Tips For Planning Your 2015 Small Business On Hold Marketing Strategy!
In a small business survey, 45% of small business owners said they are worried about finding new customers in 2015, making it the #1 overall concern. It’s no surprise that the #2 overall concern for small business owners, is keeping their current customers.
What measures are you taking to maintain and grow your business in 2015? How do you plan to keep your business ahead of the competition in the coming year? While the holiday season is undoubtedly a busy period for small business owners, it’s important to set aside time to plan your on-hold marketing strategy to meet your marketing challenges for the year ahead.
While small business owners cite customer attraction and retention as two of their most pressing concerns, many are not making the necessary investments to effectively market their businesses to meet these challenges. A Message On-Hold Value Update Plan requires only a minimal marketing budget, yet is one of your most valuable tools to deliver timely, highly targeted marketing messages to both new prospective customers as well as your existing ones.
As you plan for 2015, here are 5 ways a message on hold update plan provides a better on hold marketing strategy for your business — one that puts your customers first and your business second-to-none.
1. Our Customers Already Know Everything We Do
This very thinking can be fatal to stability and growing your business. Your customers are busy people. They’re being bombarded by marketing messages on a daily basis! Let’s face it, even your best customers forget you. Don’t be offended, it’s not your fault. It is however your obligation and priority to keep your business top of mind when you have their undivided attention while on hold. Old News is No News, and No News is not good for business! If you let your messages get boring, stale, old and outdated – then your best customers, the ones you think know everything you do will soon realize that you’re not growing and evolving to meet their ever changing needs. This can open the door to be swayed into considering looking elsewhere! With every opportunity, you need to remind customers that you’re their best choice.
2. Consistency Across All Marketing Channels
If message on hold won awards for marketing, it would be an Oscar Winner for “Best Supporting Role!”. Nothing is more powerful than your on hold message program when content is kept fresh and relevant. It acts as a supporting marketing tool for your other marketing efforts. Whether you’re running an online special, monthly sales promotion, or holiday sale, callers can hear about these time sensitive offers, both raising awareness as well as creating a sense of urgency.
3. A Calendar Full Of Marketing Opportunities!
Think about what you have planned for your business in the coming New Year. Will you be attending trade shows, or even hosting particular events? These items should be included on your on hold script to get the word out for the “when and where” to increase your exposure and expand on potential networking opportunities. What about seasonal changes? HVAC companies need to coordinate changes in heating and a/c products and services according to the time of year. Restaurants often have season menu changes, which can also be reflected in your on hold ads. What about new product launches, new locations, special promotions or even expansion plans? With a message value update plan, we can inject some creativity into periodic message updates to coordinate with your changing needs.
4. Low Cost Way To Test New Marketing Campaigns/Strategies
In addition to those planned marketing ideas you have for the coming year, many businesses often need to tweak their marketing strategies during the year based on a number of reasons (eg market demand, inventory, etc). But traditional marketing methods such as print, radio or tv can be a costly endeavor, thus prohibiting you to be able change on a dime or test new strategies when you need to stray slightly from your marketing game plan when needed. An message on hold update plan gives your business flexibility at a low-cost to try out new marketing opportunities and ideas to see if they stick.
5. How Often Should You Update?
When it comes to your advertising dollars, return-on-investment should be the key factor by which you measure your marketing efforts. So, the answer to the question of the frequency of updates you should choose depends on numerous factors. Are you in retail and offer sales promotions every month? If so, the “Anytime” Message Value Plan provides for new messaging each and every month. Maybe you experience seasonal changes in which our Quarterly Message Value Plan offers the perfect fit! At a minimum, we recommend that update your message on hold marketing content bi-annually with our Basic Message Value Plan. Often times, clients will use one production to update their standard message, and another for the holiday season.
Companies that elect to play the same old on hold message over and over, year after year, certainly aren’t very proactive in their marketing plan to attract new business and foster relationships with existing customers. In fact, when you don’t refresh your on hold content, callers know just what to expect, and some dread listening to the same background music or irritating sales pitch. In fact, they may dread it so much that they avoid calling your company, and thus actually cost you business!
If you haven’t changed your hold messages in a while, make this the year that you develop a smarter on hold marketing strategy! Businesses in a variety of categories who invest in a message on hold update plan — ranging from retailers to restaurants — are successfully building loyalty and engagement with their customers and potential customers, so they are well-positioned to attract and retain consumers now and in the future.
Give The Original On Hold a Call at 1-800-688-4181 or visit www.theoriginalonhold.com to schedule a free 30-minute message update plan consultation, to tackle new marketing opportunities and better adapt to today’s fast-changing marketplace.
