Marketing Strategy #3

Build a database of current, past and prospective customers and keep in touch on a regular basis.

Who are your current customers? Do you know? How do you know? Do you have a record that shows who they are, what products or services they regularly purchase, what their last purchase was, when it was, and how often they make purchases from you?

How do you know that the person you consider to be a “current” customer isn’t, in fact, a “past” customer? When was the last time he or she bought from you? Have they sent any referrals to you lately? If so, who? If not, why not? Have they taken their business down the street to a competitor? If so, to whom? And why?

What about your prospective customers? Do you know who they are? Have you developed an “Ideal Customer Profile” that accurately describes who your best customers are so you’ll know whom to target with your marketing efforts? Do you have a list of them? Do you know how to reach them? Are you reaching them on a regular basis?

The answers to these questions can give you valuable information that can blast your business to never before dreamed of heights.

By knowing exactly whom you have dealt with in the past, who you currently deal with, and who you would like to deal with in the future can dramatically change your business, your profits and your bottom line.

If you’re not currently using a computer to keep track of these and other categories of customers, you should be. This database can be the starting point of unbelievable profits!

Targeting your marketing efforts to the right people can make or break your entire advertising or marketing campaign. And if you’re a small business, you can’t afford to have that happen too many times. It’ll drive you right out of business!

Keeping in touch with your customers…past, current and prospective, is one of the best marketing tools you can employ. It doesn’t have to be “hard-sell.” It can be as simple as any of the following examples:

• Send birthday cards to your clients.
• Send postcards on the anniversary date of their first purchase with you.
• Send a questionnaire asking for their evaluation of the product or service they purchased, or feedback on how it could be made better.
• Send an informational newsletter on a regular basis.
• Involve your customers in a contest or promotion… perhaps a referral generating promotion.
• Sponsor client luncheons with guest speakers that address subjects of interest to your clients. Have them bring a friend.
• Send announcements of “preferred customer” sales or events by special invitation. Include an invitation for someone who is not one of your current customers.

Make your current customers feel special.

Make your past customers feel missed

And make your prospective customers feel wanted.

Use your internal database to keep in touch with these groups of customers. Let them all know how much you care, and how much you appreciate their business, and this will take your business to new levels faster than nearly any other method you can think of.