Staying Connected With Your Customers – with a graphic designer
Maintaining a strong relationship with your customers is the foundation in ensuring repeat business, gaining referrals, and of course- maintaining an actual relationship with your clients not based on a monetary transaction.
How many cards have you recently received in the mail from suppliers, service providers and companies you have done business with wishing you a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays or Seasons Greeting?
Christmas cards are an effective way to spread the holiday cheer, reconnect and send a polite reminder that “hey, we’re still here if you want to do more business.” But why wait for Christmas to send out little reminders, quick hellos and other communications to your clients, business associates and suppliers?
There are so many ways you stay connected to your customer base and maintain a budget at the same time. Staying connected with current, past and potential customers is so beneficial to a business, and not particularly hard or time consuming to do.
As with all marketing efforts, start with a plan.
First; what is it that you want to accomplish?
Are you looking for referrals?
Are you prospecting for new projects?
Are you promoting a new service or product?
Are you changing location, or have important business news?
Are you simply reaching out to reconnect?
Second; who are you trying to reach, and what is the best way to reach them?
Are you looking for a sales rep, administrator or president/owner?
Is your contact stationary at an office, or do they travel frequently?
Is your contact up-to-date with social media, or is a conventional phone call more effective?
Third; what is the response you are aiming to receive?
Are you looking to be contacted in return by the recipient?
Do you want your information to be passed on to others? (forwarding,social media, etc.)
Are you expecting no response, but aiming to regain a presence with the company?
Do you want your contact to sign up for a webinar/seminar/event you are advertising?
Keeping these types of questions in mind and strategizing a plan will help you not only to save time, money and energy, but will produce a way to track your results based on your set goals.
Methods of contacting your customers:
Of course the seasonal cards are an acceptable method, but what about the other 11 months of the year? Here are some great ways to stay in contact with your clients throughout the year:
- Newsletters & Email Campaigns
Sending out e-newsletters and email campaigns are a cost effective way to keep your contacts informed about what is going on with your company, new and exciting projects, interesting facts and some stuff just for fun. As a bonus, if your contact believes a contact of theirs could benefit from your information it’s as easy as a click of a button to pass it along. - Social networking and marketing
Connect with your customers! Social media is an amazing tool to help companies step outside the box and connect, share and communicate with customers on a more personal level. Just remember, although social media is less formal in nature, remain professional in your communication. Slang and spelling mistakes should be avoided! - Direct contact- lunches, business networking events
Are you aware of a lunchtime seminar for business that a customer of yours could benefit from? Send them the information! Invite them to go with you, or pass along the seminar invitation with a note on why you thought they could enjoy or benefit from it. Even if they say no, you’ve proven yourself to be thoughtful, resourceful and looking out for your customers- which will be remembered the next time they are looking to do business. - Direct mail efforts
Promote a new product/service, exciting news or anything else of interest to your customers through a direct mail piece. It is another non-invasive way to get your message out, and remind your customers of services they may not have known you offer.
Other effective methods to keep contact include evaluations, thank you notes and offering premiums and incentives.
Remember, no one has ever been faulted for having excellent customer service, and in this day and age, you will be remembered for it!
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