Building Your Client Database

Earlier this week, we reviewed the benefits of investing in an e-mail system. But what good is an e-mail system if you don't build your client list?

Building a strong client list requires creativity, patience and perspective.

Bigger is not better.
Client databases are most effective when people voluntarily sign-up for the information and if they are targeted. For instance, if you own a restaurant you would want to send marketing directors information about your catering specials and your beer aficionados information about special tastings or new arrivals.

Publicize.
Don't be bashful. Invite your friends, and tell people about your e-newsletter. As a business owner, you are constantly being handed business cards. Send each new person an opt-in e-mail with an introductory message to join your e-newsletter. Chances are your new contact is also interested in building a work relationship and wants to keep in touch with your company.

Be Creative.
Aside from publicizing your e-newsletter and including a sign-up option on your Web site, be creative in gathering e-mails. Collect names and e-mails for a chance at a raffle prize or gift certificate. Offer a one-time 10% discount for contact information. Include sign-in sheets at all business events. In your newsletter, encourage clients to forward the information to a friend and include a "how to join" our newsletter option. Invite your Facebook friends.

Be Patient.
In the digital age, spam and overloaded e-mail boxes are increasingly common. Dedicated clients will find and follow you. So, offer a variety of ways to stay in touch - your Web site, a Facebook page, an e-newsletter.

Provide Value.
Last, and perhaps most important, create an attractive newsletter that is easy to read, is not too long and provides content relevant to your clients. Also, be timely and diversify content. If we go back to our beer aficionados, then you can link them to a feature article in a publication about a brewer, talk about what is special about Belgian beer and spotlight one of your products.

Now, start building!

Opt For An E-mail Marketing System

Promotion via e-mail is the status quo for most organizations. However, effective e-marketing is not always the norm.

The first step is to find an e-mail marketing service that suits the size and needs of your business. Examples of e-mail systems include Constant Contact, Marketvolt or IContact. The benefits vary but can include:
- tracking actions of database group
- storing and managing e-mails
- easy Web sign-up
- maintaining integrity of database
- targeting clients
- making one e-mail for html and text versions

Translation. Different e-mail readers, such as Yahoo!, Outlook, Thunderbird or Gmail, allow various degrees of html-formatted or text e-mails. This is a bit of a hassle. If you are sending messages with images and graphics from your Outlook, the e-mail may or may not open in certain e-mail readers. Or, others have restrictions on attachments.

So, you, the sender, either need to keep a list of each users preferred format, maintain two databases and send two e-mails... unless you are benefitting from an e-mail service that automatically determines the end-users e-mail reader needs. And since first impressions are key, an e-mail system will usually provide text versions of an e-mail with a link to the html-formatted newsletter or coupon that you've created.

Relevance is key. An e-mail service allows you to see what e-mails are bouncing so that you can maintain the integrity of your database list. Further, it also tracks who is opening your e-mail and what links are of most interest to your readers. This allows you to better cater your information or promotion in the future or to target customers with particular interests.

Database integrity. Nobody wants spam. Thankfully, most e-mail services take the legal hassels off your agenda and automotically create links that allow people to opt-out of their subscription.

Each e-mail service has its own functionalities and costs and should be carefully assessed based on a company's needs.

Check back for tips on how to build and maintain your database of contacts.

Using Facebook As Your Newsroom

Your company is now streaming on multiple social media applications, and you don't know how to effectively integrate the myriad of platforms to work to your business' best advantage. One option is to turn your Facebook page into a newsroom.

In his article "How To: Make Facebook Your Company Newsroom," Mashable.com contributor Josh Peters provides a step-by-step approach for integrating multiple social networking applications into your Facebook fan page. This integrated approach strengthens the power and appeal of a fan page since it is more effective method to finding a number of items related to your business. Here are the highlights:

1. Integrate your Web site blog, Twitter account or other RSS feeds so that Facebook fans can quickly access this information from one portal.

2. Connect to news stories about your company by bookmarking them on Delicious and integrating a Delicious box onto your Facebook Fan page. Again the motivation is to aggregate the information for clients or customers of your business. Make it simple for people to learn about you and what you do.

3. Import access to your FlickR and YouTube accounts.

4. Reset your Facebook URL to include your company name. For instance, facebook.com/marketicity - check it out and become our fan!

If you are interested in transforming your Facebook fan page into your company newsroom, call Marketicity 314.266.4450 or 618.281.6648 and propel your business forward.