Impressions - Build Your Business 2024 - 24

worth $1,800 per year. If, on the other hand,
your " onesie " and gift customers spend about
$40 with you just once a year, clearly these
customers are worth $40 per year each. Which
group of customers do you want to get more
business from, gift and onesie customers or
tradespeople?
When you start doing this kind of research,
you will likely notice your customers falling into
several diff erent categories, such as onesie and
gift customers, family or family event customers,
trades customers, schools, teams and sports
customers. Look at the numbers from the customers
in your diff erent categories to fi nd your
best sources for profi table orders.
By looking back over the past several months
or, better still, an entire year of orders, patterns
will emerge that will help you identify where
to invest your marketing time, money and efforts,
so you can attract more customers and
orders like those placed by your best categories
of customers.
Rewards and
Referrals Programs
Th is is a simple, yet eff ective, marketing strategy
that many businesses often overlook. You may
think these programs only work for companies
that have large customer bases, when in fact,
your business can greatly benefi t from such a
program, as it is one of the best ways to generate
leads locally.
Consider it from a prospective customer's
perspective. Would you rather do business with a
company that you've never heard of after simply
looking at a promotion or ad? Not too likely,
unless you have an immediate need for whatever
it is that they are off ering. If, on the other
hand, someone you know and trust recommends
a local business to you would you consider at
least checking out the business they suggested?
Th e answer for most people would be, yes.
Th at's the power and the beauty of referral
marketing-and why you should make a
point of off ering a referral program. When you
provide a great experience and your customers
love their custom products, they will be more
inclined to leave reviews, give testimonials and
tell their friends about you. By providing rewards
for doing so, you further incentivize your
existing customers to recommend your business
to their friends.
You can also give rewards to customers
who complete certain actions, like following
your social media channels, posting a photo
of themselves in your apparel on their own
social media and tagging you, or by posting a
review of your business. When a happy customer
talks about how great your company is,
doing business with you looks like that much
better a choice to other potential customers.
Recognizing and rewarding this with a coupon,
special off er or discount encourages your
customers to engage more with your business,
thereby building customer loyalty.
Business Pages
on Social
Since so many of your potential customers are
from the local area, Facebook, Yelp and Google's
business features are important for your business.
Having high Yelp reviews improves your
credibility online, helps buyers feel confi dent
about reaching out to you and helps your search
ranking. You can " claim " your own business on
Yelp for free, customize your profi le, add pictures
and ask your customers for reviews. Go
to business.yelp.com to get started.
Over two billion users log on to Facebook
every day, and more than 68 percent of Facebook's
monthly active users log on daily. Create
a free Facebook business page so these people
can easily and quickly fi nd your business, fi nd
your contact information and see your business
hours. Users can also view your posts, get a feel
for your business and see the problems you are
solving for your customers with your decorated
apparel. Share photos, videos and stories that
demonstrate what your products did for each
of those customers.
Register your business with Google for free
and add pictures. If you've ever searched for your
business in Google Maps and Google does not
see it, that is because you have not claimed it
yet! Go to google.com/business to get started.
E-mail Still Works
Contrary to popular belief, e-mail marketing
is not on the decline. Just the opposite. Studies
have shown most millennials actually prefer
their communications to come from businesses
via e-mail, making it one of the most eff ective
marketing methods around: an easy, free and
scalable way to communicate with potential,
new and existing customers.
Your customers can also be great allies in
getting the word out about your latest products.
Image by devitaayu - stock.adobe.com
24
http://business.yelp.com http://www.google.com/business http://stock.adobe.com
Impressions - Build Your Business 2024

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