Everyone knows that you have to keep in contact with your customers and prospects. You want to be seen as the “expert” and be “top of mind” when they need your product or service. But how do you do that without becoming irritating to them? By providing information they can use!
Information can be provided in many forms and on many different time schedules – what’s important is to find the right combination that works for you and your customers.
KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER:
Whatever form of contact you choose to use it must:
- Be of Interest to the Recipient (or it’s just SPAM)
- Be Timely
- Be Useful
- Include a little information about you and your company (see Reminder below)
- NOT be a sales promotion
Examples of ways you can connect with your customers through information:
1) Forward your customers & prospects an article from a reputable source that would be useful for their business (not a sales pitch about yours)
- Time Commitment: Small (find article & send)
- Frequency: once a month to once a quarter
2) Send them quick, useful tips that they can apply (you can write them from your experience or get them from another source)
- Your Time Commitment: Small (find & send)
- Frequency: weekly to monthly
- Examples (from Heard Management’s weekly Quick & Smart e-mail):
Procedures to Prevent Problems #81: Apples & Oranges
% tells more than $ when you’re managing your business
Procedures to Prevent Problems #90:
What are you selling?
This is not the same as “What are your products and services?”
People buy solutions to their problems and
satisfaction of their needs.
3) Write a newsletter that provides relevant information, events, and contacts for your audience
- Your Time Commitment: Medium (choose, research, and write on topic(s))
- Frequency: monthly to quarterly
- Example: our monthly Strategic Marketing Tips newsletter
4) Hold a seminar on a topic of interest to your prospects &/or customers with representatives from outside organizations as well as your own company (remember: this is not a sales pitch – this is a reputation builder through the use of experts and information!)
- Your Time Commitment: Large (choose topic; find experts, facilities, etc.; market seminar)
- Frequency: quarterly to annually
5) Write a whitepaper, get it published in a reputable industry resource, and send it to your prospects and customers.
- Your Time Commitment: Large
- Frequency: yearly or longer depending on your business
REMINDER: make sure your contact information, company name, and a brief description of what your company does is on every communication! Your brief description can range from a descriptive company tagline to a couple of sentences.
Other suggestions? If so, please comment below and I will include them in a future newsletter issue.
See value in ongoing communications with your prospects and clients but writing is not your forte’? B2B Marketing Consultants can help you find your “reputation building information” and do the writing for you. Please Contact Us today!
