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Trading in Tough Times – How Social Media Can Help
Christian Bone
Long Run Consulting
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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
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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
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To increase sales
To retain existing customers
To increase customer satisfaction
To gain competitive advantage
What do businesses want...
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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…
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The Marketing Mix
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New Sales Channels
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Platform Promtion
People Participation
Community
The New Marketing Mix
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Low cost
Two way communication/interactive
The client chooses to opt in
Unobtrusive and subtle
Track your competitors and trends
The business benefits
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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?
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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
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YouTube
Location based e.g. Foursquare
Worth considering…
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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.
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Simple to navigate, powerful search...
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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
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Desktop monitoring...
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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
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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.
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..\Videos\SOCIAL MEDIA\Build_Your_Brand_with_Facebook.mp4
Facebook and brands
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Create a page for your business...
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Step by step process
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FBML – Website ‘Look and Feel’
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The boring but important stuff...
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YouTube – A serious sales tool?
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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
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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
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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...
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Edge Riders - Ipswich
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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
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Location Based Services
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Add your venue, broadcast deals
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Do keep your updates short and succinct
Don’t SPAM
Do participate
Don’t spend all day on social media!
Do’s and donts
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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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..\Videos\SOCIAL MEDIA\Social Media in
Plain English [www.keepvid.com].mp4
Still need convincing?
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WWW.LONGRUNCONSULTING.CO.UK
Twitter@LongRunConsult
E-mail [email protected]
Thank you for your attention
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