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Advertising
10 ways Professional Service companies can increase their profits through marketing
This post was last edited by Alex Cohen, on the February 11, 2011 @ 9:38 am
Marketing a professional services company can often be something you have lots of enthusiasm for but is low on the priority list. However the new business you can win through executing a marketing strategy can pay off many times over and ensure you have business coming to you, rather than you going out and finding it.
To help you with your marketing we’ve created a free step by step guide. The guide provides you with:
- 10 tips to start increasing your profits through marketing instantly
- Advice on what to put in your marketing strategy
- Explores why content is king and how you can create it and repackage it
- Tips on developing and cost effectively building your brand
New marketing tool of 2011 3: Group buying sites
This post was last edited by Alex Cohen, on the February 1, 2011 @ 10:33 am
2010 saw the prominent rise of group buying sites, most predominantly Groupon. If you haven’t heard of Groupon now you sure will in 2011.
What is Group buying?
The group buying phenomenon began in China where it is known as Tuangou (look it up on Wikipedia if you want to know more). The basic premise is people sign-up to receive a daily offer from local businesses. It’s one offer only and the offer does not kick in until a set number of people are on board. Once there are enough people signed up, be it paying for a voucher to get a half price pizza or a one off payment to get a cheap course of hair removal, the offer is on. The site then collects the money and forwards it to the local business. The business then just goes about honouring the deals or contacting the new customers direct.
Whilst Groupon is the market leader Living Social is getting bigger and Google is planning to enter this market with Google Offers in the near future. A host of clones in niche markets also exisit.
Why is group buying good for businesses?
How would you like 20, 50, 100 new customers in one day? How would you like this by not paying any money up front? This is the opportunity group buying sites like Groupon offers. If you’re in a business like pizza or dry cleaning, one that often offers discounts anyway, this is a great way to get even more exposure. If you’re in a business that just needs new customers, group buying might be a big hit. It’s not unusual for group buying offers to have hundreds of people buy in.
How much does group buying cost?
The typical group buying model involves offering a discount of 50% – 90% off your usual selling price. The money taken by the site is then split between you and the site with them getting between 30% – 50%. Yes, you may only end up with 25% of the RRP but remember that’s revenue, not cost and how much marketing budget would it have taken to achieve that?
What businesses are most suited to group buying?
Local B2C businesses will probably find group buying very beneficial, but that’s not to say B2B can’t benefit too. There are lots of different sites out there targeting different demographics.
Does it actually work?
In a word yes. With group buying you get to market your business to thousands of people in one day and potentially get a number of new customers in one day, even if someone doesn’t take up the offer they’ve still seen your name. It’s brand building with instant impact!
Dinnersmith, a small town American restaurant, decided to give Groupon a go last December. They offered a discounted meal at their newly sited restaurant and sold 600 meals on the day the deal went live.
This is just one example of how group buying works. In essence it’s a way of getting hundreds of new customers in a short space of time, who if treated well will become customers for life.
What next?
You’ve got new customers, they’ve tried your service or products – how do you turn them into long term customers? This is where your traditional marketing comes back in. Newsletters, emails, direct mail, interaction on social media will all help build your brand and make sure your new customers don’t forget who you are.
Xander Marketing can support businesses with all of this from setting up your group buying campaign to following up interested parties, just contact us.
New marketing tool of 2011 2: Retargeting
This post was last edited by Alex Cohen, on the January 25, 2011 @ 1:37 pm
Also known as remarketing, retargeting is a simple process that attracts your customers back to your website if they leave without completing a call to action. Fewer than 5% of customers buy the first time they visit a website so whether it’s buying a product or signing up to a service you can ensure your business is kept in the forefront of your visitor’s minds days after visiting your site.
How does Retargeting work?
- A potential customer visits your site
- The customer leaves your site not having completed your CTA
- Your customer then visits other popular sites around the web
- Adverts for your site appear on these sites reminding your customer exactly what they’re missing
What businesses are most suited to Retargeting?
E-commerce businesses that are able to attract 5,000+ monthly visitors to their website but need to increase their conversion rates would probably benefit most from retargeting. However any business that provides a product or service could make use of retargeting, for instance if you offer a free trial of software you could encourage people to download it, or if you use your website to generate leads…get your prospects back on your site and they might just fill in that form.
How much does Retargeting cost?
Prices start from about £325 a month; this gets you the technology to make it all work and about 100,000 impressions. You would need to create banners, implement the code that makes it all work onto your website, optimise your campaigns and manage the technology yourself. If you are happy doing this then this is all it would cost, if you don’t have the time or the resources to do this yourself you could engage with an agency to manage your campaigns for you.
Success stories
Customer support software business Zendesk implemented a retargeting campaign in September 2010 with the view to increase both sales and brand awareness. After one month they achieved an ROI of 1317% resulting from nearly 400 new customers all influenced by the retargeting campaign.
Xander Marketing can support you with retargeting campaigns. Through our relationship with retargeting providers and our design team we can create a campaign that will keep visitors coming back to your website. Get in touch here.
Should you still advertise in the Yellow Pages?
This post was last edited by Alex Cohen, on the January 4, 2011 @ 12:28 pm
The Yellow Pages has been used as the go to directory of UK business since its inception in 1966. Although it is still a popular tool for business advertising today, the comparative rise of print and distribution costs along with the popularity of the Internet means that businesses are questioning whether or not to spend their marketing budgets in the Yellow Pages.
Why should you advertise in the Yellow Pages?
Advertising in the Yellow Pages varies depending on the type of advert and the area you’re advertising in; display costs range from around £200 to over £20k for a double page full colour advert. Depending on the size of your business and the budget you have available it is a huge annual expense.
Here are some of the advantages to advertising in the Yellow Pages:
- The cost is only once a year.
- The Yellow Pages is location and business targeted – your advert is placed under the relevant categories in the right area.
- You have a 24 hour sales presence in customer’s homes as people who use their Yellow Pages regularly normally have it to hand.
Are some industries better suited than others?
For B2C it is can be a good sales tool, especially for service trades such as plumbing, cleaning, garages, and restaurants. There is a new option for restaurants allowing them to put in their full menu in the book. In recent years the Yellow Pages has also added the facility for a company to print discount vouchers and coupons – this is an excellent incentive to both the client and the customer and increases sales for both. This coupled with their new multimedia packages including web and mobile apps means that Yellow Pages still has much to offer the advertiser.
However there has been a steady decline over the years and the book has become slimmer and for many users the Yellow Pages is not necessarily the most convenient option. Many people are now more likely to use the web to find service providers and a well maintained and up-to-date website is much more user friendly than having to trawl through the Yellow Pages.
The Yellow Pages – it’s what I’ve always done!
Whilst there is a common conception for businesses owners saying ‘that’s what I’ve always done’ there are not just disadvantages to advertising in the yellow pages, there are also many potentially better places to spend your marketing pounds.
Some disadvantages of advertising in the Yellow Pages include:
- Businesses only get one shot – make a typo and you are stuck with it for a year.
- You can’t update customers on service or information changes.
- You are competing based solely on price – companies who spend more get larger, prominent adverts.
- It can be difficult to track whether the advertising is working for you
If you are concerned that the Yellow pages might not be suitable for your business, there are plenty of other options open to you to get found:
- Website. An obvious necessity for any business whether listed in the Yellow Pages or not.
- Social Media. Get found online and interact with your customers through tools like Facebook and Twitter
- Direct marketing for targeting specific niches and market segments (direct mail, email marketing and telemarketing)
- Search engine marketing for making the most of existing websites, you can get more qualified traffic and with PPC only pay when someone visits your website
- Free online business directories that increase your overall presence on the web.
An offer: Before thinking of advertising in the Yellow Pages give us a call and we’ll help you decide for free if that’s the best use of your marketing budgets.