Why Marketing is Key to Surviving Tough Times
In this Post:
- Learn one of the most affordable ways to Market your business.
- Learn how an ACT! addon (for marketing) has helped one customer with specific financial results.
- One click access to a special report normally reserved for customers only to help you get started.
Let’s be honest here, most of the small businesses across the country have been hit hard with the recession, quite a few have closed up altogether, while others are running very lean organizations while they endure the current economic downturn.
While it is important to make necessary adjustments and even stay ahead of the financial challenges a small business faces, it is equally important to identify new ways to get in front of customers and prospects, otherwise known as marketing.
Why Marketing is Key to Surviving Tough Times
One of the most affordable ways to get in front of customers in a personal and meaningful way is with email marketing. Done right, email marketing allows you to connect with customers on a regular timetable and in a valuable way, and is one of the reasons I’m looking forward to ACT! 2010 with its end-to-end marketing capabilities. It is the first time ACT! has included a built in tool for customers to actually build their business using the net. Customers only have to activate the SwiftPage service by choosing the appropriate level based on their needs.
Email Marketing Case Study
SwiftPage Email has been around for several years, and is the engine powering the ACT! 2010 end-to-end marketing solution. I recently encouraged a long-time ACT! client who was wanting to do more marketing with ACT! to *not* leave the product until doing a marketing test with the SwiftPage addon.
After getting him setup and started with the SwiftPage service, I let him go for a couple days, and then followed up with him. He told me that has a whole new level of activity in the office, calling on targeted leads who have a renewed interest in his company’s products and services as a result of a couple emails he sent to his database using SwiftPage. He now has the capability to interact with contacts in his ACT! database, based on their interaction (viewing, opening, clicking links) in his email.
UPDATE: I just spoke with him on the phone to get an update, and these are two results he is most excited about:
1.) Sales. In less than 1 week, his company closed 4 “deals” as a direct result of the emailing activities done with SwiftPage. This represents a 7-8% revenue increase.
2.) Cleanup. He was also able to clean up his database, and identify dead leads due to people replying, saying they already had a solution, or were no longer interested, etc. This information allowed him to redirect sales resources away from those who opted out, to those who wanted more information.
He is pleased, and needless to say, we haven’t talked about his company leaving ACT! (which, by the way, is highly customized for his business) since then.
Getting Started with Email Marketing
If you haven’t taken the time to execute an email marketing plan, this could be a great opportunity to do just that. There is special report reserved for my clients entitled:
“5 Fatal Mistakes of Publishing a Newsletter and How to Avoid Them”
I’m making available at no cost via direct download (it does require Acrobat Reader). It is a quick read, but I’ve done what I could to pack it full of content. You can get access to it here.
For many, this recession has been difficult, and the truth is, some businesses haven’t survived. It doesn’t have to be that way, with renewed effort on affordable lead generation approaches like email marketing, you can get results faster. Now with ACT! by Sage 2010 having marketing functionality built in the product, once activated, my hope is even more customers will experience increased sales and profits.
NOTE: You can get started right away with SwiftPage, they support all versions of ACT! back to version 6!
It’s Your Turn: What have you observed as effective when it comes to getting through an economic downturn in your business? What marketing tools are you using? Any experience with Swiftpage? Chime in using the comment boxes below.
*Image by lepiaf.geo
