What does it mean?
Integration marketing, as we use the term with clients to reveal blind spots in their online business, involves three key and critical issues:
- the relationship between your sources of traffic and the offer or offers on your site (involves pre-action of your web visitor)
- opportunities to up-sell or cross-sell (integration at the point of action),
- the points of contact between the accepted offer and other products or services available to your new lead or customer (post-action integration).
So what does that mean for you?
First, that the language used to address your potential customer matches both
- the modality of how people in that niche/community/social network, communicate, and
- the mindset of your potential customer at the point of contact.
Getting this right means that the person is more likely to “follow along” and take the next step you’ve mapped out for them in advance.
That’s why it is essential to get this part of your marketing efforts right.
Why is this important?
Okay, so if you’ve done a good job of attracting people to begin a dialogue with you, what comes next?
Well, the next issue to consider involves conversion. And that means getting them to take an action.
This could mean…
- buying a product
- joining your list
- leaving a comment
- signing up for a seminar, teleseminar, etc.
Now, that’s great when it happens. But here’s where a lot of people unfortunately drop the ball. Because…
once someone has committed to taking an action, it’s the perfect time to ask them to take another step with you.
Think of this as the law of inertia…
Getting folks to interrupt the pattern of their daily life to stop and pay attention to YOU for even a minute is a huge accomplishment. And NOW that you have their attention, don’t let the moment slip past because you forgot (or are afraid) to ask them to take one more step with you.
That’s what we mean by opportunities to up-sell and cross-sell. And it doesn’t just have to happen at the point of contact, either.
Monetize your follow up
So you have a new customer, client, or lead. Now what?
Here’s where so many of us just drop the ball. And the real issue is one of business philosophy than technology.
There are really 2 business models.
One is transactional. You sell the customer something and promptly move on to the “next.”
The other is relational. Instead of a sale, you’re focused on “lifetime customer value.”
Now, forget for a second the question of “which is best?” Let’s focus on the bottom line for a moment.
The single greatest marketing cost is to acquire a customer or client. In other words, it costs more to make the FIRST sale then FOLLOW UP sales. Now, the question for you is, how effective is your follow up to existing customers/clients?
Just one more point to cover.
We’re currently developing our “12 Step Marketing Program” and we’d like your feedback. In it, we tackle each of these issues in greater detail, as well as uncovering common stumbling blocks that prevent business owners from implementing strategies to improve their traffic, conversion and follow up.
Even though we’re in the process of wrapping it up and have gotten tons of feedback from clients and colleagues, we’d like to hear from you. So, if you have a question or topic you’d like us to consider, just leave a comment on the site.
Next Steps…
Any questions? Comments? Did we hit a nerve?
Drop us a line by leaving a comment. We will reply (here, and by email if you’d like) as soon as we’re able. And if there’s a topic you want us to discuss, let us know.
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