Free List Building Tips - Offline to Online List Building

Learn From Large Corporations

Get free list building tips by studying what large corporations are doing. If you have any kind of customer records, you may have a list. Hotels, airlines, florists, doctors, and many other businesses build lists as a natural part of their businesses; however, not all of them can market to their lists.

It would be difficult for a heart surgeon to market to his patients, and it can be embarrassing for a motel to market to its previous customers, but every business should benefit if they use their lists effectively as a means of promotion. Sending a thank you note or a holiday card can enhance your relationship with your customers without hard selling.

Most businesses, however, can reap the benefits of having a customer database by marketing to them directly. Repeat and loyal customers can increase your profits dramatically. Even veterinarians send mail reminders to their patients, who often don't even bother to sniff their mail, but who show up for their appointments like clockwork.

Building a list of prospects and customers is essential in the online world. The ephemeral nature of online traffic requires you to lasso the wild mustangs that happen to pass your website with their five-second attention span for each web page they see that day.

If you are an offline business and already have a customer database, you must be careful in the way you start marketing to them online. Even if you already have their email addresses, you should only market to them if they are expecting additional information from you; otherwise, you may be accused of spam.

One option is to use direct marketing to bring them to the website and have them opt-in to your online list. Large corporations, such as Hershey's, use their products to carry a message to bring their customers online. Wal-Mart and Home Depot use their receipts to carry a similar message. Once a customer arrives at the company's website, whether to see if their code won a prize or to get discount coupons, they have to enter their name and email address to obtain the information... and the list is built.

You can find additional information on this subject, as well as discussions and videos on a broad range of online marketing topics at http://www.eGrow-Your-Business.com.

Juan Carcache got his start in direct sales in the mid 70's and soon thereafter began to create his own products and to promote them through magazine advertising and direct mail. He has been a professional consultant since 1986 and has conducted training seminars in the United States, Germany, and Mexico. His website provides in depth information and recommends resources to help small businesses develop their online presence. Please visit http://www.eGrow-Your-Business.com.