It’s become the ubiquitous tag line in 2011.  ”Like Us on Facebook & Follow Us on Twitter.”  How many times have you read, heard, seen this one?  Has it EVER convinced you to do what it TELLS you to do?  Nope.  Me either.  Do you see why yet?  If not, read on.

One of my maxims for 2011 internet marketing is this…

Bad marketing ideas don’t get any better when you move them online.

The big problem with the “like us on Facebook” message is that these companies don’t tell us why. Oops.  Rule #1 in building a successful marketing strategy – since about forever – is to make the core of the message about what is important to the customer.

Like Us on Facebook = What’s Important to the Business

The cool thing is, this message is so close to being a winner.  It’s the first 1/2 of an effective message.

Like Us on Facebook & You’ll __________ = What’s Important to the Customer

The question that customers are left with in a lot of advertising – particularly 2011 online advertising – is the one I started this article with – WHY?  Please dear business, tell me

• Why should I like your business on Facebook beyond cluttering up my wall, embarrassing me as my friends are bombarded with your message.
• Why should I give you my email address?  It’s one of the most valuable things I own.  What do I get if I share it with you?
• What will happen if I follow you on Twitter?  Will you teach me stuff, send me offers, entertain me, ask my advise? (Hint – all are good answers.)

In our rush to monetize the audiences that are flocking to social media, businesses need to remember their manners.  Customers generally don’t like to be told what to do.  We especially hate it when we’re not told why.  So do yourself a favor and remember to add the “… and here’s why” piece to your social media requests.  If the offer is sweet enough we might even do what you tell us.

2010 seems to be the year when most businesses here in southern Oregon are really starting to understand that their customers actually do want to hear from them.  The thing is, starting the process may actually damage your customer relationship.  Chances are you will make the mistakes that the wider industry have already stumbled over, learned from, and solved – unless you truly embrace these technologies and a strategy on how to truly leverage them here in 2010.

The first part is to avoid the temptation to become overly enamored with the emerging social media options like Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare.  While they are part of this strategy, and certainly the “shiny new toys” that are gathering so much press these days, they aren’t a be-all-end-all by themselves.  You connect with your customers already in a variety of ways – in person, over the phone, through the mail, and importantly through email.  The process I’m about to describe for you actually apply to all these tools and you should utilize these steps with all of them.  However, I’m going to focus today on email because (1) its probably the most widely accepted by your customers, (2) is relatively inexpensive from a cost and labor standpoint to utilize, and (3) unlike the newer tools has been around for some time and has better developed metrics to date.

So what are other small businesses working on through their email campaigns in 2010.  According to this studyfrom Get Response, there are 5 major trends in email (and by extension all the other ways you connect with your customers) emerging in 2010.  And I’ll give you one more that you should include as well.  The variables to consider in your campaigns should be: (more…)

Everyone knows what email is for in small businesses – its to blast out random emails to random customers and prospects at random intervals in hopes of consistant revenue.  You’ve experienced enough examples of this strategy to know that it is more commonplace than we would hope.

Or worse even, businesses that are afraid of falling into this stereotype avoid using email as a marketing tool altogether.  THAT won’t increase the bottom line.  So while email is not a marketing strategy all by itself, it can be an incredibly important peice of your whole plan.

So where to start – and do so in a good way?  With the low hanging fruit of course.  And for many of you, this fruit can be found in the form of abandoned shopping carts.  Even at the biggest and best online sites, people get part way through a purchase and then unexpectedly leave before making the sale final.  So close!  Yet so far…

That’s were email comes in.  (more…)