One of the foundations of any successful marketing program is repeated and systematic contact of the prospect. One initial encounter is rarely sufficient to brand your company in the mind of the customer.
We all are bombarded with literally thousands of marketing messages every day no matter what we do or where we go. Radio, television, the Internet, newspapers, magazines, billboards, and other venues attempt to grab our attention long enough to flash a message to our brains that the advertiser hopes will "stick" sooner or later.
Most of us learn to subconsciously "tune out" or tone down this constant barrage of advertising. That means there are natural challenges awaiting every business that tries to communicate with their prospects.
One of the best ways a business can stay in front of the customer is to offer him a welcomed and anticipated message. When the customer actually desires to hear from your business, he will be tuned in to your message and you will have his attention. A business can't hope for anything more.
So, how do you get a customer to welcome and anxiously anticipate hearing from you? One of the best and time-proven strategies is to offer him a series of "how to" educational or information products that detail something the customer wants to accomplish.
"How to" information is very popular on the Internet. People everywhere go online to learn how to do things, find things, compare things, review things, and discuss things. They go online for information in particular niches that interest them.
Here's the practical application of this information exchange with your customer. Set up a series of sequential email autoresponder messages that are sent to your customer. Each message will serve three purposes:
1. The message will keep your business in front of the customer. Each time an email is delivered, you will have the benefit of that contact. He will see your name, address, slogan, and information.
2. The message will "educate" or provide valuable information to the customer. He will learn how to do something and will recognize that your business was responsible for helping him. As a result, his loyalty toward and appreciation of your business will increase.
3. The message will be your business opportunity to recommend or suggest products or services that will come in handy when the customer attempts to do whatever it is that he's learning.
The "how to" information in your emails can be designed as an e-course that your business sponsors in an effort to help your customers overcome a particular problem they are having. Here's a simple example:
Let's say your business provides a service that alerts investors to great investing opportunities in local real estate.
You "how to" e-course is entitled: "Huge profits in overlooked local properties." You have developed a series of articles on this subject which deal with finding great investment opportunities in undeveloped land, apartment buildings, single family homes, duplexes, commercial properties, foreclosures, condos, timeshares, etc.
One by one, you set these articles up as email messages in your autoresponder to be delivered one message every Tuesday morning at 8:00 am for the next 12 weeks.
Each message gives the targeted customer some valuable investing information that he is looking forward to receiving. Each message will brand your company as an expert in the field and one that can be trusted to give the customer wise advice and profitable instruction. You are teaching your contact how to find investment profits that will give him huge returns.
In each one of your messages, you can suggest that the customer subscribe to your investor alert service that automatically finds great properties in his area and contacts him with all the details as soon as a new property comes on the market. He will be the first to know about any new investing opportunities.
Do you understand how combining recurring "how to" information with a companies product can be a powerful marketing tool? It's not a hard sell approach. You are making repeated reminders (each week for 12 straight weeks) that you have a solution to the customer's problem of locating the newest profitable opportunities for investing.
This strategy can be adapted to any business and any product. It is easy to set up and hands off to implement each week. Yet the benefit of having weekly contact with the customer and a built in sales message is a great advantage to your business.
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