09/ 26/ 2007
by Lee Gimpel
With a deluge of marketing messages for customers to sift through, some small-business owners are turning to emerging technologies to stand out
With a music company on every corner in his hometown, Mark Montgomery, CEO of Echo-music, a Nashville, Tenn.-based music promotion company, knows it's hard to be heard. With a reputation as an innovator in promoting musical acts, he also knows that if his company doesn't stay fresh it will get left behind.
To get the word out about country music artist Dierks Bentley's upcoming album and tour, the company used Vontoo's new opt-in VoIP phone service--technology that allows businesses to deliver calls via the Internet rather than landlines--to call 15,000 fans who asked to receive information about the tour.
"We put a live callback number on the promotion, and the phone rang for four days straight," Montgomery says.
Today, every company seems to have its own e-mail newsletter or blast service. These digital marketing tools are cheap, easy and provide a wealth of feedback about those who click through your Web site--but they must compete for precious attention in increasingly crowded inboxes. How do you stand out enough to make your investment worthwhile? Though new high-tech offerings like a VoIP-based service aren't always the silver bullet for effectively promoting your small business, these emerging technologies allow you to break through the clutter of marketing messages and reach customers.
Montgomery uses everything from traditional but reliable e-mail blasts to bleeding-edge techniques to reach his audience. Using the opt-in calling service, a method similar to opt-in e-mail list managers like Constant Contact, has produced consistent response rates of more than 50 percent, compared to the often less than 1 percent for traditional direct mail. And because Vontoo uses VoIP calling, it's fairly affordable--$100 per month allows senders to put out 1,000 minutes of voice messages.
For internist Dr. Loring Jacobs of Las Vegas-based Jacobs & Modaber, spruced up e-mail was the answer. Jacobs recently began sending minute-long video e-mails, distributed by Helloworld.com, to communicate and review lab reports with patients. Other doctors either don't discuss lab work with patients, send a jargon-filled letter or have a nurse make the call. The personal touch that video e-mails offer is a novel way to give patients more face time with their doctor. When Jacobs tells patients there's nothing to worry about, and they can see his reaction, it makes a big difference, he says.
And, he says, the e-mails subtly promote his business, conveying that he's personally involved, aware of the latest technology and approachable. A monthly Helloworld.com subscription of $9 allows Jacobs to send 1,000 minutes of video.
"We've built our practice through patients sending their friends and family to us, so video e-mails give them another thing to talk about," Jacobs says.
In the Spotlight
How can technology help you get the word out about your business? Here are ways the small-business owners in this story used it to call attention to theirs:
Forge a connection. Any technology that you use to promote your business should also bring you closer to customers and clients. By sending video e-mails to his patients, internist Dr. Loring Jacobs is able to follow up with them face to face without having to arrange a time to meet with them personally.
Give customers the freedom to opt in and out. E-mail newsletters and blast services are nothing new; the last thing you want to do is give your customers another message to delete from an overflowing inbox. By pursuing an opt-in calling service, Echomusic's Mark Montgomery found a medium that wasn't as crowded as e-mail. Since customers know they can take themselves off the list, they're more likely to sign up and hand over their cell-phone numbers.
Make it easy to respond. No matter what digital tool you use to reach your audience, it needs to be easy to access. You have only seconds to hold their attention, so make the most of it. By putting a live callback number in a voice message about an upcoming concert tour it was promoting, Echomusic made it easy for fans to respond.
NFIB.com
Explore more up-and-coming ways to use technology to promote your business in "Marketing" in the "Sales and Marketing" section of www.NFIB.com/toolsandtips.
