|
A Marketing Article by Bill Glazer: "The #1
Most Celebrated Advisor to the Retail Industry"
"Top Ten Mega Marketing Mistakes That
Retailers Make"
 I can’t emphasize enough how important
it is to know mistakes, because just by knowing them and avoiding them,
you can make a HUGE difference in the balance of your bank account. Now
don’t feel bad if you identify with most of these as I go through them.
I’m proud to say that I have made every one of them sometime during my
retail career.
#1: The first mistake is
“Being An Advertising Victim.” And it’s real easy to be an
Advertising Victim. You see, some advertising sales rep or agency comes
by and tells you that you need to advertise because you need to
advertise. And they want to sell you “institutional” advertising instead
of “direct response” advertising. The difference is obvious. In fact,
it’s right in the name. Institutional advertising is advertising like
Coca Cola, Dell Computers, or the Goodyear Blimp. This is advertising
where you can’t measure your results. They tell you that when someone is
ready for your particular product, they will now think of you and shop
your stores. If you fall victim to this - YOU’LL GO BROKE. The only
companies that can afford this type of advertising are the Coca Colas,
the Dell Computers, or the Goodyear’s of the world. What you want to do
and ONLY do is emotional direct response advertising. That’s advertising
where every dollar you spend is measurable and accountable.
#2: The next mistake is “Lack Of An
Iron Clad System For Customer Data Collection.” How many times does
a customer shop your stores and you are not able to continue to
communicate with him because you do NOT know how to contact him? The
real gold in ANY business is in the customer base. It is 10 times easier
to get an existing customer to return than it is to get a new customer
in your store. Plus, returning customers will spend twice as much per
visit as new customers. What would happen to your businesses if you had
to constantly rely on selling new customers instead of existing ones? So
why do so many retailers not collect the necessary information to allow
them to continue to market to their most valuable asset—THEIR CUSTOMERS?
In my own retail stores, we get the
name, address, phone number, e-mail address, and complete purchase
history on over 98% of our customers. If I would let you look at out
database, which I wouldn’t for proprietary reasons, you would see
complete contact information for over 57,000 customers. I could just
market to my existing customers and continue to grow my business every
year, totally immune to outside factors.
#3: How many of you “Lack
Diversification In Your Marketing?” I’m continually amazed at how
many retailers still are NOT aware of the vast number of different types
of media that they can “cost effectively” use to market their
businesses. Let me prove it to you. Have you ever heard of an
advertising media called Voice Broadcast? Well, let me tell you one
thing about this powerful media. EVERY one of you, I don’t care what you
are selling - either high price or bargain basement merchandise - should
be using this automated technology. I am always amazed at how many
retailers do NOT even know about cost effective advertising methods that
are available to them.
#4: What is the second easiest
customer to sell? Well the answer is a referral. Unfortunately, most
retailers live with the myth that if they treat their customers great
and give them great merchandise, their customers will refer their
friends to them. WRONG. The “Lack Of A Referral Program” is a HUGE
marketing mistake. The last thing that anyone is thinking when they
leave your store is - whom can I send to these nice people so that they
can buy from them. It’s not because they don’t want to. It’s because we
are all too busy to be thinking about it. That’s why you need to have a
“Customer Rewards Referral System” in place, which will give your
customers an incentive to refer - while they are still in your store.
#5: If a referral customer is the
second easiest customer to sell, then whom do you think is the third
easiest customer to sell? The answer is “lost customers.” Again,
most retailers totally ignore the customers that have NOT been in their
store for several years, when in fact, these people are infinitely
easier to sell than new customers - if you know how. Therefore, this
mega marketing mistake is the “Lack Of A Lost Customer Reactivation
Program.”
#6: This next mistake is a BIGGIE. It’s
“Thinking You Are Your Customer.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve
heard retailers tell me that their customers are too sophisticated for
this type of marketing or that type of advertising. This way of
thinking, without testing, can be dangerous. In fact, the most
successful direct mail piece that I ever created is the one where I won
the prestigious RAC award for advertising. I had the best response I
ever had with any direct mail piece I’ve sent out. It is a 5-page
handwritten letter on yellow legal paper. This went to my very best
customers - lawyers, doctors, judges, presidents of multi-million dollar
companies, and the response was phenomenal. There was obviously more to
this than just writing a 5-page handwritten letter on yellow legal
paper. There were many proven direct response techniques used in this
letter, which I teach in my Marketing System. But what is particularly
instructive to note is the fact that just because you might not respond
to something, it doesn’t mean your customers won’t, and you need to be
open to and test new ideas.
#7 & 8: The next two marketing
mistakes actually go together, hand-in-hand. They are “Working ‘In’ Your
Business Instead Of ‘On’ Your Business” and “Not Realizing The Overall
Importance Of Marketing.” They address one of the biggest problems
that I hear from retailers all the time, which is - I’M TOO BUSY. I’m
too busy to do any marketing because I’m the best salesperson and I need
to wait on my customers. Or, I need to shop the market. Or, worse yet, I
need to parent staff. The problem is, you are working “in” your business
instead of “on” your business. If there is one thing that you should
write down and post as a constant reminder, it is this:
STOP SEEING YOURSELF
AS A RETAILER OF YOUR PARTICULAR CATEGORY OF MERCHANDISE,
BUT AS A MARKETER OF A RETAIL BUSINESS THAT SELLS YOUR CATEGORY OF
MERCHANDISE
The marketer of ANY retail business will
be the one who achieves total financial freedom. The real money is in
the marketing, not in actually doing all the tasks within the business.
Setting aside time to work “on” your business instead of “in” your
business will become the most profitable time that you spend during your
retail career. And by all means, make the time to learn marketing.
#9: The next marketing mistake is
“Lack of ‘Shameless’ Self Promotion.” One thing that I have
discovered in speaking to thousands of retailers is that everyone thinks
their particular business is different. Well you’re probably right.
Every one of you has something different or special about your business.
But the mistake you are making is keeping it a secret. You all have a
great opportunity to promote yourselves and your business and the best
part is that you can do it for the cost of a “first class” stamp - just
37 cents. That’s right - learn how to write a simple 1-page press
release and send it out in a #10 envelope. Your local papers and media
are hungry for your story. But they can’t run it unless you give it to
them. Making the mistake that they will seek you out is simply - a
mistake. In fact, over 80% of all local news stories are a result of a
simple press release.
#10: Finally, BIG MEGA MARKETING
MISTAKE #10 - “Too Infrequent Contact With Present Customers.” Now,
I just told you that referrals and lost customers are the 2nd and 3rd
easiest customers to get in your stores, but if you haven’t already
guessed, your present customers are the first. The best way to
accomplish this is to simply increase the frequency of your contacts
with them. It is amazing to me how many retailers think they can mail or
call their customers too frequently. You can, but you are probably not
even close. Here are the facts of a survey conducted by DIRECT Magazine
in 1999:
“The proper frequency
to contact your customers is every 20-days.”
Perhaps even worse, for every month that
you do not contact your customers, you lose your relationship with 10%
of them. So if you wait 10-months, you might as well be mailing to the
phone book.
Recently, I had a conversation with a
new member of my Marketing System who told me that he ONLY does
2-mailings a year to his customer list. I asked him how the mailings
did? To which he replied - great!! Then I said - why not do more? He
gave me the typical answer - I’m afraid of irritating my customers.
Wrong answer. He’s not even close. I mail out 18-mailings a year to my
own store’s customers, plus they get a weekly e-mail. Every one is
highly successful and best of all, the increased frequency of mailings
actually seems to help the overall performance of each of the ads.
Whenever I have a private consulting
client, I can usually be an instantaneous hero just by increasing the
rate of contact with the customer. There’s magic in increased frequency.
So now you have them. The top ten mega
marketing mistakes that retailers make. How many are you currently
making? For more information on the most proven, tested, and successful
system ever assembled for retailers, to give them a step-by-step system
to grow their business, visit:
http://www.bgsnoriskoffer.com/
Also visit
www.NoBSFreeGift.com/RamonVela for a FREE Gift worth $613.93!
Articles © 2008/Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s
Circle LLC. All rights reserved.
To read
More Helpful Marketing Articles by Dan Kennedy
and other Glazer-Kennedy Insider's Circle Experts
Copyright © 2009 | Ramon
Vela, Glendale/Pasadena Local Chapter | All Rights Reserved |
