Here’s a shiny new idea from the Martin Print Thinktank which is getting a lot of our clients pretty excited.

It costs very little, is dead easy to set up, and it gives your business a simple long-term strategy for acquiring tons of good customer referrals.

So let’s talk about Referral Magnets and how they’re already helping our clients to reach out to new customers easily and quickly…

Here’s the concept in a magnetic nutshell;

Hand out two or three Referral Fridge Magnets to existing customers with every sale.
The Magnets will usually promote a special introductory deal or discount for their friends.

Your existing clients slap the Magnets onto their fridge for safe-keeping until they have an opportunity to pass on this welcome gift to a friend.

It sounds so simple.
But here are some of the reasons why such a simple concept works so brilliantly…

People like to give away things of value to their Friends.

Well, ok, maybe not everyone in the world.

There’s a grumpy guy down at Smokey Joe’s Business Bar who would probably refuse to share the fluff from his belly button with a lifelong friend who saved his life. Twice.

But as a general rule, people get a sense of reward and satisfaction if they can give away something of genuine value to a friend.
Especially if it only takes a second and it doesn’t even cost them anything at all.

Your existing customers are essentially being given a chance to do their friends a big favour and say;
“Here, take this and save some money. It’s on me. This is why you’re so lucky to have me as a friend. I’m amazing, aren’t I?”

Well, actually, they might refrain from using those exact words.
But I think you know what I mean.

Magnets are far more likely to get used.

Far too many Referral campaigns end up in somebody’s bin.

And this is often down to the format on which it was printed and presented.

The actual incentive and idea behind the campaign may have been pretty promising, but it was let down by a format which nobody felt compelled to keep or pass on.

A typical Referral Promotion has quite a perilous journey to make before reaching the ultimate goal of getting redeemed by a new customer.

After you’ve distributed them, you’re relying on the hope that your existing customer will keep hold of it for a while until the right moment, and that they’ll be prompted to remember to actually give it away to a friend.

You’re then relying on the hope that your potential new Referral will keep it safe and top of mind until they need to use it.

That small journey is packed with danger spots in which somebody at some point along the line may instead decide to just get rid of it or shove it in a drawer where’s it going to get forgotten.

The risk becomes even greater if your Referral Promo Product is just a boring cheap card with bland design or just a slip of paper.
Who would really feel the urge to keep hold of that?

A Referral Fridge Magnet with vivid artwork printed in full colour on gloss stock will grab attention and get used in the right way.

It’s a more attractive and much handier format.

Both your existing customers and new referrals will feel more inclined to slap it onto a fridge or a magnetic surface where it will actually be on permanent display and kept top of mind until those perfect moments.

That’s so much more powerful than getting crumpled up in somebody’s pocket or placed out of sight and out of mind forever.

Fridge Magnets are far more likely get noticed, get put on show, get remembered, and ultimately get used.

Any type of Business can use them. In lots of different ways.

Whether you run a physical store or a purely online business, you can choose a very simple strategy tailored to your business model and your breed of customers.

A brick-and-mortar business might encourage new customers to physically hand over the Referral Magnets to claim the incentive on their first visit.
(A big advantage with this approach is that you actually get the Magnets back to distribute again, so they’ll last far longer!)

Alternatively, an online business may choose to print a Discount Code on the Magnets which a new customer can enter during their first online checkout.
(To keep things ultra-simple, an identical code could be printed on all Magnets which is only valid for new customers, but you could also consider printing unique codes if this can be implemented into your system.)

The actual incentive itself will usually be an enticing discount or special deal or free first appointment for new referrals, but it can be just about anything that best suits your business and is likely to attract interest from newcomers.

This incentive can be as small or as big as you can realistically stretch.

A giant whopping incentive is obviously more likely to generate attention, but even a relatively small discount still has the capacity to get passed onto a friend and ultimately redeemed if presented in an appealing way.

If you’re interested in pursuing a more complex approach, you might also consider a strategy which rewards both parties.

For example;

“Refer a Friend and you both get $20 off!”
This kind of approach will require more work to implement and maintain but it obviously delivers an even bigger incentive to your existing customer to give away the Magnet in the first place.

We can help brainstorm you the ideas and strategies that are likely to work best for your business.

Our marketing boffins are quite clever like that, especially after several cups of very strong coffee and a cinnamon doughnut.

It costs very little time or money.

So many businesses devote huge resources of energy and budget on marketing to potential new customers.
It can be exhausting, all-consuming and very expensive.

One of the big benefits of Referral Magnets is that you’re not running up a dangerously high Ads bill or spending all your time on keeping everything on the right track.

Your only outlay is the low cost of the Magnets themselves.

And your existing customers will be doing most of the real work for you!

That leaves you free to spend more money and time on developing and improving other crucial areas of your business whilst those Magnets are getting passed around and redeemed by your customers.

Easy.

You’ll attract a better breed of client.

Getting new customers can always be a bit of a gamble.

On the whole, you hope that you’ll pick up some great customers who love what you do and visit your business frequently to spend big amounts.

But you usually have to accept that you’ll also pick up plenty of less devoted customers who don’t visit very often or just make life very difficult every time they do!

Here’s the thing;
Your best customers are only likely to refer friends after carefully considering which of their friends are in regular need of your services and will benefit the most.

And this breed of friend is the one most likely to develop into a great frequent customer themselves.

So you’re actually targeting the perfect type of new client but your existing happy customers are doing all the targeting on your behalf.

Your relationship with this new referral will also get off to a much stronger start because they already have more trust in you.
You didn’t capture them with a sneaky Ad or an offer that sounded too good to be true.

You captured them with a genuine recommendation from a trusted friend.
And marketing doesn’t get any more powerful and credible than that.

Even Old Bert uses them.

It’s true!

Old Bert has a little fridge in his office to store all his banana milkshakes.
And the fridge door is currently crammed full of Referral Magnets from all sorts of places including the local Sweet Pastry Shop and the Umbrella Repair Boutique.

Sadly, he doesn’t get many visitors to his office – possibly because of the sign on the door that reads “KEEP OUT – DANGER OF CONTAMINATION”.
So maybe that was a bad example.

But on a slightly more serious note, we’ve already been working with a stack of businesses on this concept and we’re hearing terrific feedback about the results.

Business owners are expressing surprise and even mild amazement that such a simple low-cost strategy is pulling in so many new customers.

One business owner conveyed a feeling of mild discomfort in his elbow, but it turned out that he’d sent us the wrong email.

Creative design and die-cut shapes.

Finally, don’t forget that the Fridge Magnet is a very flexible format!

Your professional artwork can be printed in full colour on super-glossy stock in pretty much any shape you can imagine.
Cars, Capsules, Bite-Outs, Shoes, Telephones…

Take a look at the price calculators to see some of the popular standard die-cut shapes that we can provide with very little difference in cost.

So, we can help with your tailored idea and strategy.
We can provide the smart graphic design that will grab attention and convey the incentive.
And we can produce the polished products in standard or die-cut shapes on premium gloss stock.

(Old Bert says he can also supply you with the Fridges, but I don’t think he’s fully grasped the whole concept. I couldn’t have made it any simpler.)

So is your business ready to attract tons of new referrals?

Take a look at new Custom Referral Magnets or get in touch with me via Live Chat if you’d like to start brainstorming your brilliant project.

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Say Cheeeese!
Hmm. Oh dear, I think we should maybe try that one again…

Have you ever considered using a portrait picture on your Business Cards or other marketing materials?
Are you currently using a photograph which perhaps doesn’t quite convey the best impression to your customers?

A good portrait photograph can help to add a personal touch to your marketing and reveal the friendly human face behind the business.

Unfortunately, there’s one big problem.
There are so many ways of getting it hideously wrong…

What kind of pose should you strike? Is it ok to smile? Should you show your teeth or keep your mouth shut? What do you wear? Is it ok to cross your arms or should you be clutching a prop? How do you set up the background and lighting for the best effect?

Whether you’re planning on hiring a professional photographer or having a go at taking the perfect snapshot yourself, here’s everything you need to know about capturing a great Portrait Picture…

Smile. Press Click. Hang on, this is easy, isn’t it?

Well, it’s not too difficult…but it’s certainly very easy to finish up with something that just doesn’t really work.

We’ve seen some strange things pop up here at Martin Print H.Q.
Over the years, tons of clients have given us their own portrait pictures for inclusion on Business Cards, Brochures, Leaflets and other printed marketing products.

I’m happy to say that the overwhelming majority of Martin Print clients are handsome and beautiful people who handed over a terrific quality picture.

But there were just a few that, erm, needed a little bit of work before we went to print.

In most cases, there were minor issues with the quality, the background, the choice of attire, clashing colours, or simply an overall feeling that this just wasn’t the right shot.

Other cases are a bit more extreme.
I can remember when Old Bert asked us to produce some portrait picture Business Cards for his Thursday Night Tap-Dancing Classes.

I knew there was something wrong when I started hearing the shrieks of horror from the printing press.
I eventually had to take a new photograph of him, mainly to avoid the risk of him getting arrested for frightening strangers.

Here are some pointers to consider on getting it right first time…

Deep Thought

You could just turn up for a photoshoot in your pyjamas, and quickly deliver an uncomfortable grimace as you’re dazzled by the flashlight.
But it’s a better idea to think ahead and prepare for the event.

The good news is that you don’t have to work or think very hard.
In fact, almost everything can be boiled down to one very simple preparatory question:

What kind of image or impression are you trying to convey to your audience?

Friendly and approachable?
Professional and serious?
Tough and powerful?

As soon as you can answer this one simple question, all your other decisions will quickly begin to fall into place.

Strike A Pose!

Well, actually, please don’t strike a pose.
You’re not auditioning for a role in the latest play from the Amateur Dramatic Society here.
So please do cut out the dramatics!

There’s no need to tilt your head onto one side or pretend that you’re appearing in a fashion catalogue.
It can often result in a cheesy picture which is more likely to raise a snigger than capture a lead.

On the whole, the best approach is to simply try and be natural.

To smile or not to smile? To show teeth or to keep your mouth shut?

If you’re hoping to display a ‘super-tough’ or ‘serious’ picture, it’s fine to avoid the smile.
A Business Card for a Funeral Director probably wouldn’t work too well if it featured the owner of the business dressed up as a wacky clown.

But in the overwhelming majority of cases, a natural smile works best.

That’s easier said than done when you’re nervously facing the camera and getting ready to put on ‘the smile’, but you’ll get plenty of attempts at it, so don’t worry.

Whilst I’d never advise getting blind drunk before an important photoshoot, just a very small drink beforehand can help to relax those body muscles.
I usually just put a tiny drop of whisky into my bowl of Froot Loops and milk.

You’ll often find that the perfect picture is captured when you’re not really trying too hard to force it.

A professional photographer will know how to put you at ease, or you could get a good friend to take the picture and take off the pressure with some natural banter in-between snaps.

It’s generally better to open your mouth and flash your teeth to help with the friendly and natural vibe.
A smile with a closed mouth can often deliver a more stern or reserved appearance.

Of course, some people may have issues with showing off their teeth if they’re not very proud of them, so the final call is yours.

But it’s worth bearing in mind that the appearance of your teeth can be improved with just a few little minor touch-ups in Photoshop.

I’m generally against the idea of going overboard with Photoshop in a ‘natural’ portrait picture, but I would say that making minor dental improvements is fair game!

Should I cross my arms?

You’ve probably seen loads of portrait pictures in which the business owner is crossing their arms in a sort of ‘power stance’ which is meant to represent confidence and authority.

It’s a popular pose. Although I this is mainly because a lot of people don’t quite know what else to do with their arms!

For me, this is used far too often and again it only really works if you’re purposefully trying to convey a ‘tough’ and swaggering image.

In most other cases, it can give the impression that you’re not very approachable and perhaps even stubbornly stuck in your ways.

As most portrait photographs are head-and-shoulders shots anyway, you shouldn’t really worry too much about what you’re doing with your arms.
This worry is usually the root of the problem. Just relax.

If you know your arms are going to be in shot, try to imagine how you would you normally sit or stand when greeting a real human being.

You’re unlikely to stand in front of them with your arms firmly folded at all times, are you?
So for your ‘welcoming’ introductory photograph, emulate your natural stance in a real situation.

What to Wear?

Don’t panic, I’m not going to try and give you a bunch of style tips.
Even though I’ve now won the award for Best-Dressed Man in the Martin Print Studio (Hawaiian Shirt category) a record-breaking 15 years in a row.

You’ll usually want to dress quite smart if you want to give a professional impression.
Men would normally go for a suit jacket, sweater, or dress shirt, whilst women would go with a tailored jacket or blouse.

But you should also make sure that you feel comfortable in the clothes you’ve chosen.
A suit jacket can convey an impression of authority, but if it makes you feel stiff and unnatural, then lose it.

DON’T wear colours that match your skin tones as this could end up giving your portrait a ‘washed out’ look.
Solid mid-tone colours such as green, blue and brown usually look best.

DON’T wear too much jewellery or clothes with lots of patterns, as this usually ends up as a big distraction from your face.

DON’T wear short-sleeved shirts as this can be very unflattering on your arms and in some cases make it appear as if you’re topless which is another distraction you don’t really want appearing on your Business Card.
Long-sleeved shirts all the way!

DON’T wear trendy clothes that are going to look hideously out of date very quickly.
Classic styles should add more shelf-life to your perfect portrait picture.

And one final tip for people who wear glasses.
You’re obviously going to need to wear your glasses in your photograph if you wear them all the time.

But one unfortunate problem here is that the reflections from your lenses can cause issues with the quality of the photograph and reduce the detail in your eyes.

The best solution?
Temporarily take out the lenses or get a pair of permanent identical frames without lenses.

Some people worry that they might look strange wearing glasses with no lenses, but you won’t be able to tell this at all in the photograph and it will make for a much better final picture.

Should I use Props?

In most cases, no.

I’ve seen a lot of Business Cards on which the owner is pictured holding a glass of wine or talking into a telephone.
Some people like to hold onto their key product and point at it in wonder.
Others like to include living props as background decoration, such as family members or pets.

Here’s a few things to bear in mind;

• As much as you love your family and pets, your business portrait picture is not the best place to display this.
• A glass of wine never really helps to reassure potential leads of your professionalism.
• Talking into a phone just makes you look too busy to deal with customers.
• Including your key product may work in rare cases, but you need to be careful to avoid looking a bit silly. There are probably lots of better spots to park your product picture which don’t involve you pointing at them.

What’s happening in the Background?

It’s possible that you may decide to choose a background setting that ties in with your business branding.

For example, I would pretty much expect to see the owner of a gardening business pictured in…well, in a garden.

Casual office backgrounds can also work well.
And if you’re in the techie trade, it wouldn’t do any harm to have a computer in sight.

However, for a typical head-and-shoulders portrait, the best approach is usually to have your shot taken against a plain background with no distractions.

A professional photographer will obviously handle this on your behalf, but if you’re going down the DIY route, you can simply hang up a sheet or other type of fabric against the wall or background surface.

Solid neutral colours are usually the best, but bright and vivid colours can also work well to create a younger and more dynamic image.
If in doubt, try both!

Get Snapping.

If you plan to use your portrait photograph as a crucial long-term element of your marketing, I’d definitely recommend finding a good professional photographer for the very best results.

If you’re having a go yourself, then give serious consideration to lighting.

Ideally, you need natural daylight. So if you’re shooting indoors, try to set up near a window where natural daylight can be captured.

Relying on the flashlight of your camera is not really going to cut the mustard, as this is likely to create a harsh effect on your face. So the flash needs to be turned off at all times.

If it’s not possible to use natural daylight, you might need to think about setting up lamps and experimenting with brightness and distance until you begin to capture a natural effect in your photograph.

The main thing to remember is that there’s no need to rush this.

Take loads of pictures – hundreds if necessary! – and carefully review them all before giving your final approval to the perfect picture.

DON’T just review them on the tiny LCD screen of your camera.
This won’t show up enough detail of possible imperfections and quality issues.
Your image might look okay on a small LCD screen but could actually be quite blurry when viewed in full size.

You need to review them thoroughly on a sharp monitor and ensure that your winning picture will look perfect when reproduced on premium printing stock.

Update Your Image.

Finally, don’t forget to update your photograph at least every few years.

Your regular customers are likely to get a little bored of seeing the same profile picture for the next three decades.

You need to refresh your portrait in the same way that you need to regularly refresh your branding and revamp your marketing material.

I’ve seen business owners insist on still using a portrait picture taken 25 years ago when they a bit more hair and a few less wrinkles. But they’re not fooling anyone!

I’m sure that Martin Print customers always look better with age anyway. We mature like fine wines into even more professional-looking and trustworthy people.

So be happy to be genuine and reflect who you really are today.

What does your current business portrait look like?

Share your photographs and your own tips below.

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Old Bert has got a new Tattoo.

Yes, I had to sit down for a minute as well.

The whole Martin Print team were pretty shocked by this latest announcement from our mostly friendly resident caretaker.
It’s surely far too late for Old Bert to be going through a mid-life crisis.

He came bounding into my office to roll up his sleeves and proudly show off the new branding on his arm.

It was a picture of Smurfette. The original lady Smurf.

I had no idea that Old Bert was such a fan of The Smurfs.
But it turns out that he’d never even heard of the Smurfs. He just thought it was a nice picture. He claimed that he never even noticed Smurfette was blue.

However, all was not quite as it first seemed….

Oscar, our Chief Printing Wizard, has been very busy down in the press, working on a range of all-new custom temporary tattoos from Martin Print, and Old Bert was closely involved in the testing phase.

Naturally, we all had a go when we found out about it.
Logan couldn’t decide whether he wanted something fierce and aggressive or something cute and cuddly.
He finally opted for a roaring Lion.
With a cheeky wink.

Head Design Guru Trish created her own beautiful artwork for the temporary tattoo. A gorgeous snapshot of wildlife decorated with elegant flowers and mysterious archways and curious creatures beneath the drifting clouds and a setting sun.

Me? I just went for a Hot Dog. I like Hot Dogs.

There are actually plenty of creative marketing uses for these paper transfer-based Tattoos printed in vivid full colour.
You have to admit that it’s a very unusual way of sharing a marketing message or design which is likely to be shown off frequently during that brief period of time.

For example, they can be used as quirky attention-grabbing giveaways through the post or at exhibitions and events.

You could even consider branding your own staff at these events with your compelling artwork or a QR Code which provides further information after a point and click with a Smartphone.

Custom Temporary Tattoos are not yet available on our website, but get in touch with me via Live Chat if you’d like to discuss options on a very special pre-launch deal.

(Quick example – just $62.70 for a hundred 38 x38mm custom tattoos, or $478.50 for a thousand.
Lots of other custom sizes and quantities available – get in touch!)

Of course, the good thing about Temporary Tattoos is that they only last between 3 to 5 days.
But as we’re talking tattoos, let’s spare a though for these poor souls who ended up with a rather more permanent Tattoo which didn’t go quite as planned.

Here are 15 of the worst and funniest Tattoo Disasters you’re ever likely to see…

Hmm. Are you sure?

It’s always handy to keep hold of your receipt for a while.
This bright young guy took this concept to the next level by having a McDonalds receipt tattooed onto his arm.

“Would you like any common sense with that?”

Profound.
Deep.
Needs final edit.

Aaargh!
Make it go away!

Well, it’s a good idea to have a proper practise first.
Otherwise we might end up looking a bit silly.

Be afraid.
Be very afraid.

I actually quite like this one.
For the guy’s sake, I just hope it stays funny for the next 70 years.

“So you want me to tattoo a pair of glasses onto your face?
Wouldn’t it be easier to just go and buy….never mind, take a seat.”

Yup.

I feel as if a very nasty accident has been neatly summed up here in just four letters.

Adding a new twist to “Where’s Wally?”
I hope this is the only one she’s got and that there aren’t any too many more Wallys to hunt down…

Another one that I actually quite like, here’s an interactive arm tattoo that only comes to life when pressed against the face.

One small step for Man.
One giant backwards leap for Mankind.

Spelling mistakes in your original tattoo?
Never fear! There’s always a neat solution.

QR Codes are actually a clever idea for temporary marketing tattoos branded onto your team members.
But please don’t make them permanent.
And make sure you put them in a reasonably sensible place.

Share your own favourite examples of Tattoo Turkeys below!
And don’t forget to get in touch via Live Chat if you’d like to discuss a much more fruitful approach to skin-branding with a special pre-launch deals on new custom temporary tattoos from Martin Print.

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Let’s not get too over-emotional, but we’ve reached the final module of the Martin Print Lightbulb Business Formula.

However, we’re going out with a bang.
We’re going to take a look at one of the most neglected areas in business growth, despite it being the most important by far.

How to Extend the Average Life Cycle of Your Customers.

Here’s an interesting stat provided by Gartner Group.
80% of the future revenue of your business will come from just 20% of your existing customers.

Of course, every business is different, but there’s a lot of truth and logic to absorb in that single broad stat.
Whilst so many businesses are falling over themselves trying desperately to attract new leads and new sales, they’re not spending enough time devoted to the most essential key area of all:

Keeping hold of your already converted leads for far longer and turning them into lucrative long-term customers instead of just watching them drift away forever after one or two sales.

In this final module, I’ll be taking a look at:
Creating a Longer Customer Life Cycle from Day One.
Fixing and Feedback: How Your Own Customers Can Help You.
Making The Funnel Simpler.
How to Create Loyalty Schemes That Work.
Reactivation Email Campaigns.
Stay Connected…Forever!

Wait! Extending the What of the What? 
I recently received an email from a subscriber to the Martin Print Blog.

He said that he was enjoying the Lightbulb Business Formula, and that he was particularly looking forward to the final article as he was very keen to extend the life cycle of all his customers.

He also asked if he would need to spend much money on medical equipment or magic potions, and exactly how much longer on average would his customers be expected to live?

Hmm.
A slight case of wrong end of the wrong stick.

We’re not trying to extend the actual lives of your customers here.
That gets very fiddly and expensive. And it doesn’t always work in your favour anyway. Some of these people might live to be 250 years old but still end up shopping with your rivals.

No, we’re talking about extending the cycle of the relationship between the customer and your business.

It’s the final key area of your Growth Analysis Calculator, and it’s the one that will deliver the most lucrative long-term increases to your overall business revenue.

Bearing that in mind, it’s a shame that so many businesses overlook this key area in their desperate scramble to capture the next new customer.
Every happy customer allowed to just idly wander away from your business is a massive wasted opportunity and a potentially huge long-term loss.

We’ve already discussed at length how to capture new customers.
Now let’s try harder to keep the ones we get.

The Bigger Picture:
Creating a Longer Customer Life Cycle from Day 1. 

Ok, it’s time get out The Obvious Stick again for just a few sentences here…but one of the best ways of extending a customer’s life cycle is to continue being amazing in every area.

This naturally includes excellent customer service every single step of the way.

Some businesses tend to take the foot off the pedal after they’ve already captured the sale.
They become slightly less helpful, less willing to go the extra mile, generally a bit less interested in the customer as a whole.
It’s as if the business feels that it already went out of it’s way to impress the customer first time round, it can’t be bothered to do it all again.

The big risk with such a lazy approach is that other businesses out there will still be trying hard to capture these same customers with flowers and chocolates and sweet-nothings whilst you’re sat in your pants watching the cricket and grunting at potential distractions.

Memories can be short.
And in most cases, only the last experience really counts for anything at all.
So if five consecutive examples of excellent customer service are followed up by a half-hearted, forgettable, or disappointing experience, the customer may not be so instinctively inclined to come back next time.
Or ever again.

Customer service needs to be amazing every time to keep the next return visit on the cards.

Happy and proud employees are a crucial part of this bigger picture.

If the customer service of your business relies heavily on the performance of your employees, they need to have the pride and motivation to play their part well and help the business succeed.

Employees who feel as if they’re being treated unfairly in some way are unlikely to communicate much enthusiasm to customers or display dedication to the cause.

The challenges faced in handling employee satisfaction would take a whole book in itself (ooh, there’s an idea!) but a good starting point is simply to listen, respect,consider, and act when necessary.

Far too many business owners think they can get away with treating their employees poorly from such a position of power and authority and financial control.
Not a very wise move. You’re just draining away crucial power from your own business.

But looking at the bigger picture goes much deeper than customer service.
It involves carefully crafting every single aspect of your business marketing presence.

If you go snooping round some other business websites, you’ll find so many of them are geared almost entirely towards capturing a new lead.
They will often be crammed with introductory offers exclusively for new customers, or lots of copy about why a new customer should choose their business for the first time.

Of course it’s important to focus some attention on getting new leads and customers.
But surely not all of it…

The problem here is that returning customers won’t find a return visit to be a remotely pleasant or inviting experience.
They may even feel as if they’re being completely ignored.

They already know and understand your business but there’s no warm ‘Welcome Back’ of any kind.
It’s perfectly clear that all the content is geared towards other people.
Hardly a recipe for encouraging return custom.

One good idea here is to implement a Members-only version of your website, so that returning visitors can log-in and view content which is more tailored to their expectations.

On the whole, it’s usually a good strategy to try and separate your marketing into distinctive campaigns for new and existing customers wherever practical.
And we’ll come back to that thought in just a moment.

But essentially, any type of content which is likely to be seen by both new and returning customers needs to remember those returning customers.
Not every inch of space needs to be screaming out to newcomers.
This includes your website, your Social Media profiles, your email marketing, your ads, your brochures, your direct mail , and just about any other form of  promotional material  produced for your business.

Fixing and Feedback:
How Your Own Customers Can Help You Improve. 

Fixing Issues Quickly 

Every now and then, the ball gets dropped and a customer gets let down.
Sometimes it’s our own fault. Sometimes it may have been an external problem over which we had no direct control.
Either way, it’s a bit pants for all concerned.

But here’s an encouraging thought which might help us get out of the dumps.
There are times when we can turn a negative into a positive and make the problem work in our favour.

In a sense, this is your business really being put to the test.
How you deal with even a very slight issue can have a big impact on the future lifecycle of this customer.

If you can display that you solve problems quickly and effectively, the customer may actually feel a stronger sense of satisfaction and loyalty than if nothing had gone wrong in the first place.

A deeper channel of communication will also be opened up between your business and the customer as you strive to fix their issues, which can help to forge a healthier long-term connection.
You’re showing that you can do so much more than just sell things to them. You can be trusted to deliver peace of mind, even when things might go wrong.

(Quick tip, though: Don’t go too overboard with this concept and start cocking everything up on purpose just to demonstrate how good you are at fixing problems. That’s way too much hassle and probably quite exhausting.)

DON’T take too long to fix problems or give bigger priority to dealing with new customers and new sales.
One of the best ways you can impress your troubled customers is to fix those issues quickly and effectively.

DON’T try too hard to shirk responsibility at every turn, even when the problem may not have been directly your fault.
By all means, explain the cause of the problem if necessary, but don’t give the impression that you’re desperate to pass the buck.
Most customers probably couldn’t give a chocolate-coated pickled onion whose fault it was. They just want you to take responsibility and fix it.

Getting Feedback from Your Customers 

We all love happy customers who always seem to be utterly thrilled with everything we do.
But critical customers and leads are probably some of the most valuable people you’re ever likely to hear from.

Certain problems or flaws or areas for improvement within your service may just slip under the radar unless somebody out there bothers to tell you about them.
So don’t get all grumpy and defensive if a customer tells you about something they feel is wrong.
They could actually be doing you a massive favour.

Unfortunately, these types of people are actually quite a rare breed.
Most people will just slip silently away into the shadows and take their custom elsewhere if they come across something that they’re not entirely happy with.
And you’ll never be aware of the problem which could be affecting tons of other potential leads.

So, don’t just sit back and wait for a complaining customer to tell you all about that minor issue which makes their computer blow up every time they visit your website.

Ask for feedback at every suitable opportunity.

I’m not generally a big fan of businesses that ask you far too quickly to ‘rate their performance’ before you’ve even had a proper chance to open up the packaging or assess their services in any meaningful way.
But if you can be a little more patient, do try to engage with both purchasing customers and non-converting leads to see if they can provide you with any useful comments and evaluations.

Even just a simple message during the After-Sale process or a polite email despatched to a long-term non-purchasing lead can help you to find solutions to problems that you may never even knew existed.

Make the Funnel Simpler for Regular Customers. 

One of the biggest obstacles with capturing a first sale from a brand spanking new customer is getting them through the checkout process for the first time.

There will usually be new payment and postage details to collect, perhaps even a new account to register with usernames, passwords, email addresses, and top 5 favourite puddings in reverse alphabetical order.

This is always a risky area because people are busy and generally have much more exciting things to do than jump through all your hoops.

Old Bert, our mostly friendly resident caretaker, is a prime example of the deeply impatient customer.
If he has to spend more than about ten seconds completing an online checkout, he’ll usually just give up on the whole thing and then spend the next forty minutes ranting and raving about how much better life was before the machines took over.

Of course, we should always strive to make the funnel as simple and as short as possible for everyone.
There’s obviously a lot of important information to collect here for new customers without throwing in about a dozen extra ‘steps’ which are going to test the customer’s patience.

But returning customers should ideally be at a very strong advantage here.

You’ve already collected their details once, so all their future experiences with your business should be super-quick and easy.

If you don’t create log-in facilities for Members and you don’t save personal and payment details for future visits, you’re throwing away a massive psychological opportunity to encourage return custom.

Why should a customer want to go through the hassle of signing up from scratch with one of your rivals when they know they’ll have a much quicker and smoother experience coming back to you?

Don’t disappoint your regular customers by making life hard for them every visit and taking away one of the biggest advantages you can deliver to them.

Creating Loyalty Reward Schemes That Work 

Loyalty Card Schemes

Offering a tangible reward for regular custom is a brilliant way of increasing loyalty and purchase frequency.

It’s a strategy you often see in place at coffee shops, bars, restaurants, and bouncy castle repair shops. (Umm, are we sure about that last one?)

Regular customers are given a Loyalty Reward Card which gets ‘stamped’ with every purchase they make until they reach the target number of ‘stamps’ and claim their ultimate reward – a free coffee, free drink, free meal, free bouncy castle repair etc.

However, Loyalty Rewards certainly aren’t just for coffee shops.
Almost any type of business should be able to think of a compelling incentive which is going to get your customers coming back frequently to collect all their stamps and claim their prize.
A free appointment or consultation or visit or session.
A free product or mystery gift.
A tasty discount on their next order.

By stamping your customer’s Loyalty Card every time they make a purchase, you’re actually offering them an extra investment in your business.
Whenever they’re next in need of your products or services, they’ll instinctively dismiss the thought of shopping anywhere else because your business and your loyalty scheme and your frequency bonus will be top of mind.
You’ve just got yourself some totally committed customers.

It’s a smart idea that is so simple to set up.
All you need is a beautiful set of Loyalty Cards with professional artwork, a Custom Self-Inking Stamp, and an idea.

QUICK PROMO ALERT:   Martin Print  can offer you the complete all-in-one package – including the cards, the stamp, the artwork, and even the idea!
Check out our Loyalty Card + Stamp Combo  page for more info or get in touch with me via Live Chat on our website.

VIP Membership Programs 

Another idea is to create a Membership Program which rewards your currently loyal customers and encourages them to stay loyal long into the future.

You don’t necessarily need any cards or stamps or temporary tattoos for this strategy – although a stylish Membership Card would be an attractive reminder of the client’s VIP connection to your business.
The whole program can just be implemented online if required.

For example;
Martin Print runs a VIP Gold Card Club which our best and most regular customers are invited to join for free.

Our VIP Gold Clients receive an email every month or so which contains a totally exclusive and totally incredible deal which is not made available anywhere else. It’s just a perk of being a VIP client.

On top of this, they automatically receive 2.5% cashback credits on every new print & design order they place. This can be used on their very next order or saved up to accumulate even bigger savings.

We also send them a physical – and very plush – Martin Print VIP Gold Card to keep.
The card has the potential to be shown to friends and associates (come on, who doesn’t like to show off fancy Gold Membership Cards?) and it also helps to keep their VIP status with us top of mind.

I don’t generally like Membership Programs which seem to have been created without any real thought or any real benefit to the client.
But you’ll be in a good position to secure longer-lasting loyalty if your business can offer a genuine advantage to membership such as perks, deals, priority service, cashback credits etc.

Your best customers will appreciate the benefits and feel that they’re getting a superior level of service which is unlikely to be matched by your competitors.
They’re more likely to stick around in your club for a very long time.

Reactivation Email Campaigns 

Earlier on in this series of articles, we talked a lot about Email Marketing.
In particular, we discussed the importance of building up a mailing list and creating email campaigns designed to convert a lead into a customer.

But now that your list is growing bigger, it’s time to get a little bit smarter and think about creating campaigns tailored to specific types of leads and customer.

So we could potentially create completely separate email campaigns for;
All freshly-captured leads.
Leads who never converted.
Regular loyal customers.
Previously loyal customers who haven’t ordered for a while.

It’s the latter breed of customers that concerns us now.
These potentially long-term customers have gone quiet for some reason, and we need to extend their life-cycle by re-activating their interest.

You probably receive a lot of Reactivation Emails in your own Inbox.
If you once bought a Seashell Letter Rack from a company in 1997 but never felt the need to buy anything from them since, they may well send you occasional emails along the lines of “We Miss You….”.

Please don’t include those three words in your own Reactivation Email, by the way!
So many corporate companies use the “We Miss You” approach so often that it’s become a very tired cliché and I’m sure most of those emails are deleted without ever being viewed.
Let’s try and be a little more creative….

So what exactly do you include in a Reactivation Email? 

It could be just a very simple and basic email which reaches out to the customer and offers them help with anything they may need.
A reminder that you exist and a quick prompt to get them thinking again about the unique benefits of your business.

You could use this as your suitable opportunity to ask for feedback and enquire if you’ve done anything wrong.
This is a useful chance to discover if there was a specific reason why the customer has gone quiet and fix up any potential issues.

Or you could present them with an exclusively crafted special offer or discount to try and tempt the customer back into the fold with something of genuine value.
Get them excited about your business again with a deal that’s too good to turn down.

The general idea is that you’re not just lumping these customers in with your catch-all mass marketing.
You’re recognising that these are previously happy customers who appear to be in danger of drifting away forever, and you’re now seeking to rescue the situation with specific tailored content.

One quick side-note about the idea of offering a special discount or deal here;
Some business owners feel unhappy about doing this, as they feel that they’re rewarding customers who’ve gone quiet instead of rewarding the ones who are still fiercely loyal and who deserve it more.

Point taken if these are the only deals you intend to offer… but the best approach is to offer different types of deals to every type of customer.

I would be more likely to get annoyed by a corporate business that blatantly promotes amazing deals for new customers only whilst treating existing customers as if they barely exist.

By all means, promote introductory deals, dish out exclusive discounts to quiet clients, but make it very clear that you also offer even bigger perks and benefits to good regular customers with your Loyalty Reward schemes or VIP Membership programs.

Everyone should be rewarded in some way, including those loyal customers that you want to stick around for years to come.

Don’t Be A Stranger! 

A customer doesn’t view a business in quite the same way they as they view a family member or a close friend.
They’re not very likely to phone you up out of the blue just to ask if your slightly swollen toe is feeling any better since you last spoke.

(Actually, that’s not always true. Old Bert regularly phones up the Sweet Pastry Shop to ask them what they’re watching on the TV tonight. That’s just because he’s too tight-fisted to buy a proper TV Guide though.)

Here’s the main point I’m trying to make;
Even if you run the most amazing business in the universe, you can still be temporarily forgotten.

Perhaps the customer picked up a cheap deal elsewhere, or one of your competitors was highly recommended to them.

Perhaps they just fancied shopping around for their next purchase and they’ve ended up forging a new relationship with another business.

Perhaps they were abducted by aliens, and all memories of your business have been surgically removed from their brain. (Sounds unlikely, but my mate Bob swears that this happens to his customers all the bloody time.)

Or, perhaps more likely, they’ve just forgotten about you because you weren’t doing enough to keep your business top of mind.

You can’t just rely on good memories to help bring customers back to your website or your store.
You need to maintain regular communications through a diverse mix of channels to continually remind people why you are the best in the business.

Throughout this Lightbulb Business Formula, we’ve discussed at length many of the strategies which can help you to engage with your leads and customers.

Regular Emails and Newsletters.
Frequent posts on Social Media platforms such as Facebook.
Regular Blog  articles.
Printed promotional materials such as new Leaflets and Brochures or surprise Promo Gifts in the post.

These methods can all be used to keep your customers up to date with new products, services and deals, keep them informed with genuinely useful tips and insightful content which reinforces your expertise in your field, and keep them entertained with fun and memorable stuff presented under your business name.

Too many businesses let things drift too early on in the customer life cycle, and then wonder why their clients have wandered away.
The winning strategy is to keep up with all these engagement channels and keep your customers in the long-term loop.

The Final Curtain… 

We’ve reached the end of the Lightbulb Business Formula.

I hope you’ve learned at least one or two or 179 useful things from this email mini-course.

I’m sorry we never quite got round to those recipes for Barbecued Squid Salad or Spicy Lentil Casserole that I was waffling on about at the beginning .
(We had to abandon that idea after Old Bert got food poisoning during the first few experiments in the kitchen.)

But please do let me know your thoughts in the comments below, take a tour of our website, or get in touch with me by Live Chat or Facebook if you’d like any further info or a chat about anything at all we’ve discussed.

Thanks for listening!

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Only a raving loony would disagree with me when I say that customers are pretty valuable to a business.

But how can we make them even more valuable and get them to spend more money on every transaction they make with you?

In this module of The Martin Print Lightbulb Business Formula, I’ll be taking a look at five very simple steps you can take to increase the dollar value of your customers, including:

Are you really charging what you’re worth?

Make Upselling and Cross-Selling Easy.

Combo-Bundling your services together for better deals.

Making Bigger Quantities better value for your customer.

Minimum Purchase Sizes – A good idea?

Optimising your Transactional Emails.

This is another area of your Growth Analysis Calculator on which too many people don’t spend nearly enough attention.

Making just relatively tiny increases to the average transaction value of your customers can ultimately help to make a massive growth in your overall revenue.

But how on Earth do we do it?

The good news is that we can do this without being deeply annoying or creating doubt and suspicion in the customer’s mind.

We’re not trying to pull any tricks here or engage in any devious activity to squeeze every last cent from the poor customer’s pocket.

We’re simply trying to clearly communicate the genuine value for the customer if they spend a little more.

Are You Charging What You’re Worth?

In a moment, we’ll get onto the juicy stuff with Cross-Selling, Upselling, and Lightly-Baked-Upside-Down-Selling.
(Actually, no, scrap that last one, I don’t think the world is quite ready for it yet.)

But first, a quick word on your general pricing.

When I first mentioned to Old Bert – our mostly friendly resident caretaker – that I was writing a Blog post on increasing the dollar value of customers, he gave a derisory snort;

“Well, that should take you all of two minutes to write! Just tell everyone to put their prices up. It’s not hard, is it? I should be writing this bloody Blog. My genius is being wasted here on fixing your squeaky chair.”

Hmm.
Well, there are several slightly smarter ways to try and get your customers spending more without just dramatically hiking all your prices up and driving everyone away because they’d need to sell their homes before dealing with you again.

But a key starting point here is to make absolutely sure that you’re charging what you’re worth.

We can get a bit too nervous and over-cautious about this.
If business is not doing spectacularly well at the moment even though your pricing represents amazing value, you’re surely going to attract even fewer customers by raising the prices to a reasonable level?

Being cheaper than everybody else can obviously be hugely attractive.
It’s always a good plan to regularly check out your competitors and make sure that you’re not pricing yourself out of the market.

But if you’re actually providing something of higher quality than your competitors, the most important point is to clearly communicate this to your audience.

A lot of your customers will be more than happy to pay the extra cost if they fully understand why they’ll be getting something better than your rivals are offering.

And if none of your customers are paying the prices that you and your business deserve, you’ll be struggling from the start to achieve any significant growth in your revenue.

Cross-Selling, Upselling, and Combo Bundling.

Something funny and mysterious happens when you’re standing in the queue of a typical fastfood restaurant chain.
The rough price you’ve figured out in your head whilst you’re waiting somehow doubles or even trebles by the time you pass through checkout.

You’ve been very quickly persuaded to beef up your order with extras, “go large” for bigger value, or opt for the combo deal meal.

In a nutshell, this is Cross-Selling, Upselling, and Combo Bundling in their most widely-known forms, if not exactly the purest or the best.

Those corporate fastfood restaurants certainly do pretty well out of these raw techniques, even if there’s not usually enough time for their employees to do anything more compelling than ask if you want extra fries with that.

The good news for smaller and friendlier businesses is that we have the scope to pull off these techniques in a much more sophisticated and effective style.

Hmm. What if run an online business? Will this get complicated?

Quick answer: No, far from it.

Depending on the type of business you run, you may well have an opportunity to Upsell and Cross-Sell in person or over the telephone.

But even if your business is entirely online, you still have a massive opportunity here to employ the same techniques by email or as part of your online checkout process.
Maybe even a bigger opportunity to impress and persuade.

If anything, a visually dramatic screen popping up as the last quick surprise step before checkout to illustrate bigger benefits has more potential to be privately absorbed and acted upon by the consumer.

Especially the sort of consumer who is instinctively programmed to stick their fingers in their ears and shout “No thank you!” when they’re approached by real-life human beings.

Need any help in setting this up for your business website?
Open a Live Chat at our website if you’d like us to design and implement Upsell screens tailored to your customer’s purchases.
We’ll even help with the ideas too.

Cross-Selling

There’s a lot of argument and debate about the exact definitions of Cross-Selling and Upselling.
It’s no wonder people get confused about what exactly each term is supposed to mean.

Let’s leave the arguments to people with more time on their hands, though.
For the purposes of this article, I’m going to stick firmly to the common-sense definitions. You can make up your own words and terms later if you really feel the urge.

Cross-Selling is the technique of selling additional related products which are likely to improve the customer’s overall experience.

It’s the fastfood equivalent of “Do you want fries with that?”

It’s something that can easily be done in the right way in person, over the telephone, by email, or as a last step during online Checkout.

Ideally, you should be recommending:

Some kind of ‘extra’ or add-on to the original purchase

or

Something very closely connected to the original purchase which the customer is likely to find useful.

So, if your customer has made a decision to buy a Vegetarian Hamper from your business, it’s probably not a great idea to try and cross-sell them a packet of pork sausages.

Here at Martin Print, if a client orders a set of Letterheads or Compliment Slips from us, I’m likely to ask if they need any custom-designed Envelopes and then quickly run through some of the popular formats including Peel n Seal and Print n Make.

We’ve already established that the client is planning on posting out business stationery, so it seems a natural step to ask if they’ll need the perfect branded Envelopes to help with that process.

If a client is ordering a set of Leaflets or Brochures but they were planning on using their old, out-dated artwork from 1997, I’ll ask if they require professional new graphic design.
It’s a relatively inexpensive add-on, but one which will dramatically improve the quality and outcome of the order.

You’ve already determined the customer’s needs from their own choice of original purchase, so they’ve already done most of the work here for you.
All you need to do is push the benefits of an additional sale which will complement and enhance the overall transaction.

Upselling

Upselling is a slightly different kettle of turnips..

Here, you’re trying to get the customer to upgrade to a superior and more expensive product or service for a better result or for bigger value.

So, this is the fastfood equivalent of, erm….
Well, really, it’s the fastfood equivalent of “Do you want that cooked with better ingredients?”
Hmm. Very rarely hear that in fastfood restaurant chains, though, do you?

We’re effectively making it clear that if the client is willing to spend just a little more, they’ll end up with something of much higher quality than they were originally intending to buy.

So, for example, if I had a client who was considering a set of basic unlaminated Business Cards, I would usually make a few tailored suggestions depending on what would really make their particular design go POP!

I might suggest that a set of Gloss, Matte, or even Velvet Laminated Cards would really help to bring their artwork to life and deliver a superior finish.

Or I might suggest that they upgrade to a set of cards with luxury special effects such as Metallic Foiling or Spot UV to add a vivid new dimension to their designs.

Again, we need to be sensible about this.
If one of your customers is considering purchasing a child’s scooter, there wouldn’t be much point in trying to upsell them a personal Helicopter.

The main idea is to try and communicate the benefits and value of moving up to the next natural step.

Combo Deals

A third strategy is to bundle together some of your related products to create an irresistible Combo Deal.

There are a number of ways you can do this.
You can literally present the customer with an almighty ultimate package of connected goodies at a price that represents huge value for them and a massively increased order for your business which went way beyond the customer’s original intentions.

However, I feel that a smarter move is to take it a little more slowly.
Instead of throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the customer, take it one step at a time.
We offer all sorts of small but valuable Combo Deals at Martin Print, depending on the type of order we received from the client.
For example, if a client is ordering a set of Business Cards, we may ask if they’d be interested in buying a set of Custom Fridge Magnets in the same order at a special discounted price.

It’s a strategy that works well for us. In fact, it works out well for both parties.
Fridge Magnets are often seen as the magnetic alternative to Business Cards, so there’s a strong connection between the products.
The client is being given an opportunity to take advantage of a great deal which will be of genuine value to them, and we’ve just increased the dollar value of the order.

We would typically offer the deal during the online checkout process.
As a very last step before the client commits to placing the order, they might see a screen which shows off the beautiful full-colour glossy magnets in all their glory and promotes the special discounted price available if the client adds the Magnets to their current order.
The client can then make a quick and simple decision to refuse the deal or take advantage of the combo-deal opportunity.

DON’T just automatically add extra items to the customer’s online checkout process without asking them.
It should be the customer’s decision to add the items, it shouldn’t be their responsibility to delete them from the basket.

Some businesses do this, and it’s a terrible idea which comes across as trying to pull a fast one.
You’d probably kick up a stink if you were getting served in a store, and they tried to charge you for a load of extra items that they’d just randomly thrown into your basket.
The same logic applies to online checkouts.

DON’T go too overboard with the idea of desperately trying to increase the dollar value of every single sale.
It can be a very risky strategy if you go too far.

So try to avoid offering a million and one increasingly unsuitable offers to an increasingly frustrated customer.
We need to accept that some people really do just want to pay for their original order and move on without feeling too pestered.

Bigger Quantities. Bigger Value.

This obviously won’t work for every type of business…
But if you’re in a position to offer a higher quantity of units at a price that represents bigger value, make sure that this crucial point is clearly conveyed to the customer.

It’s the fastfood equivalent of ‘”Do you want to go large?”
The customer ends up with loads more stuff without spending loads more cash.

It’s something we try hard to communicate at all times at Martin Print.
Due to the nature of setting up print runs, it usually works out significantly better value to print bigger quantities of most products, and we pass these savings onto the customer.

Whilst some clients may well be content to pay $49 for a basic set of 250 Business Cards, I feel it’s important to make it clear that they can get a whopping 1000 cards for just $88.

Many customers will feel grateful that you’ve highlighted such a dramatic rise in value, and some of them will be more than happy to make a slight increase in their spend and get a much bigger heap of your goodies in return.

You don’t even necessarily have to do this in an upsell-y kind of way.
Just make the pricing options as clear as crystal from the start.
We place handy price calculators on our product pages, so that customers can quickly and easily see for themselves how much they can save without us having to hit them over the head with it.

The key is simply to make the customer completely aware of the bigger value in bigger quantities.

Minimum Purchase Sizes – A Good Idea?

Here’s a slightly controversial strategy which I don’t use myself but it could potentially be fruitful for your particular industry.

Some businesses will achieve great success in increasing the average dollar spend of each customer by simply raising the minimum quantities available to buy.

In a slightly more interesting approach, some businesses will introduce a minimum transaction value to qualify for free shipping.
So the hope is that the customer feels compelled to buy something else to top up their order and avoid ‘wasting’ money on an element of the service that could potentially be free.

It works in many cases. I speak now as a customer who has regularly topped up my orders and ended up buying loads of rubbish that I didn’t really want, just to avoid getting stung for shipping.

But I personally have reservations about the concepts.
Firstly, the ‘qualify for free shipping’ angle is not a very targeted or tailored approach to increasing your customer value.
You’re basically just saying “Buy something else – anything else! – and you might feel a bit less cheated.”

And I also have major concerns about turning away perfectly good customers who really did just want the smaller quantities that you’re refusing to provide.

So approach with caution!
And only use these techniques if you’re completely convinced that it’s the right approach for your type of business and that your customers won’t get annoyed with you.

Optimise Your Transactional Emails

Finally, a quick word on any emails your business sends out to customers to ‘complete’ the ordering process.

If you’re a very small business, you may oversee these Transactional Emails manually, but it’s far more likely that you use some type of automated system.

The problem with most Transactional Emails is that they’re completely bloody boring.

In fairness, they do have a purpose to serve.
In most cases, they’re providing reference numbers, order codes, shipping information and all sorts of other stuff likely to send your recipients to sleep.

Nobody really expects to get excited by or find anything interesting within a Transactional Email.
It’s just the email that gets quickly skimmed through by customers to check that they haven’t accidentally ordered those leather trousers in the wrong shade of pink.

But why not take the chance here to surprise your recipients with something that might actually be of some value?

It’s usually too late to offer an Upsell or an increase in quantities, but there’s still time to quickly recommend a Cross-Sell or perhaps a Combo Deal involving the purchase of another related item at a special price if the client acts quickly.

This is another communication opportunity that gets missed by most business owners.

It should never be the focus of the email, obviously. But just a quick mention near the top of the content may be all it takes to ignite an immediate return visit to your business.

The End is Nigh…

Yikes!
We only have one last article to go before the end of the Lightbulb Business Formula!

Fortunately, I’ve saved the very best for last…

This is the big one.

Probably the most important element of the whole strategy.
We’re going to increase the final key area of your Growth Analysis Calculator and deliver the final powerful surge to your projected revenue.

We’ve got new customers to come back quickly and we’ve improved their average dollar value.

But wouldn’t it be great if they would stick around for far longer so that they keep on regularly spending more for years and years to come?

In the final part of the formula, I’ll show you How to Increase The Life Cycle of Your Customers, and you won’t want to miss it…

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TODAY’S MISSION:
Get your customers to feel a genuine sense of loyalty and connection to your business.
Get them to only think about your business whenever they need the products and services you deliver.
Get them to visit your business more frequently and spend much more every year.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
A set of Loyalty Reward Cards.
A custom Self-Inking Stamp.
A simple idea.
A bowl of Froot Loops (optional).

Hmm.
Can it really be that easy?

The quick answer is yes.
Loyalty Reward campaigns are dead easy to set up and work brilliantly.

And they’re not just for coffee shops and bars, either.
Pretty much any smart business can take advantage of this super-strategy and deliver a compelling incentive to get your customers coming back frequently to collect their stamps and claim their reward.

If you’re in a hurry and can’t wait to get started, I’ll quickly point out that Martin Print can provide you with the complete package – the Loyalty Cards, the Custom Self-Inking Stamp, the professional artwork and even the idea!
(Just not the Froot Loops.)
These bundles are not yet available from our website, but just get in touch with us for a very special introductory quote.

If you have a little more time to spare, I’ll be taking a look at some particularly creative ideas for Loyalty Reward campaigns in just a second or two.

But first, I’d just like to quickly explain why they work so tremendously well…

Incentivize Your Customers

Old Bert, our mostly friendly resident caretaker, only has one Loyalty Reward Card in his wallet.
It’s for the Hardware Store just around the corner.

He always come bounding into the Martin Print office after he’s just popped down and picked up his latest Stamp.
I’m convinced he buys things he doesn’t really need – I mean, what is he even planning to do with that Baby Reindeer Car Harness? – but he’s just simply determined to collect all 10 Stamps and claim his free Electric Banana Slicer.

Ok, that was an extreme and slightly silly example.
Here’s a slightly more serious thought.

Sometimes, even if you run the most amazing business in the world, people are naturally inclined to forget about you.
It’s nothing personal. Sometimes ‘real life’ gets in the way of people’s thinking – relationships, work, children, pets, milkshake flavours – and even the best of businesses can get nudged down the memory banks.

If similar products and services to your own can be bought elsewhere, it’s possible that even very happy customers may sometimes find it easier or more convenient to buy from your rivals now and then.
The customers may be delighted with you, but there’s no sense of genuine loyalty there yet. No strong connection to your business alone.

A good Loyalty Reward scheme instills that deep-rooted loyalty and unwavering connection.
By stamping your customer’s Loyalty Card every time they make a purchase from your business, you’re giving them a compelling reason to keep on coming back to collect all the stamps and claim their ultimate reward.

In a sense, you’re offering them a strong investment in every regular purchase they make from you.

Whenever they’re next in need of your products or services, they’ll be far more likely to instinctively dismiss the thought of shopping elsewhere because your business and your loyalty scheme and your frequency bonus will be top of mind.

You’ve just got yourself some totally committed customers.

What can my business offer as a Reward?

It’s a common mistake to believe that Loyalty Reward Cards are only for coffee shops, bars, restaurants, cafes etc.

You know the sort of thing.
Collect 10 stamps, and claim your next coffee, drink, or snack for free.

They’re certainly a very popular option for these types of business. Almost a no-brainer, in fact.

But you don’t have to be serving coffee to set up a smart Loyalty Reward scheme.

Pretty much any business should be able to think of a suitable incentive which fits in nicely with the services you deliver.

A free appointment or consultation or session?
A free product or free mystery gift?
A tasty discount on their next order?

All it takes is one great simple idea to get the ball rolling.
After you’ve come up with your winning idea, now is the time to treat yourself to that optional bowl of Froot Loops.

Crafting a creative Loyalty Campaign

One of the best things about this whole idea is that, unlike some other technical and long-winded marketing strategies, this one is so easy and quick to set up.

You’ll need a set of gorgeous Loyalty Cards with a slice of professional artwork on the front and some enticing circles on the back, all ready for stamping.

Don’t go for a cheap DIY option here.
These cards need to look special, stand up to regular use, and feel like something that your customer will want to happily keep on their person and show off to friends.

So go for professional design and strong sturdy stock.
Bear in mind that the ‘stamping’ side of the card needs to be produced on uncoated stock otherwise the stamp ink is likely to rub off very easily and possibly create a few quite grumpy customers!

You’ll also need a good quality Self-Inking Stamp custom-designed with your own artwork, logo, or text if you prefer.

One of my top recommended choices is the Shiny S520 Self-Inking Stamp. The 20 x 20mm die plate is perfect for most business designs, and this tough heavy-duty stamp is all ready to deliver thousands of crystal-clear impressions in a range of colours.

However, there are plenty of other Stamps available, so feel free to take a good look around before reaching your final decision.

Now you’ve got the beautiful cards.
You’ve got the high-quality Stamp.
You’ve eaten the optional Froot Loops.
It’s time to get promoting your campaign, get dishing out those cards, and choose your best stamping hand!

A final quick reminder that Martin Print can oversee everything and provide you with the complete Loyalty Reward Bundle at a very special introductory price.
So get in touch if you’d like us to put together your idea, your cards, your custom stamp, and all your artwork.

In the meantime, here’s a selection of some of the most creative and stylish examples of Loyalty Cards to help you get inspired….

Send to Kindle

You have mail.
Not just a boring old email, though. We get way too many of those every day.

I mean proper mail.
A package or Flyer or surprise gift that you can physically hold in your hand.

That’s got to be more interesting and intriguing than yet another bunch of emails popping up on your screen.

Some business owners may believe that the digital revolution has rendered Direct Mail marketing campaigns redundant.
It’s certainly a bit cheaper and easier to fire off a few quick emails to your leads and customers.

But this is the exciting thing about Direct Mail marketing today.
Not many people can be bothered to do it anymore. Which means that your beautiful slice of post is going to stand out even more in the mailbox.

This is your golden opportunity to deliver something refreshingly real and tactile.
Introduce yourself and your business. Communicate a key message. Promote a valuable offer.

The very best Direct Mail campaigns are often a combination of creative thinking, gorgeous design, and crystal-clear messaging.

Get in touch if you’d like a team of professional graphic artists to help brainstorm your next project.

In the meantime, here’s a small showcase of some of the most brilliant examples of Direct Mail marketing from all over the world…

The Sound of The Sea

We’re always trying to encourage Old Bert to go on holiday.
He hasn’t taken a proper one for years. We’d love to have a well-deserved break from him.
Sorry, I meant to say we’d love to see him have a well-deserved break.

This Direct Mail campaign from Voyanger might just do the trick.
The enclosed Sea Shell is designed to seduce the recipient with thoughts and sounds of exotic holidays.

When you hold the Shell against your ear, a tiny hidden audio device springs into life and plays a recording of ocean waves, seagulls, and a concluding vocal call-to-action.

Technology and nature combining to provide a truly interactive marketing experience.
It’s got to be worth a shot…

Hell Pizza

This New Zealand-based pizza chain was started in 1996 in the Kelburn area before branching out worldwide.

What makes their direct mail ideas so brilliant and compelling is that they tend to venture into the oriental with a mystical bent to their packaging and presentation.

In this particularly impressive Direct Mail campaign, Hell Pizza came up with the concept of Mis-Fortune Cookies, featuring much darker and weirder messages than the conventional Chinese variety.

Another spooky campaign launched in Canada turned the Pizza Box into a Ouija Board!

Free (Fake) Money!

Perry Process is a global firm that deals with used processing plants and equipment.
This particular direct mail idea  was focused on encouraging manufacturing companies to sell their unwanted or surplus process equipment to them in exchange for cash.

The ‘Don’t Ignore It’ campaign had a shock factor to it.
The firm included fake money inserts in the mail to grab their recipient’s attention.

Don’t Throw Away Your Money! was the warning headline that greeted the recipient when the Flyer was folded out.
(Old Bert has translated this for you from the only image we had available. I hope he got this right.)

The Flyer also doubled-up as a free postcard which is a very nice touch.
This campaign combined a powerful visual sense with an incredible symbolism that was sure to grab their target market’s attention.

A New Spin on Marketing

Griffiths, Gibson, and Ramsay Productions started a music production house before expanding into comedy, sound, radio production, design, audio,  and post-digital recording studio.

In this direct mail campaign, the firm chose to create a working record player made out of recycled cardboard materials.
The sheer combination of vintage, eco-friendly creativity, good music, and impressive packaging made this direct mail one of the finest ever produced.

Most of the recipients were so impressed that the agencies who received the record players requested for more to take to their kids back at home.

Planet Kids
Planet Kids is an Indian based preschool learning environment that seeks to create in children a positive view of education and passion for exploration rather than mere cramming of facts.

This campaign stayed true to their out-of-the-box thinking.
The ‘invite-that-talks-back’ was a direct mail idea presented on hand puppets made from A4 sized paper.

The idea behind the message was to excite the young kids long enough to inspire them to share the invites with their parents.

It’s a combination of a brilliant medium, using what you know, and relying on gifted graphic designers to drive the message home.
Well, quite literally.

Who Turned Off The Lights?

Every year the WWF designates an earth hour.
In the initiative, everyone is challenged to switch off the lights for one hour as a means of sensitizing people to the amount of power wasted and its impact on the society, environment and the economies around the world.

In this direct mail campaign, the recipient is encouraged to pull a ‘candle’ from the building-shaped packaging to create the impression that the lights have gone out.

It’s one of the cleverest eco-positive, direct mail campaigns combining creativity, powerful symbolism and a clear call to action.

So what’s the most interesting thing you’ve ever received in the mail?
And more importantly, what’s the most interesting thing you’ve ever sent in the mail?

Feel free to get in touch if you’re feeling inspired to demand more attention with your next beautiful marketing campaign…

Send to Kindle

Brace yourself. Epic article alert.
Grab another cup of coffee and some more cupcakes if required.

You may have already absorbed some pretty meaty stuff in this series of articles on The Lightbulb Business Formula .
But now we’re moving into to the really juicy and clever stuff.

Over the last two articles, we’ve discussed – at pretty epic length – a whole feast of tips and pointers on how to get more customers.

Now we’re seriously going to get those figures rising in another area on your Growth Analysis Calculator.

We’re going to take a look at how to get these new customers to come straight back instead of forgetting all about you after their very first visit.

In particular, we’re going to be looking at how you can get your customers to frequently return again and again by building amazing email marketing campaigns.

Don’t Marketing Emails just get ignored?
Which Email Marketing Software do I need to use?
What do I write about in these emails?
Nailing the Subject Line
Graphics and Design
Composing the elements of your Email.
Create a compelling Call-to-Action.
The Power of the Post Script.
How to stay out of the Spam Bins.
Eek! The Unsubscribe Option.
How often do I send out Marketing Emails?
Split-Testing Different Ideas.
Analysing the Juicy Stats.

Hang on! All my happy customers love my business. Isn’t that enough?
Well, it’s certainly a good start.

A brilliant business will hopefully already be pulling in new customers.
(If you’re still struggling on this front, check out the last two articles in this series for a wealth of epic tips on how to get more customers every year.)

By all means, keep up the fabulous work and keep up the excellent customer service.
But even if you run the most brilliant business in the world, it’s still very easy to get largely forgotten about for the rest of the week, month, year, or decade.
Maybe even forever.

This is why you need to step up regular communication, keep your customers in the loop with news and updates, and essentially just remind your customers that you exist.

Getting new customers should only ever be regarded as the first step in a potentially long-term relationship.
Now is not the time to sit back and feel happy that you got one sale.
Now is the time to build on this initial step and turn it into something truly fruitful for your business.

This is where regular Email Marketing – and other types of smart marketing – come into play.

What’s so great about Email Marketing?
I just ignore most marketing emails.

We’re actually striking two different types of targets here with only one turnip. (Note to self: Check with Old Bert that some of his recommended metaphors definitely work, I’m not entirely convinced by this one.)

Remember the article in which we discussed the importance of growing your mailing list?

Now we’re going to use this ever-growing mailing list to your potentially huge long-term advantage with regular email marketing.

But the beauty of email marketing is that we won’t just be communicating again with happy existing customers to try and prompt them into making a return visit.

We should also be communicating with those leads who chose to sign up to your enticing opt-in.
So, in a double whammy, we’ll also be seeking to convert these leads into new customers with the same email.

Here’s a quick reality check:

Yes, it’s true that the overwhelming majority of people on your mailing list won’t even bother opening your marketing email, let alone read it.

Furthermore, a small chunk of your mailing list is highly likely to ‘unsubscribe’ or ‘opt-out’ with every single email that you send.

I’ll come back to this in more detail in just a second, but don’t let this put you off at all.

The whole idea is that we can still achieve a great deal every single time by striking gold with the minority of people who do engage with your emails.

And in just a moment, I’ll be revealing plenty of tips and pointers on how to heavily increase the chances of getting your emails opened and acted upon without getting consigned to the trash or spam bins.

Technical Bit Alert!
Will I need to use Email Marketing Software?

Once your mailing list has grown to a reasonable size – say, you’ve gone well beyond your next-door neighbour, his pet dog, and that happy customer from last year – you’ll definitely need to use some sort of Email Marketing Service.

Quite aside from the fact that trying to send out thousands of emails manually would almost certainly send you potty, a good Email Marketing Platform will also come packaged with tons of useful benefits.

You’ll have to freedom to create stylish and highly personalised emails with speed and ease, any bounces or unsubscribes can be automatically handled on your behalf, you’ll be able to view all the crucial analytics for every campaign, and you’ll get oodles of other valuable stuff too.

It’s a good idea to shop around for the platform that best suits your needs, though.

MailChimp is a popular option but it can get very pricey for a smaller business that only needs to send out occasional emails.

I’d recommend taking a look at Sendy which is a self-hosted newsletter application that sends emails via Amazon Simple Email Service (SES).

(If all this sounds like a massive headache, bear in mind that I can help you set everything up and take care of all your future entire email marketing campaigns.
We can even compose and design the amazing emails that you’ll be sending out to your mailing list.
Simply visit our website or drop me an email at martin@martinprint.com.au get the ball rolling.)

Wait, what do I actually say in all these emails?

Well, it’s first worth considering that not every single email needs to be a super-critical announcement that is going to change the world.

Even a very simple, friendly, and basic email can often just serve as a useful prompt for customers and leads to get in touch with you about something entirely unrelated to the topic.

As a quick example, we recently sent out an email which simply introduced a new member of staff on the Martin Print team.

There’s nothing too earth-shattering there, but we generated a huge wave of responses from clients and leads who were reminded about an idea they had brewing for their next spectacular print & design order and were prompted to act upon it.

We also recently sent out a mass email to tens of thousands of clients which promoted new Custom Coffee Cups  – a pretty specialist product which is only likely to be of any interest to a tiny fraction of the names on our mailing list.
Waste of time?
Not a bit of it.
We again received a healthy big dollop of responses from clients who had been reminded to get in touch with us about other products and services totally unrelated to paper coffee cups.

Sometimes, an email of any kind can just act as a quick and simple prompt that puts your business right back in the forefront of your customer’s minds.

But of course, to stand a much better chance of success and engagement, an amazing series of email marketing campaigns should strive to contain genuinely valuable content.

You might be tempted to go with a regular Newsletter or Bulletin, crammed full of all the latest updates from your business.

If your business doesn’t really generate enough ‘news’ to warrant a regular Bulletin, you could also consider;

• Details of new product/service launches.
• Special offers or discounts.
• Useful tips, pointers, and extra info relating to your services.
• Links to new Blog articles or other items of interest.
• Entertaining or witty emails simply designed to raise a smile.

The list goes on and on, and the choice is entirely yours.

The general idea is that you’ll be keeping your business top of mind with useful or interesting information sent out to both your existing happy customers and potential new ones.

Ok, let’s compose a great marketing email!

Nailing the Subject Line.

After you’ve chosen a suitable topic, it’s time to get started on putting the email together.
And where better place to start than the Subject Line?

As I said earlier, the majority of your marketing emails are not even likely to get opened by your recipients.
This is honestly not something to get depressed about. It’s a fact of life that a lot of people will just instinctively dismiss marketing emails of any kind.

But you can still make a massive difference to your open rates with a great Subject Line.

This is your one and only chance to get your email read in the first place.

You may well be sending out the most amazing email ever to be composed in the history of the universe.
But if you burden it with a completely boring or spammy Subject Line, the sad truth is that this amazing email is unlikely to get read by anyone at all before it gets consigned straight to the trash bins.

A perfect Subject Line is a tricky balancing act to get right, and there are a number of different approaches to consider.

• Ideally, it should be intriguing enough to entice your recipients into exploring further.
  So it could potentially be witty, surprising, quirky, or unusual. Think about the kind of creative subject line that last enticed you into opening a marketing email.

• Much more importantly, it should stick broadly to the point and give your customers at least a small clue of what to expect. So don’t get too cryptic with the intrigue!

• It should also be fairly short and snappy, ideally less than 70 characters in length.
  Anything longer than this may get chopped off from some inbox screens which is obviously going to dampen the impact of your killer subject line.

• Personalising your subject lines is now a popular option.
  A subject line which contains the individual’s first name, business name, or any other personal data that you’re collecting on your mailing list is much more likely to stand out and grab attention in the inbox.

Of course, you don’t need to cram in all these ingredients every single time.
It’s very hard to be utterly intriguing, completely to-the-point, and highly personable whilst trying to be short and snappy and less than 70 characters long.

It’s usually better to prioritise being direct and communicating the key message at all times, with the option of adding intrigue and personal data wherever it fits.

But experiment and find the formula that generates the most open rates for your business.

Here’s a subject line taken from one of the very few marketing emails I opened last week.

“Psst, Martin! Claim 20% off this new essential tool for Martin Print!”

It gave me a broad idea that this email contained something which may be of genuine value whilst still being quite intriguing.
It included my personal name and business name, it stood out quite prominently in my inbox, and all in less than 70 characters.

Sadly, the actual email was trying to sell me a novelty pencil sharpener in the shape of a giraffe which looked absolutely rubbish.
But still, they got me to open it which would have been a promising start for their business if the rest of the email had been up to scratch.

DON’T appear too excitable, spammy, or over the top in your subject line.
You may well feel like shouting your message in capital letters with loads of exclamation marks but the manic hard sell is an instant turn-off for most people.

DON’T make false promises in your subject line that you can’t keep.
Only promise what you can actually deliver, otherwise your readers are going to get disappointed and annoyed with your business.
You might attract a higher-open rate the first time you do it, but those disappointed readers will probably consign all your future marketing emails to the spam bin.

Graphics and Design.

If you’re not using professional graphic artists to design your email templates, you’re probably better off keeping things as simple and basic as possible.

Even a simple text email with perhaps a few well-chosen graphics can often pull in decent results, particularly if it looks and feels almost like a ‘real’ email that you personally sent to the customer instead of an automated mass marketing email.

However, for a really amazing email marketing campaign, it’s usually better to invest in a professional graphic design that is much more likely to blow your customer’s socks away.

One smart idea is to invest in a beautiful new theme or template which can be used again and again in your future email marketing campaigns.

As well as looking delicious, there’s also a handy and functional side to using a stylish theme. The same template can include all your contact details, website URLs, and Social Media links, all wrapped up in one elegant design.
So your background details are always ready to go every time, you just need to slap the fresh content on top.

Try to avoid using ‘stock’ images or cheap/free graphics sourced from the internet.
Ideally, your email design should look like a wholly original and fresh creation, and not like every other boring marketing email that sends recipients to sleep.

Dare to be different and distinctive if you really want to hook genuine interest.

DON’T FORGET: With more and more people reading emails directly from their Smartphones, it’s important to ensure that your design and layout is optimised for the smaller screen as well as the bigger screen.

Your beautiful email theme may look deeply wonderful on a desktop PC, but your Smartphone users are going to get grumpy if all they can see is an indecipherable mess with lots of empty boxes and strange blobby bits.

One Thing Leads to Another.

When composing your marketing email, a good rule of thumb to remember is that one thing should always lead to another.
Or to put it another way, every segment of the email should gently nudge the reader into exploring the next segment.

Your killer Subject Line should already have encouraged readers to click and open your email.

Now your readers should be greeted by an enticing image or slice of graphic design which encourages them to check out the Headline.

The Headline and possible Sub-Headline should expand a little on the info you’ve already given in the Subject Line, and push the customer into reading the opening chunk of main copy.

This opening chunk of main copy should expand and intrigue a little more, whilst coaxing the reader into exploring the next chunk of copy, the next image, or the next segment of your email.

And so on and so on, until the reader has absorbed everything they need to know and is fully-primed for your compelling Call-to-Action.

There should be no dead wood of any kind.

Think of it this way;

Most of your readers will have other things to do. They’re likely to be in ‘skim’ mode when examining your email, and will almost instinctively be looking for a reason to exit.
Don’t provide this reason on a plate with all the trimmings!

Keep that momentum going from the first glimpse of the Subject Line to the final Call-to-Action.
Every image, phrase, and even word should mean something and add value to the overall email.

This is why shorter and snappier emails tend to generate the best results.
There’s far less scope for the reader to lose interest and run away when you start waffling on about how your new product was once endorsed by the hair-stylist of the wife of the guy who once cleaned the windows for the Emperor of Peru.

Be ruthless in your editing. When you’re concentrating on crafting a small, perfectly-formed email, you should be prepared to trim away the excess fat, the boredom triggers, the danger spots, and the potential exit points!

Start thinking NOW to create your compelling Call-to-Action.

After your readers have finished absorbing your key messages, you need to give them somewhere to go. A course of action to take. A decision to make in which the only sensible choice is clearly Yes.

Your concluding Call-to-Action is one of the most important elements of your whole email.

Don’t finish with a vague whimper.
This grand finale should lead directly into the next stage of the process, and should persuade your readers that immediate action is required.

If it fails to do this, there’s every chance that even a fairly interested reader will close the email down then and forget about it forever.
Not good.

Here’s how to get them to act quickly whilst you’re still holding their attention.

Urgent! Read this bit of advice in the next 5 seconds!
A brilliant Call-to-Action needs a sense of genuine urgency.
Something to wake up your reader from a potential slumber and get them to take positive action before it’s too late.

For example, one winning strategy here is to introduce a strict timeframe in which they can act.
A flash sale, a 24-hour deal etc.
The general idea is simply to make it feel as if the reader will be missing out if they don’t move forward immediately.

Use Action Words.
A huge number of great Calls to Action kick off with a clear Action Verb which explains exactly what your customer needs to do.

Depending on the nature of your business and the idea behind your marketing email, your readers should be strongly encouraged to click your link, call your telephone number, reply to your email, or visit your store.

It’s equally important to ensure that these Action Words are always backed up with the most direct path to follow.

So, for example, if you’re enticing your reader into clicking a website link, make sure it’s a direct link which takes them exactly where they expected to be – the next natural step of the process.

Don’t make anybody wade through a labyrinth of website pages on a quest to try and hunt down more details on what you were happily banging on about so loudly in the email.

Your potential customers should never have to work too hard to figure out what you’re asking them to do.
If your Call-to-Action is not as clear as crystal, you’ve just created another major danger spot and exit point.

DON’T GO OVER THE TOP!!!!
It’s very easy to get a bit carried away with creating a dramatic sense of urgency;

HURRY! HURRY! HURRY! CLAIM THIS CRAZY OFFER NOW BEFORE YOUR HEAD EXPLODES! AAAAARGH!

But the truth is that nobody likes the hysterical hard-sell.
If your Call to Action is just a furious demand crammed with capital letters and excessive exclamation marks, a big chunk of your readers are going to be instinctively switched off by such aggressive marketing.

It’s all about striking the right balance and the right tone.
You’re naturally trying to communicate the urgency and importance of your key message, but you can do this without screaming into any faces and reeking of sheer desperation.

Try to be calm, confident, friendly, and essentially a bit more human.

P.S   A Final Thought on the Bottom of Your Email.

Here’s a little marketing secret which often gets overlooked or forgotten in marketing emails;

A good Post Script (or P.S) can also generate surprisingly high responses.

Only a relatively small chunk of your readers will even get that far.
Ideally, our Call-to-Action worked a treat and we’ve already prompted them to move onto the next step of positive action.

But other readers will just very quickly scroll through your email and see if anything of interest pops out at them.
And a dynamite Post Script or P.S positioned right at the very bottom of your email can often be one of those stand-out attractions.

It’s right up there (or should that be right down there?) with your subject line, headlines, and images.

It’s also your very last chance to capture the attention of those awkward buggers who skimmed past most of your key messages or just didn’t find anything of immediate interest.

So let’s use this final chance as wisely as we can…

P.S. In a Nutshell.

You could use your Post Script to very quickly recap one or two of your biggest key points, and reinforce the sense of urgency for those who missed your earlier attempts.
This could potentially encourage your skim-readers to go back and read the whole of your email properly.

P.S.  Surprise! Surprise!

Deliver an extra little slice of bonus information which wasn’t mentioned in the main content.

If your email is offering a whole bunch of valuable benefits, saving a real corker until the very end can be a good way of splitting them up into tasty chunks and avoiding information overload.

P.S. You Can Trust Us.

Some of your readers might just be seeking one last persuasive dollop of healthy reassurance.
They already get what you’re promoting. They might even be tempted. But who are you again?

Your P.S. could dish up details of a money-back guarantee, a link to testimonials from happy customers, a prompt to check out your popular Social Media pages or authoritative Blog, or just about any extra snippet of useful information which is going to help boost your credibility and raise confidence in the reader.

P.S. By the Way…

Here’s one of my favourite ideas, though;
A Post Script that highlights something else of value with no direct connection to your main email.

For example;

I recently sent out an email from Martin Print which promoted luxury special effects on Business Cards.

This was Post Script that I went with;

P.S. By the way, have you ever considered custom-designed Fridge Magnets? They’re the magnetic alternative to Business Cards which get seen loads of times every single day. Get yours here.

This simple little Post Script ended up becoming one of the top 5 highest-performing segments of the whole email marketing campaign.
Not bad for a couple lines way down at the very bottom, just before the privacy policy.

Some people just won’t be particularly interested in your main key message for whatever reason. They may just have no need for that product or service right now.
But this type of Post-Script can give those readers somewhere else to go and something else of value to act upon.

Stay Out of The Spam Bin!

One of the biggest problems with email marketing campaigns is the high risk of ending up in the saddest place of all – the dreaded Spam Bin of Doom.

All that effort and work and blood and sweat and tears and turnips has just been ruthlessly consigned straight to the dump without even being read.

And it won’t just be that one brilliant email that receives this one-way ticket to oblivion.
Once your emails have been identified and labelled as Spam, all your future communications to this customer could also be assigned the same fate.

Even the most valuable and good-natured email sent out with the very best of intentions can often end up getting mistakenly marked as Spam.

In some cases, you may have accidentally triggered a Spam Filter which has automatically sent your email to the Spam Folder without your potential reader even knowing about it.

In other cases, there just may have been something about your email which instinctively provoked a previously happy customer to make a conscious decision to hit the Spam button.

The following quick tips should help your emails decrease the risk of taking up permanent residence in the Spam Bin…

Don’t Smell Like Spam.

Let’s kick off with a bit of fairly obvious common sense;
If you don’t want to be seen as Spam, then don’t look like bloody Spam!

Everybody hates Spam.
You hate Spam. I hate Spam. Even Old Bert claims to hate Spam, although I’m not entirely convinced that we’re talking about the same thing.

Spam comes in all shapes and sizes and styles, but the thing that really rubs people up the wrong way is when they feel as if they’re being bombarded constantly with aggressive and repetitive messages which are of no relevance whatsoever.

It’s exactly the sort of alienating behaviour that compels the recipient to delete the sender forever.
Instead of slapping our readers in the face with endless identical emails, we should be trying harder to truly engage with them.

From Me to You.

Who exactly is your email from?
You? A member of your business team?
Or is it from a cold, mechanical marketing robot that doesn’t even really exist?

If possible, try to use a familiar From Name and From Email Address, as this can help to deliver a warm, friendly touch and convince your audience that they’re dealing with real human beings.

Avoid just using words like ‘sales’ and ‘info’ in your Email Address names (e.g sales@myamazingtrousers.com), as this impersonal approach could persuade either the recipient or the spam filter that your message belongs in the junk.

It’s also a very bad idea to use ‘Do Not Reply’ in your Email Address name (e.g donotreply@musicalcuckoocages.com).
This always sounds quite rude and ignorant and deeply unhelpful to most people.
It gives the impression that your email is quite happy to broadcast your marketing messages, but can’t be bothered to listen to your replies.

Beware The ‘Danger Words’.

Some words and phrases are likely to arouse the suspicion of the Spam Filter and trigger a Red Alert, particularly when featured in your subject line or just used far too many times.

On the whole, these tend to be quite sales-y words which are sometimes perceived to be a bit dodgy.

Words and phrases such as;
Free
Win
Increase Your
Double Your
Sign Up Now
Click Here
Trial Offer
This isn’t Spam

(That last one is serious, by the way! The word ‘Spam’ is itself a Spam Trigger. So all those companies desperately trying to convince you that their emails definitely aren’t Spam are actually triggering the filters by trying to explain this to you over and over again.)

As the owner of a design & print company which likes to promote very special offers from time to time, I completely get how tricky it can be to share exciting details on a free offer without banging on about the fact that’s it’s, erm, free.

Don’t get too paranoid about it, just try not to use these danger words repetitively throughout the content of your email, and keep them to an absolute bare minimum in your subject line.

“Free! Free! Free! Click here now to win free money in our free offer. It’s definitely not spam and it’s free!”

That example is probably not going to make it past the filters.

Cheque Yaw Speling.

We all know people who zoom in on a spelling error and are very quick to point out your mistake.

To be honest, the Martin Print team is full of them – including me! – but forgive us, it’s in our blood. We’re instinctively programmed to proofread every design that we’re working on to ensure that any potential errors are rectified before the order is sent to press.

But the Spam Filters don’t like spelling mistakes, either.
A few small errors could trigger the filters and end up spelling ‘disaster’ for your whole email marketing campaign.

It’s very easy and quick to check your content with a Spellchecker, so don’t forget this small but crucial step.

DON’T USE ALL CAPITALS!
Finally, another big trigger for the Spam Filters is the use of words composed entirely in capital letters.

The risk becomes even greater if you really start playing with fire and use all-capital letters for Danger Words.

Nobody really likes words presented in all-capital letters anyway. It’s seen as aggressive, annoying, and it gives me a blinding headache.
SO PLEASE DON’T DO IT! EVER!!

Make it Easy to Unsubscribe.

Let’s get this unpleasant thought out of the way.
Some people will want to opt-out of your communications for a myriad of different reasons. It’s not a nice feeling, but it’s going to happen.

As long as you’re taking all the right steps to ensure that they’re not unsubscribing because of silly avoidable mistakes in your email marketing strategy, you shouldn’t get too down about it.
This is why we have to keep working hard on attracting new leads to replace the ones that we will naturally lose over time.

A clear and easy Unsubscribe option at the bottom of your email is an essential feature of your campaign.

If some of your recipients have made the firm decision to opt-out, it’s no good making life difficult for them.
They’ll only get even more annoyed with your business if they can’t figure out how to unsubscribe.

And here’s a slightly cheerier thought;

A big friendly Unsubscribe button might actually persuade some of your wavering recipients to stick around for a little while longer, fully confident that the option to opt-out is there if needed.

How often should I send out new Emails?

A smart business should tread very carefully here.

Every great email you send has the potential power to convert new leads and attract new sales.
Hooray!
It’s tempting to just spit them out as frequently as you can and hopefully reap the rewards from all these constant communications.

But you have to weigh this carefully against the risk of losing leads completely.
Because every email you send also has the potential power to attract a big chunk of Unsubscribers, and this number is likely to grow bigger if your recipients are getting fed up with hearing from you far too often.
You could end up seriously depleting your Mailing List in no time if you get too trigger-happy with the emails.

There’s no catch-all answer here.
The frequency of your emails should be shaped by the nature of your business and the typical content of your emails.

For example;

I’m very happy to receive daily emails from certain companies. Some of them even send me more than one a day.
These are the types of companies who have something new and valuable to tell me on a very regular basis – another new product, another new service, another special offer or flash sale.

Yet I have chosen to opt-out of receiving emails from other companies who didn’t even send them very often at all.
I just found that each of those emails was very similar to the last one and wasn’t telling me anything new of interest.

As a general rule of thumb, I would say it’s better to be sensibly cautious than recklessly over-zealous.
I can’t imagine that too many small businesses would have any great burning need to send a new email every day.

At Martin Print, we often have a lot to report but we usually limit our emails to one or two a week at the most.
Other types of business may prefer to only send an email once or twice a month.

Think quality more than quantity.
One amazing email a week is likely to generate a bigger response, fewer opt-outs and stronger overall results than five bland emails a week.

Don’t forget to consider the schedule of your marketing campaigns, too.

Is your target audience more likely to read your email on a weekday morning or a weekend evening?

Sending emails in the middle of the night can be a bad idea, as they may get lost in the avalanche of morning emails which are quickly deleted by a half-asleep recipient!

Try different days and times if you’re not sure and get an idea of which schedules seem to attract the highest open rates for your target audience.

Testing Testing…

My final and probably most important point on Email Marketing is about improving your future campaigns with split-testing, deep analysis of all the crucial stats, and continuous tweaking.

Check for Cock-Ups.

But whilst we’re on the subject of testing, let’s first just give a little consideration to the testing of your current campaign.
Well, actually, you should give a lot of consideration to this, so that any glaring mistakes are corrected before you press the big ‘SEND’ button on your campaign.

Check every single element thoroughly, ideally with accurate preview emails sent to your own address.
Every word. Every image. Every link.

Never forget that a bad or broken email can end up doing a heap more harm than good.

A good friend of mine who is usually spot on with his email marketing campaigns recently had a rare lapse in concentration.
He ended up sending out tens of thousands of emails which excitedly promoted a strictly limited deal…with a link that didn’t work.

The end result from this kind of silly mistake is no sales, no conversions, several complaints, and a whole stack of Unsubscribers.

Split-Testing.

It can often be difficult to make your final choice about every element of your email.
Especially if you’re as indecisive as me. It takes me at least 40 minutes to reach a final decision on what I’m going to have for breakfast in the morning.

But there are times when you won’t really know for sure if a certain element works or not until it’s been tried and tested to some degree.

Maybe you’ve got two potentially exciting Subject Lines but you’re not quite sure which one hits the right tone?

Or perhaps you’re undecided as to whether your light-hearted and fun version of the email is going to pull in better results than the super-snappy and simple version?

Most good email marketing platforms now give you the option to split-test two versions of the same email.

Split-testing – or A/B Testing – will deliver different versions of the email to a small chunk of your mailing list to identify which version is generating the most opens or clicks.
It will then send the ‘winning’ version to the remainder of your mailing list.

It’s an incredibly useful way of figuring out exactly the best approach for your content without wasting an entire campaign on something that didn’t quite work.

You can consider split-testing your subject line, headline, layout, call-to-action, image selection, personalisation techniques (Mr Doe or just plain old John?) or practically any element of your email.

A very important word of warning, though.
Only ever split-test one element at a time.

If you split-test utterly different versions of your email, you’ll be struggling to identify exactly which elements were largely responsible for success or failure.

Analyse the Stats.

After your campaign has been sent, you should quite quickly get a broad idea of whether it has fundamentally worked or not.

If your inbox is flooded with responses, your telephones are buzzing, and your website traffic has broken the internet, it’s fair to say that it did quite well.

If the only communication you’ve received since then is some bloke trying to sell you pet goldfish insurance, you might need to re-think your strategy.

But you can gain much deeper insight into the performance of every campaign by taking a good nosy at all the stats and data provided by good email marketing platforms, along with advanced measuring from Google Analytics.

Low open rates?
Your subject line may not have been up to scratch, or you may have sent it at completely the wrong time.

High open rates but low clicks?
Your subject line hit the spot but was let down by something in the content.

High unsubscribe rates?
Whilst you should accept that a reasonable chunk of your mailing list will unsubscribe with every email you send – often for reasons you can’t change – if one of your emails attracts a particularly high unsubscribe rate, there may have been something within that really annoyed your audience.

No engagement from opens on Mobile and Tablets?
There could be a compatibility issue with the layout and design of your email on the smaller screen.

High open rates and high clicks?
Well, the problem here is that…
Oh, wait, there is no problem.
Jackpot!

Take the time to study all the data you have at your disposal and act upon the findings.
It’s the smart way to getting an even better response from your next email marketing campaign.

Ok! Email Marketing sorted.
So what else can I do with my growing Mailing List?

Plenty!
And in an upcoming article, I’ll be taking a look at how you can use your mailing list to increase the Overall Life Cycle of your Customers.
So they don’t just come back a little more frequently.
They come back and stay around for far longer.

But first…

It’s time to rapidly accelerate another crucial key area of your business growth.

We’re attracting new leads and customers.
We’re getting them to visit our business more frequently.
Now, how much more revenue would your business generate if we could get these customers to spend more on every visit?

Quick answer – loads!
Have another little play with your Growth Analysis Calculator to see how much more overall revenue you could gain by making even just a small improvement in this area.
The results may well surprise you.

But how can we get these customers to spend more on every visit?

Quick answer – easily!
Find out exactly how in the very next instalment of the Lightbulb Business Formula…

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We’ve got a fair bit to get through in this Blog article, and I’m sure you already know why we’re here because the headline says it all.
So let’s cut to the chase.

Here are 7 of the most effective ways to get more customers every year, including:

Why Referrals are MASSIVE news.
How to give your business a Makeover.
Grow a bigger audience on Social Media.
How to get Blogging and become an expert in your field.
Why you need to target your audience right from the beginning.
Getting right back to basics.
How to advertise smarter.

(By the way, that bit about cutting to the chase with minimum waffle is a pretty good tip in itself, so we could really say that this article contains 7 and a half brilliant ways to get more customers, but that would probably be…aaargh! Waffle Alert! Roll VT!)

You don’t need to blow thousands and thousands of dollars on massive online advertising campaigns.
I mean, if you have that kind of budget, then go ahead.
But there’s an even better way to get more customers. And the good news is that it costs practically nothing.
I’m talking about Referrals.

The most effective form of marketing is the type in which you are not even the source.

Instead, the marketing source is a satisfied customer who is simply making a very honest recommendation to a friend or colleague.

That’s got to be more powerful than some online Ad screaming in your face that you only have ten seconds left to claim your crazy 90% discount.

Here’s the slightly tricky part.
You need to be amazing.

Already cracked that part?
Good.

Not quite there yet?
We’ll come back to that in more detail later on in this series. It’s a pretty important point.

You see, most people are very quick to make a vocal complaint when something goes horribly wrong, and will happily share a terrible consumer experience with anyone who will listen.
But they’re far less likely to share an experience that went ok. That’s not interesting enough at all, is it?
The only way you can realistically inspire your customers to recommend your business is to be amazing.

Regular Word-of-Mouth referrals are the ultimate form of free marketing and are more profitable than any mega-bucks online Ad campaign.
If you can encourage every customer to recommend your business to five friends, and each of those five new customers recommends your business to another five friends, and each of those…
Wait, you can see where I’m going with you, can’t you?
It’s very good news.

Of course, it’s a tough old world out there, particularly for new and small businesses. You can’t just sit back and hope that people might say nice things about you.

Here are a few extra tips and pointers on getting more Referrals.

Ask for them!
You can of course politely ask your customers after every successful sale.
But it’s far more effective to set up a simple Referral Program in which both your referrers and your referrals are mutually rewarded.

For example, you could offer a small discount to every customer who makes a successful referral leading to a sale, and this discount could increase with every additional referral.
The new referral also receives a small discount on their first order with you, so everybody wins!

Make It Easy.
How exactly you implement your Referral Program will largely depend on the size and nature of your business.
You could implement automated solutions, use a discount code system, or ask for help from your chums at Martin Print.
But the most important point is to make the process as simple as possible. Don’t ask anyone to jump through too many hoops. Only dogs like jumping through hoops and even they can be a bit funny about it.

Shout About It.
Spread the word about your Referral Program far and wide, online and offline.
Consider producing Leaflets or Flyers which can be bundled in with every sale and will clearly convey the incentives of getting involved.

One clever idea is to distribute flyers containing several perforated ‘referral coupons’ which are designed to be torn off and shared with a whole bunch of friends and colleagues at once.

Say Thank You.
Finally, remember to thank your referrers when they do make a successful referral.
It’ll make them twice as likely to make another one.

Let’s briefly rewind just a tiny bit. Just for a few seconds, I promise.
Here’s where too many business owners slip up big time.

They don’t spend nearly enough time on figuring out their target audience.

When you’re taking steps to get more customers, it’s crucial to narrow your sights on the right people otherwise you risk casting your net too wide and not attracting the specific interest of anyone.

I don’t mean that you should narrow down the field so much that you only end up marketing your business to 34-year old men called Nigel who have a slight lisp.

But do consider the age, gender, budget, interests, behaviours and habits of the people most likely to need your services.
When you’ve built up an accurate profile of your target audience, you’ll be in a far stronger starting position.

You’ll know where to find them and how best to communicate with them.

Give Yourself a Makeover.

A new hairstyle and a brighter shade of lipstick can often…
No, wait, I think I’ve got the wrong notes in front of me here. Give me a sec.
Right.

Your personal appearance in public is nobody else’s business (although I don’t mind getting kind comments about my furry Ear-Flap Hat. Well, I think they’re kind comments anyway, I can’t really hear anything when I’m wearing it.)

But the appearance of your business in public should get exactly the right attention.
You ideally need to get the following points in order before even considering spending a cent on marketing.

Do you even have an identity?
As a basic starting essential, your business logo is destined to appear on all your marketing content in the near future. That makes it pretty important.
Don’t go for the cheap DIY option and deliver a lame impression from the start.
Invest in a professional Logo Design that’s going to get noticed, get remembered, and will grow reassuringly familiar to new customers.

Branding Your Business.
Of course, good business branding goes way beyond the logo.
You may need to seriously consider completely re-vamping your business from top to bottom before hitting the big red marketing button.

Don’t be afraid to change the name of your business if your current name doesn’t really work.

Does your website need a fresh overhaul? A great business should have a professionally-designed website that looks amazing whilst being as simple as possible for visitors to use.

Stand out from your competitors. Your marketing materials need to truly reflect the high-quality of your business otherwise you’re just going to get unfavourably compared to weaker rivals.

Your unique branding should include beautiful professional designs and artwork which will identify your business across Flyers, Leaflets, Business Cards, Stationery, Promo Gifts and on the web.

You need a catchy Tagline or Slogan which quickly captures your key message in a tasty soundbite.
This is not just about being clever or witty. It’s about instantly letting your leads know why they should carry on reading and exploring your business.

Write brilliant emails.
We’ll discuss the finer points of Email Marketing in an upcoming article, but here’s the problem in a nutshell;

Most marketing emails are boring and most marketing emails get ignored.

When you’re contacting all the clients and leads on your mailing list, you need to create something pretty special to make sure your emails are opened, absorbed, and acted upon.
Find out how by staying tuned to the Lightbulb Business Formula series of articles!

Get help when needed.
It’s entirely up to you how exactly you tackle a fresh presentation and a re-branding of your business that’s going to get more attention.
But if you need any help with logo design, marketing artwork, premium printing, website design or copywriting, just give me a shout by leaving me a comment below or visiting the Martin Print website.
We’ve got every angle of marketing completely covered, we’d love to help you brainstorm you smarter ideas, and we very rarely bite as long as we’ve had a good breakfast.

Grow your presence on Social Media.

Some people can’t really be arsed with Social Media.
Old Bert, our faithful resident caretaker, reckons that “Twitter is just millions of people shouting at each other and nobody really listening.”

He’s got no interest in Facebook, either. “Why would I want to ‘reconnect’ with annoying scumbags  that I haven’t seen for over 40 years with very good reason?”

Some business owners share this feeling of apathy. It’s quite alarming how so many budding entrepreneurs either just don’t bother at all with Social Media, or maybe just set up a half-hearted Facebook page which hasn’t been updated for over a year.

Still can’t be arsed?

If you’re missing out on Social Media, you’re missing out on massive digital potential to get more customers.
Here’s why;

People are looking for you out there.
Some of your potential leads will naturally assume that you have a Facebook page and will actively seek it out to get more info on your business.

In the world of 21^st century marketing, it’s expected.
If they can’t find you or come across a dormant page, they’re likely to give up and move on.

A stronger connection with your leads and customers.
Maybe you have a fabulous website.
All well and good, but realistically, how many people are likely to keep coming back and checking for updates several times a week?
Not many.

Social Media pages give your leads and customers another way to follow your business on a far more frequent basis.

These followers are not going to forget all about you for weeks or months or forever. Regular posts and updates beamed into their personal news feeds are going to keep your business top of mind and will inspire your leads to consider their next purchase from you.

Share content faster and easier.
Got something new to shout about?
The launch of a new product? A special offer or promotion? Some vital new info relating to your services?

Social Media gives you the freedom to quickly share your news and updates with your dedicated followers in real time.

Interact with your audience.
Your business website and marketing promotions are largely just broadcasting your benefits.
But here’s an opportunity to actually engage with your target audience on a regular basis and get to know them.

Discover more about what your leads want from your business, take the time to personally answer queries and deal with potential issues, get your customers involved in useful discussions, and build ongoing relationships which are more likely to lead to long-term custom.

Create a buzz and generate more attention.
This final point takes us back to square one with the stuff I was talking about right at the beginning of this module.
Referrals.

When you create a strong Social Media presence and publish popular posts and updates, you’ll be encouraging your current followers to share your content with their own friends and connections.

I’m not suggesting that you’ll go viral overnight (unless you can film a funny video with a cat on a skateboard or something. Worth a shot.)

But you will be handing over the referral power to your followers, and making it super-simple and quick for them to share your stuff and raise awareness of your business.
You can also seize the opportunity to attract favourable reviews and comments from happy customers which again can be shared to a wider audience of new leads.

Social Media Quick Tips

Which network?
If you’re just getting started in Social Media, it’s generally a good idea to focus on one or two networks instead of trying to spread yourself too thinly across every conceivable channel.

I would definitely recommend a Facebook Business Page as an essential choice, simply because of the sheer popularity and flexibility of the platform.
At Martin Print, we’ve managed to pull in over 7,000 followers to our Facebook page, largely by making regular posts and interacting with our audience.

As for Twitter, I tend to largely agree with Old Bert on this one. Unless you splash out on paid advertising, your tweets are likely to get lost in the massive noise.

Google+ never really took off in the way that many expected, but can still help to improve your rankings in the search engines.

However, by all means, take a look at all the major platforms and see which ones are most likely to suit your business and attract your target audience.
For example, LinkedIn is a professional network which can be useful for B2B models but possibly doesn’t hold much value for a regular business.
Pinterest and Instagram are both driven by visual posts, but the former is particularly well-suited to showcasing arts and crafts, whilst the latter is more likely to attract a young and trendy Smartphone audience.

Adjust Your Frequency.
Every post and update you make could potentially capture attention and new leads.
So it’s important to post frequently….but not so frequently that you end up driving your followers away.

You should ideally be posting updates at least a few times every week, and usually no more than once or twice a day.

Give plenty of consideration to the times and days you publish new posts, too.
Are the members of your target audience most likely to respond to early-morning weekday posts, evening posts, or weekend posts?

Nurture Don’t Annoy.
Think of Social Media as a way of nurturing future leads and customers instead of constantly hitting them over the head with your sales pitch.

It’s easy to attract new followers, but it’s also very easy to lose them.

If your followers feel that their personal news feeds are getting clogged up with your hard-sell Ads, they’re likely to get irritated and break the connection.

Be Shareable!
The best way of generating a buzz is to be inherently shareable.
Publish posts which are useful, informative, interesting, surprising, funny, or just of genuine value.

Short and snappy visual posts are usually more likely to be shared than long-winded epic posts about what a terrible morning you’re having.

Before you hit the button and post your next update, ask yourself first if you would have considered sharing it to your friends and associates.

One of the best ways of attracting respect and interest from new customers is to become recognised as an expert on the services you provide.
And one of the best ways to achieve this is to write and maintain a Blog.

You’ll be opening up yet another channel and another solid opportunity to:

Capture the interest of new leads and convert them into regular followers.
Deliver useful and helpful information.
Grow your reputation as an authoritative voice in your field.
Create more cracking content which can be shared by your readers.

The Martin Print Blog has been running for over five years now with over 600 articles under our belt. My aim is generally to turn a potentially dry marketing subject into an engaging, fun, and ultimately useful read.
Over the years, we’ve attracted a huge number of subscribers and regular readers with a high customer conversion rate.

A word of warning, though.
Cyberspace is crammed full of Business Blogs that started off well with a dramatic drumroll and the very best of intentions….but were then quietly abandoned after one or two posts.
Don’t join this sad pile of neglected Blogs!
Here are a few quick pointers to bear in mind;

It’s not as hard as you think.
You don’t have to be a great literary genius or a talented graphic designer. Nobody is expecting Shakespeare here.
It’s quick and easy to build your own Blog using a platform like WordPress or Hubspot. Just write from your heart and use a good selection of royalty-free or licensed images.
(If you prefer, get in touch with me for help. We can set up a professionally-designed Blog for your business and can even write your content.)

Keep up with Regular Posts.
You’re never going to gather much momentum by writing a new post every few months or so. Your audience will just forget about you during the long gaps.

Update your Blog with fresh material as often as you can, ideally at least once a week.

Get your readers into a regular rhythm, so that they begin to expect and look forward to your next article.

Don’t forget that every new slice of content you create here can be shared and promoted across all your Social Media channels, so every single new post is a big event for your business.

Engage your audience.
The types of post you create will largely depend on the nature of your business.
But it’s usually a good idea not to get bogged down in too much detail or write 10,000 word epics.

Remember that most of your readers have an attention span shorter than…
Hmm. Pancakes.
Sorry, where was I?

Ah yes, remember that most of your readers will have an attention span shorter than a goldfish.
This may sound harsh, but there’s some truth in it.

When people are skimming through the internet every day, they probably have a lot of things to explore, check, and do.
They don’t really want to get held up for too long on a single website or Blog.

Try to create direct and to-the-point articles with an enticing design.
Your readers should never end up looking at a massive blob of text on their screens. Liven up the presentation with plenty of fresh visuals which help to illustrate the points you’re making.

Get Back to Basics.

It would seem ridiculously silly to ignore the huge digital marketing advantages of the 21^st Century.
But it would be equally silly to get so carried away that you forget about the traditional marketing techniques that still work today.

Distribute promotional Flyers far and wide.
Attend networking events and hand out Business Cards.
Give away cool Promo Gifts at business fairs.
Hook up with other businesses and form mutually-beneficial partnerships.
Dress up as a Human Billboard and….

Ok, maybe forget the last one for now.
But my main point is that some of the older marketing strategies get forgotten by trend-setting entrepreneurs, despite the fact that they still work.
Sometimes, you still need to put your shoes on, get out there in the real world, knock on doors, and create real-time opportunities.

Smarter Advertising.

My main idea throughout this whole series of articles is to present a range of tips and methods to increase your business revenue without blowing a fortune on paid advertising.

But as a final point, let’s touch very briefly on Paid Advertising. It’s obviously something you’re going to need to do at some point. Let’s just not spend thousands of dollars on it just yet.

Some business owners are fortunate enough to have a pretty big advertising budget. So the easiest thing to do here is just quickly throw it all at Google Ads and see what happens. They might even get a few nice results from this.

But there are several points to first consider and plenty of smarter ways to approach paid advertising which don’t require a massive budget.

Make sure you’re ready.
I’ve heard so many horror stories of businesses owners who blow their budget on Ads, only to find that there was a major problem with their website which drove all the visitors away at the first step.
Check everything. Only begin to consider running Ads when you’re sure that everything else is perfectly in place.

Start Small.
Google Adwords is something that takes time to master. It also takes time to fully assess what’s working and what isn’t working.

You’ll need to regularly review your keyword selections, bid strategies, and Ad collections before fine-tuning a winning formula.
With this in mind, start with a very small budget and assess the initial results before committing any major funds in this area.

On Target.
Back in the olden days when everything was black and white, a business would target their audience by placing Ads in specialist publications.

The good news today is that targeted marketing is now ten times easier and probably about 10,278 times more effective. (Figures courtesy of Old Bert’s Compendium of Stats That Sound About Right To Me).

You can of course still seek out specialist publications and websites that relate to your product and services.

But it’s also worth taking a good look at the enormous range of targeting options on platforms such as Facebook Ads which pretty much do a lot of the hard work for you.

It’s now easier than ever before to narrow down your Ad visibility by location, age, gender, occupation, hobbies, behaviours etc etc.

Again, it’s a good idea to start small with a very modest daily budget, test and review your initial results, and only build up your spend when you’re confident you’ve hit on a winning formula.

Ok, I’ve got more customers!

Wow! That was quick!
But as I said right at the beginning of this email course, this is probably the least important part of the 4-Step Lightbulb Business Formula.

Or to put it another way, it’s only the very first step. Now it’s time to really get to work.

Don’t let these customers slip through your fingers after the first sale.

I’ve got a great idea to keep them coming back again and again and again…

Find out how in the next chapter of The Lightbulb Business Formula.

See you then!

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We don’t all have the budget to splash out millions of dollars on massive advertising campaigns.

Smaller businesses tend to be more creative and shrewd with their modest budgets, and over the years Martin Print has been privileged to work alongside thousands of amazing businesses on cracking promotional campaigns that work and get the message across to the target audience.

Still, life must be easier for those big corporate companies, eh?

With millions of dollars to throw at every problem and a dedicated team of marketing executives racking up huge salaries per second, how could they ever possibly fail?

Oh.
Wait a minute, it turns out that they do cock things up from time to time.
Hooray!

Here’s a selection of some of the Biggest Clangers in Advertising History which became memorable for all the wrong reasons…

Vegemite Pizza

Pizza Hut had the best of intentions when launching their new Vegemite Pizza on Australia Day.

But it’s difficult to understand how Pizza Hut – a multinational company, well-versed in the art of marketing – seemed to completely forget about tiny little details such as copyright infringement.

The ad pretty much stole the ‘diamond’ symbol from the Vegemite trademark, and Vegemite were not happy.

Embarrassingly for Pizza Hut, their YouTube account was actually suspended for a while owing to multiple notifications of copyright infringement of third parties.

AFL Multicultural Round

When you have a massive advertising budget to spend, you can afford to hire the really big guns.

The AFL hired top creative media agency Cummins and Partners to work on an advertising campaign promoting the AFL Multicultural Round.
The end result looked pretty good!

Sadly, it completely rips off this design of NBA star LeBron James created by Tyson Beck.

Cummins and Partners were forced to apologise for blatant plagiarism.

Maybe they’d all been a bit too keen to get out for an early lunch on that day.

Woolworths : Fresh in our memories:

“Fresh in our memories” was a marketing disaster for Woolworths which should really have been foreseen long before the idea went live.

The online campaign was intended to mark respect for ANZAC veterans, and consumers were invited to upload their own photographs of ‘fallen soldiers’ on an image generator.

There are two big problems here;

1)  The campaign ended up getting hijacked by people who were more interested in creating and sharing completely inappropriate Memes on Social Media.

2) The Woolworths logo in the corner left a nasty taste in the mouth and sparked outrage from consumers who felt that the company was exploiting fallen soldiers to promote their wares.

Stoner Sloths

This ‘anti-weed’ campaign from the New South Wales government made the controversial decision to depict all cannabis users as lazy ‘Stoner Sloths’, although in reality they looked more like Chewbacca’s cuter younger siblings.

The campaign went viral, but for all the wrong reasons.

It was originally claimed that The National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre were strongly connected to the campaign, but they were quick to wash their hands of any close involvement.

Even the New South Wales Premier tweeted his utter bewilderment at the concept.

A team of real Sloths would probably have made a much better job of the campaign.

Chase & Sanborn Coffee

Good news!
There’s now a sure and certain way to test the freshness of your coffee in-store before you buy!

Bad news!
We’re going to advertise this in a way that shows a man spanking his wife for not serving him the best cup of coffee he deserves!

This is a vintage ad that would never fly in this day and age, but you do wonder what they were thinking even back then.

7-Up

Attention New Mums!

Don’t bother giving milk or formula to your baby!
All the happy and healthy babies prefer to slurp 7-Up straight from the bottle!

Motrin Painkillers

The painkiller giant rolled out an Ad belittling baby slings as fashion accessories that could possibly cause pain.

Strongly opinionated mums on Twitter faced Motrin head on, forcing them to pull down the ads within just a day of release.

McDonald’s Double Cheeseburger

McDonalds thought they would “hit it” with their Double Cheeseburger campaign.

Their biggest mistake was probably the failure to conduct adequate research before trying to use urban slang.

The ad reads: “Double Cheeseburger? I’d hit It.”

Nearly every consumer misunderstood the ad to be an advocacy for sex with the sandwiches.

Calvin Klein

You have to wonder if Calvin Klein go way beyond the boundaries of taste on purpose just to get a wave of press coverage after their Ads are banned.

Over the years, their campaigns have included references to low-budget porn screen tests, violence against women, and even scenes of dead people.

You know you’ve probably gone too far when your latest Ad campaign provokes an investigation by the FBI.

It’s great to go viral but not like this.

I’m not even going to try to illustrate any examples of the times they’ve gone way too far in their desperate bids for attention.

Here instead is a picture of a cute fluffy kitten.

But what’s the worst Advertising campaign you’ve ever come across?

Share your own thoughts and disastrous Ads below!

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