Two of the biggest components of effective marketing are reach and frequency. Reach refers to the number of people you “touch” with your message; while frequency refers to the number of times each person is reached on average. Frequency is a way to build trust and drive your particular message home.
In the marketing world, it is often said that you need to “touch” a prospect 7 to 11 times before they buy. Online, someone needs to hear your message at least that frequently—if not more–before they will be ready to spend money with you.
We know that social media is great for building relationships, but what about outside of that? Just as there is more to the Internet than social media sites, there are many other ways to grow and strengthen relationships with potential prospects online. Here are three of the most effective ways to do that:
1) Build a list of email subscribers.
It is important to build a list of targeted subscribers to market your products or services to. You want a list that’s responsive and your job is to keep in touch with them regularly so that you remain top of mind for them. Most people won’t be ready to buy after only interacting with you a couple of times on a social site or visiting your website once or twice. It’s the building of trust and the relationship that makes it more likely they will make a purchase down the line. Having permission to contact them on a regular basis means your emails do the heavy lifting.
2) Maintain a blog and build a list of blog subscribers.
What makes a blog a blog and not a website is the fact that it’s updated frequently. When people visit your blog and see that it has consistent, fresh content, it’s likely they will keep coming back for more. The goal here is for those visitors to become subscribers of your blog via RSS feed or email. This allows them to be notified as soon as your blog has a new post published, either in their email inbox or their favorite feed reader.
3) Send a regular email newsletter.
Once you’ve begun building a list of email subscribers, your job is to provide value to them on a regular basis. It’s not enough to send emails that only promote your offerings or ask for the sale. The members of your list have given you the privilege of contacting them because they have decided they want to hear what it is you have to say. An email newsletter is the perfect way to give them valuable content while staying on their radar screens. A newsletter does not need to be in HTML or be especially long. A few tips, a top ten list or some recommended resources are fine. The key is for your list to see your information as useful, and to keep you and your business in front of them.
Once you’ve attracted people into your community and begun furthering that relationship, be sure to take good care of them. It can pay off handsomely in the end.
Simple and to the point. Easy enough for someone who doesn’t fully embrace social media.
Golda Smith