New Customers or New Business

Fri, 02/03/2012 - 16:09 - Mark Klein

Companies grow top line revenue either by adding new customers or by selling more to their existing customers. Customer acquisition is a systematic, well-understood process bolstered with a technology assist through marketing automation software from vendors such as Eloqua, Marketo, Pardot, and Loopfuse. Raising revenue by selling more to existing customers is not nearly as well understood, with a variety of practices and an even wider variety of results.

Customer loyalty - it's all about the customer

Sat, 08/28/2010 - Arthur Einstein

Have you ever thought about how much revenue you’re going to get in the next 6 months from your loyal customers vs. the ones you acquire?  I’m betting it’s a big number - in the neighborhood of 95%.  Now ask yourself what you’re doing to be sure the revenue you expect from loyal customers actually materializes.  Could you be doing more?

Let the bad times roll?

Fri, 05/22/2009 - Arthur Einstein

Chrysler’s in bankruptcy. GM may be next. The silver linings on the cloudy horizon are pretty faint right now. And, yet … I’m not ready to give up the ghost and I doubt that you are either.

The question is, what to do? Sit around and wait for things to change? Or take some action that will give destiny a nudge in the right direction?

Personally, I’ve always believed the philosopher who said “the only reality is in action”. And one action I believe everyone needs to consider in tough times is how marketing dollars are being spent.

Marketing to your best customers when business stinks

Sun, 02/01/2009 - Arthur Einstein

It’s the oldest cliché in business - recession is a time of opportunity. But a raft of research confirms it's true. People who market aggressively in downturns not only survive but consistently emerge stronger. As Casey Stengel would say if he were alive today, “you could Google it”.

The most aggressive approach to bad times is to figure out who your best customers are and market to them relentlessly. Analyze your customers based on transaction data that’s sitting in sales or accounting databases. It’s going to tell you things about your best customers you never realized.

But beware. Best customers are not just the 5% or 10% who generate the most revenue. In fact, customers who spend the most may already be spending all they can with you.

When the going gets tough

Fri, 12/12/2008 - Mark Klein

We all know these are tough economic times. That message was reinforced for me again yesterday when I got a call out of the blue from a marketing analyst at a company not on my radar screen. She was charged by her VP with setting marketing priorities for next year. Specifically, she was asked to make marketing recommendations to help her company survive during this recession. The analyst was casting a broad net and found me.

first time buyers

Mon, 11/03/2008 - Arthur Einstein

Back around 1999, when new products were being introduced as fast as you could put up a website, brand building underwent a quiet revolution.

With markets moving at warp speed there simply wasn’t time to build trust and reputation the traditional way - by advertising. In that super-heated environment the best way to build a brand was to get people to actually try the product. If you could manage to get trial, if the dogs ate the dog food, if they came back to buy again, and if they told their friends, then maybe you had a shot at survival.

Retention is the new acquisition

Sun, 09/28/2008 - Mark Klein

From here, it looks like the tide is turning.

When you fish the tidal estuaries of our New Hampshire coast, you quickly learn that fish bite when the tide is flowing. Many days I’ve sat in a boat at slack tide, waiting for the current to reverse, the tide to run, and the fish to bite. You watch for those first signs of the water moving, like a leaf or twig and then seaweed beginning to move past your boat. Right now, I am seeing indications that the tide in marketing is changing.

Are your marketing ratios out of whack?

Thu, 06/26/2008 - Mark Klein

In the past month I’ve been to two trade shows for direct marketers, ACCM in Orlando and DM Days in New York. I walked the aisles of the exhibit halls at these shows and was continually struck by how many of the exhibitors were on the customer acquisition side of the street. But the exhibitors were only following the money; they were selling what their customers wanted to buy. And it seems to me that companies spend much more on customer acquisition than on marketing to existing customers.

What's up with your customers?

Wed, 06/04/2008 - Arthur Einstein

ATT Wireless has been airing a TV commercial that’s simply joyous. It’s a bunch of happy mobile customers doing their thing –strolling along, walking the dog, calling friends and saying ‘Hi’, ‘Howdy’ Whatcha doin’? ‘What’s up?’

I think of it as a Web 2.0, ‘next generation’ spot. Totally social. And ATT’s message is unmistakable: “staying in touch is good for relationships and you don’t need to log on to Facebook to do it, friend – just use that wonderful little gadget in you pocket and stay wired to your friends”.