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Discover How You Can Use It as a Lead Generation Tool To Attract Customers for Your Business

Online Radio Stations?

Due to their size and ability to reach niche audiences, they tend to attract a much more targeted audience than mass market, traditional radio stations.

Potentially…

This makes advertising on them an attractive proposition to marketers who target niche groups. Moreover, most Internet radio stations will also create podcasts of popular shows – recorded versions that can be downloaded and listened to at any time – creating an added attraction.

So if you are considering advertising on online radio, how do you get started?

The natural starting point is an Internet search to find stations that suit your target audience.  Ideally you will find stations that combine information relevant to your niche with a relevant audience.  If you sell widgets, it might make sense to advertise on Widget Radio – unless, the only people who listen to Widget Radio are widgets makers like you.

Like any traditional station, online stations should be able to provide you with key demographic information about their listeners.  Study this info and listen to the shows before going any further.

Type of Advertising

Depending on the outcome you want, you can choose between audio ads, onsite advertising (like banners or text links) or sponsorship.  Budget permitting, you can combine sponsorship and audio ads with banners and buttons to increase visibility, CTR (click through rate), retain attention for better conversion and ultimately, increased ROI (return on investment).

Tracking

One of the most attractive aspects of internet radio advertising is the simple fact that your customers are only a click away to your website.  Not only can this significantly increase your ROI but it also allows exact, detailed tracking of results.  By carefully measuring what works – and what doesn’t – you can more effectively plan your marketing.

Taken together, the targeted listenership, ability to combine visual and audio advertising and detailed tracking possibilities make internet radio an attractive alternative that could give you a leg up on the competition.

Who’s Listening?

Online Radio Listenership Figures

“In any given week, 8.1 million people listen to radio via the Internet, either live or through a Listen Again service, and 1.87 million listen to a Podcast.” Source: Rajar/Ipsos Mori

In America alone, the number of people watching less TV and spending more time on the internet has grown by more than 400% in the past few years and more than 50% of them have consumed streaming media. Source: Rajar/Ipsos Mori

What Next?

We do it for you: Interested in using online radio to generate leads? Click here for more info about the lead generation services we provide.

Do it yourself: For more lead generation ideas, Download our free report

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What is Permission Based Email Marketing?

Does having permission to email really make a difference?  Effective email marketing is at the heart of any good lead generation program online.

But…

Emailing people who have not requested your information is spam and can land you in trouble with potential customers, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and even the law.  Permission or opt in email marketing is the only kind of bulk email marketing you should be considering.  But what kind of permission do you need? What does permission mean? And once you’ve got permission what should you do with it?

What Does Permission Mean and What Type of Permission Do You Need?

Permission means that a customer has actively said that they would like to receive more information from you.  For example, if you ask people to download a special report by providing their email address you need to make it clear that you will then send them further information.  This should be done with a clear statement and what is called a ‘double opt in’.  A double opt in is where the customer first signs up for information on your website.  They then receive an email to confirm that they would like further information and a link to finalize it. Using double opt in ensures that your customers really do give their permission.

Forgetting to tick a box to ‘opt out’ is not the same as opting in.

What do You do When You Have Permission?

Once you’ve got permission you can safely contact your prospective customers by email.  You should bear in mind three points of good permission-based email marketing; your communications should be relevant, personal and expected.

• Relevant means they are on a topic that interests your prospects.
• Personal means that you based your communications on what you know about your customers and prospects – previous customers wouldn’t get the same message as a new prospect for example
• Expected means that they know what they will receive and when they will receive it – if you said that you will send them a newsletter once a month, sending a sales pitch once a week is not OK.

Permission is dependent on you living up to your end of the bargain.  Prospects can easily decide to stop receiving your message (and you need to make it easy for them to do so) or simply ignore them when they arrive.  There’s no point in having a huge list if nobody reads your emails.

Growing Your Permission Over Time

In the same way that a customer can take away their permission they can also increase it.  As a marketer your job is to increase permission over time – from getting permissionto send email, to getting the OK to show up for a sales call, to closing the sale, to offering new products or services to existing customers.

This all takes time – which means you need to plan your permission based email marketing campaign as an ongoing program.

Some Practical Points on Permission Based Email Marketing

Your Opt In Process: Your opt in process will usually start with a simple form on your website.  Keep the initial information to a minimum – email and name will usually do.

You can and should use an auto-responder (a piece of software that sends out pre-written emails) to handle the sign up process.  It’s not a great idea to try and send bulk email from your normal email program.  A professional solution is best and there are plenty to choose from.

For a small list you should be expecting to pay as little as $20-30 a month ( some examples include constant contact, i contact, get response).  Most professional services can help you manage multiple lists, will have email templates for you to use and provide good tracking tools so you can see how each email you send performs.

What Next?

We do it for you: If you’d like help developing your own permission based email campaign, Click here for more info about the lead generation services we provide

Do it yourself: For more lead generation ideas, Download our free report

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How to Make Your Business More Referral Friendly

Are you getting as many referrals from your referral marketing?  Do your customers send you new business?  What about your contacts or other businesses you deal with?  If you provide a high quality product or service but are not getting the number of referrals that you would like, then a simple, planned referral program can be a great way of getting more.

Your referral program should include:

• A referral reward
• Simple referral tools
• Plenty of promotion

Referral Marketing Step One: Rewarding Your Referrals

Rewarding the people that send you referrals is not only the right thing to do but it can also encourage more people to do the same. You have a few choices to make when it comes to rewarding referrals:

1. The first is the reward itself. In some cases it might be appropriate to use a financial reward – say 10% of the value of the business.  This is often a good choice when trying to get referrals from other businesses.  If money doesn’t seem appropriate then something of a similar value might – say a meal for two.
2. The second choice is what you will reward. In most cases you will want to reward actual new business won.  However, it might be a good idea in some cases to reward every referral – with a simple thank you or token gesture – even if it doesn’t turn into new business.
3. Finally you need to decide whether you will promote this reward or simply give the reward after the fact.  Again, in some cases promoting the reward will increase the number of people who do refer. However, you don’t want it to look like you’re buying referrals. The choice depends on your business.

Referral Marketing Step Two: Creating Referral Tools to Make Referring Easier

You want to make sending you business as easy as possible; so, you should create simple tools to smooth the process.  This can be as simple as making sure that every customer has plenty of your business cards to hand out. You could also create a specific gift voucher for them to use or include tools and forms on your website.

Take a mental walk through the process of someone referring business to you. Point out the places where it might be difficult and find ways to make it easier.  One of the best tools you can create is a special offer for the person that they refer to you. This will make it easier for them to talk about your business and convince someone to get in touch.

Referral Marketing Step Three: Promoting Your Referral Program

If you’re not getting as many referrals as you would like there’s often a simple explanation – you’re not asking.  If people don’t know that you want referrals they may never think to send you any.

So what do people need to know?

First off they need to know that you welcome referrals. Make a point of asking for referrals from satisfied customers and clients. Having a referral program in place will help this but only if you promote it.  When you start your program make sure you contact all your customers and professional contacts and let them know about it. After that you can promote it in your newsletters, on your website, in your email signature or even on your invoices.  From time to time you might consider a marketing campaign just for your referral program.

Once they know you welcome referrals the next step is to show them the process – i.e. how can they send you a referral and what will happen after that? Before people will be happy to send you their friends, family, colleagues and customers they will want to know that you will look after them.

Finally, use the referral rewards to honestly thank people who have helped you out. If someone has gone to the trouble of sending you new business you need to make sure they know it was appreciated.

Referral Marketing Summary

The first step in any referral program has to be to deliver a great product or service but if you do, a simple plan for encouraging and handling referrals will help you get the most out of the goodwill you create.

What Next?

We do it for you: If you’d like help developing your own referral marketing program, Click here for more info about the lead generation services we provide

Do it yourself: For more lead generation ideas, Download our free report

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Should Relationship Marketing be Part of Your Marketing Strategy?

Every business wants to attract new customers and grow new business, but very few focus their energies on building lasting relationships with their existing customers.  Most assume that their existing customers are happy and that new business growth will come from acquiring new customers.

Are they wrong? Are you wrong?

Yes and no.

Your existing customers may well be perfectly happy but that doesn’t mean that they’re going to stay with you forever. And yes, new customers and clients are essential to the growth of any business but they’re expensive to get and keep.  It is a marketing strategy that emphasizes the need to ensure customer satisfaction and retention. It’s not just about good customer service.  It means maintaining communications with your existing customers and growing their involvement with your business over time.

So what are the real benefits of good relationship marketing and what should you do?

Benefits of Relationship Marketing

• Existing customers are often your best source of new business – they already know and trust you and so are often more open to adopting new products and services.
• Existing customers are also your best possible source of referral business and positive word-of-mouth.
• It is much less expensive to attract a new customer than it is to retain an existing one.
• Existing customers are the backbone of your cash flow.
• Existing customers can help provide feedback – making your marketing, customer service, product development and every other aspect of your business stronger
• Existing customers can become advocates for your business, heading off negative word of mouth.  Dissatisfied customers are more likely to start and spread negative word of mouth.

What Should You Consider as Part of Your Relationship Marketing Strategy?

Any relationship marketing campaign should have a few aims:

1. Retain customers
2. Harness positive word of mouth
3. Sell new products and services to existing customers
4. Prevent other businesses from poaching clients through education
5. Make your customers feel important and part of something

So how?

• Focus on your existing customer base – The easiest thing to do is move on to the next prospect once you’ve made a sale. This is a mistake. The relationship that got them to buy needs to be maintained if they are to continue as a loyal customer.
• Keep the lines of communication open – Both communications to your customers and feedback from your customers.
• Have a long-term customer contact plan – Much of your communications with your existing customers can be pre-planned and even automated. This can include things like newsletters.
• Keep in touch – But not all of your marketing to existing customers should be pre-planned. You should be at pains to keep and build a personal relationship. A phone call can make a huge difference.
• Encourage feedback – make it easy, take it seriously and reward it.
• Build customer communities – Communication between customers can help them feel part of a tribe. You don’t need to run this but you should make it easy. Be the facilitator.
• Involve them in your marketing – Consider referral programs based on rewarding word of mouth. Give customers sneak peaks about new product launches and new marketing campaigns – take their feedback on board.
• Do sell to them – Continue the marketing and sales process but focus less on hard sales messages and more on informative content. Educated customers are more likely to buy new products and services, upgrade existing purchases or services plan and become the kinds of fans that help spread the word about your business.

Existing customers should be the cornerstone of your marketing efforts and deserve their own marketing plan and dedicated efforts.

What Next?

We Do it For You: If you’d like help developing a relationship marketing plan, Click here for more info about the lead generation services we provide
Do It Yourself: For more lead generation ideas, Download our free report

Find out How Software Can Help You As a Business Owner *Achieve higher Sales*And Increase Productivity

Lead generation software?

Generating leads, managing leads and communicating with those leads can be a messy business for small businesses.  So how do you keep it all organized?  The good news is that new software alternatives mean that small businesses can use PC-based and web-based lead generation software to generate more sales leads and convert more of those leads into paying customers.

Timing Is Everything: Lead Generation Software Puts Your Business in the Right Place at the Right Time

Businesses spend small fortunes on attracting prospects to their businesses through advertising and other marketing methods.  Unfortunately, not every customer is ready and willing to buy when you reach out to them.  In fact, most consumers will need to be contacted several times before they’re willing to take action.  This is even more obvious with bigger ticket items or complicated sales.

Keeping your business in front of your prospects can be complicated and time consuming.  So, smart businesses use software to automate the process and help them keep an eye on where their business stands.  As an example, here are a few lead generation and lead management software solutions you could consider:

1. Using email survey software makes it easy to ask questions to better understand your prospects’ needs.  From this info, you can group your leads into batches for more effective follow up.2. Email marketing software helps you to send relevant information to those who opt-in. Newsletters, up-to-date news of your products/service, or discount offers can all be effective at motivating future sales.

3. Lead tracking or analytic tools give you a better insight into website visitors’ behavior that will help in planning and tweaking your advertising and website if necessary.

4. With the use of an automated prospecting system, you can easily identify those who are ready to buy now and put the rest on your follow up list.

5. Sales productivity software helps businesses increase profits without necessarily increasing the amount they spend on sales.

6. Using a good sales and marketing software gives you an overview of sales generated compared to the cost of marketing – helping you improve and focus on the best-performing marketing activities.

What next?

• We do it for you: If you need help choosing the right lead generation software, Click here for more info about the lead generation services we provide

• Do it yourself: For more lead generation ideas Download our free report

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