Here I am with another edition of “Straight Talk Saturday”- That’s right I am coining a phrase. But in my defense, I have been publishing “Straight Talk” for over two years now at OneBigBroadcast (OBB) thanks to an invitation from Steve and Mimi Arsenault two very talented and visionary people who have Webcasters of which OBB is a division.

Until last week when I published A Business Model That Is Just Plain Bad For Business, which you may want to check out to get a snapshot of how the automobile franchise is structured, I was absent for about a month because as I was busy doing things that actually allow me to buy groceries.

In college I studied creative writing (fiction) and even had visions of becoming a writer until I realized that sooner or later I would need to buy groceries and writing these posts has given me an outlet to satisfy that vision-at least for now.

Money often gets in the way of doing things that you may want to do and the desire to make lots of it often gets in the way of doing the right things. This article is an attempt to explain an unfortunate contradiction that has been occurring in our digital ecosystem that you may have thought about, even realized or like many find it hard to keep up with the pace of change. I wanted to put it in Black and white because this a serious subject that must be discussed an thought about because-

-The tide is turning and “If you think that you shouldn’t be looking for viable alternatives to current marketing methods you are MISTAKEN.”

"And I have a special gift for those of you who actually finish reading this post at the end"

The Push Back

 More and more people blocking ads of all forms, the spreading of the dreadful banner blindness disease and the government  passing stricter regulations in the name of privacy, the push back is real and gaining momentum and the effectiveness of  many outbound marketing tactics are and will continue to diminish.

 Verizon has finally given in to letting consumers opt out of its supercookie on fears of lawsuits and government intervention.

The supercookie is used to track everything you do on your phone including your email, everything you browse including everything you click on. Others were experimenting with these like AT&T but they abandoned their project-I wonder why?

 By the way if you want to opt out just visit this “Supercookie” link to find out how “How to Opt Out Of Verizon’s Supercookie”

 The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday passed a proposal from chairman Tom Wheeler, supporting consumers' ability to opt out of robocalling through their wireless carriers. FCC rules for carrier robocall blocking.

 However as long as agencies can realize recurring revenue streams with this type of marketing it will continue and the cost for you will to reach fewer people will rise.

 Is this Customer Experience or Smart Marketing?

 But advancements have also provided us with effective low cost alternatives that would diminish the need for such tactics as you will read. But because they not as profitable they are ignored by agencies and in turn ignored by the companies that are being conditioned by them to keep spending $$$$$$$.

 This push back will eventually make going after fewer consumers more expensive. Figures show that these new forms of push marketing are successful but fail to point out how many people that are offended by it are lost by the companies using these methods.

 Studies also show that many consumers are fed up with these invasions on their privacy. Even Google is testing a fee based opt out of being exposed to ads-This should tell you something.

 If these are thing that consumers want, Why are so many opting out?

 The Tide Is Turning

Again, the tide is turning and “If you think that you

shouldn’t be looking for viable alternatives to current marketing methods you are MISTAKEN” and you:

* Are losing potential customers who are offended by retargeting and geolocating

*Going to be paying more to reach fewer consumers.

Ad Blocking in a Big Way

Ad blocking software is working hard to help users avoid viewing online advertising, writes David Glance, director of UWA Centre for Software Practice at University of Western Australia according to David Glance in his article “Will ad blocking deal the final death blow to already failing online advertising?

Apple said last week that it will introduce an ad-blocking feature to the Safari mobile browser for iOS 9. Apple tries to kill mobile Web advertising

Google launches tool to keep you opted out of personalized ads on the Web.  Keep My Opt Outs is a Google Chrome extension that is being introduced as a response to a problem with existing opt-out programs – they’re reset whenever you delete your cookies. By running permanently within the browser, not as a cookie, you’re opted out permanently.

And What About Privacy Issues?

 In this article by Sharing Data-But Not Happily by NATASHA SINGER  Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, voiced doubts about data mining. Many Americans share those concerns, a new poll shows.

“You might like these so-called free services,” Mr. Cook said during the event held by EPIC, a nonprofit research center. “But we don’t think they’re worth having your email or your search history or now even your family photos data-mined and sold off for God knows what advertising purpose.”

“Now a study from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania has come to a similar conclusion: Many Americans do not think the trade-off of their data for personalized services, giveaways or discounts is a fair deal either. The findings are likely to fuel the debate among tech executives and federal regulators over whether companies should give consumers more control over the information collected about them.

In the survey, which is scheduled to be made public on Friday, 55 percent of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed that “it’s O.K. if a store where I shop uses information it has about me to create a picture of me that improves the services they provide for me.”

About seven in 10 people also disagreed that it was fair for a store to monitor their online activities in exchange for free Wi-Fi while at the store. And 91 percent of respondents disagreed that it was fair for companies to collect information about them without their knowledge in exchange for a discount.”

However as long as there are technology companies developing applications that they can realize recurring revenue streams with and then disguise these push marketing tactics with terms like retargeting and geolocating it will continue. “

But Wait

Advancements have also provided us with effective low cost ways that would diminish the need for such tactics that are not as profitable for marketing agencies and therefore ignored by them and ignored by the companies that are being conditioned by them to spend more $$$$.

This push back will eventually make going after fewer consumers more expensive. Figures show that these new forms of push marketing are successful but fail to point out how many people who are offended by it and lost by the companies using these methods.

Studies also show as you have seen here that many consumers are fed up with these types of advertising. Even Google is testing a fee based opt out of being exposed to ads-This should tell you something.

If you adjust for people who are blocking, ignoring or business that you may be losing using these methods-the adjusted cost would be staggering. And ad blocking is growing at an increasing rate. There is an alternative, non-intrusive and low cost way to reach your audience and that is through onsite communities.

 Growth Hacking Through Community

Remember that paid advertising is fleeting in that it is only there as long as you are paying$$$$$. Communities are a permanent addition to your marketing strategy that will PAY YOU $$$$$ benefits now and into the future.

Growth hacking through onsite social communities has been providing a lot of success and gaining a lot of attention lately and for good reason. They are an inexpensive and non-intrusive way to maintain relationships with existing as well as potential customers to engage with and nurture from one central platform-your website. The versatility and economy that these communities can offer cannot be matched in any other way especially when you consider the long term benefits that they provide. Actually a recurring revenue stream that reflects on your bottom line not on someone else’s bottom line. .

Also, onsite social communities, if structured properly, offer an effective way for you to communicate and nurture in ways that they will welcome your contact by engaging with them in ways that do not intrude on their privacy which as you have just read is becoming a legitimate concern.

Onsite social communities are an inbound marketing, customer service and support concept that not very long ago was the recommended way to market until new technology brought us new forms of push technology for big enterprises to generate huge new recurring revenue streams with and all of the sudden pull or inbound marketing was no longer trending.

Using your own social channel (community) on your website to connect with your offsite social channels and (key word here) “our”digital ecosystem can make for a winning addition to your marketing strategy while at the same time reducing your overall costs and increasing your revenue. What a novel concept!

Not only can it provide a multitude of benefits that cannot be realized through any other marketing initiative, you will not be subject or impacted as much by the constant flux of others' changing marketing policies and popularity that are in a constant flux of change.

There is no more transparent way of connecting with your existing and potential customers and employees than having an onsite social community. An onsite social community allows you to partner with your customers and employees to bolster your marketing initiatives and project your customer and employee centric culture through organic search and across all your paid and social channels.

By building your own branded community of fans and followers you will have a central location with an organic reach of 100 percent on your real estate (your website) with which to form lasting relationships and a community of fans and followers who can help you broadcast your message across the digital spectrum.

Although it is important to maintain a presence on other social networks an onsite social network gives you the opportunity to market better, smarter, more economically and more secure.

Your onsite community provides the means for Socialcasting of which community plays a key role that in its many forms can boost page ranking and drive traffic in ways that no other form of media can. This can provide a base from which to launch all of your marketing efforts to positively impact your overall marketing efforts. Technology is constantly providing us with new and creative ways of centralizing our marketing to make it more efficient, beneficial and cost effective.

Maybe others who more concern about their own bottom(s)-lines $$$$[no pun intended] don’t want you realizing this-but you should and now you need to.

By taking advantage of your existing customer and employee base you can easily and cost effectively have a powerful platform of brand advocates from which to build on. New customers can automatically become members of the community as part of the benefit of doing business with your company and site visitors can be invited to join to enjoy member benefits as a way of nurturing new business.

Depending on your type of business you can give community members permanent savings on products and/or services, discounts on warranties, maintenance Contracts et. and have drawings and special offers to keep them engaged. This is how you will foster an army of devoted customers who will help you broadcast your customer centric culture and drive more traffic to draw many more devoted customers to your business.

All of this will have many positive effects including bolstering your SERP and feed on itself to give you a platform from which to launch all your marketing initiatives.

“While the idea is still new and new ideas often take time to be fully shaped inside organizations, in the future it is quite likely that consumer-facing companies will no longer outsource social platforms, but rather look to integrate, partner, and build their own niched platforms that are tailored specifically to what their consumers want.”Jennifer Wolfe stated in this article Think It’s Too Costly to Build Your Own Social Platform? Think Again

Recently, Nate Elliot, vice president and principal analyst serving B2C Marketing Professionals speaking at the Lithium Technologies LiNC conference in San Francisco told the audience that you don’t build a community on social or have any meaningful customer relationships on Facebook. Elliott’s advice to brands looking for real, measurable results through social media: integrate social aspects into a platform you own, such as your company’s website.

Although I didn’t agree with everything he said I do believe that having an onsite social community is a viable and cost effective alternative that will benefit you, your existing and potential customers in the short as well as over the long term in many different ways and overall at a fraction of the cost of other forms of online marketing.

We have been and continue to develop new ways of pulling people in for years through onsite social communities that can take many forms, instead of pushing your marketing on consumers at the risk of alienating them.

Also read 11 Ways To Score Customer Relationship Touchdowns for a more in-depth look at how an onsite social communities might be structured AND for those of you who actually read this far I would like to leave you with this Customer Experience Infographic courtesy of Direct Marketing.

Growth hacking image courtesy of Positionly. Privacy image courtesy of Privacy

A joint study by BIA/Kelsey and Manta found that, for the first time, small businesses truly grasp the impact their customer base has on their long term business viability. The study surveyed nearly 1,000 small business owners (SBOs) and found they now spend more than half of their time and budget focused on existing customers, recognizing that it can be up to ten times more costly to acquire a new customer. Further, a repeat customer spends 67% more than a new one.

There are nearly 28 million small businesses in America, and they are making a formidable impact on the U.S. economy. Small businesses provide 55% of all jobs and account for 54% of all U.S. sales.

These findings are in stark contrast to previous studies showing that small business owners’ primary focus was on customer acquisition, says the report. A 2012 BIA/Kelsey study found that SBOs focused on customer acquisition vs. retention at a 7-to-1 rate, with more than 37% spending over half of their budget on customer acquisition and only 6% spending more than half of their budget on retention.

According to the recent survey, 61% of SBOs  generate  51%+ of their annual revenue from repeat customers rather than new customers. This is reflected in how SBOs spend their time and money, says the report. 62% of SBOs spend the majority of their annual marketing budget to retain existing customers with less than half going to new customer acquisition.

Similarly, SBOs spend the majority of their time and effort investing in existing customer relationships, with 56% of them spending less than 25% of their time and effort on marketing related to customer acquisition.

The study further supports this new alignment, revealing that channels where SBOs will increase time spent, notably email and Facebook, are those best suited to engaging existing customers.

Existing customers can also be leveraged to gain new customers through digital word-of-mouth, such as customers writing reviews, checking in, and posting stories and photos of their experience with businesses. A loyal existing customer can be a brand champion and an important source of new revenue, especially since it can cost up to ten times more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one.

Small businesses clearly understand the economics of their existing customers as the benefits of loyalty marketing are proven with increased customer spending and higher retention, yet few SBOs even have a program in place. According to the study, only 34% of SBOs have a loyalty program, while the majority do not. When asked about the purpose of their customer loyalty program, those who had one answered that they want to “Improve customer relationships” (39%) and “Grow revenue” (36%).

Moreover, says the report, the majority of SBO loyalty programs are offline rather than online, failing to take advantage of technologies that enable seamless implementation and deeper customer insights. Only 46% are in some type of digital form, like an email list, while 31%

are paper-based, and 17% verbal/word-of-mouth or in another form.

The report concludes by noting that customer loyalty can bring big benefits to small businesses:

• Existing customers not only comprise the majority of top line revenue, but can dramatically affect a business’ bottom line. According to the “Loyalty Effect”, a 5% increase in customer retention can lead to a 25% to 100% increase in profit for the company
• Existing customers that have an affinity with a brand are easier to up-sell and cross-sell. They already know and like what a brand does, so there is a measure of trust not afforded to an unknown company
• Repeat customers are more likely to refer their friends and family to a business via word-of-mouth, online reviews, and social sites. Technology has amplified the reach of customers, making it easier to share recommendations about a particular business.

For more about the study, please visit Manta here.

It’s understandable for businesses to be excited by the prospect of new customers. Promotional emails, social media marketing and search are all effective ways to find new business and help a company grow. That being said, it always pays to make sure existing clients don’t feel unappreciated. Social platforms are a great way to do this, but many companies haven’t fully embraced the tactic.

Past business can fall by the waysideAccording to a recent survey by Socialbakers, 61.7 percent of businesses consider customer acquisition to be a very important goal for social media in 2014. However, only 28.9 percent feel the same way about customer care. Gaining some new prospects but losing dedicated clients is a lot like taking two steps forward and one step back, so companies may consider the trade-off a net positive. Unfortunately, not every business is able to weigh these costs effectively.

As part of a study of marketing styles, the authors of Marketing Metrics: The Definitive Guide to Measuring Marketing Performance discovered that the probability of making a sale to a new prospect is between 5 and 20 percent. Conversely, companies average 60 to 70 percent success rates when it comes to existing customer sales. The smaller a company is, the more tightly it needs to cling to existing clients, so this kind of retention is extremely important.

Keep your friends closeDon’t outflank yourself by building a marketing house on quicksand. Use every channel available, particularly social media, to both bring in new business, while maintaining close ties with existing partners. You can do so by:

• Offering rewards. To encourage social media follows and shares, let current fans and connections be the first to hear about discounts, promotions or contests.
   
• Sharing news. The people who have done business with you in the past are the most likely to want to know about the inner workings of your business – and their distribution of this news will provide invaluable coverage.
   
• Customer service. People increasingly turn to social media to lodge complaints or make inquiries because the audiences on these channels hold companies accountable. Encourage this kind of activity and respond promptly to make sure existing customers stay happy.