Building a Permission Asset

If you’re any good, your business probably has a lot of fans. These are the people that buy from you all the time and tell their friends how good you are. These are the people that you need to get permission to communicate with directly. And if you provide them with enough value, they’ll gladly give you their contact information. That’s permission based marketing.

There are a number of different ways to get permission from your best customers online. If you have a blog, let your readers subscribe to it via email or RSS feed. That way they know when you’ve made a new post. Start a preferred customer club to send your best customers special offers and discounts via email or direct mail. Build a subscriber base on YouTube. Start a Facebook group. Any permission asset you can build will help you effectively communicate with the people that buy what you sell.

That’s a huge deal.

Secrets to Building Your Customer List and Email Marketing

You can’t just slap a sign up form onto your website and expect great results.

People are getting bombarded with so many emails from their friends, family, and co-workers that they simply don’t want to see newsletters or marketing propaganda popping up in their inbox. Most people seem to be scared to give out their contact information for fear that they will never be able to escape the endless flood of email you might send them.

The thing is that most email marketing is all about you, the business. You want your customers email address so you can sell them more stuff. This just doesn’t fly with most people anymore. Sure you’ll have loyal fans that will want to receive everything you ever produce because they’re scared they might miss something, but that won’t be the norm.

To quote sales guru Jeffrey Gitomer, “People don’t want to be sold, but they love to buy”.

Use this to your advantage when you approach building your customer list and email marketing. The problem isn’t that people don’t want to buy what you sell, it’s that they don’t want to be sold what you sell.

The trick is all in the offer. Don’t make your email marketing and list building campaigns about you, make it about your customer.

So instead of getting people to sign up to receive your free email newsletter that will be filled with information about how they can buy what you sell, make them a better offer.

Make the offer about them.

When a customer buys something from you, tell them they’ve been chosen to receive $20 off their next purchase. Then provide them with a business card that includes the instructions they need to follow to receive their $20 gift by email. By signing up, make them aware that they’ll also receive more special offers by email up to six times per year.

That might get someone excited enough to fork over their contact information. It also shows that you are willing to treat your customers well in order to earn their business.

You are no longer a spammer. You’re the enabler that allows people to get a special deal on their favourite things.

Integrating Customer Sign Up Forms Into Your Small Business Website

Wouldn't you like to know who visits your website and if they are actually interested in buying something from you or receiving more information? By integrating online customer sign up forms into your website, you can do just that.

Customer sign up forms on your website allow your visitors to raise their hands and tell you they are interested in what you have to offer. The information that you can capture with online sign up forms will allow you to conduct targeted follow up marketing that will turn your visitors into sales.

Examples of websites using our online sign up forms are: http://www.restaurantmarketing.ca/, http://www.saskhomebuyer.com/, and http://www.thediplomatsteakhouse.com/.