Choose the right marketing mix

The first thing to consider when choosing the right marketing mix for you is: what are your strengths?

If you're an outgoing person who has no trouble approaching strangers, then you might consider a telesales campaign selling memorable (Gold) numbers. But what if you get tongue-tied on the phone? Perhaps you're a nifty web designer, and can easily whip up a microsite to sell targeted products to particular niches, backed up by a well-thought-out pay per click campaign.

The key things to remember are:

• Find your niches: There's always a niche market out there that no-one else has thought of. Don't worry if you find a small niche: once you've captured it, you can always extend.
  
• You're always selling - the most successful dealers keep selling, and never rest on their laurels.
• Play to your strengths: Work out what you're best at, then focus, focus, focus!

Below is a brief run-down of some marketing channels you might consider when planning the marketing mix for your dealership. Read on - or click on the links below to skip straight to a section.

 

Pay per click

Social media marketing

Organic search marketing (SEO)

Email marketing

Telesales

Networking

Direct mail

Digital marketing

Your dealership runs on a web-based sales engine. So we're assuming you're probably planning to start with digital marketing.

Pay per click (PPC)

Pros: Bring targeted traffic to your sales site. Great if you're a nifty web designer, or want an automated sales channel.

Cons: Can be expensive and daunting to the uninitiated.

Tip: Go for the niches

There are countless books and websites out there who will tell you the latest tricks for getting started with pay per click, so we'll stick to a few general thoughts.

Set your budget: The best known PPC engine is, of course, Google AdWords. AdWords can be very successful, but if you're inexperienced or have poorly-chosen keywords you can work through a marketing budget very quickly, with little gain. If you're new to AdWords, the best approach is to buy a book, do your homework thoroughly, then set a modest budget and experiment. If it doesn't work for you, don't be afraid to pull the campaign and review.

Go niche: Competition on AdWords for general phone number keywords is intense and can get expensive. But have you considered a more niche approach? Perhaps there's a forum for small business owners in your region that will accept advertising; you know of a few websites that cater to your target market who'll charge you a few pennies to run a banner ad; or there's even a way you can pick out a few niche keywords on AdWords that suit your particular marketing focus.

Social media marketing

Increasingly, businesses are using social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to promote their products. 

Social media marketing can be a powerful way to build a brand. But it's essential that you think about what you're trying to sell before you pour all your marketing efforts into Twitter and Facebook. 

Social media marketing is all about giving a 'human' and approachable feel to your brand. So if your sales approach is personalised - for example if you specialise in Gold numbers - social media marketing could help you carve out a unique niche with your target groups.

But it's a two-edged sword. Promoting yourself on blogs and social networks sounds easy, but you could end up spending a lot of time on it for very few sales. If you're looking for volume sales you may prefer to mix PPC campaigns with some intensive work optimising your sales site for organic search traffic.

Organic search marketing (SEO)

Pro: Needn't cost you anything

Con: Can be intimidating to beginners

Tip: Don't give up - it can take a while to get results

The best free advertising you can hope for online is through organic search results. The more work you can do to ensure search engines find, index and rank your site the higher your baseline of traffic - and sales - will become. Search engine optimisation can be time-consuming to begin with, but over the long term it will pay off.

For some basic tips on getting started with SEO see our article here.

Email marketing

Email marketing can be a great way of building customer loyalty, and promoting on-sells and special offers. If your email marketing contains information or articles that are genuinely useful to your customers, then they'll look favourably on your offerings, stay on your list, take an interest in your products and come back for more. Possible story types include: articles about a particular industry or marketplace; competitions; relevant research; tips and tricks; seasonal offers and quirky surveys.

If you're considering email marketing, bear in mind that it's tightly regulated these days. Unsolicited emails can risk getting you a reputation for spam. So if you're considering email marketing, make sure that at minimum you've included an opt-out link and - preferably - you've build your marketing list by inviting people to opt in.

You can find out more about email marketing regulations here.

Going offline

Who says you have to sell through the internet? There are plenty of potential customers out there who would prefer to buy from a person than a website. If you're serious about finding your niches, then think outside the box: there are plenty of ways to get selling offline.

Telesales

Telemarketing can be a great way of building leads. But success takes practice and planning. Here are 5 tips from dmClub's sales team, for anyone considering growing their business using telemarketing.

1) Assess your business: What are you good at selling? What type of customer are you good at selling to? Does it make sense to develop new leads through telemarketing, or do you make sales best through long-term relationships? Will telemarketing work for you as part of a mixed marketing strategy, alongside tools such as adverts and trade shows, or are your resources better used elsewhere?

2) Prepare target lists: Doing your research before you pick up the phone will save you countless wasted calls. Are you preparing lists by geographical area, business type, business size? Where will you find contact details? Will you buy a list or create your own - and what are the costs of each approach?

3) Prepare telephone scenarios: Draft cold calling scripts, and practice them before you start calling. Prepare promotional material for follow-ups by post or email. Schedule different campaigns, for example to tie in with seasons or major events.

4) Set dedicated time aside, and review regularly: Block out specific times for working on your list. Take a 5-minute break after each 10 calls, and assess which calls went best. What buzzwords and phrases seem to be effective? What days and times work? When are you at your best? What have you learned from the calls that you can use elsewhere? Remember: even if a call is going badly, rather than losing contact you can arrange to call back in a few weeks or months.

5) Play by the rules: It's unlawful to make cold calls to anyone who has opted out of receiving them. If you're doing a high volume of cold calling, you can either get your call lists screened directly by the Telephone Preference Service (http://corporate.mpsonline.org.uk/tpsc/html/default.asp), or use a data compiling/screening service such as UK Consumer Data (http://www.ukconsumerdata.co.uk).

Pro: Talk to customers directly and convince them of the benefits of your product.

Con: Can be dispiriting if you're shy. Remember though: the worst they can say is 'No'.

Tip: If you're considering telesales, balance with other channels such as direct mail or email marketing.

Networking

Nothing beats face-to-face if you want to raise your profile. If you're selling dmClub products as part of a portfolio of products and services, eg Web design, hosting etc, then it's well worth your while to be turning up at local business groups, industry events, conferences, trade shows and so on. Get your friends to help: do they know what you sell? Perhaps they know people who would find this useful and can refer them to you. Find your target market, make friends with them, find out their needs and sell, sell, sell!

Pro: Nothing beats face-to-face if you want to be remembered

Con: Time-consuming unless you're selling a range of products

Tip: Always carry your business card - you never know when you'll have a chance to sell!

Direct mail

Direct mail has gone out of fashion in recent years, as for a while the volume of junk mail meant that it stopped having any effect. But lately the volume has dropped, and the effectiveness of direct mail has started to look a bit better.

Pro: Reach customers who might not spend so much time online

Con: Hard to get really targeted. Printing and delivery costs can get expensive.

Tip: Choose a product to promote that suits the likely population of the area you're targeting with direct mail.

Next: Start some campaigns