Small Business Marketing - Don’t Let Them Go, Get Their Names
Every single person who has any kind of contact with your business is a precious commodity. No matter whether they simply read your ad, visit your website, browse your store or actually step up and buy something, you must always remember two things:
- It has already cost you money to get them there, so
- You must maximize your return on that spend, by capturing their contact details.
I am always amazed by how few small businesses go to the trouble of gathering names when there are successful examples all around us of just how effective that can be. You only need to take a look at supermarket loyalty schemes, book club memberships and frequent flyer programs to know that building a list of loyal, enthusiastic advocates is a highly profitable marketing approach.
Just because you are a small business, does not mean you can’t take a leaf out of these mega corporations’ books and set up your own continuous communications loop. Here’s how:
- Ask everybody. Set up an opt-in box on your website; train your staff to ask for the contact details of every single person they encounter; make it automatic that everyone who buys from you is obliged to give you their details.
Explain that you want to put them on your list so that you can send them special offers, invites to member only events, sale previews, new product updates, how to guides, newsletters and genuinely useful, valuable information. Sure, they won’t all agree to it, it is their choice, but enough of them will to allow you to steadily build a strong and responsive list.
- Name and e-mail is enough. If you want to go to the expense of creating and sending out printed communications to your list, you can, but my advice would be to stick with e-mail at the outset. Firstly, most people are happy and often even prefer to hear from you this way and secondly, the cost is minimal.
Set up an autoresponder system to send out a series of pre-written e-mails to everyone who joins the list. Start with a welcome e-mail on Day 1; follow it up with a few chatty, short messages over the next couple of weeks and then a longer, newsletter style communication every two weeks after that, interspersed with broadcast announcements when the time is appropriate.
- Build the relationship. The aim is to develop a rapport with the people on your list. Use a consistent ‘tone of voice’, so that your personality becomes familiar and keep the layout of your e-mails similar so they are always recognizable and les likely to be ignored or deleted.
Over time, provided that you continue to give good, useful information, the members who remain subscribed will grow to welcome your e-mails, read them regularly and develop a trust for what you say. This trust will make them just as open to your sales messages as to your educational ones and even if they did not become buyers when they first visited you, they will be far more likely to in future.
This kind of continuous communication will not transform your business overnight; it takes several months to build a solid list, but once you have, it is an asset that will only appreciate in value and one day may be the most important one you have and the source of your greatest revenue share.
One day your opt-in list will be one of the few things on your mental checklist of “things to grab when there’s a fire” along with your kids and your swimming medals.
As I always say, “This marketing stuff is so easy, my cat could do it”. So if you’re a small business owner looking for an easy guide through this confusing world, why not download my free e-book “Marketing for Cats” and then check out my comprehensive e-course, Small Business, Big ideas”
You’ll find it all at http://www.marketing-is-easy.com