When they hear the term ‘marketing,’ some people tend to panic. They view it as a difficult code that needs to be cracked in order to have any sort of success. While there is an element of discovering what works best for you and your business, in reality, marketing is a lot more simple than this! Often, when the concept of marketing is broken down into a set of simple processes that need to be followed to drive customers and sales to your business, the way forward becomes far clearer. Implementing more process driven marketing into your business is a great way to deliver a higher return on investment (ROI), attract more customers, and encourage them to keep coming back to you. So, in today’s blog we’ll be looking at some of the interesting benefits of process driven marketing, and how you can implement it so that the concept of marketing isn’t as scary as it first may seem!
Where do your marketing processes need improving?
The first thing you need to do when implementing more process driven marketing is to take a look at your existing marketing activity. Most of your marketing activity can be broken down into the categories below:
- Lead generation
- Enquiry tracking
- The sales process
- Customer on-boarding
- Feedback
- Referral
- Customer repurchase
- Dormant customer process
So, have a think about what you’re currently doing when it comes to the above categories. You’ll probably find that there’s more activity in some areas than others, this is normal. What you really want to think about is whether you have any processes in place to guide your activities in each category. You’ll probably find that you do already have some in place in certain areas, but they need to be improved in others. If this is the case, there’s no need to worry! This blog will help you discover the interesting benefits of process driven marketing and how to put the processes into place to reap said benefits.
But why is process driven marketing important?
The ultimate aim of any business is to, of course, make money. How can putting solid marketing processes into place help you with this aim? Well, clearly defined processes will save you time in the long run, because there are clearly laid-out guidelines to follow. They will help save you money, by becoming more efficient and also retaining more customers. And, you will find that your marketing activities become more consistent, when everyone involved is on the same page. Plus, having set processes in place means that anyone can follow them- so, in theory, anyone could be trained to carry out your marketing activities. Finally, if the processes are followed, your conversion rates should rise, so you’re getting more customers for less monetary output and effort. What’s not to like about that? Of course, setting up process driven marketing does take resources and time whilst it’s being implemented, but, you should recoup this and more in the long run by putting them into place and actually following them in your marketing activities.
What are the interesting benefits of process driven marketing?
Next, let’s take a closer look at the different categories of marketing activities and how processes can be put into place in order to maximise their potential, thus bringing plenty of benefits to you and your business.
Start off with lead generation
Simply put, lead generation is the process of attracting prospects to your business, where you can turn them into customers. It’s a good idea to have solid processes in place here so that you’re maximising every lead generation opportunity. What this looks like will be different for every business. For example, if you use social media as a major lead generation tool, you should have processes in place to detail how many adverts are run every month, or how many people you approach and on which platforms. If your main lead generation tool is your website, what processes could you put in place to track who’s visiting your site, and for how long?
A popular option is to send an email to prospects who have put an item in their cart but not checked out, with a discount code to encourage them to place the order. Technology and automation is your best friend here, so make the most of the different platforms and plugins that are available to automate your processes as much as possible, and move as many customers along the sales funnel as possible.
Enquiry tracking ensures nothing is missed
Many businesses tend to deal with enquiries as and when they come in. Of course, every enquiry is going to be different, so how can you have a process in place? Well, it’s a good idea to track all enquiries so that you can see where they come from. This will give you further insight into what’s working and what needs improvement when it comes to your wider marketing activities. Again, technology comes into play here. There are so many great CRM systems out there, such as Salesforce and Hootsuite, that help you to keep track of all enquiries coming through. Staff training is also important, so that your team knows what the processes are for different kinds of enquiries, and can follow them so that nothing is missed!
The sales process
Traditionally, many business owners have separated sales and marketing. They see the sales process as the point where marketing takes a backseat, and sales takes over. However, with the right processes in place, this isn’t really the case. Having a great sales process is a part of marketing your business, and keeping your customers coming back. Once your customer is enticed into your business, this is just the beginning! It’s important for everyone to know what happens next, in order to give the customer a good experience.
Every sales process will be different, depending on the nature of the purchase. So, it’s a good idea to keep track of every sale, the stage that it’s at, and what needs to happen next, so that everyone in an organisation is on the same page. From here, one of the interesting benefits of process driven marketing is ensuring that nothing gets lost, so that each customer gets an experience that exceeds their expectations every time.
Customer on-boarding
What does your current customer onboarding process look like? Do your customers feel satisfied with their choice every time they make a purchase with you? How do you make them feel reassured and valued? On the flip side, what do you need from them in the way of details, payment, information, and so on? Depending on the complexity of your business and what you sell, your customer on-boarding process may be simple, or have various stages and things that need to be considered. To ensure that it works well every time, and your customers don’t regret choosing you, it’s vital to implement the right processes to keep track of everything and ensure that both parties get everything they need to make the transaction and ongoing relationship a success!
Feedback is a vital marketing tool
Getting quality feedback from your customers is important for a whole host of reasons. Firstly, it gives you points to improve upon in the future. Additionally, receiving consistently good feedback can help you to attract more customers, because they can see the positive things that others have to say about you before they make their decision. However, not many customers will think to leave you a review on their own. This is where another one of the interesting benefits of process driven marketing comes in. If you have processes in place to request and receive feedback, you should start getting more and more positive reviews.
This could be as simple as sending out an automatic email after each customer’s transaction is complete, asking them to leave you a review on your chosen platform. Or, you could up the ante with customer surveys or the motivation to leave feedback by entering everyone who does it into a prize draw. Whatever you do, it’s important to build it as a process, so that this vital marketing tool doesn’t get forgotten.
How do referrals work for you?
How many of your existing customers came to you because you’d been recommended to them by someone they know, who’s purchased from you before? No matter what sort of industry you’re in, it’s probably a fair few of them! But, do you have a process in place to encourage your customers to refer others? Introducing one can bring many of the interesting benefits of process driven marketing, and increase your referral-led sales even further! Again, this process doesn’t have to be complicated. It could simply be a question posed to each customer- ‘Do you know anyone else who could benefit from our products or services?’ However, a popular option is to introduce some form of referral scheme, where both the existing and new customer benefit from the referral. A prime example of this comes from food delivery apps such as Deliveroo and UberEats, who offer a voucher to both parties when an existing user refers a friend.
Do you encourage customer repurchases?
Most businesses could benefit from putting some solid systems in place to deal with customer repurchases. Whatever you do, there is probably some form of repurchasing involved, and your customer will likely need your products or services again in the future. How can you help ensure they come back to you, rather than going elsewhere? It’s vital not to assume that they will, and actually work on some marketing processes that will make it more likely. This can be as straightforward as a phone call or email a few months before they’re likely to need the products or services again. Try and get ahead of what your competition is doing, so that you can be the customer’s first point of contact, and they’re more likely to remember you and your brand.
What about dormant customer processes?
Finally, it’s a good idea to take a look at your practices surrounding dormant customers. Another one of the interesting benefits of process driven marketing is that it can actually help ‘wake up’ these customers, remind them that your business exists, and drive more sales from them as a result. Your database of dormant customers already has two key benefits- they’re already aware of you and your brand, and perhaps more importantly, unless you did something wrong, they already like you! So, it should be easier to convert them into spending money with you again than it would be with a completely new lead. Take advantage of these contacts and see what you could be doing to get them active with you again!
The interesting benefits of process driven marketing: conclusion
As you can see, the processes that you put in place don’t have to be overly complicated. Often the simplest are actually the most effective, because they are more likely to be followed to the letter and improve your marketing activities as a result. Use your existing processes to your advantage, and improve upon them until you have something that works well for you. This will look different for everyone, so don’t be afraid of trial and error before you settle on what works best.
And, it’s vital that you’re continually monitoring and assessing your processes to ensure that they’re performing as well as they can be, and are delivering you the optimum ROI. For example, if you notice that more clients tend to fall off at a certain point, you can assess the procedures surrounding this and improve them in order to prevent this from happening. Embrace technology, CRMs, and automations to make your life as easy as possible and integrate your processes into your business automatically. After all, these systems should be working for you, you shouldn’t be working for them! By implementing process driven marketing into your business in a way that works for you, you should start to reap the benefits of less time spent on marketing activities, money saved, and more customers in your pipeline!
Looking to develop your business but not sure where to begin? Contact me today at graham@grahamgarman.com or complete the contact form here and I’ll get back to your shortly to discuss your individual requirements.
