E mail Marketing is the Key

Two of the major keys for a successful small business is to have great marketing and get repeat business from customers. Yet when I am intrigued over an ad or sale and go to a business very rarely does anyone get any of my personal information. How do they know I am a satisfied customer? How can they contact me for future specials? I think the feeling is they will catch me with their current advertising. Aren’t I different though? I have already spent money there and we should be cultivating a relationship! Let’s examine how to do that.

First and foremost you must get my contact information. I belong to several of those garden clubs but that is not what I mean. Those can be difficult and long to fill out so something more simple. I am always a fan of giving away a gift as a raffle. Just need your name, address, and e mail address. To be part of the drawing you must confirm the e mail we sent you. You could even advertise this on your receipt that prints out. So what do we do with this information? Read on.

The first action to take is sending a postcard to the new client. That postcard will have a coupon inviting them back in and also telling them to confirm their e mail address for the raffle at the end of the month. This gets them used to looking at your e mails and also may bring them back for an item they forgot. As many touches as possible right now to form that bond.

Next send them the e mail for confirmation in the e mail club and for the monthly drawing. At this time you also want to give them something of great value so that they feel wanted. It is another way to develop your business relationship. Also explain to them you will only send helpful information and EVERY email will have a coupon. This will get them to open all e mails that come. Consistently e mail them so they get the rhythm of your contact and they will plan to buy things around receiving your e mails.  A pre conditioned prospect!

If you do this small but simple plan you can get rid of a lot of marketing expense. Yeah but this will cost a lot of money! No, it doesn’t really! Postcards can be sent out for 33 cents including postage. Your e mail campaign can be set up for under 50 dollars a month. Both are semi automated so you really don’t need to hire someone new. In fact hire a consultant to do this for couple of hundred a month and not even have to fuss with it all.

The beauty of this program is in its simplicity to start and maintain for little cost. If you have 15 people come into your store a day and you can get 10 forms filled out you have added 300 potential clients a month. 3,600 people the first year and 10,000 over three years. How would you like to have a client base of 10,000 to mail to? This will allow you to significantly cut back on advertising and save money thus increasing profits. This also allows you to build up loyalty and friendships which help a business become successful. If you need to add subscribers then you have the power to contact other business owners to swap e mail lists! That is for another day!

How to Cut Marketing Costs

Time for a reality check. Our economy sucks right now! There I said it and quite frankly you probably already knew that. We haven’t seen times like this for at least 20 years but there is a big difference between then and now. It is this thing called the internet. You may have heard of that also. The internet allows any company that needs to cut costs to do so through marketing. I know, now isn’t the time to cut marketing since it is companies that market during a recession that come out the best after it. But wait I didn’t say to cut marketing, I said to cut marketing’s cost. How do we do that?

First thing to do is make sure your website is up to snuff. Most savvy consumers are searching online to find the best places to shop locally. Your first impression to them is what the see on the internet. Will they be impressed or will they just skip you.

Then you need to make sure you are collecting e mail addresses of all your prospects and customers. You can inexpensively market them on a continual basis then. You do this by getting them to sign up at your store or on your website. All it takes is to give them something of value and they will allow you to market to them every week.

Next you must make sure you rank in the top of search engines for your pertinent keywords. Keywords are those types of services and products you sell locally. You need to be in the first three results for those items so that all consumers can find you.

You must also make sure to list your business on all local directories. These directories are used by shoppers to find stores and your information must be accurate. Make sure all phone numbers, addresses, websites are the same in every directory. This also adds trust to the shoppers and Google.

Be active in online communities. If you belong to the BBB or the chamber of commerce make sure you are active in the forums and websites of both. Be sure to get your name out there in all local forums so that people know and trust you. Your expertise is something that people would like to tap and will then become loyal to you.

There are some inexpensive ways to market your business online. By doing this you can cut some of your marketing costs but not your business. You will also prepare yourself for the future.