Engagement Marketing Page 2

  If you own a small business, or you’re a marketer or sales executive challenged with increasing sales in your company, this is a book you can’t afford not to read. You won’t be presented with baffling technospeak about social media sites. Instead, you will get the straight scoop delivered in easy-to-understand business terminology. And you get practical advice that you can put to work no matter what size your business.

  —Anita Campbell,

  CEO and Publisher of Small Business Trends website

  Introduction

  I’m an amateur chef (emphasis on “amateur”), and my husband and I enjoy entertaining and having people over to our home. I had needed to replace my knives for some time, so I went to Kitchen Outfitters, a local kitchen store, to see what was available. A little overwhelmed at the selection of knives and brands, I asked the shop owner a few questions. She took the time to explain the difference between German and Japanese knives and even pulled out a chopping board and proceeded to let me try the different knives by cutting up carrots. Sold! I ended up buying six well-made knives. Each time I have guests over and we are cooking together, I tell them about my knives and how wonderfully sharp they are, which leads me to tell them the story of my great experience with Kitchen Outfitters.

  What’s key here is that I’ve shared my experience (multiple times!) via word of mouth. Word-of-mouth referrals aren’t new, of course. We’ve always relied on our friends, family, and coworkers for referrals. Maybe the trees in your yard need pruning or you need a new roof, so you ask your neighbors or coworkers which companies they’ve used in the past. Or it’s your 10-year wedding anniversary, and you really want to wow your spouse, so you ask around for recommendations to some of the better restaurants in your area. Word of mouth has always worked, and it still works.

  What’s changed, however, is how we solicit these referrals. We still ask our friends, family, and coworkers for their feedback and share our experiences with them, but now we’re using technology to do it.

  As a small business owner or marketer, you’ve seen firsthand the extraordinary changes that technology and social media have wrought, from the ubiquitous Facebook “Like” button and real-time tweets of global events to Yelp reviews and YouTube videos. Thanks to social media and its nimble partner, mobile technology, it’s now easier than ever for people to gain instant insight into news, events, people—and your business—by simply turning to their online networks and the collective experiences of others found on public review sites.

  As a consumer and a businessperson, I, too, rely on my network and social media channels for information. I no longer go into a new restaurant, for example, without first checking the reviews at OpenTable or Yelp. And as a CEO, I no longer hire professional services firms without first checking with my network comprised of current and ex-colleagues and my CEO peers. As I write this, a friend in my network is moving to a new accounting firm. He used LinkedIn to ask if any of us had experience working with the firm and audit partner that he’s considering. He’s also doing social media searches to see what others have to say.

  It’s easy to focus on social media and new technology as the marketing game changers, especially since the use of mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, is rising rapidly. However, smartphones are not what have changed the game.

  What’s the real marketing game changer? Age-old word-of-mouth marketing strategies made publicly visible by social media sites. Word-of-mouth referrals, which used to happen between neighbors over the back fence, at cocktail parties, business functions, and your children’s birthday parties, are now visible to your customers and your prospects. With today’s social media tools, your customers can post reviews, endorse businesses using the “Like” and “share” buttons, and talk about brands on platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and YouTube for the entire world to see. Businesses can engage their customers in LinkedIn Groups or on blogs. Your customers now have a voice that can be heard beyond their immediate circle of close friends and family.

  And that’s what this book is about: leveraging your existing customers’ “voice” to help you grow your business.

  “What Do we Do with Social Media?”

  Most of the small businesses we’ve talked to over the years (small businesses being the bulk of the Constant Contact user base) have two huge priorities: one, they want to find new customers; and two, they want to get the biggest bang for their marketing dollars and time invested. These were the concerns that we used to hear, and still hear, over and over at our small business seminars and workshops. But as social media emerged, we began hearing new concerns:

  “Why should my customers care about what I had for breakfast?”

  “I don’t understand how Facebook can benefit my business. Isn’t it just for kids?”

  “Do we really need to pay attention to this? I don’t have the time.”

  As social media continued to gain momentum and people began experimenting, they shared their success stories as well as their challenges. Healthy discussions blossomed as business owners investigated how social media could drive the most impact.

  These questions were also driving deeper and lengthier conversations among us at Constant Contact—questions that prompted us to step back and think about the challenges and opportunities of social media. Was social media a fundamental change in marketing or just a new way of getting our marketing messages out? We kept talking and sharing and listening and realized that something was very different—but this difference wasn’t about the technology or the tools. It was about a new marketing concept . . . what we call Engagement Marketing.

  Engagement Marketing: Making magic happen

  Engagement Marketing is about getting new customers through your existing customers while driving more repeat sales at the same time. Engagement Marketing builds on the tried-and-true basics of building your business—namely, the importance of happy customers driving referrals. But now, with the addition of the social media megaphone, you as a business owner can drive more dramatic results with a lot less effort. This is because social media enables a different level of customer engagement, one that you can use to encourage and reward customer conversations—conversations that include positive mentions and endorsements, as seen in this Twitter exchange between Boloco fan @ajmadsen203 and Cassidy at Boloco:

  @boloco Thank you for the greatest breakfast burrito I’ve ever had, it’s gunna get me thru hump day.

  @ajmadsen203 aww ur welcome! what kind did u get? have a good #humpday! ^cassidy

  There are two great outcomes from this exchange. First, @ajmadsen203’s followers hear a ringing endorsement of Boloco and their breakfast burritos. Maybe they have never tried Boloco, and this is the nudge they need. Or maybe they’ve never thought about a burrito spot as a breakfast choice! The second outcome is that Boloco’s response reinforced @ajmadsen203’s loyalty.

  If you’re a small retail business, you probably already know your regular customers. I know that many of the local establishments with whom I do business know me by name. But what they don’t know is what I say about them to others. It’s difficult to track or reward your customers for promoting your business to friends and family “in real life.” You can use loyalty marketing to reward customers for coming back, but it’s not as easy to reward them for referring you, and it’s even harder to track these referrals.

  Engagement Marketing, on the other hand, allows you to encourage your customers to engage and interact with you as if you are neighbors chatting across the back fence. By engaging your customers, you derive two benefits: You make your customers part of your marketing team, and it’s this visible engagement and the positive endorsements that will bring you tomorrow’s customers. Not only do your current customers and fans influence how others perceive your brand, they also help build the trust needed to get others to do business with you. The difference is that these valuable endorsers, who have always existed, are now in plain sight, ready for you to nurture, engage, and reward.
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  Who Should Read This Book

  In this book, you’ll learn why Engagement Marketing is a real opportunity for fostering deeper connections with your customers, which in turn will drive new business. I can name dozens of books on how to use social media. This isn’t one of them. While I’ll cover social media tools and how to use them, this information will always be presented in the context of building and sustaining genuine connections with customers.

  This book is for anyone who owns or works for a small business or organization, whether you sell to consumers or businesses or run a nonprofit organization or association. Whether you want to find more new customers, drive more repeat sales, bring in new members, or raise more money for your nonprofit, you will benefit from reading this book. In the first section, you’ll learn about the Engagement Marketing Cycle and how it works. In the second part, you’ll find case studies and practical tips for maximizing your Engagement Marketing opportunities.

  I don’t have to tell you that social media networks, tools, and technologies are rapidly changing. In this book, you will find concepts that transcend the changing technologies, so if some of the examples are a bit dated by the time you read this, forgive us and focus on the message.1 I also encourage you to visit the companion site to this book, engagementmarketing.com. You’ll find tips, case studies, and more. Be sure to pay a visit!

  We here at Constant Contact see firsthand how many small businesses are thriving, thanks to simple techniques such as combining social media with e-mail marketing. I get excited about the fact that while marketing is changing, these changes allow you to reach your customers and connect with them on a personal level in a way you just couldn’t do even five years ago. I know, because many of the small business owners and marketers we work with are now using Engagement Marketing to grow their businesses—and you’ll read a few of their stories in this book. If it can work for them, it can work for you, too.

  1 As this book was going to press, Facebook announced that it was replacing PageWalls with Timelines, so all references to Wall in this book are equivalent to Timeline.

  Part I

  Rev Up Your Engagement Marketing Engine

  CHAPTER 1

  The Engagement Marketing Cycle

  A couple traveled to the Boston area to attend a wedding, and their host—who lived in the area—booked them a room at a gorgeous bed and breakfast. The B&B’s website featured fabulous photography of its stunning location, so the bride felt good about choosing this particular B&B. She requested a room on the first floor and informed the person handling the reservation that the husband had trouble climbing stairs due to a physical disability.

  When the couple arrived, they learned that no first floor rooms were available; instead, they had been given a room two flights up at the back of the B&B. You know how this works. You don’t like to make a fuss, so you say, “Okay, we’ll deal with it.” The room, although difficult to access, was lovely. After attending the wedding, however, the couple returned to their room to find a freshly made bed . . . and a pile of wet towels on the floor. When the couple reported the mess to the front desk receptionist, they got a blank stare and a shoulder shrug.

  This is the negative TripAdvisor.com review that I—and thousands of others like me—read about the B&B “[that] didn’t care enough to give us a first floor room even though one was specifically requested due to physical disability.” I found this review while looking for a place for friends to stay while visiting my town. Do you think I booked a room at this B&B? No! And I’m willing to bet that many other viewers followed suit.

  Compare this to a grateful bride’s positive review of an inn in Connecticut. The couple’s wedding reception had to be rescheduled at the last minute due to a hurricane. The inn owners helped plan the reception right down “to the last detail” and even hosted the entire bridal party. The bride praised the staff, the food, and the grounds and raved, “We’ll definitely be back! Thank you!!” Think about how many bookings the inn may receive from other brides seeking exceptional service and a worry-free wedding day—all thanks to one glowing review.

  When we ask business owners, “What is the single most effective source for generating new customers?” the most common answer is, “My customers telling others about me.”

  Everyone Has a Circle of Influence

  Whether we join to build professional relationships (e.g., industry associations) or for more personal reasons (e.g., parenting groups, lifestyles, similar hobbies or interests, alumni associations, and so on), we all belong to various networks. These groups include our close and extended family, personal friends, acquaintances, colleagues, neighbors, and coworkers, to name just a few. Usually, our networks are filled with people like us—whether we belong to a group of new mothers or a group of serial entrepreneurs. Our networks, which can be forged online or offline, form our circle of influence; we influence them and they influence us.

  When we get together with our peers within these groups, we share information and updates about our personal and professional lives. Think about the last time you caught up with a friend or family member. You probably discussed what your kids and spouse are up to or where you went on your last vacation. Similarly, when you last attended an industry association meeting, you most likely shared resources, anecdotes, news, and business challenges with other small business owners or marketers in your industry. If one of your peers asked, “Say, do you know of a marketing consultant? We need help with developing an online marketing strategy,” you may have said, “Actually I do. You’ll want to call Jane Smith. She does great work—five stars.”

  This word-of-mouth referral is the golden moment for a business or consultant, but several factors make it difficult to encourage or track: (1) You can’t influence how your business is portrayed in the conversation; (2) You have no idea when someone refers a friend to you unless that friend calls to inquire about your services and you happen to ask how he or she found you; and (3) You can’t reward your clients for referring you if you don’t even know who made the referral.

  Social media completely changes this scenario.

  In the days before social media and the Internet, you, the business owner, could not listen in on your customers’ conversations about your company. Nor could you easily encourage people to spread the good word about your business unless you used loyalty marketing or a “tell a friend” campaign, both of which are expensive to conduct and maintain.

  With today’s social media tools at your disposal, you can encourage your clients to tell your story for you through Engagement Marketing. Engagement Marketing is built on a simple yet powerful idea: When you connect with your customers online, you stop speaking to your customers and start talking with them, and wonderful things begin to happen. Those golden word-of-mouth moments that once happened in the backyard, at parties, and at networking events suddenly begin happening right in front of your eyes on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and review sites. Through Engagement Marketing, word-of-mouth referrals become socially amplified: your customers’ friends, families, and networks all see these referrals and beat a path to your door.

  Your New Business Engine: New Customers and More Repeat Business

  Engagement Marketing helps drive more leads, more repeat sales—and more referrals. Engagement Marketing stimulates conversations and inspires participation. As you engage with your customers (and their friends), you’ll achieve surprisingly targeted social visibility; your customers’ networks are filled with great prospects for you. Remember, we’re all part of networks filled with people like us, so we all tend to have friends and colleagues with similar needs. When a friend of a friend finds your business through a trusted connection, it comes with the explicit or implied endorsement that this person stands behind your business. This endorsement gives you greater reach and adds to your credibility—or “social proof”—as prospects that find you through other channels can easily see your positive engagement with returning customers.

  Your cus
tomers’ testimonials carry more credibility than any marketing message you could ever deliver yourself. This is because we value the feedback of others more than a vendor’s claims. If we actually know the person who is giving positive (or negative!) feedback, the review’s credibility skyrockets. In fact, 90 percent of consumers trust recommendations from people they know1 while only 14 percent trust advertising.2

  The Engagement Marketing Cycle: Three Simple Steps to Success

  The Engagement Marketing Cycle begins once you’ve attracted a prospective customer or client to your business, as represented by the door in Figure 1.1. This first point of contact can happen at your physical location, website, Facebook Page, trade show booth, charity event—anywhere you make a connection with someone and the conversation turns to business.

  Figure 1.1 Word of mouth drives people to your door

  The Engagement Marketing Cycle, as seen in Figure 1.2, is comprised of three simple steps: Experience, Entice, and Engage. Although relatively simple, these three steps, when done right, are quite powerful. What follows is a brief description of the cycle. You’ll find more in-depth information on each step, plus practical tips, in the following chapters.

  Figure 1.2 The Engagement Marketing Cycle

  Step 1: Provide a WOW! Experience

  The good news is that as a small business, you have an advantage that larger or national companies do not: you can create personal connections with your customers by providing extraordinary experiences—every single day. These experiences include everything from remembering your customers’ names and preferences to providing them with exceptional service they just do not get anywhere else. Creating a great customer experience from the moment a prospective or existing customer enters your business is crucial to revving up your Engagement Marketing engine. As Figure 1.3 shows, your goal at this step in the cycle is to deliver a positive, memorable customer experience that stays alive in your customers’ memories long after they have exited your business.