promotion. Here are the questions you want to ask yourself: [click to build] Are you limited to the type of discount you can offer? If you would typically offer something like 50% off, is there something different you can offer? A dollar amount, free gift with purchase or buy-one-get-one-free? [click to build] Can you place some restrictions on the discount? [click to build] Do you have a limit on how many you want to offer? [click to build] Do you want to run the offer for a limited time? Should you place an expiration date on it? [click to build] Are you comfortable with a less than 50% revenue share?
- You run offers or promotions to help drive additional business to and through your door, and ultimately to help you drive profitable sales. be sure to ask these questions as you think about the profitability of your offer…some of these reflect questions we just posed, but these are all in the context of helping you figure out if the promotion you’re looking at offering makes economic sense for your organization. [Click to Build] Does the offer fit your business model? [Click to Build] Do you control the pricing of your offer or promotion? [Click to Build] Does it take all of your profits to run the offer or promotion? [Click to Build] If you offer $40 of food for $20 are you now losing money on each offer sold?
- At the end of the day, or more importantly, at the end of the promotion, you want to be able to retain the contact information of those who purchased it. We know that to turn new customers into regulars, you have to know who they are! Which then gives you the opportunity to connect with them, thank them, and start to create a relationship that will turn them into loyal customers. When it comes to contact information, don’t forget the basics. You may find that the promotion attracts new customers through word of mouth (i.e. friends of the purchaser come along for a visit to your store, etc.)…so make sure you’ve set up systems and trained your staff on collecting the information of those new customers as well: [click to build] Use sign up cards/sheets -use your computer to create a simple sign up sheet [click to build] Train your staff to ask for the customer’s contact information while on the phone [click to build] or at the point of redemption – whenever customers are finalizing a sale Quite simply, be sure to get their name and email address. Let them know what it’s for, to stay in touch with them so they can learn more about your business and to receive newer offers in the future.
- Now let’s look at the myth of “Quantity vs. Quality.” And because we’ve brought the question up, the question is really about where the names come from…where do you get the list that you send the deal to? Some deal or promotion providers will wow you with [click to build] the size of the lists they have access to and to which they’ll send word of your promotion. So, they are clearly covering the “quantity” play…but remember, there’s a very good chance that out of that massive list that only 29% of the offer purchases will be new to your business, and it’s also likely that most of them will never return to you. Why? Because they are targeting people who only want a coupon. So how do you go about getting a quality new customer? Someone who will likely return? By targeting those who already love your business! [click to build] The real best practice is where your offer is sent to your list…to your existing loyal customers. The purpose of using your own list of contacts is to get the RIGHT KIND of new customer – the kind that are similar to your existing customers and more likely to become repeat customers. In turn you incent them to become part of your marketing team – because you ask them to share out the offer to their networks, and to advocate on your behalf. Promoting to your own list is great because it rewards your customers for their loyalty AND turns them into your advocates to attract great new customers to your business. We’ll talk more about the sharing of offers and promotions in a few minutes, but understand that because you send the offer to your list of customers, and they share on your behalf, that’s new customers that are far more likely to become repeat customers. You also need to ask the question of “how many offers is ‘just enough’?” It’s absolutely possible to sell hundreds or even thousands of individual offers. But will that truly be best for your business? At the end of the day, will that work out in your favor? Remember, some offer or deal providers have massive lists BECAUSE the more deals that are sold, the more money THEY make. And that would be fine if they told you who bought your deals, but they won’t even share that information with you because they want you to keep coming back to them. Now, some of you might think, “ I don’t have a huge list of people to send an offer to, what about that?” Don’t worry. Ever heard the saying, “it’s not the size of the list that matters, it’s what you do with it?” Same thing here, your customers will receive the offer, and by having a good offer they will be compelled to share it with their friends and family, who will buy the offer and become a part of your ever growing list of contacts.
- There are other advantages to using your own list of contacts, but it’s worth repeating the most important of which [click to build] is that your offer is being sent to those who are already loyal to your business, not deal seekers who likely won’t return. [click to build] Another consideration: deal providers want to send your offer to as many people as they can because this is how they make more money, but does overwhelming you with deal seekers really work best for your small business? Sending a special offer or deal to your list of contacts is a great reward for their loyalty; something which they will share to their friends and family in return. These are the kinds of new customers you want, those who are like your best customers, not deal seekers. [click to build] Finally, you want to track which offer buyers are brand new customers to your business. How? It’s all in the reporting in your account, and you need to carefully review it to make sure you’re getting what you want from your list.
- If you use your own list, you need to keep those customers interested and engaged with you. Here are some tips on how to do that: [click to build] Say thank you to a buyer through a follow up email or postal mailing [click to build] Place them on your list of contacts and send them a newsletter (after asking for their permission, of course!) [click to build] Add the buyers to a special list which you can use to send targeted offers [click to build] Lastly – encourage buyers to join you on your social networks like Facebook and Twitter. No matter the service provider you use, it’s important to stay in touch with customers after the promotion as a way to cultivate those new relationships, an easy way to do that is to have them share their experience on social networks
- Let’s discuss types of offers and promotions your small business or organization can use
- So we’ve talked about what are offers and promotions. We’ve looked at setting goals for your offers and promotions, as well as the importance of using these marketing efforts not only to grow revenue, but to grow your contact list. But what kind of offer or promotion should you create and how do you do that? There are lots of deal providers and digital marketing services out there, and Constant Contact is one of them. Constant Contact’s Toolkit offer and promotion templates will help you send out coupons, launch a deal, and get more fans on Facebook. Let’s talk about the types of offers and promotions you can create with these templates: standard offers and promotions and plus campaigns.
- With standard promotions, you can send [click to build] A sale or coupon: notify your audience about a sale or send a coupon through email and social media. This example is from In a Pickle restaurant – it’s a coupon for 20% off and they want customers to print this out and bring it to their location. This is a “dumb” coupon. You just print it and carry it into the store. [click to build] A product or service promotion: promote specific products offered by your business or organization through email or social media. This email is from a travel agency, The Tropical Travelers, and they are promoting a sale on resort vacation packages. Note…these are communications that are sent out through EMM/SMM…with a more specific focus on a product or service – think with SMM that this is part of the 20% from the 50/30/20 rule.
- If you want to take your promotions to the next level, you can run one of the plus campaigns, including Facebook promotions. A Facebook promotion is similar to any marketing campaign you’ve done, but it takes place on Facebook – your fans interact with your page to take advantage of an offer you’re promoting. [click to build] With Facebook promotions, you could run a sweepstakes, coupon or downloadable content promotion on Facebook to grow your fan base and create social word-of-mouth
- Why run a Facebook Promotion? [click to build] It’s a great way to reward your current customers and build a loyal customer base [click to build] It’s easy for customers to share your offer through social media and email [click to build] Which will spread the word about your business – digital word-of-mouth – and attract the attention of your current customers’ friend and family, giving you the opportunity to gain more local, qualified customers as well as their contact information to turn them into regulars. [click to build] It’s all about new customers and revenue! Keep in mind that there are 1.23 billion people on Facebook. People can take advantage of a promotion right there on Facebook.
- Promotions are the primary reason why people like business pages. This is what fans want from you on Facebook: We’ve seen it time and time again from a number of marketing studies - the top reason consumers like a Facebook Page to receive discounts, promotions and exclusive content
- [click to build] Now let’s talk about local deals. So, we all know a deal allows for customers of your business to enjoy a product or a service at a discount, but beyond a mere coupon. Why is this better than a coupon? Because customers are paying up front for the privilege of the discount. Restaurants and other retail stores can ideally use a promotion like this to bring in NEW customers.
- Why run a deal? [click to build] It’s a great way to reward your current customers and build a loyal customer base [click to build] It’s easy for customers to share your offer through social media and email [click to build] Which will spread the word about your business – digital word-of-mouth – and attract the attention of your current customers’ friend and family, giving you the opportunity to gain more local, qualified customers as well as their contact information to turn them into regulars. [click to build] It’s all about new customers and revenue!
- [click to build] Another option is trackable coupons, which don’t require that customers purchase them upfront – they claim the coupon and bring it to your location. Customers can also easily share your coupon with their friends and family through social media.
- What’s the advantage of using a trackable coupon? [click to build] Trackable coupons reward sharing – customers who share via Facebook, Twitter or email can receive a second discount, like an extra percentage off. This is a great way to encourage your current customers to spread word-of-mouth about your business. Even though you don’t get the upfront sale like you would with a local deal, requiring less of a commitment from your customers can encourage more people to participate. And while deals work best with higher discounts like 40-50 percent off, coupons work well with smaller discounts like 15-20 percent off. This means more profit for you over time. [click to build] You can also get reporting from trackable coupons – also known as “smart” coupons. You can find out how many people claimed it, how and where it was shared, and if the claims were by new or current customers. [click to build] You also get the contact information for everyone who claims your coupon added right into your account. We even make managing redemption a snap. You can track used coupons using our a mobile app, in your account, or from a printed file.
- So how do you create a great offer? I have 5 steps that will help you achieve success with your offer or promotion
- So now you know more about offers and promotions. You know that there are standard, traditional promotions you can create – like printable coupons and a product or service promotion via email – and you can take your offers and promotions to the next level with Facebook promotions, local deals and trackable coupons. Now let’s create an offer you can share with your customer base. The first step is to consider the goal of your offer [click to build] What will “success” look like? [click to build] Who is the offer for? [click to build] Who will your audience be?
- [click to build] Whether you are selling products, services, or promoting a cause, you want to build your campaign around something that connects to the goals you’ve outlined that will get people to like and share your Page with their friends. Think about what you can offer. [click to build] For a B2C that might be a discount or coupon. B2Bs might consider offering exclusive content like whitepapers, tips or guides. A nonprofit could run a sweepstakes or contest.
- and clear calls to action Next, select the right type of offer for that goal [click to build] Is it revenue? Try a simple coupon, product promotion or a local deal [click to build] Is it List growth? Use a social campaign (Facebook promotion) or a trackable coupon… Make it clear in your offer what you want your audience to do next – tell them about what you want them to do with that offer. Don’t dance around the issue, tell them that you want them to “like” your Facebook Page to get that special offer. Tell them to print out a coupon and bring it in to your store. Ask them to share your offer with their friends and family so you’ll get exposure to potential new customers.
- Are you a B2C (business to consumer)? Here’s some ideas for you when creating your offer: You can create promotions that give fans incentives like a coupon or discount, how-to information, special discounts for social media, and a sweepstakes or contest.
- If you are a B2B (business to business), your knowledge is your best asset. Consider using Facebook promotions to offer special downloads or whitepapers that give tips or insight into your industry or products. There might be seasonal offers you could create for fans who are need your services at different times of the year. If you have the option, you can offer fans a coupon or discount. You can also give them a taste of what you do with a free consultation or demo.
- Nonprofits can use offers to promote their cause, tell their story, increase fundraising and encourage fans to attend their events
- Building a successful offer is an art AND a science. What do I mean by that? Here are 4 things to consider: [click to build] You choose the discount amount, which is the price. [click to build] You choose when the offer runs, meaning when it expires. The offer won’t last forever… [click to build] Next, figure how many you want to offer – do you have the manpower and inventory to support it? We’ll call this the amount, also known as the total number of offers.[Click to Build] [click to build] Then, the terms of the offer, known as the restrictions. These are what will help structure a successful offer for your business. If you want to remember this easily, just tell yourself to consider the [click to build] PEAR!!
- [click to build] It’s extremely important to use all of the tools at your disposal to promote your deal…including e-mail, Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. Here’s two considerations: You can select which list of your customers or supporters you want to send the deal to…which allows you to further connect the right opportunity to the right segment of your customer base. And with respect to “collecting contact information” (remember how much we’ve been pushing that), you can choose to add the information of purchasers of the deal to a specific list (which will make it easier to follow up with them later) Start by promoting your offer by emailing your list about it, and schedule an email reminder. You can also publish it to your Facebook page and schedule a series of posts to run throughout the duration of your campaign. Include it in your email newsletter, promote it in your store, post it on all of your social networks, share it on your other social networks, and write a blog post about it. You never know who might catch your messages on these other channels – your followers can easily share them and pass them on to their networks. So every tweet, email, and blog post is another chance to get yourself in front of new customers.
- Encourage sharing You want your customers that have purchased the deal the tools to further promote it for you. This is the personal recommendation of your business, from one friend or family member to another. There are tools that make it easy for them to share the deal on their social networks or to a select group of people by email. What do you use as a bonus to get buyers to share your deal with others? It really depends on your business, but offering $5, $10, or 10% off the “next” visit coupon is recommended. The best part is YOU get to choose, so if you have other products, services, or a whole other side of the business you want to showcase, use the share bonus to introduce your deal buyers to that aspect of your business. For example, you as a salon may offer a discount on a mani/pedi if you customers purchase a massage deal and share the massage deal with their connections. A restaurant may offer a free appetizer, dessert, or 10% off the “next” visit bonus coupon for those who buy then share the deal. Make the incentive for sharing attractive to encourage sharing the deal with others.
- Some of the tools you can use to plan and promote events return your results instantaneously, and others take 24 hours – some tools used to run webinars will take that long for the recording and list of attendees and non-attendees. Make sure you know which option your tool is so you can plan accordingly. In either case, once the event is concluded, [click to build] you can go ahead and check your results and reporting and get a few different things. You can pull a list of attendees and no-shows. Once you have your list, send an email to attendees and to registrants that didn’t attend. To attendees, send all the resources. If you had a live event, photos videos, results like who won raffle prizes or silent auction prizes, additional info you’ll be sharing on your webpage – send a link. Make sure to nurture them to the next step, whatever step you decide, with a call to action. And make sure that next step stands out. Some common CTA are to ask questions on a Facebook page, purchase a product, start a trial, attending the next event. For non-attendees, send a Sorry-you-couldn’t-attend, Here’s-what-you-missed email, provide a recording or photos or videos, and let them know when the next event is. Use the follow up email to drive registrations. You can use the reporting features to check on revenue from ticket sales or donations (if the tool you’re using allowed you to collect them) And if you asked questions during the registration process and that information can be synced with your attendee lists, you can go ahead and start segmenting your lists of names based on responses. This will help you with your follow-up over time.
- And don’t forget to say Thank you.
- How did you do? Did you meet your goals? [click to build] check the results to see how you did over the duration of the deal If yes, congrats!! If you beat your goals by a big margin, can you pinpoint why? (better than expected response to your promotion? really effective consideration of the “right offer for the right audience?” bit of sandbagging ? all of the above?) What are the things you think worked that you’ll be sure to do again the next time? If no, don’t despair – you learn valuable lessons with each effort! If you missed your targets, try to pinpoint why you fell short. (Did your promotion fail to land where it needed to? Did you choose the wrong audience for your offer? Was your timing off? Did you set unrealistic expectations?) Even if you missed your goals, are there one or two things that you can point to that did work, that you can build on for the next time? Keep track of who took advantage of the offer or promotion – maybe even tag those people in your list, so they can be the intended audience for future offers, or for surveys about what promotions you do run, etc.
- Do it again!! Don’t just run a promotion once and then give up – regardless of whether you’re successful or not. Here are two examples of small businesses that ran first one campaign and then another soon after: ZukaBaby, parenting boutique in New Orleans [click to build] offered a coupon for natural mom and baby products, and then [click to build] did a different deal for clothing http://blogs.constantcontact.com/product-blogs/local-deals-and-loyalty/savelocal-smart-coupons/ Island Natural Markets, natural grocer in British Columbia, [click to build] offered a coupon for a free cleaning product, and then [click to build] ran a sweepstakes for a free trip http://blogs.constantcontact.com/product-blogs/social-media-marketing/how-to-turn-facebook-fans-into-customers/ Now, they found success running more than one deal, but they did so in part because they kept a few things in mind: Think about the different questions we asked in looking at the success/failure of your promotion relative to your goals – use the answers to those questions as the springboards to your next campaign. CAUTION: don’t create “deal fatigue” in your audience!! Use deals and offers effectively (which usually means “sparingly”) – think about what we said were good reasons for running offers. If you’re running deals and offers all the time, then you’re effectively setting a standard price or experience that falls below where your original intentions were. With “sparingly” in mind, you’re the only one who knows your audience and the frequency you can get away with. (If you’re not sure, ask them in a survey or a poll.) So, make sure you do it again. Good marketers have a steady stream of marketing campaigns throughout a given year. You won’t want to do the same thing every time, but you will want to keep engaging your audience and encouraging them to share with new offers every month. You can give fans exclusive content for your next campaign, or a limited time offer or discount, maybe you choose an offer based around certain holidays. Take a few minutes to think about what you can offer each month and you’ll quickly have a marketing plan for the next year.
- So to recap. What are the 5 Steps to Creating a Great Offer? Select an attainable, trackable goal of the offer, select the right type, create+control – the “PEAR”, distribute/promote/encourage sharing, results + follow-up
- So here’s a promotion exercise you can do to plan out your next offer and promotion: Choose your offer type. Write down the goal of your offer Choose the offer that will accomplish your goal Set the price, expiration date, number of offers, and the terms.
- As you get started on your promotion or offer, here’s some don’ts to keep in mind: [click to build] Don’t assume you have to offer a steep discount. What’s important is the type of offer that will generate the most attention from your audience. What have you done in the past? What will make them excited and want to share it with their friends and family? [click to build] Don’t assume getting someone through the door once is enough. Growing your business takes a commitment to building relationships with your target audience. It takes more than just a positive deal experience to get people to come back. Follow up with an exclusive offer or piece of content and ask them to follow you on social media or join your email list. [click to build] Don’t use deals as a way just to sell unwanted inventory. While it may make sense on paper to move unwanted inventory, if you’re selling a product no on wants in the first place, you could be undermining the success of your deal and the success of your business. [click to build] Don’t forget to redeem the coupons! Not only will keeping track of redemption keep you more organized and prevent errors, it will also enable you to learn more from each deal you run. [click to build] Don’t forget to thank the people that participate. This will add to their experience with you and make it a positive one!
- Yes, they can help you bring in more revenue. And remember that offers and deals aren’t always about getting new customers. It’s about rewarding your current customers and making them loyal, repeat customers. This group is more likely to spread positive word-of-mouth about you to their friends and family. This will help you to identify your “best” supporters. Reach out to them, grow your relationship with them. Your best customers already know, like, and trust you. Reward them for being your best customers. In the end, you’ll end up attracting new customers just like them. Reward your best customers They’re most likely to spread positive word-of-mouth about you Identify your “best” supporters
- I want to thank you for joining me today…I’m going to take questions in the last minutes of our webinar, but first, I have a few suggestions for next steps you might take next if you’re interested more in what The URL Dr. and Constant Contact has to offer. The URL Dr. is online marketing and web design firm that specializes in small business marketing. You can visit our website to view our services and pricing at www.TheURLdr.com
- All of the various offer, promotion, and deal techniques I discussed today including mobile marketing can all be done with Constant Contact’s new all in one Toolkit product. When you sign up for Constant Contact through The URL Dr. (for the same great low price)
- You also get our new online training for Constant Contact Toolkit, absolutely free. I developed this online learning system especially for Toolkit customers. To get it you can visit theurldr.com and from our home page [Click to Build] Click on this orange button that says “Get Online Training for Toolkit Free”
- Then you’ll have the opportunity to [Click to Build] sign up for Toolkit and the learning tool, if you don’t have it yet and you’re ready to get started on your new online marketing campaign [Click to Build] If you already have Toolkit, you can still get the online training by clicking on this button and filling out the form. This system is designed to walk you through the set up of Toolkit, all the best practices in email, social media, online promotions, event marketing, and using online surveys, and then it walks you through how to implement these different marketing efforts in your business with Toolkit.
- I have one more fun announcement. For all of our attendees today, you have the opportunity to win a featured spot on my new radio show, “Prescriptions for Online Success.” My new show will premiere on Saturday, June 7th at 1:30 PM on AM1450 The Source out of Frederick, MD, but we’ll also be streaming audio and video of every show to The URL Dr.’s website and our new Prescriptions for Online Success website. Each show will have a segment where we bring on real small businesses who have a problem with their online marketing or their website. They’ll get a free exam and a prescription from The URL Dr. Then they’ll be invited on the show to talk about the results they got. It should be a lot of fun, but we really need you to help make this a success, so go to The URL Dr.’s Facebook page and like us to enter. You’ll get a follow-up email that will ask you a couple of questions about what you are struggling with. We’ll go through all the entries and pick a winner to work with on the air.
- If you have a question for me on any type of online marketing or website problem you’re having, you can visit PrescriptionsForOnlineSuccess.com/ask-the-url-dr-question/ And you can send me a voice message. Just click on the Start recording button and you can record up to a 3 minute question. Include your name and company in the recording and it may be answered on my radio show or in my social media. At the very least, you’ll be sent an email with a response.
- So here’s all the contact information once again. Now let’s take some questions from our audience.