In the new social marketing genre the new call to action needs to be… “Capture Your Customer“.
Peter Drucker’s famous quote “The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer”, needs to be re-defined to adapt to the social marketing small business environment that we face today. In today’s market it is not enough to identify or “create a customer”, give them good service and assume profits and growth will follow as was taught. A small business today not only needs to “create a customer”, but they also have to “capture and communicate” with them as well if they want to keep them.
The internet and an effective social marketing strategy offer individuals and small business a tremendous opportunity to not only identify who their customer is, but to capture them and establish a dialogue of communication and targeted a marketing to establish a loyal follower.
Capture Your Customer
To be honest, identifying and making a contact is easy. I can show you how to make thousands of contacts on social networks like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn as well as through effective targeted retail marketing.
To actually capture a customer who may come into your store, or visit your website, you need to achieve three specific goals:
- Identify who they are (get their name)
- Gather their contact information (email address and snail mail address if you can)
- Get their opt-in permission to communicate with them (respond to a follow-up email you send, that they want you to send them information)
Bingo, you now have captured a customer. Knowing they like Bud Light at the bar, wear a size 11 wide shoe or prefer light on the starch means nothing, if you do not achieve the three objectives above.
Once Captured – You Need To Captivate Them!
So now you have captured your customer and have their name, contact information and permission to communicate with them. Congratulations, now what do you do with them?
This is the critical step because this is where you turn captured customer’s into captivated followers and the only way to do that is through the effective use of communication and content.
You need to develop a communication strategy that includes:
- Meaningful Content – blog posts and/or articles that interest them
- Regular Communication – emails and/or newsletter that keep them connected and informed about your business
- Targeted Motivation – This is the enticement such as coupons and/or specials that separate them from other customers
Difference Between a Contact and a Connection
Contact’s will visit your site or walk through your door, but a true connection is a customer who you can quantify and target in order to generate new business. To learn more about the difference between a contact and a connection watch our video at http://www.bssentialsolutions.com and learn how you can begin to grow your network of contacts into a vortex of connections that will generate traffic, link energy and sales.
Social Marketing Essentials – Establishing an Effective Social Presence For You and Your Business
Bssential Solutions has just released a comprehensive online training program to teach individuals and small business owners how to turn social contacts into valuable customers and connections through effective social marketing.
To learn more about this cutting edge training and social marketing development program Click Here to watch the informational video and learn more on how you can turn contact’s into contections and grow your business.
Bill Sifflard - With over thirty years experience as an entrepreneur, an executive, an author and as a business consultant, Bill Sifflard has a long history of experience bringing innovation, efficiency and success to large and small businesses adapting to evolving markets.
As a premiere Sales and Marketing Innovator, Bill is changing how business integrates traditional marketing strategy with the power and potential of the internet utilizing his "Velocity for Success" matrix.
To learn more about Bill and Bssential Small Business Solutions you can visit http://www.bssentials.com and register for his Free eNewsletter or follow all of his blog posts by clicking on the RSS feed button above. 
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