Have you visited a website that offered some form of education, promotional discounts, raffle prizes, or access to other valuable materials, and all you needed to do was fill in your name, phone, and Email address? These organizations are using one of the oldest tools of the Internet era—cost-effectively building their own customer and prospect database.
The customer/prospect database is crucial to many business owners’ marketing and sales success. It grows over time and can help identify (without a great deal of effort) those interested in your products or services. The formalized versions of database software, like Constant Contact, Levitate, and Salesforce, use this name and Email information to conduct their automated Email blasts.
What Are You Offering Your Potential Customer?
Let’s assume you have a sturdy list of past customers who purchase your services on a regular basis. You’ve been relying on word-of-mouth referrals to grow and build your revenues. This can apply to many types of businesses, but let’s consider the following common example: You run ABC Auto Repair, local automobile services shop, and have been in business for a couple of years. You have your first customers who have come back repeatedly for oil changes, tire rotations, and those necessary periodic service visits.
You decide to promote your shop’s capabilities through social media like Facebook and Instagram. Instead of a blurb about the shop itself, why not give the viewer a reason to visit your website and learn much more about ABC Auto Repair? The social media blurb can promote a 20% discount coupon for a future oil change (which is the gateway for customers to use your shop for other future needs). To obtain that coupon, ask your web designer to utilize the software’s (e.g., Wix or WordPress) basic functions to collect the name and Email information.
Alternatively, how about offering your customer a 1,000-word whitepaper on “The Key Features to Look for When Buying a Used Vehicle.” That’s something that is of direct, immediate benefit—viewers who are interested are actively making such a decision, and if they do, they may ask for your services to complete a used-vehicle inspection (and if not, the purchased vehicle could need brake, muffler, or transmission services in the near future).
At Revisions, we help business owners provide this type of information, in blogs, white papers, or directly on web pages, all the time. We develop this educational copy with the overriding idea of enhancing our customers’ client base and growing their revenue.
My final advice: Do what you can to build a database of people who come to you for helpful information. Don’t be shy about asking them to provide their name and Email address to access this valuable content. This may cause some to leave your site or just the webpage, but it will leave you with an important list of future customers for your marketing strategy.
Contact me at Revisions Communications & Editorial Services to learn more about this easy-to-implement program.
Writing and Editing for Small Businesses 
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