Businesses with databases are the best businesses
Ok that’s a generalisation but it’s true that businesses that have active databases are pretty fantastic businesses to own. They give the option to market to those databases to increase revenues.
But interestingly a lot of businesses don’t do database marketing very well.
Some don’t build a database
Think for a moment about the type of business that wouldn’t benefit from building and maintaining a database of prospects and past clients. There might be a few business types that wouldn’t, but I can’t think of any off the top of my head.
And yet whilst the vast majority of businesses would benefit from creating a database and marketing to it many businesses make no effort to collect their prospects or client’s details.
Some don’t market to their database
Think about the amount you invest in attracting new customers to your business. If you’re not capturing their details in some way to market to them again in the future you must have rocks in your head!
It’s generally thought that it’s easier to get past customers to come back and purchase from you again than it is to try to convince new prospects to purchase from you for the first time. With that in mind you would expect every business to be marketing to past customers and yet so many focus almost all of their energies trying to get new customers through the door.
But I don’t know what to say
I’ve met plenty of business owners who like the idea, start capturing their customer’s details and then fail to market to them because they don’t know how to. Or they go about it the wrong way and end up becoming a nuisance.
Once you build a database you need to market to that database. You need to do it frequently but don’t overdo it. They don’t need to hear from you every day. But they do need to hear from you fairly regularly.
But what are you going to say to them you ask?
Well, if you have a special promotion coming up let your loyal past customers know about it in advance. Getting a new product line in, or a new model? Tell them about that and invite them to come in or contact you for more information.
Do you offer a product or service that people don’t use to its full potential? Write an article about it or better yet, shoot a quick video about all the features and benefits it offers and send that out to your database.
If you’ve captured enough details you might know when their birthday is. Send them birthday wishes. You could even make them a special birthday offer.
And if all else fails just ask them to come back. Tell them that it’s been a while, that you’re still there and that you would love to see them again.
Businesses with up to date databases are the best businesses in my opinion. Particularly if that database is being worked effectively. If you don’t know how to go about it or where to start, contact us and we’ll point you in the right direction.
