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E-Marketing, Using Social Media
Web sites, data base emailing, Facebook, Twitter, and texting. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, each has its place in the toolbox we use to market our businesses to our customers. Here are some observations and comments we have gathered from garden retailers who are using or have used a combination of all five.
Web Sites
Advantages:
- Reach a wide audience
- Can provide a lot of information about your business
- An outlet for tips and information on gardening
- An opportunity to sell product direct
- Pictorial and colourful
- Provides contact and location details
- Show offers, exclusive and new products
Disadvantages:
- Some costs involved—setting up, optimization ,host fees
- Can be time consuming—updating etc
- Consumers have to seek you out or discover you in a busy, crowded e– marketing environment
- Consumers can take your information and shop elsewhere
Data base emailing
Advantages:
- Talking to an interested audience who have indicated they want to hear from you
- A chance to personalise your business in a corporatised environment
- Little or no cost—just a little of your time
- Use to promote specials, new arrivals, new releases
- A place to offer advice and information
- A more soft sell approach which consumers find appealing
Disadvantages:
- Needs to be written regularly—weekly / monthly
- May be some annoyance factor if done too often, although customers can cancel easily and anecdotal evidence suggests drop off rate is low
Facebook
Advantages:
- An ever increasing audience
- Customers choose to be a participant
- Can get an immediate response—great for specials, clearances, events etc
- Customers come to your shop to purchase—creates other selling opportunities
Disadvantages
- Needs regular and constant updating to be most effective
- It is becoming a very crowded market place
- Older generations have trouble getting their heads around it!
Twitter
Advantages:
- Appears to be conversational, one on one
- Is immediate, can be used to create quick response / effect
- Can capture a large audience, many of whom are your target market
Disadvantages:
- Needs constant updating to be most effective
Texts
Advantages:
- Talking to customers who have indicated they want to hear from you
- Customers can be in any location when they hear from you—i.e. don’t need to be on line
- Draws customers to your store
- Low annoyance factor
All five have a role to play in the way in which we promote our business. All can be interlinked, the one referring to the other.
All need to be monitored and updated regularly. All are low or no cost. More and more people are using social media. Results appear to be more effective and immediate than print media.
Using a combination of each method brings best results. Each is an aid to promoting our business. None is a silver bullet. We must still get the basics right at store level.
Consumers Relying on Social Networks to Guide Purchase Decisions
Social networks have become a critical, but under utilised, aspect of the marketing process. A recent survey of nearly 4,000 consumers in 10 key markets conducted by business intelligence firm Gartner Inc; found the majority of consumers relied to some extent on social networks to guide them in their purchase decisions.
These social networks often include individuals who fulfill different roles or functions in recommending products to people they are connected with. They played a vital role as influencers in brand awareness, market research and viral marketing campaigns.
Survey results showed key influencers in the purchasing activities of 74 percent of the population, is composed of:
Salesmen - people who have extensive social connections, but their defining characteristic is their propensity to persuade people to do things, buy certain products.
Connectors – people who have tight circles of friends and family with whom they maintain very regular contact
Mavens - knowledge exchangers or information brokers. They are experts in particular areas, and other people go to Mavens for advice. Unlike Salesmen, Mavens aren't out to persuade people but use and acquire information for their own interests.
Salesmen and Connectors are the most effective social network influencers and the most important groups for targeted marketing based on social network analysis.
Companies attempting to use social networks should develop relationships with key customers over a period of time and progressively refine the social network profiles of those individuals.
Retailers who run small shops have instinctively done this with their best customers for years with the intention that these 'VIP' customers will not only buy the new products, but recommend them to their friends.
Source: Gartner Inc
