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Month: February 2013

The Land of Email Marketing Strategies & Tactics

When it comes to email marketing strategies and tactics for small business, maybe it’s time we shed some light on the subject for those of you who are in the land of small business.

Ever seen an email message that landed in your inbox and you just knew it was going to be another advertisement with Sale! Sale! Sale! written all over it?

We all have and that’s why today’s topic is kicking off a series about email marketing and its direct correlation to direct response marketing. Now there’s more than enough articles and info products out there on the web about these two subjects, and even I have plenty of meat and potatoes right here at clickandmortarblog.com should you need some.

My point is this…

If you, the small business owner or manager is going to utilize email marketing in your business to build your customer base, then why don’t you test, use best practices and work towards connecting with your subscribers?

I know this takes time, effort, and planning and good copywriting. Yes – good copywriting is part of the equation when it comes to developing emails that get opened, read and clicked. Decent copywriting and creative can be the difference of an unopened email and one that gets thoroughly read and clicked.

More and more I see small business owners using email to ‘blast’ the people who have signed up or not signed up to their list. And the blasts they send are sale focused, not connection focused. 

This is not engaging, does not build credibility and is frankly very annoying.

The last thing a consumer or businessperson wants is another advertisement landing in his or her email inbox that screams sale! They already receive enough of these as it is and your pitch and shove doesn’t make them any happier or more eager to buy.

Soooo…. 

You, my small business friend, must look at the emails you create and send as more than just a digital version of a newspaper or magazine ad. These messages that are sent through cyberspace to the people whom have entrusted you with their email, are more than just advertisements.

These messages are relationship and bridge builders or at least the majority of them should be. Yes, you read that correctly. The majority of your email messages should be bridge builders and setups for a demolition crew!

The vast majority of the messages you send to your subscriber lists should be to build relationships, bridges, connections and if done properly – sales and long-term streams of revenue.

And with time-tested proven direct response tactics & strategies, you can make this happen in your email campaigns and even in your offline marketing. It makes no difference what business you are in; you can save yourself a lot of headaches and lost revenue by embracing direct response email marketing strategies and tactics that will work over the long haul.

So rest assured my small business friend, you too could attract, capture, connect and convert without screaming sale in every single email.

Look for more about how you can do this, right here at Clickandmortarblog.com (series to be continued) and through our friends at Smallbiz Mechanix.

Dave Krygier
Publisher 

How to Market a Restaurant that Could… Not!

It’s a really bad day when I hear about another small business that is going to close down and shut its doors to never open again; especially when it’s a fairly new restaurant in my own neck of the woods. The sad thing is that this restaurant I am referring to was one we were looking to work with, but the owner refused to get together with us to help him drive traffic and new business.

Over the past 6 to 9 months I’ve been watching the show Restaurant Impossible on the Food Network along with a few other shows with similar formats. What drew me to this show is the simple fact that these small businesses seem to be so close to going under, and then Chef Robert Irvine comes in in just a few days to save the establishment.

What’s been so intriguing about the RI show and the others that are similar to it is the simple fact that there are so many restaurants failing throughout the USA. It really blew my mind when I saw that there were four shows having to do with restaurants in trouble and then a local restaurant by our home went under along with a few others.

Should we have done something different in the ways of prospecting? Maybe so, but at this stage of the game, getting to a restaurant owner who thinks he has it all figured out is like attempting to break up pavement with a hammer.

Here are few steps you can take so you Know How to Market a Restaurant, Increase Sales and Avoid Losing Customers:

  1. Track your food costs.
  2. Create and Implement a Staff Manual. 
  3. Survey your Customers. It’s cheap and will open your eyes.
  4. Setup & Optimize Listings on Urban Spoon, Trip Advisor, Google and Yahoo. This is the short list.
  5. Market your Restaurant via Mobile. This means phones and tablets, so you’ll need an optimized site that is easily viewable and clickable.

Now even with these tips and suggestions we share with you here at Click and Mortar Blog and at Small Biz Mechanix, you still might get stuck or even very frustrated.

I mean even the Restaurant Impossible crew could come in and fix your place of food and beverage, and you still might fail or have continued trouble, if you don’t change your mindset, staff, food or marketing.

That’s right…

You, the owner or manager, need to start with your way of thinking and this takes work and time.

In one case, RI did their thing and supposedly fixed the ailing, failing restaurant but some thing didn’t gel or setup correctly and this establishment ended up with some bad reviews after the fact. This is really sad considering that the owner had a fresh start and lots of momentum created by a crew that knows how to set things straight.

So, I would recommend that you, Mr./Mrs./Miss Owner or Manager, review the tips above, look in the mirror and then get busy!

To your restaurant’s success,

Dave Krygier
Publisher 

PS:  BTW – if you really want to know how to market a restaurant and increase sales, connect with The Small Biz Mechanics and they’ll set you up. 🙂

Turn Up the Radio & Go Mobile

Back in 1987 I entered the world of radio as a young buck with zero broadcast experience. But I was able to go mobile with my EF Johnson car phone.  It was a whirlwind adventure as I learned about the broadcast medium that would be a part of my life until late 2004.

From promotions to commercials to jingles to business…I sure had a good time during those years. And I never worked as an employee for one station. I was always on the agency and client side of the equation.

Today radio is morphing into an online medium that is really proving itself in certain markets.

When you consider that listeners can download a mobile app and stay connected to any number of stations 24/7, it’s a wonderful way to attract and connect for a small business or organization. I mean, it’s become trackable due to the web and now you can measure, test and really see what works. So why not go mobile with your marketing by attracting and connecting with digital radio.

Before the mobile technology, we had to use phone numbers, tracking URL’s, online registration forms or actual physical paper to really get a good idea if a campaign was working. It was just so difficult to measure, even using these methods.

Now you can reach your audience 7 days a week, and if you really understand and implement direct response marketing you can see and track the results very fast. Plus you can even split test.

Now maybe I’m a little slow to the party and that’s probably the case but know that I really believe you as a business owner could possibly be attracting new customers, clients, patients or subscribers, sooner than later by utilizing online radio via mobile.

The radio of old is still a viable format for reaching certain audiences, but know that by combining the old with the new, you can target, reach and attract people to your offer like never before. It’s a growing online segment that is worth serious investigation and mark my words as the world of mobile continues to grow by leaps and bounds you will see the radio apps appearing on more and more mobile phones, pads and tablets.

Radio might still be an old medium to many traditionalists, but to this writer the future looks very bright as the digital age brings about the changes.

Yes, my loyal reader, the digital age is bringing about a change that you can either embrace or ignore. It’s that simple. You can be apart of this massive shift and attract new customers or sit on the sidelines and watch your competitors clean your clock.

So now is the time to go mobile and utilize digital radio. Turn it on, turn it up and you could see new business coming your way in a jiffy.

To your mobile marketing success,

Dave Krygier
Publisher

PS – The Small Biz Mechanics have been busier than ever working on the latest mobile marketing solutions, plus they’ve been tuning up a few old fixer uppers. If your old clunker marketing needs an overhaul, they might be able to look under the hood and tweak a few things.