It doesn’t work. 
I often hear this from small business owners when they talk about marketing.
Usually it is about the marketing tactics they are implementing. I call it blame the tactic syndrome.
One reason why marketing tactics get a bad rap is they are not looked in conjunction with what results are desired.
Another reason is that unrealistic expectations are placed on implementing certain tactics. The term marketing mix was first used decades ago and that is because successful marketing is a mixture of elements.
Same as a successful recipe.
Some may have more of a starring role but it is the combination that makes the difference.
Here is a simple way to see if your tactics are designed to achieve customer retention. It is one I look at with the simplicity services to get insight into what is working and ways to simplify to get better results.
Here goes:
- On a piece of paper or in a word document put customer retention at the top. This applies if you want to retain your sponsors or advertisers for a blog. If you have a hobby blog then you can put readers or subscribers at the top.
- Underneath list all actions you are taking to reach this objective. Remember to include what you are doing with your products or services, pricing, distribution etc as well as these have an impact.
- Be as specific and detailed as possible and don’t forget to include all that you do on your website as well.
- Look at the results.
By doing this small exercise you will be able to see a few things such as:
- If you are using specific tactics to get results of customer retention
- Whether the tactics chosen to get the results were the right ones to implement. This is a common mistake many businesses make as it can be one size fits all approach.
- Whether the combination works or not
- What to keep doing
- What to throw out
- What to tweak
- What to change
If you did the exercise and you can’t put your tactics under the specific objective fear not because it is not that difficult to do.
Some of you may think the purpose of simple marketing is to save time or money. That is not true as the real purpose is to grow your business and you could find you are more profitable along the way.
Try the exercise and email me your results or if you have any other tips please share them below.
photo credit: Alfonsina Blyde » via photopin cc
See how I can help your business use simplicity to retain customers.
