Rules of Thumb for Marketing to Your Past Customers

Keeping in touch can dramatically increase business, when done properly.

It's a fact that your customers are your best leads. This means that the most likely people to purchase your products and/or services are the ones who have paid for them before. It's also a fact that it costs far less money to keep a customer than it does to go out and get a new one. These are the two reasons that using direct mail to keep in touch with your customer database is a must. There are a few principles to follow when marketing to contacts in your company database that can maximize your bottom line.

Rule #1 - Collect all of their information. It sounds like a no-brainer but you would be surprised. The more information that you have on your customers, the more likely it is that you will be able to get in touch with them to let them know about specials or to remind them it's time for their next service. Also, don't neglect to ask for your customers' email addresses, most everyone has one and most will give it up pretty easily.

Rule #2 ? Don't treat your customers like prospects. Make sure when you collect the information in your database you differentiate between people who have placed an order in the past and people who have not. Customers want to feel like you are paying attention to them and when they have placed a few orders with you and are still getting your "10% for First Time Buyers" postcards they tend to feel unappreciated. Bottom line, if they don't qualify for an offer you are sending out, don't send it to them.

Rule #3 ? Don't let your designs get stagnant. When you are mailing to databases of people that you have never spoken to before, it is OK to send them the same postcard multiple times. It helps to increase recognition and will eventually increase your response rate. Dealing with customers and prospects that you have already spoken to (meaning they already know most or all of the details of your business) you need to mix things up a bit. Your mailings should be attention getting and informative. If you have started offering a new service recently, a piece designed to let your database know about it would be a smart move. The main point is to keep your company in the front of their mind and to keep them reading your promotion.

Being great at what you do is not always enough to keep the customers that you have earned. With all of the competition out there today you need to be constantly reminding your customers that you are the best at what you do. Direct mail is the best way to give them that reminder.

Always remember to keep mailings that you send to your database informative, attractive and most of all current. Personalize everything that you can and make sure that what you are sending to a past client actually pertains to them or their company. Anything less and your customer may start to drift, and the only people that are going to be happy when that happens are your competitors.

Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998; her only assets a computer and a phone. In 2004 the company did close to $9 million in sales and employs over 60 persons. She attributes her explosive growth to her ability to choose incredible staff and her innate marketing savvy. Now she's sharing her marketing secrets to others. For more free marketing advice, visit her website at http://www.postcardmania.com

---

Google News Updated : Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:51:33 GMT Dodgers stand up to Phillies in Game 3 win - FOXSports.com Washington Post Dodgers stand up to Phillies in Game 3 win FOXSports.com - 4 hours ago by Ken Rosenthal Ken Rosenthal has been the senior baseball writer for FOXSports.com since Aug. 2005. He appears weekly on the FSN Baseball Report and MLB on FOX. LA revitalized at Moyer's expense MLB.com Kuroda's pitch serves its purpose for Dodgers USA Today New York Times - Los Angeles Times - Boston Globe - Philadelphia Daily News all 2,467 news articles Publ.Date : Mon, 13 Oct 2008 07:00:36 GMT Manatee dies before reaching rehab site - Boston Globe WHDH-TV Manatee dies before reaching rehab site Boston Globe - 4 hours ago By Emily Canal After a 27-hour trip to Florida, Dennis the manatee, rescued from the frigid waters of Cape Cod, died in Orlando yesterday as SeaWorld employees carted the mammal to a rehabilitation center. Video: Rescued Manatee Dies After Mass. Rescue AssociatedPress Manatee rescued off Cape Cod dies en route to Florida Sea World New York Daily News WFLA - eFluxMedia - Cape Cod Times - South Coast Today all 565 news articles Publ.Date : Mon, 13 Oct 2008 07:21:21 GMT 1.5 million G1 Android phones pre-ordered - TG Daily Product Reviews 1.5 million G1 Android phones pre-ordered TG Daily - 6 hours ago By Wolfgang Gruener Chicago (IL) - T-Mobile’s upcoming G1 may not be the best-looking iPhone rival, it may not have the most complete feature set and T-Mobile may have undersold the device at the recent launch event. Get ready for next-gen mobile InfoWorld HTC G1 Android Phone Racks up 1.5 Million Pre-orders eFluxMedia Brighthand - InformationWeek - ReadWriteWeb - ZDNet all 153 news articles Publ.Date : Mon, 13 Oct 2008 05:21:21 GMT UK government takes stake in three banks - CNN International Canada.com UK government takes stake in three banks CNN International - 32 minutes ago LONDON, England (CNN) -- The British government on Monday said it would make a multi-billion investment in three of the country's major banks to help them through the "first financial crisis of the global age. In quotes: Bank bail-out reaction BBC News TEXT-Lloyds TSB terms for acquisition of HBOS Reuters guardian.co.uk - Wall Street Journal - Bloomberg - AFP all 1,923 news articles Publ.Date : Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:18:47 GMT Forecast: Summery Sunshine Sticks Around - Washington Post Chicagoist Forecast: Summery Sunshine Sticks Around Washington Post - 2 hours ago Columbus Day will feel a lot more like Labor Day as temperatures climb to around 80 degrees. This unseasonably warm weather will continue for the next several days. Enjoy a warm, sunny Columbus Day Times Herald-Record Beautiful start to the work week The Star-Ledger - NJ.com The Capital Times - Journal and Courier - Richmond Times Dispatch - The Virginian-Pilot all 241 news articles Publ.Date : Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:03:26 GMT Fantastic finishes: 5 NFL games down to the wire - Washington Post Washington Post Fantastic finishes: 5 NFL games down to the wire Washington Post - 3 hours ago Dallas Cowboys' Mat McBriar (1) has his punt blocked by Arizona Cardinals' Sean Morey as Monty Beisel (52) looks on during overtime of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 12, 2008 in Glendale, Ariz. Blocked punt downs Dallas San Francisco Chronicle Backups Burst Through Line and Lift Cardinals in Overtime New York Times Sports Network - FOXSports.com - Houston Chronicle - Philadelphia Inquirer all 749 news articles Publ.Date : Mon, 13 Oct 2008 08:15:50 GMT European, Asian markets bounce back - The Associated Press Vancouver Sun European, Asian markets bounce back The Associated Press - 1 hour ago LONDON (AP) - European markets opened strongly Monday following Asia's lead in response to the widespread government efforts over the weekend to shore up the world's troubled financial system. The financial crisis A light at the end of the tunnel? Economist World stock markets welcome European bank rescue AFP MSN Money - New York Times - New Straits Times - Voice of America all 769 news articles Publ.Date : Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:23:04 GMT Add RSS Feeds To My Web Pages Increase Search Engine Traffic

PARLOT::Ebooks, Scripts, Websites, and more...

Adsense websites

Has the Internet Killed Off the Direct Mail Baron?

Over the past 30 years, direct mail has been responsible... Read More

To All Internet Marketers - How To Get My Business?

More and more people are realizing that the Internet offers... Read More

Top Five Tips For Designing Marketing Strategies That Get Results

"But this won't work" said Steve. "I've tried it in... Read More

Marketing Copy - Brand Identity Guru

Tips on writing great copy for your marketing efforts.It's just... Read More

10 Important Marketing Tips

Each of the following Ten Marketing Tips is based on... Read More

Dear Friend: Dont Start Your Non-For-Profit Fundraising Letters As A Stranger

Dear Friend:Don't do it.Don't start your fundraising letters with "Dear... Read More

Incentives For Customers? Whats New?

Lost & Found for the 21st CenturyHere in the 21st... Read More

Sales Resistance on the Rise

Have you noticed it? More and more marketing campaigns are... Read More

Read Your Markets Mind - 3 Great Market Research Resources

Starting a new online business, developing a new product, launching... Read More

Business Postcard Marketing: 35 Ways to Use It

Postcards are an effective way for many business owners and... Read More

Networking: The Cost of a Connection

"Networking is a waste of time," said JoAnne, owner of... Read More

How to Market and Protect Your New Ideas

The intellectual property transfer market is now estimated to be... Read More

Niche Marketing: The Affiliate Angle

If you're just dipping your toes into the waters of... Read More

The M-Word (Marketing) Phase 2

Last month we looked at what you need to do... Read More

8 BIG Benefits To Selling Big Ticket Items

Ok, before we get down to the benefits of... Read More

Did Jesus Get Killed for Practicing Interruption Marketing?

I'm reading Seth Godin's Permission Marketing and he brings up... Read More

An Internet Marketing Strategy that Works

You can't put up a beautiful (or any) web site... Read More

Radio Ads That Get Results

Radio advertising can be a small business's best friend. It's... Read More

Marketing to a Critical Mass

In "Developing a Marketing Plan", we covered the first steps... Read More

GoogSpy: Business Counter Intelligence for Everyone

So, you want to know what your competitors are up... Read More

Packaging Trends You Cannot Overlook (Part #2)

Part #26) Food safety is becoming paramount.What this means to... Read More

First Steps to Developing a Marketing Plan

Direct Mail . . . Newspaper . . . Radio... Read More

Mortgage Marketing - Viral-Email, Referral Marketing Strategy

This is a devastatingly powerful way to extend your marketing... Read More

Meaning and Marketing -- The Links

You know who you are and what you want and... Read More

Marketing On The Cheap: Become a Joiner

Recently I wrote an article on the benefits of joining... Read More