Brick and Mortar Marketing Ideas

 In Tips for Business Owners

It seems like the whole world is going digital. Most marketing discussions are now about SEO, PPC, Social Media Marketing, etc. With all of this emphasis on E-Business, it may seem like Brick and Mortar businesses are getting left behind. Traditional marketing methods such as fliers and radio ads are getting less and less effective and more and more expensive. So, the question remains, what are some new, innovative brick and mortar marketing ideas?

Direct Message Marketing

Advertising can be expensive. You’ve likely heard horror stories and even experienced spending a significant amount of money on a traditional marketing campaign without seeing a return on your investment. This is why the way we are marketing our businesses is changing. Instead of marketing to the masses, with direct marketing you can market to the people who are by far the most likely to bring you more business, your past customers.

I can hear the protests already, yes maybe TV and radio ads don’t give you a good direct return on investment, but they build brand awareness! I’m going to stop you right there. The best way to reach new customers is through your current customers. Telling the world that you have the best product or service out there isn’t going to do much for you these days. Having your customers tell their friends that you have the best product or service, however, is going to go miles in terms of acquiring new customers. If you focus your marketing strategy on creating loyal customers I can guarantee you will start seeing new customers.

Switching your marketing methods to a direct form of marketing will not only save you money on the marketing expense end but also has the power to bring in more business than traditional marketing ever could.

Direct Marketing Statistics

If you haven’t already been sold on the powers of direct marketing here are some facts.

  1. It costs 5x’s more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep a current one. (Forester)
  2. Reducing your customers defection rate by just 5% can increase your profitability by 25-125%. (DestinationCRM)
  3. 80% of your company’s future revenue will come from 20% of your existing customers. (Gartner)
  4. The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70% while the probability of selling to a new prospect is just 5-20%. (MarketingMetrics)
  5. Returning customers spend on average 67% more than first-time customers. (Bain)
  6. Disloyalty stunts company growth by 15-20%. (TheLoyaltyEffect)

I don’t know about you but those are some pretty compelling reasons to switch your focus to direct marketing.

How to Directly Market to Your Customers

I hope you are excited about direct marketing because it really has revolutionized brick and mortar businesses and kept them profitable in a world that is going more and more online. There are good ways to directly market to your customers, and there are bad ways. Let’s go over the easy cost and time-effective methods so you can start growing your business on autopilot.

Collect Your Customers Data

The first and most important step to start direct marketing to your customers is to collect your customers’ contact information. Without it, you have no network to send out your messages. Manual methods such as fish bowls of business cards are not going to get you where you need to be. There are conditions that need to be in place before you will start being able to gather your customers’ data.

  1. You need to give your customers incentive

    . If there is one thing everyone hates, its spam. Because of this people are going to be wary to give you their contact information. This is why you need to give them an incentive that outweighs the fear of spam. Loyalty programs and promotions are great incentives. Put yourself in your customers shoes, what would entice you to give away your contact information?

Pro Tip: A promotion that can be redeemed instantly is by far more effective than promotions that can be redeemed at a later date. For example, sign up now and get $2 off your order, is a much better offer than getting $2 off your next visit.

  1. You Need to Make It Easy.

    If it’s going to be a hassle to join your text and email lists it’s not going to be worth whatever you are offering. Pen and paper is a hassle. The simpler it is for your customer the better.

Get the Proper Data Collection Tools

In the past, to create a text or email list you had to first collect the data, then manually add it to a spreadsheet or email platform. Ain’t nobody got time for that. It’s the same rule of thumb for yourself as it is for your customers. Making the process of data collection easy and automatic for you is going to dramatically increase the effectiveness of your network building efforts. With modern technology you can start building your lists without any effort on your part, for a complete list of these tools please visit our How to Build Your Text and Email Lists post. These tools have been tried and tested, on average we see most of our customers double the size of their lists within the first 60 days.

 

Keep in Regular Contact with Your Customers

 Once you have your customers’ contact information, it is important to set up both automated and promotional messages.

Studies show that businesses who send their customers 2-3 communications per week see 3x’s more customer visits than businesses that don’t. This is huge! How would you like to triple your revenue?

What kind of messages should you be sending? With a 99% open rate texts are by far the most effective way to communicate with your customers. If you are worried about bugging your customers don’t be. As long as you stay in the 2-3 messages per week category we are seeing less than 3% of customers opting out.

 

How Much is This All Going to Cost?

You may be thinking to yourself, yes this all sounds great, but I don’t have an unlimited marketing budget, will this be doable for my business. Let’s do the math.

Say I own a boutique that sells women’s clothing. On average I’m seeing about 30 customers a day. After a month with my kiosk we did amazingly well, and ALL of our customers opted in for our text message marketing. 30 customers a day x 30 Days = 900 customers on my contact list. Say I’m having a slow day and need to drum up some business, I want to send out a blast to my customers with a promotion. With our basic no fee plan our texts run at $0.035 per text. This price goes down as you change packages.

How many customers out of those 900 need to come in for you to make your money back? 1, 2? What happens when you get 30 or 40? For $30 you are getting your message in front of 900 people. Not only that, but you are getting your message in front of the 900 people that are most likely to come into your store.

Would you like to learn how to start an effective text marketing campaign? Sign up for our free Text Marketing Online Course!

Get Your Direct Message Marketing Campaign Started

I hope you are feeling excited about direct marketing. If your “this is too good to be true” knee-jerk reaction has manifested itself, we’ve got a great offer for you. We are so confident that this marketing system will work for you we will let you try it for free for 30 days. No credit card needed. All we need is 20 minutes of your time to get your campaigns in place then you can just sit back and watch your customers come in.

LET’S GET STARTED

Start by creating a free account.

  • "Since we started using CityGro, we have gotten rid of the cost of punch cards, employees don’t have to insert the phone numbers and emails from business cards we used to collect, and now that we have thousands of people in our network, we don’t have to reach people through third-party advertising. It costs us a couple cents to contact a customer, and even if it takes 10 messages to bring them back, it is extremely profitable."

    Zak Manning
    Zak Manning Owner, Farr's Fresh
  •   "CityGro helps us bring customers back by allowing us to reward and engage our customers on a programmatic basis."

    Patrick Galleher
    Patrick Galleher CEO, sweetFrog
  •   "With our business having several different locations and seasonal schedules, it was hugely important for us to be able to customize and automate our text marketing system. CityGro worked with us to integrate directly into our POS, which gives us access to how often our customers visit and allows us to send them offers accordingly."

    Jeff Sadler
    Jeff Sadler Hokulia
  •   "From webforms to text keywords, CityGro's solutions have helped us integrate digital marketing across our various locations. The CityGro App for iPad is incredibly user-friendly for both our more senior customers and small children. The platform allows us to personalize messages to different types of customers and automate them based on visit frequency."

    Trevor Cannon
    Trevor Cannon Fat Cats
  • "I own and operate a swimming pool and spa supply store in Palmdale Ca. I have had the Citygro system for a couple of years now. The system collects cell phone numbers on my clients and permits me to text them special deals and announce sales. We are careful not to over text our customers. When we do we get really good results because it is sending the information to our already loyal customers. Direct mail is so hit and miss. This is much more direct and it always connects. What a wonderful way to promote our store and our customers love it as well. Can't say enough good stuff about the system and the support we get as well. Worth every penny!!!"

    Robin Rodgers
  • "The company was so easy to work with. My company sees a huge influx of customers every time text messages are released! Thank you CityGro!"

    Jayden Stock
    Jayden Stock
  • "CityGro has been the best advertising dollar I have spent all year long! Thanks guys"

    Cody Lewis
  • "CityGro has been great for our business to work with. Their services have given us new ways to reach out and keep in touch with our customers. They have been extremely helpful in getting things set up and teaching us how to use their system. Plus, the iPad kiosk has been a great tool for us to use when going to different trade shows to get contact information for new potential customers and follow up with automatic e-mail or text campaigns. We'll be sticking with CityGro for a long time!"

    Adam Snow
  • "Citygro is a great company! We have used them for over a year and I have found them to be very professional. Anytime I have a question or concern, they email or call me back within 24 hours. With any business, all you can hope for is to have a vendor that respects your time and money which I feel Citygro does! If you are looking to build a database of customers and are looking for an affordable option, then Citygro is company for you!"

    Trevor Cannon
  • "Citygro has made it easier to gather contact information and send relevant messages to students on campus. We have worked with them for two years and found the customer service to be professional, responsive, and helpful. I really like using ipads at events and in our office to sign people up."

    Tom Hurtado
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