If you are anything like me, you’ve spent January just figuring out your priorities for the coming year. Whether they include hitting the gym more often or taking your business to the next level, your goals for 2012 will seem more reachable if you put a plan into place and resign yourself to see it through.
With that said, now is a great time to refresh your marketing strategy to engage consumers from all angles of the multi-channel marketing spectrum. Connecting all channels and touch points together will continue to be crucial for building sales and marketing momentum in 2012.
So, here are some ways you can resolve to put some additional muscle behind marketing campaigns in 2012.
1. Promote, Promote, Promote. From advertising your mobile keyword and short code on your in-store poster, online banner ad or flyer, to sending out SMS marketing messages with your offers, you’ll want to create a regimen that you can stick to.
2. Maximize Mobile Opt-In Opportunities. Whether you embed an Online Sign-Up Page on your website home page or execute a fun mobile voting activity at your next event, you’ll want to use every opportunity available to expand your mobile text marketing database. With more people in your database, you’re sure to see demand for your products and services grow. Remember, your response rates from your mobile marketing campaigns will always be ten times greater than those of your traditional marketing efforts.
3. Keep the Conversation Going. When you send out your SMS or MMS campaigns, you’ll be surprised just how much people will appreciate being able to provide you with instant feedback. Two-way texting will allow them to say just what’s on their mind and, at the same time, give you a chance to show how much you care about your customers.
4. Offer Last-Minute Deals at Least a Couple Times a Month. People love to be able to get in on last minute discounts. You can take advantage of this by sending out your offer in the form of attractive mobile coupons or a simple text message marketing campaign. And, by sending out your text marketing message out early on the day of your sales event, you just might gain greater results than you would if you sent it a week in advance.
5. Make Your Multi-Channel Marketing Campaign as Much about Connecting as Selling. Business is all about building relationships – as is your multi-channel marketing campaign. Sending out regular email newsletters, intriguing trivia SMS questions and voice broadcast messages with birthday greetings can make a huge difference when it comes to taking those relationships a step further.
6. Gain Greater Insight Now, Target Your Message Later. During the contact collection phase, you can gather extra intelligence about your customer to help you filter your database and target your message later. You can ask questions relating to age, gender, geographic location or favorite food, movie or sports team.
7. Orchestrate Your Campaign across a Wider Variety of Touch Points. The world of digital and new media seems to be getting more and more fragmented, making an even greater case for reaching out to 100 percent of your audience across a variety of communication channels. So, if you haven’t really used the full multi-channel marketing mix, integrating SMS, email marketing, IM, voice broadcast and social media messaging, you’ll want to make sure your 2012 campaigns use these channels to their fullest.
8. Bolster Your Campaigns with Greater Creativity. Getting the attention of consumers in today’s marketing landscape is as much about the idea as the delivery of the message. Thinking outside-of-the-box when it comes to executing your multi-channel marketing campaign can mean the difference between ho hum results and record breaking profits.
