Highly Effective Ways To Market
Marketing can be a hit-and-miss thing unless you have thoroughly planned out everything from start to finish. Using all of the available tools might not be ideal; focusing your budget and efforts on the channels that make sense with your product is ideal.
Ultimately your marketing needs to speak to the people you want to sell to. And, it’s important that you meet them where they are. If you are trying to speak to high-level executives, throwing a couple of adverts on Facebook might not get you where you need to be, but using Captivate in the elevators that they take to their office. Smart move.
So let’s take a look at some things you can do to get repeat customers and much more.
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Loyalty
Every business that has loyal customers is likely to have a bigger profit. Customers who feel loyal will always come back to your business for what they need. It’s not just that, though; they will want to talk about it with friends.
There are many options for loyalty programs.
- A paid fee for bonuses, promotions, and exclusives
- VIP releases
- Free shipping after X amount spent
- Bonus codes
Smart Emails
Your email list is your lifeline to expanding your reach with current and potential customers. One of the biggest and most profitable campaigns is the win-back. After someone has made a purchase, you can send an email encouraging them to return – perhaps they forgot batteries or a new product that works with what they have purchased is coming.
Here is a great and short sequence that can be used to see some return customers:
- The first email should make people aware that a product is coming soon that they might like, and by signing to the notification list, they can be the first to know.
- Within 30 days, use that notification list to send out a small coupon for a discount for the item when it arrives in the store.
- 30 days after that, send a second email with a larger discount
This can be modified for people who have made a previous purchase, so the first email would tell them, ‘because you purchased X, you might like Y.’
All of these email chains can be built in advance so that all you need to do is keep track and ensure that it is running correctly when the time comes. Email automation is a great thing.
SMS
Straight into the hand, SMS marketing can be incredible – as long as you have permission. SMS is a great way to communicate with buyers, although many companies have found success by creating Whatsapp groups. Offering codes in exchange for their mobile number and delivering news and new products into the hands of customers.
Schedules 
People like regularity, which means if you have not got a proper schedule for releasing new products, people can never be sure if there is something worth waiting for – or if they should look elsewhere.
Keep the dates for new releases on the website, and use countdowns and signups. Consider how Adidas and Nike do drops that are only accessible on their app first.
Limited editions could be the exception to that rule.
Up-sell and Cross-sell
Not every business can offer free shipping and codes; instead, they will need to focus on cross-sell and up-sell. Cross-selling means you show the customer things that will work well with their product. For example, if you sell walking boots, you could offer hiking socks, boot protectors, and other similar items in the cross-sell.
Up-selling would show a similar, more expensive product, but it will also be better.
There are plugins that can handle upsells and cross-sell for you, but you should make sure that you choose the products manual so that there are not any items that have nothing in common shown.
Influencers
Influencer marketing is big, and it’s better than ever! Finding influencers that typically use products like yours or have content that matches the ethos of your company can increase your audience massively.
You can choose how you want to work with influencers. You can co-write the content or let them write the content. Create images for Instagram, short content like tweets, or longer content for Instagram stories and TikTok.
It is important that you don’t work with influencers that just have a lot of numbers and will promote any type of product for the right payment.
Choose to work with micro-influencers with an engaged audience and experience with the products you sell or design.
Customer services 
You might not think of your customer services as marketing, but 10/10 bad customer service will be shared, and it will damage your reputation.
Great customer service is something that people often share on their social media channels too – which means that it should be factored in as something that can have a huge impact on you.
If it can bring in sales, then it should be considered marketing.
Deliveries
No matter the size of the purchase someone has made, you have the opportunity to give them something more in their delivery. You can add codes for a discount on their next purchase, or you can give them samples.
Deliveries can be one of the greatest ways to advertise to buyers – and make sure that you are turning them into repeat customers. If your products are digital, it might be a little more difficult – but everyone can benefit from having to pay less for the best thing that they buy.
Subscription model
If you sell anything that can be refilled and you don’t have a subscription model, you are missing out on repeat customers. Because it is often the case that when people run out of something, they will just buy something else to replace it rather than buy the refill.
That is unless there is a subscription offer from the start. We can see this in action with things like razors now.
Offering a unit + refills + subscription to refills will mean your customer doesn’t have to think about it again. Their items arrive in a timely manner, and they haven’t had to go looking for refills.
Want to lower down on how to make SMS marketing work for you? Read more: What Is SMS Marketing?
