Our Tuesday Twitter Tips #TuesdayTips have been running for nearly 3 years now and have had numerous retweets, favourites and shares from our followers. These 140 character soundbytes are crammed full of useful information and advice for you to apply to your business. These have been so popular that we thought it was worth sharing them all with you in one easy to use list. So here goes:
- Avoid Email Overload. Only check email every few hours. Use inbox as a to-do-list; file or delete anything that’s not actionable
- UCB - think Unique Customer Benefits not USP
- Website hits, concentrate on quality not quantity
- Don't sell on price alone. Focus on creating value so that the perception of price becomes insignificant make sure you're compliant with Data Protection and Freedom of Information Acts with your marketing
- The power of testimonials. Make sure you're actively acquiring & effectively using testimonials in your marketing. Always seek permission first though!
- Are you rewarding loyal clients? 68% of customers leave because they think you do not care
- Ensure marketing is consistent & integrated!
- Confused about Intellectual Property? Download the IPO's useful guide to patents, trade marks, copyright & designs
- What makes a website successful? Good design, copy, readability & usability - all addressing your vistors wants & needs of course!
- How can you differentiate your brand? Using bespoke photography & video is a great way to engage & get your brand's personality across
- Newsletters, whether printed or digital are a great communication tool to inform & educate, encourage loyalty & referrals, promote offers & much more!
- Website traffic is meaningless; action is everything. Your website should attract prospects, get them to the info they're interested in & then bring them to ENGAGE with you.
- Santa's coming! Perfect time to tempt clients with offer on dental & facial treatments for party season. Or why not offer gift vouchers?
- Gender differences; in US 80% consumer decisions by females. Females more likely to talk about purchase decisions therefore more likely to refer via word of mouth
- Add the WOW factor to your printed items with texture, colour & special finishes -think touchy, touchy, likey, likey!
- Panicking about not doing all the things you're told you're supposed to? DON'T, focus on the things you are doing well....& do them better!
- Principles of marketing: people feel first and think second. Appeal emotionally to your audience through branding & engagement.
- Get a real plant or two in your work environment - research has linked plants with increased productivity, improved creativity and lower stress.
- Don't make things more complicated than they need to be. Clear, consice, compelling communication - the Ronseal approach!
- add a ps to your letters/emails with special offers & marketing messages etc - the eye is automatically drawn to it
- Think of marketing as a concept not just an activity. Put the needs & wants of your target market at the core of EVERYTHING you do
- Feedforward not back. Don't dwell on what has happened (feedback), look to the future (feedforward) in a postive manner.focus your energy on solutions not problems
- Take time out to relax, eat well and exercise. Running a biz is stressful. To ensure you continue to operate effectively and give your business every chance of success you need to keep yourself healthy - mind, body & spirit.
- 2012 is set to see a rise in community love & a resurgence of local marketing. Build trust within your community & get involved
- Remember the 80:20 Rule. 80% of your turnover/profit will come from 20% of your clients. Are you focusing your efforts appropriately?
- Don't forget to add links to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and so forth to your email sign off
- Adopt an integrated & consistent approach to your marketing. Complement your online and offline marketing to reinforce your message.
- Get smart with your database. Don't batch & blast to everyone, take the time to segment to specific needs and wants to ensure a more targeted approach
- Make sure you deal with brochure requests promptly. Make the effort to write a personal covering letter. A little effort goes a long way & makes the right impression.
- Marketing isn’t just about generating sales in the short-term. It’s about effectively communicating with your audience, building client trust, establishing and maintaining relationships and obtaining loyalty.
- Remain positive. View a problem as an opportunity to improve so seek out issues that are holding you back and turn them around
- Having professional photos done for your marketing? Be photographed at 11am when puffy eyes & skin from sleeping have faded & afternoon tiredness hasn't begun to show.
- Don’t think too much or you’ll create a problem that wasn’t even there in the first place. Evaluate situations and take decisive action.
- Don't value what's measurable measure what's valuable!
- Communicate & touch base with your clients regularly - the more time people spend with a brand, the more loyal they will be. E-newsletters are a great vehicle for keeping you at the forefront of your clients mind
- Don’t foget National Smile Month 20 May - 20 June. Help @smilemonth promote great oral health Visit www.nationalsmonth.org for ideas
- Success is built on teamwork. There's no I in TEAM! R your team all working together & pulling in the same direction? Does everyone know what part they play in achieving business goals?
- Schedule tricky mind taxing jobs between 10-11am when your brain power will be sharpest. We pay attention, concentrate & perform cognitive complex tasks better late morning
- make your signup form visible on your website (not tucked away) to make it easier for visitors to opt-in and be added to your mailing list
- How can patients trust you if they don't hear from you between visits? Communicate regularly to maintain the relationship
- Try Posters - they can be a great, cost effective way of promoting specific treatments/services. Stick to one purpose & one message "less is more"
- Remember that blogs have a long shelf shelf (unlike email) & can work really well when integrated with other marketing communications
- Remind customers of everything you offer. Never assume that even your most reliable customers are completely aware of all the products and services you offer: you need to remind them regularly.
- Experiences make people feel good. Think about your client journey and all the touchpoints they have with you. How can you make it better?
- Colour is a powerful psychological tool. If you want to find our how you can use colour to influence read our article
- “The cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.” (Oscar Wilde) Make sure your clients know the value of your offering
- Make time at the end of your working day to create the next day's to-do-list. It keeps you focused, ensures you prioritise and alleviates stress!
- DRIP DRIP DRIP - All marketing messages should Differentiate, Remind, Inform & Persuade
- Don't get blindsighted. Ensure you have a social media strategy in place - Followers, likes & subscribers are Vanity.. Actual sales are sanity :)
- Identifying your ideal client/customer/patient is crucial to the success of your marketing strategy
- "People with goals succeed because they know where they're going. It's as simple as that" - words of wisdom from Zig Ziglar (and he has the coolest name!)
- Focus. Be wary of 'multitasking' when in actual fact you're busy doing lots of things and not actually finishing any of them! Much better to focus on one thing at a time & get it finished (easier said than done we know)
- Remember to change your 'selling' mindset from USBs to UCBs- Unique Customer Benefits - put the customer first and stress what you can offer them.
- Don't be shy to ask for referrals or testimonials - if you don't ask you don't get.
- Don't ignore the importance of the humble business card - it serves as a recall, it promotes your brand, aids networking & referrals & can be an ice breaker. Make sure yours gives the right impression
- What makes a brand successful?- Clarity, Credibility, Connection, Motivation & Loyalty. Be focused with your brand strategy
- Be wary of trying to say too many different things. Maintaining a constant message builds long-term recognition and recall of your brand
- Attracting new clients/patients/customers through referrals is the cheapest and best method of marketing around!
- Before you speak THINK - is it True? Is it Helpful? is it Inspiring? Is it Necessary? Is it Kind? Tact goes a long way.
- Review all of your client/patient communications. Every communication matters, because if it's worth writing it should be worth reading.
- when sending out marketing emails ensure your 'from' name is easy to recognise & consistent every time you email. This will improve opening rates and build brand familarity
- Advertising giants Ogilvy & Mather believe that big ideals are platforms for big ideas. When a brand is fully in tune with its ideal, the ideas flow more easily.
- Get into the habit of making all your obectives SMART - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Targeted and timed
- Use post-it notes to add that personal note to standard sales communications. The eye is drawn to it & it's more engaging
- Don't treat customer complaints in isolation, check for more systemic issues. This could unearth some useful insights.
- When developing a website the first and most important question to ask yourself is 'why do I need a website?'
- Don't overburden your newsletter with too much info. Make it useful, informative, relevant and a good read
- "The goal is not to be better than the other man but to be better than your previous self" Hindu Proverb
- Price & Product are obviously important but Service is what really can give you the edge over competitors
- remember the golden rule of marketing - right message via the right channel to the right audience at the right time
- Create experiences and make people feel good. People leave due to being treated with indifference so treat them well
- What looks good is a matter of opinion. What works is a matter of fact. Don't underestimate the power of quality design
- Make an effort with your use of language to bring meaning and feeling to otherwise bland descriptions
- You cannot rely on one method of marketing to make you successful. Integrate your marketing to acheive your goals
- Ask patients/clients what their prefered method of communication is; a simple way to give your message a greater chance of getting through
- You can't be great-at anything-unless you put in an incredible amount of focused effort. There are no shortcuts or overnight successes.
- Don't fear 'selling' - it is the foundation of business. Think of it as communicating the benefits of working with you and overcoming objections. It doesn't have to be about pressuring people into things.
- don't write for everyone - write for someone. Your writing will be much more effective if you have an idea of who you're trying to reach
- it takes an average of seven touches to convert a "suspect" to a "prospect" so ensure you have a regular, consistent, planned communication programme
- Good quality images on your website, used consistently will enhance the user experience & boost conversion
- Now is the ideal time to launch a loyalty scheme as the economic climate in the UK means customers respond well to offers and incentives
- Want to be successful? Strive for excellence in all that you do and put the customer at the heart of your business
- People are more loyal to businesses when the staff are well informed and able to answer questions. Make sure your frontline staff know their stuff!
- Make sure you offer value to your clients on what they perceive to be value for money - what's important to them?
- In business abide by this mantra - turnover is vanity, profit is reality and cash is sanity
- Don't forget to use your email signature as a 'pull' - reaffirm why your clients use you and should continue to do so
- It is vital to build trust and add value to clients over time. Consistent, regular communication is key
- Unless you have a limitless budget, take time to define your target market. Start by looking at your existing clients; who are they, what do they like, how to they purchase etc
- You cannot please all the people all the time but if you are specific about who you are targeting, you can please the right people all of the time
- To arrive at your brand essence sum up the one thing that defines the qualities, personality and uniqueness of your brand
- the most valuable part of social media is driving recommendations with authenitc mentions from your real customers
- Try to satisfy both emotion and logic with your marketing messages
- Always check with your patients/clients that you have the contact details you have for them are up-to-date
- Websites should answer for your customers 'how we can help you' not just be about what you do
- Consider that what you focus on is what you are likely to attract more of
- Add social sharing buttons to your blog & other web pages to encourage interaction with your content
- When planning your social media content, 80% should be giving and 20% promotional
- Think about lifetime value and not just transactional value
- Case studies are important credibility builders
- Branding should come before marketing
- Regularly remind your customers of everything that you can offer them
- No website page should be a dead-end. Every page should open a door to further useful & engaging content
- Don't just do something because you think you should, tie it in with your strategy
- Be careful not to de-value what you do. People tend not to value things that they don't pay for so ensure adding value isn't costing you too much
- Focus - it takes 4 times longer to complete a task when its interrupted (John Medina - Brain Rules)
- Ensure good cashflow for your business. Log invoices, payments and reconcile your bank statement regularly.
- Remember to listen. Proactive listening is by far the most underused online marketing tactic.
- Content is the fire and social media the fuel - ensure relevance in your communications
- Mobile is how people use the internet now. Ensure your website is mobile compatible
- “If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.” Red Adair
- Courtesy of @Farsight_media - don't try too hard, sometimes it's best to engage your audience with believable messages to reach them most effectively
- Answer the following for web visitors - where am I? Where do I go next? What's it delivering to me?
- Remember we don't fully read web pages, we scan them and skim read so don't overload your visitors
- Try to write as though you are conversing with each individual person not broadcasting to a mass audience
- Put marketing at the heart of your business - it is the key driver of success
- Unleash your creativity: it implies a readiness to experiment; an ability to think differently - all qualities for success
- Consider Bill Bernbach's belief that, "Dullness won't sell your product, but neither will irrelevant brilliance."
- Authenticity breeds trust, and trust breeds business.
- Change is where desire meets action - make the systematic changes to get where you want to go. YOU are the change agent so make it happen
- Tell don't sell. Communicate with your audience. No one wants a hard sell.
- Be a people person. Never stop networking, follow all leads, and participate in relevant conversations wherever you find them
- Don't go looking for new fans. Look for ways to encourage people to engage with your brand instead of just following
- "Managers do things right, while leaders do the right thing." Have the courage to trust your instincts.
- New research suggests that consumers have a more positive attitude to content marketing (57%) than they do towards traditional advertising (10%) Campaign, Oct 2013
- Aim to put most of your efforts into the 20 per cent of customers who provide 80 per cent of profits.
- Accuracy of any sort is goal orientated. If u wish to communicate clearly, you must first know the message you wish to relay - and then speak with exact intent
- Plans are nothing but planning is everything' Wise words from Eisenhower
- Is a 12 month planning cycle right for you? Often 18 months cycles work better
- Digital marketing - sell, speak, share, save and sizzle
- Think behavioural criteria rather than demongraphics when segmenting your market
- Innovation and marketing are the two most important functions within a business
- Be careful of analysis paralysis. Be sure you're making use of data not just collecting it for the sake of it
- Don't try to do too much. Do what you do really well - focus
- Measure outcomes not outputs. Measure strategically - 1000 website hits -great -but what does that mean in terms of biz goals?
- Just ask. Tweets ending with a “?” get higher engagement than those without (from Twitter themselves)
- 'Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” ~ Lou Holtz
- Looking to improve your message? People don't buy products they buy better versions of themselves - what can you offer?
- Think about it: “Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust.” - Zig Ziglar
- Keep in touch with customers in a low pressure way - earn trust, gain loyalty
- A picture is worth a thousand words. Use images, pictures, video & logos in your social media to represent your business
- 'Treasure the folks willing and able to develop a point of view about the big picture'. Seth Godin
- Could removing pop-ups & auto play videos on your site reduce bounce rates? Test & see.
- Take advantage of Google's free tools. Make sure you've claimed your Google + page.
I hope these are and will continue to be useful for you. Please share with your clients!
If you want and more information about any of these or to find out how we can help your business to grow, then call 01242 236600 or email me zoe@bluehorizonsmarketing.co.uk
