You’ve laid the groundwork for optimizing your buy cycle with a great website, blog, social media presence, and mobile app. You’ve dug into each stage of the cycle to understand what prospects are looking for and how your business can tip the scale. But there’s still more you can do to manage and optimize your digital presence.
Here are three additional areas of your digital presence to consider:
Enhancing Relationships with / Revenue from Existing Clients
Don’t think that, once a client is a client, they will always stay. They won’t. Loyalty programs (discounts for frequent visitors, a free extra service for big customers, earned coupons, etc.) are increasingly important for client satisfaction and yield optimization. The BIA/Kelsey Group's 2013 Local Commerce Monitor research revealed that 38% of SMBs have a customer loyalty program. The best choice is to keep loyalty programs running non-stop and keep them simple. Automated email marketing systems make this once hard and time-consuming “chore” an easy, “set it and forget it” exercise.
You should also keep clients apprised of new promotions, new products, new staff, and special discounts via your social channels, emails, and your custom mobile app.
Finally, keeping clients engaged has a positive sales impact long term. Client referrals have been, and probably always will be, one of the top sales and lead sources for SMBs. The happier your clients are, the more referrals you’ll get!
Retargeting Prospects who Didn’t Quite Become Customers
Along each step of the buyer consideration continuum, prospects drop out, no matter how good your service is and how great your digital presence. You’ll want to retarget those “lost leads” using a medium and content appropriate to the stage at which you lost them. iMedia Connection calls retargeting "possibly the most underutilized online marketing channel for SMBs." Don't miss out on this opportunity that large players in your market are using as a matter of course.
You’re Busy – Leave it to the Professionals
Most SMB owners are too busy to even read this, never mind do all of these steps themselves. In fact, this blog may have made what seemed like a daunting challenge seem impossible.
It’s not.
Increasingly, end-to-end platforms to automate your growing and running your business – all in one platform – are becoming available to SMBs, specifically built for SMBs. Find one. And enjoy the peace of knowing you’ll be unwrapping your digital presents and you’ll be hands-free, riding your buy cycle built for two! As the old song goes, "You look sweet in the driver's seat of a buy cycle built for two!"
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