So how do smaller businesses use the internet to drive traffic and improve their cash flow?
The initial answer is to create a permission-based contact database linked to your website.
Build a targeted list and you’ll have cash flow on demand.
Of course, you’ll still be optimizing your site for search engines as an integral part of your marketing strategy, but putting your best effort into building your list will grow your business faster and speed up search engine listings.
Remember that once you have a database list, it’s YOURS to use over and over again to generate profitable sales for your business!
And the more you use it, the more it will grow, as long as you MANAGE it correctly.
Use your list to keep in regular contact with subscribers, the same way you would manage relationships in a brick-and-mortar business.
Everyone likes doing business with people they know and trust. Treat them well and they will not only come back again and again, but they will also refer their friends and others.
Put a signup form on your website, collect customer email, run contests to collect email addresses, and ask existing customers and friends for referrals.
You must include your URL and email address on EVERY piece of printed material you produce for your business, including invoices, email signatures, yellow pages ads, business cards, labels, EVERYTHING!
You need to collect the email addresses of EVERY visitor that walks through your door!
You will be surprised how quickly your database will grow.
And the cool thing is, once it grows to a certain point, it self-generates and grows even faster.
Getting it right means building TRUST with your subscribers.
Like friendship, trust grows with the number of successful contacts.
The more a person knows you, the more they will trust you.
Of course, if you let them down, they’re likely gone forever, so you better have a good product and back it up with good service.
A regular newsletter is one of the easiest ways to stay in touch.
Your newsletter doesn’t have to be a long document; It can be as simple as a one page article posted under your banner and regularly sent to your list.
It must contain useful information of interest to your subscribers and must be free of blatant advertising.
If a person has opted into your listing, they’ll know what your business is all about, so you don’t need to be in their face constantly selling.
Keep your newsletter ad-driven, but full of useful and interesting information, then when the customer is ready to buy, they will come to you.
It’s human nature, we all want to deal with a person we know and trust.
And the beauty is that they come back again and again, but you have to keep in regular contact with them or they just slip away and forget about you.
Another payoff is that as your listing grows, traffic to your website grows, and all of a sudden, search engine spiders start listing your site. It’s like magic, traffic generates traffic!
Also, once you’ve built trust by regularly communicating valuable information to your subscribers, they’ll be looking forward to hearing from you.
And they’ll forgive you for sending them blatant advertising from time to time, in fact, they’ll expect it.
You’ll be able to promote special offers through promotional emails and postcard announcements, inform them of new vintages, and offer them pre-launch deals, making them feel special and valued by your clientele.
Every time you send an email, you’ll get a return in the form of increased sales, but don’t overdo it.
Depending on what business you’re in and how effective you are at targeting, a subscriber could be worth anywhere from a few cents to several dollars each time you send an email.
Here’s how to calculate the value of subscribers on your list, but first you’ll need to establish your list and have completed at least two or three successful campaigns.
Divide the number of subscribers to your list by the average dollar sales received in response to your email.
Let’s say you’ve built your list for 2,500 subscriptions and calculated your subscriber value to be $0.75 (subscribers/divided by the average dollar amount of business received from previous mailings).
So, the end of the month is nearing, and your sales are not up to par. Okay, send an email with a special offer. Voila, you just generated an additional $1875.00 in sales! (That’s 2500 subscribers x $0.75)
Every marketing person will tell you that sales is a numbers game.
If you get your bid right and target it right, you’ll get consistent results every time.
Here’s another example: if your average conversion is only 1% of your subscribers and your average sale is $220.00, then you’ll convert 1% of your list and receive 25 orders x $220.00 = $5500.00, for an average return per subscriber of $2.20 .
Christmas is 10 days away and you need to clear out some stock:
Send out an additional special offer and tell your customers you need to clear out stock within nine days or you’re in big trouble (or whatever).
You’ve been honest and given them a reason for your special offer.
They know you mean what you’re saying and they can trust you to give them an honest deal!
Bingo, orders start to arrive and you liquidate the stock!
The examples above show what you can do when you have an opt-in database of customers and prospects that you’ve built on TRUST, who know your business and willingly open your emails.
And how much did it cost you? Did you have to run expensive newspaper ads (which, by the way, now show diminishing returns on your investment due to the high cost), or print thousands of flyers, or hire staff to go out and do business?
No, none of the above. Sending the promotion to your list costs next to nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing, just half an hour to an hour of your time.
Imagine the cash flow you could generate if your database grew to 10,000 or 50,000 subscribers.
It doesn’t matter what you’re selling, whether it’s hotel rooms, cases of wine, restaurant meals, toys, services, or seminars; It doesn’t matter, if you steer carefully and have built a trusting relationship with your list. you will get consistent results.