• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Ann Donnelly Digital Marketing Consulting

  • Home
  • Tourism Development
    • Digital Marketing for the Tourism Industry
    • Tourism News and Articles
  • Digital Marketing & SEO
    • Digital Marketing Strategy Development
      • Digital Marketing Audit
      • Digital Marketing Plan
    • Digital Marketing for Professional Firms
    • Search Engine Optimization
      • SEO Strategy Development & Implementation
        • SEO Audit
      • SEO Ranking Quick Boost
    • Social Media Marketing
      • Social Media Marketing Quick Boost
  • Work With Me
    • Who I Am

9 Things to Do NOW to Stay Engaged with Your Customers

April 23, 2020

You may be working on a plan to start your business back up when the stay at home orders are relaxed, but it’s just as important to stay engaged with your customers now and maintain engagement going forward.

Continuous engagement with your customers will:

  • keep your business fresh and essential in their minds;
  • alert you to changes in their needs relevant to what you offer and how you offer it;
  • give you the ability to react quickly to these changes, and anticipate other changes that may be coming;
  • provide important feedback, enabling you to respond as needed.

The Best Platforms to Engage Customers Now

  1. Social Media
    Bring your old social media accounts back to life. Let your customers know that you are there for their questions and to provide other useful relevant information.

    Ensure your content is “relevant and remarkable” to really connect with the audience and increase the chance that they will share with their connections.
  1. Email
    Come up with an idea for a series of content that will be useful and engaging to your customers and set up an automated “drip fed” campaign on your email marketing application. The campaign will deliver relevant content in the time frame you determine best for your customers.

    For best results, only send to individuals that have opted in. If you don’t have such a list, start with an introductory email to your customers and request that they opt-in. In some jurisdictions, like the EU, it is a legal requirement to have permission in advance. In the US it is not, but it is still best practice in order to build trust with your audience.
  1. Telephone
    If you normally engage with customers via telephone, continue to make calls that are inline with the communications you normally have.

    At the beginning of the call, ensure that you ask if it is a good time to talk. If not, ask when would be a better time to talk or if is there a preferred method of communication. During the call, listen to the customer to sense how much they want to discuss their current situation versus discussing business.
  1. Mail

    Print up attractive postcards with a message relevant to your customers now, perhaps noting changes to the way you do business (hours of operation, limited services/products available, etc.). If relevant, provide a coupon/discount as a gift for customer loyalty.

    A great design/layout and information useful to your customer may get you pride of place on the fridge!

  1. Online Survey
    Show your customers that you are interested in what they have to say. Use an online survey application, like Survey Monkey, to find out if your customers’ needs have changed. If you use a third party to run the survey for you, ensure that their practices are inline with those of your business.

    If appropriate to your audience, offer a reward for completing the survey — a discount, a gift or a chance to win a suitable prize of value equivalent to the effort to complete the survey. 
  1. Webinar
    Even if you don’t normally offer courses or presentations, webinars are a good way to provide relevant, useful content to a number of people at once. This can be pre-recorded, but going live allows attendees to ask questions which will bring greater engagement. You can also record the live session and use it going forward.

    Ensure that you have a script for the webinar and practice with a few run throughs to ensure that you keep to the intended length and have sufficient time for Q&As if including this.
  1. Podcast
    People are always looking for new podcasts to listen to while working out, driving, etc. Brainstorm a number of relevant ideas so you have content for a few weeks ahead. Start simple and if you find you are building an audience, upgrade your equipment and quality of your presentation.

    If you are unsure about starting your own podcast, reach out to hosts of existing relevant podcasts and ask to be a guest speaker. You can return the favor by featuring that podcast on your channels and invite that host to be a guest speaker when you start your own,
  1. Online Community
    Start a Facebook Group for your business or a topic relevant to your business. Here you can provide useful information and start conversations of interest to your customers to get them engaged or even go Live! This community also gives your customers an opportunity to interact with each other.

    If you make the Group “private” you can make it exclusive to existing or new customers as an added benefit for them, but keeping it “public” may expand the reach and get the interest of potential new customers.
  1. Virtual Gathering
    Determine a theme relevant to your business and schedule a session using an online meeting platform for interested customers to join together.

    Act as moderator, or assign this task to another, to keep participants involved, on point and the tone inline with your brand and your audience.

Use a combination of these platforms to attract an audience and build a community of not only loyal customers, but also prospective new customers. Start with the methods you are already using and then look at those that will work well with those. For example: If you hold a webinar, get permission to add registrants’ email addresses to your email marketing database and use an automated campaign to keep the attendees engaged going forward.

Consider the following when deciding what platforms to use:

  • already in use, even if inactive
  • suitability to your content
  • cost versus the return for your business
  • ease to put in place and use on a continuous basis
  • accessibility for you and your customers
  • time to set up and deliver
  • ability to get and give feedback

Gather data from your campaigns to see what is working and adjust your activities as needed to improve results. While sales figures are important, also keep an eye on which channels and specific campaigns sales come from and metrics, such as: traffic to your website, number and quality of enquiries from all platforms, likes/comments/shares, growth of email database, etc.

Use these platforms to engage your customers NOW and maintain engagement going forward to ensure strong sales and growth for the future.

Filed Under: Business Advice, Digital Marketing Articles, Email Marketing, Facebook, Internet Marketing Advice, Internet Marketing Tools, Online Marketing, Practical Advice, Sales & Marketing Tips, Social Media Marketing

Footer CTA

What My Clients Say…

She will help you maximize your results and help you increase your ranking organically

Trident Holiday Homes Ireland

We found Ann to be very approachable and friendly, she even took time out of her vacation in Ireland to visit our office. Ann was available at the end of a phone to answer any queries we had. All in all, I would recommend Ann to anyone who is looking for a digital marketing consultant and coach, she will help you maximize your results and help you increase your ranking organically.

Eilís McDermott, Senior Marketing Executive
Trident Holiday Homes

It was like a light was turned on for me

The Smart Happy Project

When I joined Sarah Leather and Ann Donnelly’s course, “How to Make Money Online and Become an Entrepreneurial Goddess”, I had a seed of an idea that at some point I thought I might need a website and this course could help with that. I was right about that, but what the course showed me was so much more. It was like a light was turned on for me. Being shown the simple online tools that can assist in researching, setting up, monetising and promoting your site has been invaluable (and all without the boring tech jargon that just numbs any creativity one might have had). I have gone from seed of an idea to completed website in 5 months, and yes I am proud of that! Anyone with an entrepreneurial side and wanting to do something new needs to do this course, without a doubt.

Lisa Lillywhite
The Smart Happy Project

Without a doubt the best course I’ve ever done

glyniss trinder
“How to Make Money Online and Become an Entrepreneurial Goddess” is without doubt the best course I’ve ever done. The sessions had so much content and were made really interesting by Sarah Leather and Ann Donnelly’s well thought out presentation. I was aware how marketing on the internet was so powerful but had no idea how to draw people to my website. Now with all I’ve learnt I’m so amazed by how much my profile has lifted. I highly recommend this course to anyone who wants to make more money online.
Glynnis Trinder
GlynissTrinder.com

A great speaker and a knowledgeable advisor

Greg Mulcahy

While filming Ann’s talk at a Business of Social Media Conference, I was distracted by her highly creative manner of explaining social media and internet marketing for business. Her knowledge on the subject is vast, and her skills in re-producing that knowledge are plentiful. A great speaker and a knowledgeable advisor.

Greg Mulcahy
Video Producer and Owner of Vale Media Video Production Services

detailed understanding of the issues that faced a start up company

nic slocum

The website Ann created for us has been the single most important marketing tool we have used these past 14 years of operation. Better than social media and brochures combined I would say! It’s stunning position when whale watching is searched for has been a significant part of that success and, without a doubt, our position on search engines was achieved quickly and efficiently as a result of Ann’s detailed understanding of the issues that faced a start up company wanting to achieve a meaningful and valuable internet presence. Easy to work with, proficient and detailed.

Nic Slocum
Whale Watch West Cork

She gets results

flor mccarthy

Ann has been instrumental in developing our use of social media for our business and our online marketing. I have found Ann great to work with, very knowledgeable and most importantly: she gets results.

Flor McCarthy
McCarthy & Co.

someone who knows what they are talking about

Tony Cantwell, The Baby Greeting Company

Can’t recommend Ann Donnelly highly enough. There are people who talk about web solutions and it is evident they don’t have much hands on experience; but Ann has been trying, testing and expanding her work experience for many years and it is refreshing and reassuring to work with someone who knows what they are talking about.

She is a great web designer, who takes time to listen to what you want and to understand your business. She applies this knowledge then to her work and end product. She is creative and inventive and has offered plenty of suggestions to improve our website in terms of efficiency and customer service. Ann is trustworthy and reliable and I would have no hesitation is recommending her for any web project.

Tony Cantwell
The Baby Greeting Card Company

no jargon attitude

imagination attic

Ann is a very easy person to talk to; and she talks to you with a no jargon attitude which is of great help to someone who doesn’t know that much about web sites. She is a well versed person in her line of work and guides you through everything. She is a very trustworthy person and can be relied on to give you her honest opinion.

Caroline Jennings
Imagination Attic
  • Digital Marketing Articles
  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Web Design & Development

      

Digital Marketing Consulting & Coaching

Copyright © 2022 Ann Donnelly - Privacy