Trading in tough times – how social media2

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www.longrunconsulting.co.uk

Trading in Tough Times – How Social Media Can Help

Christian Bone

Long Run Consulting

UK Retailers see jump in profit warnings at end of 2011 – CBI

CBI report shows ecommerce is strongest retail platform

Empty shop numbers 'set to rise in 2012'

Current Climate

PR & Marketing is expensive, even with new technology

Hard Selling can be intrusive e.g. Cillit Bang!

Customers are fickle, cautious and difficult to pin down. Just plain awkward in fact!

New technologies – A blessing and a curse

Other Challenges

To increase sales

To retain existing customers

To increase customer satisfaction

To gain competitive advantage

What do businesses want...

Selling is the act of persuading or influencing a customer to buy (actually exchange something of value for) a product or service

Marketing activities support sales efforts i.e. makes the phone ring, customers click through e.t.c.

Marketing encompasses many research and promotional activities to discover what products are wanted and to make potential customers aware of them.

Back to basics for a moment…

The Marketing Mix

New Sales Channels

Platform Promtion

People Participation

Community

The New Marketing Mix

Low cost

Two way communication/interactive

The client chooses to opt in

Unobtrusive and subtle

Track your competitors and trends

The business benefits

1.3 Billion people are online with 50,000 new internet users each day

80% of web browsing will be via a mobile device by 2014

Social media provides an insight into online conversations and the ability to develop and refine products and services accordingly

Social media channels are relevant to all age groups

Online advertising drives offline sales

Relevant to retail?

BT Tradespace research shows that visitors spend 4x longer on a seller site with video than one without

Dell reported $6.5m PC sales through Twitter

John Lewis biggest store its web based one, outselling its flagship Oxford Street store

Old Spice – Transformed from ‘old man’ product to #1 body wash brand

Increased Sales? The Proof

Twitter

Facebook

YouTube

Location based e.g. Foursquare

Worth considering…

In December 2008 InternetNews reported that Dell had produced $1 million in revenue over the past year and a half through sale alerts via Twitter.

People who signed up to follow Dell on Twitter received messages when discounted products were available at the company’s Home Outlet Store. They could click over to purchase the product or forward the information to others.

@DellOutlet now has over 1.5 million followers who are receiving marketing messages from Dell.

Twitter

Simple to navigate, powerful search...

Direct Message or ‘DM’ followers Retweet interesting articles – RT Reply using the @ sign e.g. @Christian_Bone Use the search facility to find useful contacts Use a hashtag # to categorise tweets e.g. #Suffolk Share pictures to enliven tweets. Twitpic is a good

tool Tweet from your phone Download a desktop application like Tweetdeck to

make life easy Give a call to action e.g. ‘Come in and see us…’

Top Twitter Tips

Desktop monitoring...

Take a moment to consider...

1.How you could attract followers

2.What you could offer followers

3.How you can generate solid referrals

Potential uses for your business

Branding - Facebook can be a great resource for generating brand awareness. Facebook is becoming popular amongst various age demographics and can build your relationship with your consumers and prospects.

Reputation Management - can be a useful tool for seeing what users are saying about you and your brand. In addition your Facebook profile can now be indexed in the search results and as a result can provide another favorable listing in the organic search results of the engines.

Facebook

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Facebook and brands

Create a page for your business...

Step by step process

FBML – Website ‘Look and Feel’

The boring but important stuff...

YouTube – A serious sales tool?

1. Very cheap2. Content is powerful3. Viral4. Global and local5. Demonstrates expertise and knowledge6. 24/7 Selling Tool7. Gives the client a face8. SEO Friendly

The business benefits

You can upload customer testimonials to share with other potential customers.

You can make and upload a unique video that showcases your business and the services that you provide.

You can use YouTube for business by making and uploading “how to” videos that will help your customers better use your products or services.

You can show your services and products to potential customers so that they can see how they work and function before they purchase them.

YouTube

Hardware £100 Hi Def Camera £15 Tripod Software built into camera

Shooting Use interview format to make

your video less ‘stilted’ Action speaks louder than words.

Film your product or service in use by customers

Getting started...

Edge Riders - Ipswich

Old Spice is now the #1 body wash brand for men. The campaign increased sales by 27% over 6 months since launching (year on year) and in the last 3 months sales were up 55%.

Day 1 the campaign received almost 6 million views (that’s more than Obama’s victory speech)

The campaign has generated 1.4 billion impressions since launching the ads 6 months ago.

The Old Spice Twitter following increased 2700%. Facebook fan interaction was up 800%. Oldspice.com website traffic was up 300%. The Old Spice YouTube channel became the all time most

viewed channel.

Old Spice – “The Man Your Man Should Smell Like” – Sept 2010

Location Based Services

Add your venue, broadcast deals

Do keep your updates short and succinct

Don’t SPAM

Do participate

Don’t spend all day on social media!

Do’s and donts

Your customers are turning away from traditional approaches e.g. from website to social media. This social media is now becoming infrastructure in its own right

A new focus on peer review. What others say is important e.g. trip advisor, best of suffolk

The economy is forcing us to be more cost concious in securing new customers and retaining existing ones.

Structure your approach

Summary

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Plain English [www.keepvid.com].mp4

Still need convincing?

WWW.LONGRUNCONSULTING.CO.UK

Twitter@LongRunConsult

E-mail longrunconsulting@gmail.com

Thank you for your attention

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Trading in tough times – how social media2

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