Do You Have an Online Conversation Strategy?
For those of you running a seasonal business, you may often feel like you're on a roller coaster. One minute your inquiries and bookings are pouring in, the next they taper off to near silence. From an operational perspective, this fluctuating pace may work well for you on several fronts, alternating a hectic pace with a more relaxed one, or one seasonal business with another. But from a customer growth perspective, this hot and cold approach is far from ideal.
Any meaningful relationship is the result of regular communication, support, and attention—and this takes time and effort. Those in solid relationships will be loyal to each other, and the same goes for customers who feel they've been treated well—which makes nurturing your customer relationships throughout the year all the more important. If you're unable to maintain the 'romance' past your peak season, you can bet your competitors will take advantage, both on and offline.
Keeping the positive brand experience alive in the minds of your customers year-round takes dedicated focus, but that needn't feel like a daunting challenge. Think of it as an opportunity to properly map out your online conversation strategy and determine how it fits into your marketing plan. The bottom line objective is to ensure that when somebody is making that purchasing decision, your brand is top of mind, even if you're a heli skiing operator and it's mid July!
Time your messages.
Start by identifying what you want to communicate, who you want to communicate it to, and when. Once you have that solidified, you can prioritize those key messages accordingly. At VentureWeb, we've made it our business to align plans to our clients' overall marketing objectives and tactics for the next 12-24 months. This ensures we're coordinating our digital campaign efforts to match, and also enables us to identify ways we can enhance offline tactics.
Knowing what's scheduled well in advance means we can take advantage of any cost efficiencies that lead time affords us on our clients' behalf. Keyword prices increase during peak seasonalities, or when demand is driven up, the latter of which can be hard to forecast. The good news is that the flexibility of online marketing enables daily monitoring and the ability to make quick adjustments to take advantage of opportunities but still keep campaign budgets in check.
Keep conversation current.
Your Google relationship is another important one to nurture; after all, your rankings are positively affected by how current your online content is: your website content, your blog, and your social media channels (e.g. YouTube uploads and Twitter activity). Plan on having plenty to say even during the off season, and you'll keep the conversation going… and your search results climbing. That means steady blogging, and it also means at least annual re-writes of homepage and main page content throughout your site.
If you feel 'blogger's block' coming on, just think of your business's annual cycle and break it into 2-month chunks of what's happening, be it early season promotions, hiring new staff, new product launches, peak season updates, annual events, post season reports, and then sprinkle in new video and photography (off-season is a great time to edit all that footage and create some highlight videos to sell your product), special guest visits, news coverage, and the like. Still stuck for ideas? Read more on combatting bloggers block.
Don't forget to listen!
Pushing regular updates to your audiences is important, but conversations are two-way. Listening and communicating with your fans, your customers, and your industry peers is key to keeping the long-term conversation going. And let them know you hear what they're saying. Follow them, comment on what they're sharing, and always respond if they've taken the time to post feedback to you, positive or otherwise. In the same way you push your messages on multiple channels, be sure to listen in different ways too. Not everyone engaging in your conversation is a customer yet, but what you're saying may well sway they your way in the future. Woo them.
Make your comments mean something.
Consider that much of the conversation takes place beyond the controlled arena of your posts, tweets, website and blogs. Google your company name or a clothing brand you are wearing this very moment and see what the search results deliver. Many people are surprised to see that customer reviews and comments often rank high, right alongside the sources you’d expect to see. As an online consumer, you have likely read reviews of a car you’re considering buying, or the comments posted about a recent ‘Heather’s Pick’ at chapters.indigo.ca, and those comments have likely played a role in your decision-making process. So in terms of having your say in the conversation about you or your brand, you have to make yourself heard.
Search out those forums and review sites where people are talking about you and respond to those comments. Willingly share your expertise and offer free bipartisan information that reinforces that expertise to those engaged. If someone raves about an experience with your business, post back and thank them for it. Request permission to share their testimonial and turn it into a blog. Take it a step further and let them know via email that you’re looking forward to their next visit and include a special offer for their loyalty. But be wise and don't flog it.
Don’t fear negative feedback.
Think of all feedback as being (at least) constructive because someone has taken the time to share. With a bad review, it’s even MORE important to respond, and promptly. If you were dissatisfied with your hotel room and marched downstairs to tell someone about it, you can be sure the manager would be called to discuss the situation with you in person. There’s no reason why a similarly dissatisfied customer online should wait days for a response, even if it is your ‘off season.’ You’re always ‘open’ online, so plan time in your day to review your online reputation. When dealing with a complaint, acknowledge their complaint legitimately, express empathy, seek more information, and offer a solution to make that customer happy in a way that not only satisfies that customer, but also demonstrates your commitment to customer service for everyone to see. Your posted reaction to a customer complaint can actually build loyalty and business—if done right—often moreso than replying to a positive remark.
Make customer service a priority.
Wondering about customer inquiries? These, too, have to be addressed in ‘real time’ measures. If this is something you’ve struggled with to date, make this a priority within your conversation strategy. Just because you're engaging with your customers online doesn't mean the definition of customer service is different from what you'd expect in person. Surprisingly, many companies doing business online don't recognize this. It’s been said that social media and email have become the 'social telephone.' From a customer service standpoint, ignoring customer phone calls is a definite no-no. So is there an opportunity to win by maintaining a high level of online customer service? Absolutely, especially in light of a recent study that suggests that 70% of companies ignore customer complaints posted on Twitter! (Seriously! Download the study.)
Get the last word.
Make sure whomever is responding to these reviews and inquiries is fully informed and represents the ‘voice’ of your brand. This voice should be able to speak with authority and show respect for your customers’ time. Assume they are savvier than you are online. They know how fast a response is possible via email, social media posts, or even a return phone call. Show you value the time they’ve taken to reach out, and respond as soon as possible within the business day… or risk your competition beating you to it.
Loyalty.
An ongoing conversation with your customers means you can connect with your online community in much the same way a neighbourhood shop would reach out to its local community. By tailoring certain messages or offers to key segments of your market, you will gradually create demand for the added level of service and become the 'go-to' source for your customers, reaping the benefits over the long term.
Building your social media fan base should be an ongoing effort so that you can share your message with more people. Obviously. But rewarding those who are already proven customers is a less expensive way to drive more conversions. Reward loyalty by adding value where you can—rather than merely discount your price—in such a way it's a win-win. Much like free shipping on early-bird orders helps an online retailer manage the holiday shopping rush, added-value packages for off-season lodging stays can keep occupancy rates steady, and cross-promotions with other local businesses (e.g. a restaurant) might be all it takes to double your reach and secure early season tour bookings to get the income flowing faster... not to mention fresh testimonials and blog content!
It's the first month of a new year. Regardless of where the date falls within the seasonality of your business calendar, many make this the year to try something new. Is this your year to start… and steer… the conversation?
