Not that long ago we were all getting lots of promotional material through the post – junk mail. Now, we get lots of promotional emails – so many in fact that Google have introduced a filter in their email system so they are pre-sorted into a folder labelled promotions.
Guess how many of those you would actually read?
We are told we have to use social media to promote our businesses, but the variety of platforms is amazing. It’s not just Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter but Google plus, Instagram, You Tube, Xing….I could go on and on.
Some marketing gurus are advocating a return to physical mail to stand out from the crowd.
Often, you’ll see a “chat” system available on a website. Click here to “chat” to us and you can exchange a series of messages with an operator.
You might also consider mobile messaging. I know some of my contacts prefer a text message to any other form of communication!
Finally, or course, there is the other use of a telephone – to actually make calls!
The questions should not be “Which method do I choose?” but rather “Which method does my customer / prospect choose?”
There is no point sending emails to someone who doesn’t read or respond to them. You may have a wonderful Facebook presence, but if your target audience doesn’t use Facebook, so what?
If your customer prefers to communicate using a text message, that’s what you do.
If they’d rather talk to someone, pick up the phone.
Make sure you have enough capacity to provide a prompt service. No one will be impressed by a long wait for an operator – either on the telephone or on the web, and unanswered messages on social media will just do more harm than good.
Whatever channel your customer chooses, that is where you go.