PlusOne – Marketing Musings

SMS is a very effective tool for  communicating with your customer and prospects lists. A well-crafted message, with a good offer can  drive footfall to your store or website.

SMS marketing systems can be used for:

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We are pleased to announce that some important changes have been made to the SMS Central system that brings several important benefits for users.

If you do not yet have a free account, please contact us by emailing matt AT plusone.com.au and we can set it up. Remember there is no cost to set up the account.

ENHANCEMENTS

We have now moved away from a pay as-you-go system, to a pre-purchase messages model.
The benefit to you is you can now save the previous administration fee each send, making small list messages viable. This means a messages to tightly focused groups can be easily done and you only pay the 14 cents per message, without the administration fee imposed at all. You can purchase from as little as $10 worth of messages (71 messages) up to $200 (1428 messages). You can of course purchase several lots of message credits. They do not expire.

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This Business Tip is all about customer service. It is about an odd demarcation that has evolved between customer enquiries that are received by phone and those that are received by email. Which is more important? Which gets the best response?

This question has always been at the back of my mind, but today’s tip was prompted by this interesting point that appeared in:

Your website’s hidden treasure – SmartCompany
2. Reduce query-to-order turnaround time
How often are sales or production processes delayed because you haven’t been able to “touch base” with your prospect or customer? And how many sales have been lost because a competitor beat you to the punch?

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If you are like me and want good customer service when doing business on the internet, this this article is an interesting read.

How neglect of the internet cost a supplier my order

How ANY business with an online presence fails to respond to an email on the same day or at least within 24 hours is beyond me. Even an after-hours business can respond within 24 hours. I know in our business we often respond within the hour. (And yes people are impressed, especially when it is after hours.)

How soon do you expect a response to emails to businesses? Let us know via comments.

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There is a quiet revolution going on in business. In some countries the revolution is a return to the old ways, while in others countries it is a return to the ways of old.

My Musings today are inspired by this article on BBC NEWS  called Where small is beautiful and bountiful.

The article is about attempts by Indian businessmen to emulate Western style supermarkets and malls in an attempt to lure customers away from the small, traditional family run enterprise so common in the populous nation.

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I was reading an interesting article in the The Hindu Business Line : When simple isn’t easy about the author’s attempt to buy a simple phone, without all the bells and whistles.

Of course these days buying a simple mobile phone to make or receive calls only is not so easy. As the author says, it comes bundled with cameras, FM radio tuners and MP3 players.

But one line really caught my eye: Continue Reading»

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Customer service is an aspect of business that either seems to be done well, or very badly.

This posting comes about after reading a thread on a forum I frequent that was discussing why businesses don’t return call, are slow or fail to reply to emails.

The examples the original poster gave included unsatisfactory dealings with businesses he had been a customer of for a number of years and was for products that ranged in price from $50 up to over $500.

But one contribution to the discussion really floored me. In it, the poster made some direct points; Continue Reading»

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Amid the woes of a declining economy (no matter what country you live in), it its good to see that there is still some bright aspects in terms of business opportunity and growth.

I guess it is all about aligning yourself with people’s real needs. Here is a blog post with three simple (and probably obvious in hindsight) examples:  The Sky’s Falling, You Want an Umbrella or A Bucket?

Do you have any examples? Let us know via comments.

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Here is a great use of interaction using mobile phones in the health sector.

A program that uses mobile phones to track the mental health of young people suffering depression will be evaluated through funding from the Telstra Foundation to see if it is suitable to treat youth depression nationwide. Cellular News reports.

“Following the successful world-first pilot of mobiletype developed by the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute MCRI, the Telstra Foundation has committed a Social Innovation Grant worth $285,000 over two years as part of its ongoing community investment commitment.

The mobiletype pilot assisted doctors to help treat 14 to 24-year-olds with mental health concerns through the use of mobile phones. The program monitored each young person’s mood, stress levels, coping strategies, alcohol and cannabis use, exercise, eating patterns and general lifestyle factors.

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With the effects of the global slowdown starting to be felt here in Australia, many businesses, both large and small are reviewing costs in order to maintain profitability.

Cuts to expenditure can occur at many levels and are often influenced by sales volume and demand.

One of the first areas to be cost is staff numbers. Lower production/sales means less people are needed in the business, so numbers are trimmed.

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