Internet usage, smartphones and social media have become more popular and show a steady increase in popularity not only from personal use but from business marketing as well. The below graphic displays B2B and B2C companies Social Media profiles and the popularity of social media in business marketing.

The emarketer.com reports that Social Media Marketing spending for B2B and B2C businesses is projected to increase over the next several months and years.  Customer Relationship Management and Brand Building will be the focus of business social media marketing practices as these play key roles to a company’s success.

Technology, internet and smartphones are the content delivery mediums today and your marketing needs to adjust to reach your target audience. Not quite sure where to start?

1. Start with a plan, who is your target audience and what is your message?
2. Make sure that your website is up-to-date and relays your company message.  Is your web site smart phone readable and friendly?  Can users interact with your website via their smart phone and current web browsers easily?  These are important as trends show that 83% of adults have cell phones or smartphones and, among them, over 35% have access the internet via their phone.
3. Create a Social Media Strategy – see related post with strategy and social media sites information found at: http://www.isisinternettechnologysolutions.com/social-media/social-media-adventure-continued/
4. Initiate Marketing Plan – how are you going to reach your target audience with your message? Social Media is certainly an item that will be used but there are also alternatives such as Personalized Email Campaigns and Personalized URL’s. These provide an alternative to customary print marketing and are personalized and targeted to that specific person or persons vertical market, enabling you to target your marketing message.

The key is to plan your marketing strategy, ensure that your message is reaching your target audience and engage your audience with your brand and customer relations.   Getting involved in Social Media is more than just posting, but involves interaction and getting to know/responding to your consumers.

Recently, I had two different experiences with 1) a well known internet company and 2)  a company that isn’t so well known.  I made purchases that were “guaranteed” to arrive by a specific date.  Due to weather in the Eastern US the items were delayed.  Surprisingly, I had two very different customer service experiences.

From the well known internet company -  I never received any notice/warning, communication about the delay. The items just didn’t show.  I had to keep checking the tracking information in order to determine when I would be receiving the items (which was a moving target due to delays, etc.). I realize with weather related issues it really isn’t in the control of the company, but according to the delivery tracking information, the packages didn’t even leave their facility prior to the weather issues.  Basically, the packages left late in the first place.

From the not-so-well-known internet company – I received an email 2 days before the impending weather hit the East Coast warning me about the possibility of a delay and informing me that I could contact them and cancel my order.  I then received daily updates via email from this company on the status of my order and they also upgraded the shipping type to a higher level in order for me to receive the package sooner than the level that I purchased. At no charge.

The final outcome, my packages from the well known company were over a week late and I never received any type of notice or communication from them at all.  The package from the not-so-well-known company was a few days late and they have a customer for life.  I find my self more apt to read their advertising emails when they arrive, look at their site, recommend them to my friends and family, and place orders for items not really needed. Yes, I am admitting to ordering a few things that I really don’t need.

As far as my continued support of the well known company, I don’t spend any time looking at their advertising emails or visit their site to see what they have that may be of interest.  Just not interested in giving them my money any longer since they don’t seem to value me as a customer.

Customer service plays a very important role on not only current, direct sales, but future sales as well.

No customer service = No sales.

What are your doing to ensure that you have a customer for life?

Most member and client contact lists contain one contact for each company. Why is this?  What if that contact moves to another company, leaves the job, is fired, etc.? Who do you contact then?

It is always a good strategy to not only have the person that you consider your key contact/member but also ask for an alternate contact name, title, etc. at the same company.    This enables you to not only grow your list, but also provides you with the ability increase your visibility into other areas of the company.

This really isn’t that difficult to do.  Ask your main contact or member to recommend other people in their organization that may be interested in your services and/or information.  I’m pretty sure that you will receive a positive response from your contacts/members to this question with a listing of a few different contacts.

When visiting with your client, ask them if it would be possible to show you around their facility and introduce you to other departments.  If you have a good relationship with your contact this should be a no brainer and present you with a great opportunity to meet other contacts within the same organization.

One thing I’ve learned over the years that organizations (especially associations) have many layers and many decision makers for various departments.  In most cases, your contact, who may be in the member services department, doesn’t communicate the wonderful products and services that you offer with the IT or Publishing Department.  This relates to lost opportunities and sales.

Asking current members to recommend persons that they feel may be interested or providing them with the opportunity to “forward to a friend” some materials is another way to help increase your list.  This is easily done if you provide targeted member materials via cross media campaigns, meetings/announcement, etc. that you may be marketing to your members, etc.  Adding an option that enables your member to “forward to a friend” allows the member to send the information along and possibly entices the friend to join as well, but also provides you, through programming, to collect the “friends” contact information for marketing.

Multiple contacts within any organization are great ways to strategically build and maintain a valuable marketing list.   Don’t let these opportunities get by you.  Updating your list is the best way to make sure that you have a list of value that will provide you with many opportunities for years.

The survey is comprehensive and contains a wealth of information that includes some of the higher level points below as well as results and graphics that display: How Prospective Members become aware of the Association, How do Associations Allocate Marketing Dollars and What Best Describes your Marketing Approaches and Results. This is just some of the information contained within the survey. Visit Marketing General Inc. to download and receive your copy of the survey.  You’ll need to give up your email address but definitely worth it.

Some of the information contained within the report includes:

• Most associations report continued membership growth – 46% of the associations reported that have seen their total membership grow with 54% of this growth contributed to new members.

• Direct mail has been found to be the most effective channel for recruiting members with a listing/ranking of the most effective as:

1. Direct Mail 46%
2. Member get a Member and WOMM 32%
3. Email 24%
4. Promotion at Own Conference 15%
5. Personal Sales 11%

Of note also is that associations who use direct mail as a recruitment channel also are more likely to report membership renewal rates of over 80% compared to those who do not.

• Giving a first year membership/dues discount is the most effective incentive – Of those who reported offering a new member dues discount, 75% had renewal rates of over 80% and 25% under 80%.

• A personal approach to new members was used and below are the top 10 methods:

1. Mailed Welcome Kit
2. Email Welcome
3. Membership Card or Certificate
4. Volunteer or Staff Welcome Call
5. Invite to Chapter Meeting
6. New Member Survey
7. In Person New Member Reception
8. Special Discounts on purchases
9. Custom New Member Email Follow-Up
10. New Member Newsletter

• Continual renewal contacts and services may improve renewal rates.

The data appears to indicate that organizations that stop their renewal process earlier are more likely to have membership renewal rates under 80%. However, those that continue in their efforts to renew members are more likely to have membership renewal rates over 80%.

In fact, those who say that they “don’t stop contact” are 83% more likely to be in this higher renewal grouping than those who stop contact earlier.

As mentioned, the above data are key-pionts of some of the data contained within the report. Visit the Marketing General Inc. website to download your full copy of the report.

On the other side of the fence however, the electronic/digital world is seeing an increase in the number of social media users and companies using social media for marketing purposes.  As reported as recently as last month, Social Media sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter continue to see an increase in new users, from approximately 10M to 20M unique users year over year respectively.  Check out the article found on Mashable.com related to Twitter and Social Media Growth.

Is electronic marketing the wave of the here, now and the future? Based upon recent polls taken earlier this year by www.toprankblog.com that includes the following findings, Social Media outlets are definitely the way that the masses are using to market and reach their audience.  Sources being used the most are indicated below:

* Blogging (34%)
* Microblogging (Twitter) (29%)
* Search engine optimization (28%)
* Social network participation (Facebook, LinkedIn) (26%)
* Email marketing (17%)
* Social media monitoring & outreach (17%)
* Pay per click (14%)
* Blogger relations (12%)
* Video marketing (10%)
* Social media advertising (7%)

In essence, do you have an electronic/digital marketing plan in place?  If not, this should be reviewed as a viable alternative to traditional printed marketing pieces and include a strategy and marketing goals in order to track and see your RIO.

If you’re not there yet, you need to be. The world is changing and evolving each and every day. To stay ahead you need to play ahead and have a plan/strategy that rivals your competitors and keeps you on top and in the forefront of your industry.

References: thanks to http://www.toprankblogs.com, http://www.mashable.com, and http://www.govexec.com/ for your wealth of insight and information on digial, electronic, and social media marketing.