Why Consistent Contact Is Critical to Effective Small Business Marketing

A few months ago I started working with a client to move their email list and automate creation and distribution of their monthly email newsletter. Now, moving a list is a HUGE pain in the butt. It requires a good bit of coordination and multiple steps to make sure all the folks who currently get your emails keep doing so.

Even if you do everything perfectly–and give folks a juicy reason to take action and re-subscribe on your new list–you’re probably going to lose about 50% of them for a variety of reasons.

Imagine my surprise when less than 20% of my client’s list made the move!

At first, I couldn’t figure out what had gone wrong. Then I made an interesting discovery…Because they hated their current Website and were waiting for a new one to launch, they had quit sending out emails for almost 6 months!

Without a doubt this was the kiss of death!!

Think about it…

They hadn’t communicated with anyone on their list in 6 months unless those folks happened to come into their office. So, when we started sending emails about the list moving, chances are good many of their subscribers probably didn’t recognize who they were from. And even if they did, they probably didn’t remember why they wanted his emails in the first place.

Given how full everyone’s Inbox is these days, they had no reason to even open the emails we were sending…Let alone take the time to sign up for more.

Had he kept sending emails on a regular basis this wouldn’t have happened.

A few months later I saw the same problem, only this time it was with direct mail.

Because my client had recently started offering a terrific new service, we sent out a series of letters about it to all of his active patients. Even though our timing wasn’t the best since our mailings went out right as the economic slowdown was hitting the news, we got a solid 2% response.

A couple months later we sent the same letters with the addition of a postcard to all of the patients he hadn’t seen in one to two years.

I’m still waiting to hear the final results of the promotion, but last I checked the numbers were much lower. Even more telling, at least 10% of the people we mailed called and asked to be removed from his mailing list!

Same basic promotion, one big difference…The second group hadn’t heard a single thing from my client in at least a year. And they weren’t interested in hearing from him now.

Had he been doing regular mailings this would not have been the case. I can say this with confidence because the first group’s reaction (people who had regular contact with my client) was so different.

This won’t happen again because we’ve now started both monthly print and email newsletters to all his patients. But there’s no doubt he lost a lot of potential business by not staying in touch.

What can you do to stay in touch with your clients and customers without breaking the bank?

1) Start an email newsletter with helpful tips and ideas, and commit to sending it regularly. Monthly is the minimum, bi-weekly is better, and weekly is best.

2) Send unexpected greeting cards. Sure the obligatory holiday card is a good thing. But those only go out once a year. Try sending cards on smaller holidays like 4th of July, Valentines Day, Thanksgiving, etc. Or just send one for fun.

3) Pick up the phone. I try to make a point of touching base with my clients by phone at least a couple times a year. Just call them up and ask how they are. No sales pitch. They’ll be blown away!

4) Give ‘em a gift. I love sending books. But if that’s too expensive, you can always create a free report, checklist, video or worksheet and offer it for download via your Website.

5) Send a print newsletter. Sure, the cost of snail mail keeps going up. But this means less junk is hitting our…Making it the perfect time to send print materials!

Whatever you choose to do, make sure you keep doing it! So don’t bite off more than you can chew. And if you need to, outsource it so it gets done.

Remember, if you don’t stay in touch with your clients and prospects on a regular basis they’re going to forget who you are and what makes your products and services so wonderful. Then you’re guaranteed to lose clients…And money!

Thoughts, ideas or suggestions on this topic? Please do share by leaving a comment below!

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