‘Hey, quiet month so far… what can we do to increase sales?’
Yes, it’s the peak of summer and marketers are left scratching their head wondering why sales and leads are a little ropey. The ‘but look outside your window every man and his dog is away on holiday’ response no longer cuts it. People want answers.
The customary check-list of summer activity….
- Adwords… check
- Twitter update telling your followers how hot is was on the bus into work this morning…check
- Facebook update telling your followers how busy it was on the bus home yesterday evening…check
- SEO… yep, report in hand, check.
- Content marketing… well, we did a blog last week, check.
- Email… Email?
Yes, we’ve hit the bottom of the list again. It’s time to login to Mailchimp, update the billing details drop in a few more email addresses (that the MD popped across by email a few months back) and churn out the next ‘limited time offer’ email.
What happens next? Well, what did we do last year? That was it… 20% off everything. We’ll roll that out again.
I’ve got a horrible feeling the scene above is being re-enacted in offices up and down the country as I write this. How do I know? Because I’m one of the poor souls on the receiving end.
Call me old-fashioned….
I still can’t think of a more valuable tool readily available to every marketer than their opt-in homegrown email database. You know, the customers that have ACTUALLY used your service. The individuals that have ACTUALLY requested to hear more about your products and services.
Again, call me old-fashioned, but that’s a handy list of people that might actually WANT to find out what you’ve been up to.
Not since last year… but since the last time you did something of note that you would have been happy to tell your nearest and dearest about.
Email is NOT your last chance sales saloon
This isn’t a little toy that you throw into the pram hoping your baby will stop crying for just one moment… this isn’t the last chance available to you. This isn’t a final throw of the dice to try and life sales before your Sales Director steams down the corridor waving a month-by-month report in your tearful face.
If you do not have anything of note to share with your trusted tribe of email recipients you really are in trouble. Email is as close to an online conversation as you can get.
Ding! It’s a moment of distraction for any individual strapped to their desk or mobile during office hours. That little ‘ding!’ emanating from their laptop or iPhone will attract attention. So, don’t blow it by giving them yet another reason to play the game ‘The Hunt For Red Unsubscribe Link’.
If you can’t think of any reason to communicate with your customer base outside of the months where sales suck, then you’ve got to start doing some preemptive groundwork.
Email is for life…not just for summer (and Christmas)
What would I love right now? If you’ve been found guilty of sending out email newsletters during the dry spells only, then you’ve got take some time away from your computer right now. Grab the pen and pad and do some real soul-searching. It’s a sunny day, get a colleague who’s on the front-line (customer facing) and ask them what they’d like to be telling your audience about each month. We’re not even talking a weekly newsletter here. Just something that’s constant and reminds your audience that you exist outside of the sales trough.
I could go on for hours, I’ll leave you to it. Struggling for ideas of what to send your email recipients? Email me. Tell me what you do and I’ll give you some free advice.
If you have the ideas. Start actioning them. Now.
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