The New Year is just about on us. So ask yourself, “What will I do to retain my market share and grow my business in 2011?”
The reason I mention retaining your market share is that many companies forget to put that first. They take their existing customers for granted while they pursue new customers. The problem is that they forget that while they are working on adding clients, their competition is too. And part of competitors’ plans is targeting your customers.
Start your 2011 marketing plan with a check-in on how your current customers are feeling about your goods and services. Look at what you can do to continue serving them best. Then use that information as part of your marketing program – use customer testimonials and find areas for improvement as you move into the New Year.
What if your clients are not happy with something about your business or your products? With online reviews so easy to find, customer satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) will come out either way. However, if you pay attention and manage that information, you have a chance to work out a solution with your customers directly. Then you can put how you solved customers’ problems on the internet yourself. If customers were unhappy with some of your product features or services, you can roll out new ones that address any concerns, for example. If, on the other hand, you got good reviews through your market research, you can repeat those testimonials on your website or ads to present an even stronger image of your business by showing how happy your customers remain.
