“Used with integrity, database marketing should be just another way of talking to your customers, without waiting for them to visit.” Katherine Grace, Director, Graceful Solutions Marketing.
community involved in your business. And with many industries (especially trades and B2B), it produces the highest hit rate of any marketing for near-on the lowest cost. This is because people on your databases have agreed to be in regular communication with you. So, as you can imagine, talking directly to 2,000 people who all know and like your business nets a much better result than throwing advertising at 20,000 who don’t know you from Adam. What does having a database (or databases) do for your business? You can control the “tap” while you’re running it – tap on, more clients, tap off, no clients. A potential buyer will see huge value in being able to immediately turn that tap on once they take over. And you will keep your customers and key referrers close and well-informed, leading to more sales more often.
HOW TO BUILD A DATABASE When I start working with a client I aim to get their database up to the magic 500-1,000 needed to make it ‘responsive’ – i.e. when we send an offer out at least one person will take it up. Any customer details you have will give you a head start – I have used old receipts, quotes and even shop layby books to kick things off. Some franchisees, like Jim’s Group, field client calls for you, meaning that they have automatically built you a comprehensive database since the day you started (lucky you). If you don’t have a database to begin with, collecting details at point of sale is the traditional method (a hamper or other competition entry will do, if you can’t have a staff member physically collecting emails).
You can also begin by collecting names at an event or trade show, or by partnering up with another business and running some joint marketing or a host beneficiary. Another clever way of collecting database is to require people to enter their email address to download something of value from your website (such as a ‘top 10 tips’ sheet - one client of mine has collected over 5,000 members from just this strategy). Some franchises have rules around who can use the client database and how, so check with yours before you start. If you can’t stockpile or use customer details for some reason, no matter, I’ll talk about other types of databases below that will be just as helpful. Store your details – at the minimum you need a first name and email address – in any number of ways (data is usually easily transferable anyway) – such as excel, a specialised CRM program or online in your email newsletter system (try programs such as Constant Contact for around $15 per month).
HOW TO CONTACT THEM An email newsletter is an obvious and easy way to stay in touch with your people. A couple of tips however – send out the sort of newsletter that you yourself would be happy to receive (and actually read). This usually means make it short and snappy, offer something of interest for everyday life, not just a sales pitch - but having said that, a special members-only offer never goes astray (and means you can get an actual ROI for your efforts). An occasional heads up about a sale is also fine (a retail client of mine has doubled her sale takings since introducing an email newsletter). Beyond that however, there are many other ways to keep in touch with and be of value to your various databases. Group SMS, letters, phone calls and invitations to participate in competitions, surveys and ‘in person’ events are just some of these. In particular, clients of mine very successfully use the ‘VIP Night’ strategy to net between a week and a month’s worth of sales in just one night.
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