How to save cost on marketing communication

Cost of operating a business and the resulting profit is a priority for every CEO or business owner. Forget the talk of businesses being there to meet a need. In fact that puts the business in money in the end. Businesses communicating with stakeholders and customers is an important part of the business process. For so a business gives feedback on complaints, adjustments to some flaw, introduction of new products or services and viability and profitability.

In ensuring that the goal of marketing communication is achieved, business owners and CEO needs to compare the target and effect of such activity. This will help them adjust, improve, intensify or withdraw any aspect of the communication strategy. There is no point sinking needed resources in ventures that do not yield the required result.

In this post I wish to draw attention of business owners and prospective entrepreneurs to the issue of how businesses waste resources on marketing media without knowing the impact. I will use the app Truecaller as an example.

Truecaller is a wonderful innovation serving the purpose of giving users the ability of controlling spam. I too use it and I readily suggest it to anyone using a smartphone that supports it. However, the advantages aside, the use of Truecaller and other spam filter apps spells doom for many companies or businesses that have failed in the art of marketing. This is because many of these messages via SMS or automated calls never reach the intended audience. A look through the Truecaller spam list and you will be confronted with lots of phone numbers, a lot of them being owned by reputable businesses. This is a sad one, a resource drainer ignored by captains of industries (CEO’s and administrators) over the years.

Many people, like me, hate being bugged by nagging calls or messages. It gets worse and drives one crazy when the calls or messages appear not useful to the receiver. This makes Truecaller users hit the “block” button once such calls or messages are received.

What is effective marketing communication?

In defining what marketing communication is, I like to quote the one from an online dictionary at http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/marketing-communications.html. Marketing communication(s) is described as “Coordinated promotional messages delivered through one or more channels such as print, radio, television, direct mail, and personal selling”. The components of this definition
include “coordination”, a “promotion” and “media”. Therefore a business is said to engage in marketing communication when it conveys an important information about the business or its services or products through a dedicated channel. Marketing communication in this sense becomes effective when the message relevant, engaging and is conveyed in a coordinated manner. Successful businesses achieve effectiveness in the communication that is why they fly the flag of success. Desperate businesses or individuals spam – unsolicited and irrelevant information.

The principles of effective marketing communication is important and every business owner must implement them to save cost and grow the reputation and the numbers – customer base and surplus/profit. Businesses need to have a very strong marketing communication so that they can track the reach of the services they provide in any given market. In the next section we will look at some of these principles.

Points to note if you must achieve effectiveness in marketing communication and save cost

To ensure you are not simply loading needed resources into a dumpster, you need to not some requirements to ensure your business succeeds in the art of marketing communication accounting for every penny invested in this all important business process. To achieve effective marketing communication businesses and business owners must adhere to the following:

HAVE A MESSAGE

Most businesses appear to send out emails or adverts through SMS or automated phone call because they believe they need to keep their contact with their customers alive. This is simply spamming. Before you make that contact, first ask if the message is one the customer will welcome. Is the message about an improvement in your customer service channel? Is it about added incentive to service subscribed for or on offer? Is it the introduction of an upgrade for cross selling purposes? Stick to the rule of respecting your contacts privacy. Having their contact details is simply a privilege and one you should appreciate. Remember, customers do not contact you except for support or to buy a product etc. Hence, you need to contact them only when the need is there.

Again, your aim should not be so much to sell as it should be to address an existing problem or helping your audience access better options. Your message should be honest, specific, clear, capable of conveying the benefit you promise, stick to the point and be concise.

KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER

Before ever reaching out to your audience, make sure you have a clear understanding of who the are. Understanding your target market is of immense important if you want your message to be of impact. Knowing your customer - current or prospects - means you need to engage in research to ascertain why they chose your product or service or why they would like to try out what you have on offer - in the case of prospects. This means that you do not need to send messages to all and sundry, but you target audience. Having stated that, it means that for every message you send you need to use an appropriate channel or media. 

To my mind, if you want to target your customers, you can use emails, phone calls and SMS as channels. For both prospects and existing customers, bill boards, print media, television and the internet are suitable as they are not intrusive. The feeling of intrusion results to people adding your contact in their spam list in apps like Truecaller.

Knowing your customer gives you an idea of the content of message suitable for every occasion and helps you communicate in a tone that suits the different segment of your audience. It also makes them identify the solutions or feedback you intended to reach them as it were. Just like a candidate for an interview is expected to dress for the occasion to reflect the position applied for, so also your message must address the different make up of your audience.

RESPECT TIME

There is every need to respect your customer when it comes to messaging - especially when it comes to adverts. Limit your contacts to office hours. The best time may be around break time (lunch). At this hour not everyone heads to the restaurant or cafe. Some spend time to relax, go for a walk or check other things out online. An exception may be given to businesses in the telecoms industry, banks or those requiring such customers to have real-time notice touching issues like accounts for instance. For crying out loud, why will you send an advert to someone on buying a wristwatch at 9 pm? It is not appropriate. In my former place of work, we had to review the time the call centre contacts customers with regard to user experience - even though it is important. But the customers private hours was more important to be respected. 

QUIT SENDING UNSOLICITED FOR MESSAGES

Sending messages not signed up for is just spamming. it is privacy invasion. It should be a rule of thumb for your marketing team to ensure that every contact on your mailing list are by consent or online email opting. By so doing, recipients always welcome messages from you. Spamming only wastes your time and resources as they rarely get viewed. In my country, it has become worse as you get streams of SMS's from short-codes with information that do not interest one nor add any value. The telecoms companies even go to the extent of using automated calls that display caller IDs that appear to be standard numbers. I have witnessed users curse under their breath after receiving such advert loaded calls after a along wait for a much needed call from a business partner or relative. It is annoying and this is making more people mark such numbers as spam. That means as a business you only end up investing resource in a channel that fails to reach intended target.

Instead of spamming, it is better to explore other channels like social media or outdoor advert media for instance. These alternative media will even endear customers with interest to signup for your service instead of you having to lose prospects and money.

Considering the above points will go a long way to helping you save cost and guarantee you the required effect you expect from every marketing campaign you embark on.

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