Marketing Commentary from interlinkONE
Marketing. Web-to-Print. Warehouse Management.
Oh, While You’re Here
[This article originally appeared in Pinto’s Beans of Marketing Wisdom blog – JasonPinto.WordPress.com]
Posted by 
on Monday, June 29, 2009 
at 9:54 AM 
in Have you ever been on the receiving end of the Jiffy Lube up-sell?
The first time I went there, I was totally caught off-guard. As far as I knew, they only changed your oil. I expected a quick and inexpensive process. But, within a couple of minutes after my car was pulled into the bay, they called me to immediate attention.
They were holding materials that came from my car:
- a filter that looked like it had been in buried in the woods for three years
- a windshield wiper that had been shredded by a mountain lion
- also, news that one of the belts was “horrible”
Along with discovering these problems for me, they also presented a solution: they could fix all of those for me right then.
Well, I have zero mechanical skill. So, their news brought panic to my every action – and thus, I agreed to have them fix everything right then.
I’ve since gone back to Jiffy Lube for an oil change – and yes, they did find some other things wrong. So far, I’ve held off on having them fix anything else. (of course, I probably just doomed myself to a breakdown on the highway tonight)
The bottom line is this: they do a great job of up-selling. They certainly change a lot of oil – but there is only so much you can charge for that.
Thus, they take advantage of the following things:
- their real estate (the bays where you drive your car into)
- the mechanical skills of their employers
They also know two things about their oil change consumers:
- they don’t have the knowledge or circumstances to change their own oil – and thus, they probably can’t fix other little things
- they care about their cars
They take advantage of these ingredients to create increased revenue opportunities for their business.
So, next time you are looking at your cash flow with clenched teeth and sweat on your brow, don’t be afraid to look at Jiffy Lube for a little up-selling inspiration.
Think about the the resources you have — the skills of your staff, the power of your product, or perhaps your location.
Then, think about your customers. What else might they have a need for, that you could solve.
If you can find the answer to that question, then you may well have created a new revenue stream.
Tags You gotta give
Someone that is thinking about dipping their feet into the waters of social media typically asks this question: “What will I get out of it?”
That certainly is a valid question. If you are going to devote time and energy (and possibly a bit of money), you certainly should expect to see a return on investment.
There is another point of view to consider as well — What can you offer to the hundreds and thousands of people that you might reach via social media marketing channels?
If you want to have a beneficial experience on sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and more, you have to be willing to give. If you do, you will be rewarded.
- If you are interesting, more people will read what you have to say.
- If you post informative articles, people will view you as a thought-leader.
- If you share helpful information, people will help spread that for you
If every post you contribute to Twitter or LinkedIn is simply to promote yourself, or your product or services, you may quickly find that social media is an unfulfilling channel.
Yes, social media is a unique channel. You truly need to be willing to join discussions, offer insight, and ask questions.
If you are willing to give, you will indeed receive (a successful ROI!).
What is Multi-Channel Marketing?
The term “multi-channel marketing” is a mouthful, but the actual reality of what it is and what it can do for your business is certainly far from intimidating. The concept is not new, but as technology evolves, the meaning of multi-channel marketing and all that it embraces also evolves. Multi-channel marketing is all about using various methods (channels) to get your marketing message to the people who matter the most – your target market. It involves the integration of websites, phone, email, texting, print and other available channels to market relevant messages. It’s all about sending the right people the right message using the right channel. By failing to maximize your opportunities using multi-channel marketing, you shoot yourself in the foot and lose out…losing future customers and future profits.
One of the key elements behind multi-channel marketing is consistency in your branding. Using various ways to get your marketing message across to your prospects is pointless if that message isn’t consistent. In fact, if you muddy the marketing waters with different messages to your target market using various channels, you will in fact turn off your prospects.
While it’s easy to get caught up in the marketing game and think only of the message and reaching that target market, there are other points to consider. You have to make it easy for those prospects to contact you. You have to make it effortless to do business with your company. If your prospects experience any speed bumps along the way you are bound to lose them. Think about it – perhaps you perform all your research of companies you want to deal with online without batting an eyelash. But not everyone is so trusting of or at ease with the internet. Those people want to talk with a warm body. They’d rather place a phone call and speak with someone directly to get all their questions answered. In this case, if your marketing messages lack a phone number for your prospects to call, you’ve just lost potential profits.
This is where personalization comes into play. By personalizing your marketing messages to the recipients across the various marketing channels, you are increasing your odds of success. It doesn’t take in-depth market research to understand that a mobile text campaign targeted at senior citizens may fall flat on its face. But a well-crafted direct mail piece might be a home run! Demographics are key to a successful multiple channel marketing strategy. You want your message to be heard, to be understood…but you need it to be received by the targeted group of people via the correct method in order for it to work.
Multi-Channel Marketing is all about a seamless, almost effortless (for the target market) process. Getting your message to your prospects using various channels. Keeping those messages and your branding consistent and understandable. And making it easy for your prospects to contact you to inquire further or step up and make a purchase of your products or goods. Remember, “convenience” means different things to different people. A sound multi-channel marketing strategy will keep this in mind and be able to deliver that convenience to a receptive target market.
interlinkONE’s Twitter Integration
We are very happy to share with you news of the integration that we have done between our marketing software solution and Twitter.
Twitter has proven to be a very powerful social media marketing channel. There is plenty of content on there that can help companies find new leads, build relationships, and maintain conversations with customers and prospects.
Our integration helps provide very valuable benefits:
- You can view real-time Twitter posts directly from our CRM solution.
- You have a complete picture of a contact’s activity, from one page in our system. You can see mailers they’ve been sent, emails, items they’ve downloaded, Twitter posts, and more.
- You can quickly distribute your sales materials onto Twitter – and know when they are clicked.
Click here to take a sneak peek at our Twitter integration.
Reflections from On Demand 2009
We recently exhibited at the On Demand Expo in Philadelphia, PA. Before the show, there was some chatter online about how many people would actually attend.
Well, we can tell you first-hand that it was a very good show. There may not have been as many attendees as previous shows… but, everyone that was there seemed to come with a purpose. People that stopped by our booth either wanted to talk about marketing efforts for a specific campaign or industry, or a storefront to increase their business, etc.
Also, we were fortunate to see many of our customers there, and that is always quite a treat.
Our President and CEO, John Foley, Jr., presented at the show as well. He delivered the presentation with Mark McIntosh of Cedar Graphics. The title was “Sweet Success of Transformation – Becoming a Marketing Services Provider”.
They received very favorable reviews after their presentation. If you are interested in what they presented, please feel free to contact us.
Oh… we also brought our camera… if you’d like to see pictures from the show, please click here.
