Tire Retailing Today appearing in the March/April issue

Internet Marketing Strategies: The Interactive Frontier
by Mark Crary

It's a fact of life that most businesses will lose up to 30% of their customer base this year. Many customers will move away, some will die or become disabled, and more than we'd like to think will suffer a serious financial setback. With that in mind, it follows that there are only 3 ways to ensure the long-term growth and success of your business:

• increase the number of new customers
• increase the frequency of customer visits
• increase the amount of each work order

To accomplish these seemingly formidable tasks, it's important to develop a plan of attack that utilizes a variety of communication methods.

"Spiral branding" occurs when different communication methods work together to drive prospects and existing customers to your store. Any combination of direct mail, newspapers, radio, TV, broadcast fax, community functions and the Internet can continuously reinforce your marketing message. This upward spiral of awareness results in much higher response than you'd get if you utilized only one marketing vehicle by itself.

The Internet is the newest and least understood of any of the marketing tools available to you. It's also potentially one of the most powerful. Marketing on the Internet is still in its infancy. The evolution of technology, lack of an established history of results and developing social issues such as privacy mean that Internet is uncharted marketing territory to a certain extent.

Still, much is known about the Internet's ability to be an effective marketing tool.

Email is the driving force behind Internet marketing. No other vehicle can target specific populations with specific messages as quickly or as powerfully. Email campaigns can be created, implemented, analyzed and refined much faster than the time it takes to print and send one traditional direct mailing. The added benefit is that email costs less because there's no printing or postage.

Service reminder email is potentially the highest, best use of Internet marketing for the automotive industry because it uses the Internet's advantages to their fullest. Service reminder email takes full advantage of the instantaneous and interactive nature of the Internet.

Imagine a customer in need of service receiving a special offer targeted directly at their particular needs. After perusing their full color electronic coupon, they're driven to your web site via a link within their email. Once at your web site, the customer finds their vehicle's service history and factory recommended maintenance schedules. They're able to sell themselves on the service they need before they even drive into your service bay. The customer prints out their special offer and drives to your store. The tire center increases the frequency of customer visits and is able to check, diagnose and provide any other services needed. No other advertising medium can provide this speed of delivery and high level of interactivity. And everybody wins.

Many businesses pay a web designer to create a web site because they think they need one, without really knowing why. The real power of the Internet to form and change your customers' buying habits lies in the ability of email to deliver a tightly focused marketing message to exactly the right customer segment, and to use links to drive those customers to your web site. Interactive features such as service history and recommended maintenance can help turn one-time visitors into long term customers.

Of course all this rests on the assumption that you're keeping accurate customer data in your shop's Point of Sale computer software. Direct marketing service providers will be more than happy to mine your customer data and turn it into special offers for the customers who are most likely to respond. Special promotions for transmission service sent to vehicles within specific mileage ranges are only one example of the opportunities to turn data into profits.

Response to email that targets your existing customers is comparable to traditional direct mail, anywhere from 15% to 40% or higher depending on your offer and the list. Tracking the results of your email campaign is the only way to get the information you need to refine your promotions and maximize their effectiveness. Your marketing services firm can send you detailed monthly reports that tracks your program's success as they process your customer data.

Who exactly is on the Internet? Are they your customers? A study by researchers at UCLA showed that more than two thirds of Americans have access to the Internet. About half of these people check their email every day. The same study reported that in general, the higher the education level the more likely the person is to use the Internet. Similarly, the higher the income level, the higher the proportion of Internet users. That means that a great percentage of people with the income to spend on vehicle maintenance also spend time on the Internet on a regular basis.

But the Internet is not just a bastion of highly educated, well-paid users. While the vast majority of high education/high income Americans use the Internet, those with less education and lower income log on in very impressive numbers as well.

It's important to be aware that marketing etiquette is different in cyberspace. While there are many similarities to the standards and practices that drive postal direct mail, the rules of traditional direct mail don't all apply online. You can't just send your message to anyone and everyone. The person on the receiving end of the email has to agree to receive your message, or "opt-in". One of the best ways to collect your customers' email addresses is to offer something in return, such as a discount on their next service or a giveaway. If the customer clearly understands the reason for providing their email address and the benefits they'll receive in return, you don't have to worry about breaking the rules of the web. Spammers, on the other hand, run the risk of being unplugged from the Internet by their service provider if they break these rules.

The Internet's new marketing frontier is a rapidly evolving place with tremendous potential to communicate to new and existing customers effectively and affordably. With clearly defined goals and proper implementation, marketing efforts in the electronic frontier can generate a very impressive return on investment. And after all, that's the bottom line.

Mark is Director of Marketing at Mailmark, a Direct Marketing firm. Mark can be reached at (800) 334-8983 ext. 2265 or via email at markc@mailmark.com.