877-490-8324What is the most valuable asset that your business owns?
Your building? Your equipment? Your inventory? Your intellectual property?
ALL WRONG.
Not even the operating capital that you have in the bank is as valuable as this one asset that most business owners overlook….
It is your CUSTOMERS.
- Once you’ve sold a product or service to your customers, are you doing everything you can to keep your name in front of them as THE EXPERT in your field?
- Are you marketing to them regularly?
- Are you sending them newsletters each month that reinforce the value of what you and your company offer?
By communicating regularly with your existing customers (Your “HERD”) through offers and also newsletters you are building a strong fence around them, thereby keeping you in the front of your minds and your competition in the rear view mirror.
Many companies big and small neglect the customers that they’ve already done business with forgetting the true costs associated with acquiring a new customer. Depending on what you sell, it can be very expensive to gain a new customer. While we all know the importance of marketing to “cold” prospects and growing your business with new clients, it’s much easier to sell an existing client more “stuff” because they’ve already demonstrated that they have some degree of trust in you.
How do we know that? Simple. They’ve already given you their money.
Let’s explore some ideas and ways we can build our fence:
- NEWSLETTERS – This is #1. You need to send out a monthly newsletter to your clients by email and/or regular mail (preferably both if it makes sense). The content needs to be light, entertaining, and non-sales oriented. You can have special offers in the newsletter, but keep it minimal and focus on a readable, fun newsletter that your customers will look forward to.
- Blog Posts – Daily, Weekly, or Monthly you can write blog posts about your specialization and thereby reinforce your credibility among your customers. Keep posts relatively brief and easy to read (6-7th grade reading level preferred).
- Email Promotions – Special discounts, offers, and date sensitive sales announcements are all great ways to promote your company and your products and/or services.
- Social Media – Make sure your Facebook posts and Twitter “tweets” are regular and relevant. This is another subtle, but effective way to keep your fence strong around your customers.
- Direct Mail – With more and more of your competitors taking their marketing online, why not use direct mail to communicate with your customers? It’s a contrarian approach to online marketing that is still very effective.
Something else we don’t want to overlook here is one of the best reasons why you want to actively market to and communicate with your customers…
REFERRALS.
Even if your existing customers don’t buy another thing from you in the foreseeable future, if you are fresh in their minds because you are actively communicating with them, odds are that their colleagues, friends, and family members will need your services in the future. This makes it that much easier for them to remember you and make a referral. Referral business is easy to sell to and easy to please, generally, with reasonable expectations.
So, is there any downside?
Time. As business owners, you wear many hats and are pulled in many different directions on a daily basis. In order for your “fence” to be effective, it has to be regular and predictable. This means that you must send out your newsletters and other offers on a regular basis. You must allot the time each week or month to create the copy and implement the campaigns. If you can assign these tasks to an in-house marketing or administrative person who has some marketing background or experience, this is ideal. You can then proofread and/or edit the content and give it your final blessing, as the expert.
If you’re short on time, talent, or otherwise, we can help.
We have a full staff of experienced copy writers and marketing staff that can create regular newsletters for you with no hassles. We can also setup and show you how to do other types of email communications and blog posts that get results with your customers. Call us today at 1.877.490.8324 for a free, no-hassle consultation.
You may also Click here to schedule a confidential consultation.
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To your success!
Ben Vaughn
Sr. Online Business Strategist
AutoWeb Technologies