Utiliser le courriel pour faire le marketing de votre entreprise électrique
En tant que propriétaire d’une entreprise électrique vous savez probablement déjà qu’Internet vous offre une foule d’opportunités, mais vous n’avez probablement pas le temps ni l’argent pour investir dans une présence web à temps plein. Les obstacles et les coûts pour construire et maintenir un site web ont souvent comme résultat d’avoir une forte présence dans le marketing en ligne.
Si vous utilisez le courriel pour faire votre marketing vous pouvez mettre en place des échanges directs avec vos clients et vos prospects. Vous pouvez croire qu’il s’agit d’une technique de marketing compliquée, mais ce serait une erreur. Si vous utilisez déjà le courriel pour communiquer avec vos clients, vous pouvez aussi faire la promotion de votre entreprise de cette façon. En fait, vous communiquez avec vos clients par courriel, dans un certain sens vous faites déjà du marketing par courriel.
Vous savez probablement que tout échange avec un client peut être très profitable si vous communiquez le bon message. Pour annoncer des rabais ou l’introduction d’un nouveau produit, le courriel est un outil parfait pour améliorer vos ventes. Vous devez vous assurer que vous transmettez le bon message.
As an electrical business owner, you probably already realize the opportunities available to you on the Internet, but you probably don’t have the time or money to invest in a full-blown web presence. The obstacles and costs in building and maintaining a profitable website tend to keep a lot of electrical businesses on the sidelines when it comes to serious online marketing.
Through email marketing you can create a direct conduit to both your customers and prospects. You may think email marketing is complicated, but that’s a misconception. If you are already using email to correspond with clients, then you are quite capable of promoting your business through email marketing. In fact, if you are communicating to your customers through email, in a sense you are already marketing via email.
You are probably aware that a small amount of customer communication can be very profitable if you get the message right. Special pricing events and new product announcements are two examples of using email to boost your sales. They both can generate a lot of sales if you have the right message to promote to your customers.
How to get started
All you need to do is start collecting customer email addresses and send occasional promotions or sale updates. Your email promotions do not need to be coded in html; plain text messages are quite acceptable and work just as well. However, permission email marketing is a requirement. It is referred to as opt-in marketing. At all stages of email marketing you MUST respect your customers and their privacy. Only when they have accepted your request to send information, should you forward email promotions.
How to collect customer email addresses
You simply ask! As an industrial electrical business, you are constantly in touch with customers and prospects, either in person or on the phone. As a retail electrical business you could have a clipboard by your register or pre-printed index cards that your customers can fill out. As an electrical contractor, you just ask for their email address when you make contact with new customers.
What’s in it for your customers
By giving your customers access to valuable information as well an opportunity to save money or be notified of special offers, you are giving them a good reason to give you their email address. People are always looking for a bargain, and through email you can keep them informed on the latest deals. In addition, you can alert them to new services or products. This is very appealing. Customers will perceive this as a value-added service, which makes doing business with you more appealing.
How difficult is email marketing?
It’s really not that difficult. If you are already emailing friends or family, you are quite capable of marketing through email. Initially your list will be small so you can manage it through the use of your current email system, such as Microsoft Outlook. You place your customer emails in a “group,” compose a message, and hit the Send button. Not exactly rocket science. (Note: Make sure you use the bcc “blind box” feature.)
If you’re looking to do this properly from the start, you may want to consider using a professional email management service like MailChimp. It has a service that is free for lists of up to 2,000 addresses. The next level adds additional features , such as auto-responders, for as little as $10 per month. A service like MailChimp really does simplify the management of your email marketing. It offers features like tracking, reporting, templates and customer support. In addition, it automates the process of people opting out of your list — an important factor with permission email marketing.
What kind of results you can expect
Think about the potential profit from simply keeping your customers informed. This is not invasive advertising, but permission marketing, where your customers have willingly given their consent to receive your announcements and promotions. It is as if they are saying,
“Give me a reason to spend more money with your business.”
If you already have a website, then you’ll also want to add an opt-in box. If you give your site visitors an opportunity to join your promotional list, many will.
From a marketing perspective, it doesn’t get much more targeted than this. The costs are extremely low and the conversions are very high. Email marketing really is a no brainer when it comes to promoting your business.
A golden opportunity
As an electrical business owner, there are opportunities and there are golden opportunities. Email marketing is solid 24 karat. It’s simple, direct and very profitable. And yet few electrical businesses are taking advantage of the number one way to increase their sales.
Why not lead the pack?
Colin Cartwright works with electrical and industrial automation companies to develop websites and online sales strategies that are specifically focused on generating more sales. With over two decades of direct sales experience in the electrical and industrial automation industry, as well as another 15 years of web design experience, Colin brings a vast amount of industry knowledge and sales orientated skills to your electrical or automation website project that you just can’t get from the average web design firm. Visit his website at www.electricalwebsolutions.com.
