Celebrating the wins!
An introduction.
A friend of mine, who works in the fitness industry, writes a daily blog. The subject matter of his blogs are usually daily observations, that most can relate to, which he then uses to compare with physical and mental well-being. It's a powerful tool, gets people thinking, and is something I will be trying on a weekly basis. Applying observations to how we use, view and think about our collective marketing efforts.
Celebrating the wins!
We're in the midst of the biggest post-war event the world has seen. Covid-19 has no doubt had an effect on everyone. The way we're living our days out, how we're running our businesses, even how we shop and exercise have in the space of 4-weeks transformed on a massive scale.
My team are all working from home, and we're managing. As our entire business, even our CRM, is online, enabling us to remain fully 100% operational. The business we're in, b2b email marketing, is also of course online.
We've taken quite a big hit on orders, as most have (of course some businesses have been brought to a complete standstill), but we're doing what we can for those clients that rely on us to keep feeding them leads, and in-turn keep their own businesses moving as normal as possible.
As well as ensuring the team have all the tools and resources available to them to ensure they can function in their role effectively, I've also taken on the role of trying to keep spirits high. We're all missing the office noise and banter, so we're doing what we can to stay engaged on that side.
This includes running quizzes and game shows on Zoom, setting silly home-tasks, and the simplest of all; celebrating daily wins.
Each day around 4:30pm, I email all staff and ask them for at least 2 positive things that have happened that day, work related or not, whilst also including my own. I stress that no matter how trivial they deem the win, it’s a win. Anything remotely positive. It could be a massive win such as "resigned Mr X on a 6-month commitment" to smaller wins such as "managed to get some food ordered" or "spent lunch in the sun". Some of them I know will find this trying, and perhaps even cringe-worthy, but I know for others it certainly helps. Those that have been having a particularly tough day (missing normal life, kids acting-up, clients not responding) are forced to find some positives from the day, and there are ALWAYS positives.
Marketing wins!
The same thought process can be applied to the email marketing campaigns we run for our clients.
Quite often, particularly with first-time senders, expectations need to be managed. A client signs up to deliver 10k emails to their target audience and may consider that a huge list and thus expect perhaps hundreds of leads. The reality of course is that even if we achieve a 10% open rate and a 10% CTR, that is around 100 prospects fully engaging with the email. From that list of 100, how many of those need/want your product/service, and more importantly, how many need it right now?
Quite often a follow-up conversation goes something like "We only got 10 leads, I expected a lot more!". At this point, after asking them to consider the above breakdown view, we focus on those 10 leads and beyond: "If you close just 20% of those 10 leads, and those clients then stay with you for your average customer retention, what is that worth?" (usually a lot more than the £500 they've spent on the campaign). "You've had at least 990 readers there that have perhaps just chosen not to engage with the email right now". (We mention this, knowing from 15+ years experience that email marketing has fantastic longevity) "Because the measurable stats with email are second to none, we can fully analyse what worked and didn't work, to help us build a better campaign next time"
Of course, we also speak to clients more often who have been blown away with the response or have seen enough of an instant return to deem the campaign viable. But for those who at first are feeling underwhelmed, we ask them to celebrate the wins. Look at what we have achieved with a small marketing budget, and how we can make that go even further.
If you're interested in a b2b email marketing campaign, or just to find out more, contact us today and ask about our current offers.