What is the most effective way to reach your customers?

[Ani_]

Hey Seller Community! 💓

This week we'd like to know...

What is the most effective way to reach your customers?

via GIPHY

Feel free to share any tips below! Looking forward to reading your replies ✨. 

[LitDesigns]

I am just starting out and you seem to be pro email marketing. I'm trying my best and as far as I've gotten, I want to keep going. So I want to do it, if you wouldn't mind, Id appreciate some direction, greatly. I paid a google campaign but it yielded 0 roi. Im about to launch a 2nd campaign, So its great timing to find ur msg. All things are for good reason, the hard part is finding it.

[PartyManiaMD]

For us I typically stick to google ads because they give us very clear metrics and we only pay for performance.

As a brick and mortar store that's been here for 11 years we have a super limited social media presence and I dislike sites like Facebook where you basically have to pay for engagement. When you stop advertising your page essentially gets no action.

I really like having brought our store online as we're getting a lot of online pickup orders which adds another layer of convenience.

I took over in January and years ago when daily deal sites were popular we could sell 50,000 in a week. I decided to try to run a campaign and we sold 0. Awkward

I have a Marketing background and while I believe in having a marketing budget the product and service is far more important to focus on.

I take advantage of Square's loyalty program and may even experiment with a monthly email or text blast but my customers respect me knowing just how inundated they are with email blasts.

Like corporations need to stop sending 1-3 emails a day, it's just obnoxious.

[threepaths]

Thank you your post was very informative! I’m new here - in Canada - and really have no idea how to market myself. Luckily I belong to two organizations who do some of that for me and have provided me customizable literature. That’s the physical part. It was my plan to advertise on social media but after reading your post I will think a bit more, and look into the loyalty program. Thanks again!

Jen

[Thevioletfox]

I'm going to agree with @weredoughcookie on this one - it depends on who I'm trying to reach and about what.

The younger crowd I get best results on Instagram and TikTok. And actually, I probably get the best results from those 2 platforms overall.

If I'm trying to keep things "local" then Facebook groups can be just the ticket. 

Email doesn't seem to do very well for me, personally. 

I have not tried text messaging yet.

In person and word of mouth beats everything though!

[threepaths]

I think I’ll have some success with word of mouth and in person. But I’m not familiar with tik tok at all lol. 

Jen

[Anthem]

It is so much time and work to connect with customers in ways that create interest, connection, and response. Not something that is easy to do on your own, especially if you're the primary driver of your business as well - kuddos to those of you able to keep up with good consumer communications. 

For us, using FB, Insta, & Twitter to provide imagery and consistent messaging to the marketplace has not been great for response and engagement but it does seem to keep our brand consistently out there and keep reinforcing the message and tone we want in the community. 

Using email has been solid as a short-term campaign strategy. It has been good when used to create a sense of urgency, support (coordinate with) a social or in-store campaign and to get folks to take action like following social pages, downloading the app, or sign-up for text services. 

Texting results are all over the place. Some seem to provide great feedback, others seem to get no response at all. Email has provided the most consistent interaction with customers but still trying to figure out what resonated with customers over text. Seems that same-day offers have worked the best so far. 

Co-branding with other businesses in town has also been successful. I provide a generic multi-use code for them to send via their channels inviting their customers to visit our location. As they do we provide an incentive for them to go visit the other business. We also send messages to our customers on their behalf. Not the greatest revenue-generating campaign but probably one of the best at attracting new customers at low risk, low cost.

[Candlestore]

For us its still print advertising.  We are located in a vacation area and people pickup things to  look at while they are getting ready to go out or just want to see what there is to do.  Its easier for vacationers that have not been to this area to see and add then Google us then Google us first, unless they have been here before.

[mksavage]

Love this thread, such a good reminder to be intentional with marketing, and to direct your energy in the right directions for you and your customers -- instead of trying to do absolutely everything. 

We like to do what we call "Experiential Marketing" which basically means giving people free food to try. We try to regularly drop off boxes of goodies to nearby offices/businesses, along with our catering info. We also donate a lot to local events -- often a gift basket of goodies with a gift card so they can come try us out. We also host some free menu tasting events when we're about to launch a new menu or item, which people always seem to enjoy. We figure getting the food into people's mouths is more effective than paying for a magazine ad, and so far, it seems to be working. 

Other than that, we do a lot on social media -- mainly Instagram. Facebook engagement is very low, but we have an active Instagram presence and rely primarily on post & stories. We've recently started doing more reels, which has been fun and has increased engagement. That's a bit beyond what I have time for, so I've hired one of our social media-savvy team members to develop those with me, which has been awesome. It takes her about 2-4 hours a week.

We also engage quite a bit on review sites (primarily Yelp & Google), partner with other local organizations to do donation days or host events, and send out an email newsletter every 2 months or so.

One of my goals for this year is to begin pursuing/exploring some additional marketing channels, including: Square Texting, Google Ads (in moderation), and Square Loyalty. We had Square Loyalty in the past and didn't feel like it was giving us the return we were hoping for -- it also felt very time-consuming to get customers signed up and explain it each time. But, I think it's time to give it another try. Word-of-mouth and loyal, happy customers (our "raving fans") are our best ambassadors, so we want to make sure they know how appreciated they are!

[OceanicAvenue]

All social media and email marketing works for me. There are times when its slow but those channels have always worked for me.

[saydad]

I am going to say the best way to reach customers for us specifically is social media, it is going to be IG, Facebook. I would say, email tends to be very minimal as it is another communication method many use. Text messaging also seems to work as well. 

[Bronze_Palms]

I provide prep instructions as well as follow up messages to clients via text. Then, they recieve weekly emails from us - I love Square Marketing for this because I can see exactly how much revenue was earned from every email sent.

[DLRosenberg]

What a great idea- I think texting is such a great way of reaching and staying top of mind with customers.

[ILoveWeddings]

If you have their email you can send a marketing message to them with a pic(s) and a website link. You can also explain who you are and what you do in the marketing email. You can always use social media and invite family, friends, current clients to like your pages and posts to build rapport! Talk to a target audience when marketing and speaking to potential clients.