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Review your sales process. If you are getting new leads, but you’re not closing them, chances are you have an issue with your
company top of mind. But if someone receives your newsletter in the mail, reads it, and two days later refers a friend to your company because you were at the top of their mind, how do you track that? The friend won’t walk in and say, “My buddy Joe was reading your newsletter and because of that, you were top of mind. When I needed a dentist and men- tioned it to him, he referred me to you.” They may simply say that a friend referred them. But that lack of specificity doesn’t mean your relationship market- ing tools (e.g., sending out newsletters, holiday cards, and client gifts) aren’t just as valuable as your lead generators. They’re just tougher to track and play by different rules than lead generation marketing. A good referral and relationship marketing company like ours can help you figure out those rules. Relationship marketing takes a certain amount of faith. It can work more slowly, but it’s incredibly effec- tive. As you’re overhauling your marketing, keep in mind that relationship marketing works differently but that it’s worth learning how to navigate. You need to develop relationships with your clients, new and old. Not having them will cause you to miss out on a large percentage of increased referrals, upsells, and more. Remember, your business is NOT different! If you read through the six points above and thought, “None of these tips apply to me or my company,” odds are you’re falling victim to another common business owner mistake: believing that your company is differ- ent. These points are the ones that trip businesses up 99.9% of the time, and it’s unlikely your company is the exception to the rule. If you didn’t feel like you benefited from this article the first time around, try rereading from the top with more self-awareness. You might be surprised what you discover. Here’s the bottom line: Don’t give up on a new type of media simply because it isn’t a home run right away. Instead, if one of your marketing strategies is working but not performing up to par, take a look at any ways you can improve the results before you write it off. Giving up too soon is a surefire way to self-sabotage your success. 7
sales process. Start listening to sales calls and track- ing the amount of follow-up being done (or, in most cases, not being done), and you might find that while your marketing medium is working, your team isn’t. Revamp your offer/copy. To be frank, your offer or copy
might just, well, suck! And even if it doesn’t, it could be suffering from
a wrong message-to-market match. For example, if you’re advertising a product or service designed for moms in Men’s Health magazine, hoping that hus- bands will buy it for their wives, then your ad will have little to no chance of success. Embrace a multimedia approach.
There is no marketing “Bigfoot” lurking out there, waiting to meet every single one of your compa- ny’s needs (leads, referrals, retention,
etc.). Bigfoot is a myth! To succeed and reach all of your goals, you have to embrace marketing with many different forms of media. Different media types have different advantages, even within a niche like print marketing. For example, new-mover mailers and postcards can generate leads, while monthly print newsletters build relationships (see No. 6 for more on that). Here at Newsletter Pro, we live by the “Rule of Seven” (people need to see or hear about you seven times or more before they take any action). By reach- ing out to prospects in many different ways, with many different media, you can and will increase your response rate. Stop confusing retention and relationship marketing with lead generation marketing.
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Most people tend to lump retention and relationship marketing in with lead generation, but this is a HUGE mistake. These are two separate categories that
need their own budgets, rules, and regulations for measurement. It’s vital that you keep the difference in mind. Let’s use print newsletters as an example. They are a retention and relationship marketing tool, meant to generate referrals, retain clients, and keep your
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