No, I’m not talking about the 265 channels you can get on DirecTV, I’m talking about Marketing Channels. In the last few years we’ve become (overly?) reliant on email because it’s comparatively cheap and fairly measurable. Sometimes we throw a little direct mail into the mix, especially for those folks we don’t have email addresses for. But have you thought about reaching your prospects and customers via other methods?
In my role at Eloqua I work with a lot of customers every week. Over time, I’ve learned which ones like to communicate via email and which ones prefer a phone call instead. This hit home to me this week when one of my customers had not responded to the last several emails I had sent to her. When I picked up the phone, we ended up having a great chat and now I’ll remember that she prefers that method of communication instead.
Next time you’re kicking off a campaign, consider making it multi-channel. Perhaps some of your past non-responders would do better with an automated phone message this time around? Do you have an opt-in list of SMS contacts? If so, send them a text message with a URL to register for your event or learn about your offer. Don’t forget to add Twitter and Facebook to your next campaign outreach as well.
Your prospects are listening on different channels, so make sure you’re talking to them in the places where they’ll hear you.
[Photo credit: RickMacMerc via Flickr]
