As we discussed last week, there is a lot of value to creating a bespoke communication channel for your brand. It is a process to set up your own channel but once in place, it becomes far easier to maintain.
The first thing you need to consider is the best way to connect with your audiences. How would your prospects and customers like to hear from you? Would they like to receive emails, SMSes, or communicate via a chat service such as WhatsApp or Telegram? Assumption here is ill-advised, we tend to choose the one we Iike or are most comfortable with. The best plan is to ask. If you get a positive response to a number of them, you can choose a system that allows for multiple delivery options. For example, Zoho campaigns allow you to email and SMS.
Once you know which delivery options you are going to use, you can start creating your database. If you have a book full of email addresses or an inbox of past interactions with customers, start by creating a spreadsheet with the information in. This will be the foundation of your database and can be uploaded into whichever system you choose to use.
From here, you need to look at ways to continually grow your database. This can be through in-store posters, as well as sign-up options on any/or all of these:
- a pop-up on the website,
- a tick box on your enquiry form,
- posts on your social media feeds,
- an invitation in your email signature,
- an invitation into marketing material such as brochures and product tags.
You can also incentivise them with items such as information packs, previews or a sign-up voucher.
It is really exciting to see a steady growth in the number of people you can reach directly. But don’t get carried away, creating the database needs to be respectively done and should only include people who are interested in what you have to say and have chosen to hear from you. Don’t add anyone you haven’t asked first and make sure you include a mechanism that allows them to unsubscribe at any time.
We recommend you adopt a Double opt-in, where the contact chooses to sign up and the first mailer sent out (usually automatically) confirms their intention to sign up and includes a prominent unsubscribe button.
Should you be starting the database consider drafting an invitation for them to join the database with a “Subscribe” button rather than your choosing to add them rather than forcing them to unsubscribe. You are aiming to build the relationship, not irritate them.
The question we are often asked at this point is “but what am I going to say to this database?” and that’s what we will unpack in the weeks ahead!