Read time: 4 mins
In this week’s issue, I want to talk about the number one asset every local small business should have and how you can help them attain it as a Local Small Business Consultant or Digital Marketing Agency Owner…
The number one asset I’m referring to is…
A customer list!
This may seem pretty obvious to you…
But you’d be shocked at how many local small businesses don’t have one.
So with that in mind…
Let’s dive in!
What Is A Customer List?
Before we go any further…
Let’s quickly review exactly what I mean by a “customer list”…
A customer list is primarily comprised of actual customers to have purchased a product or service from a local small business.
However, this customer list may also include *prospective* customers…
Meaning, they are essentially leads and have not actually purchased a product or service yet.
The key word being “yet.”
A customer list should be treated like gold.
Why Local Small Businesses Need A Customer List
Having a customer list allows a local small business to predictably make sales.
Any local small business in this day and age that does not have a customer list is in big, big trouble!
Because without a customer list, they pray that they will get new customers through their doors…
EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
Which means they are starting from scratch (zero, zilch, nada) every single month.
And that leads to unpredictable results (revenues) which will typically lead to failure.
But if a local small business has a customer list they can tap into…
They instantly increase their chances at making more sales and ultimately generating more revenues.
Why?
Because they can contact previous, current, and potential customers through various means to drive in sales.
What A Local Small Business Customer List Is Comprised Of
So what exactly should a customer list look like?
At a minimum it should contain either an email address or phone number.
That way the local small business can either use the email addresses to send out email marketing campaigns…
Or they can use the phone numbers to send out text message marketing campaigns.
However, it would be nice if the customer list also contained the following information:
- Name
- Address
- City
- State
- Zip Code
- Date of Last Purchase
- Date of Last Correspondence
And any other pertinent information pertaining to the specific local small business.
But again, a customer list can be highly effective with either email addresses or phone numbers without any other information.
Of course, the more information the merrier.
Meaning, the customer list becomes more and more valuable for each extra piece of information it contains…
As the additional information can be useful for marketing purposes.
How Local Small Businesses Can Acquire a Customer List
At this point I think you probably understand what a customer list is, why it’s important, and what it’s comprised of…
But you may not know how local small businesses can acquire a customer list…
So here are a few ways this can be accomplished…
- The business can build one from the customers it gets
- The business can build one from running online ads
- The business can purchase one from a trusted source
A local small business can implore one or all three of the ways listed above.
I personally believe that local small businesses should use #1 and #2 as outlined above.
The third way can be a bit risky for a few reasons depending on how a local small business decides to utilize the purchased list…
The primary reason being that if a local small business wants to use a purchased list for email marketing…
There are a lot of pitfalls that will prevent them from easily contacting the prospective customers.
However, if a local small business wants to primarily use a purchased list for direct mailing prospective customers using their mailing addresses…
Then it will have a much higher chance of being successful.
If a local small business wants to use a purchased list for tele-marketing or SMS text message marketing…
They must make sure the list is made up of folks who have opted in to receive tele-marketing phone calls or SMS text messages.
The other downside to purchasing a customer list is that they might not be interested at all in a local small business’ products or services.
So it’s always in the best interest of a local small business to build their customer list rather than purchase one.
How You Can Help Local Small Businesses Build Their Customer Lists
The best way you can help local small businesses build their customer lists is by creating digital assets whose sole purpose is to capture data.
The digital assets I speak of can be any or all of the following:
- A Website Chatbot
- A Optin/Landing Page
- A Pop-Up Offering A Discount Coupon Code
- A 2-Step Order Form
- A Lead Form Ad (Facebook & Instagram)
There should be several ways for past, current, and prospective customers to get their information on a local small business’ customer list.
First things first…
If you already have clients already, double check and make sure they have a customer list.
If they don’t, you know what to do.
If they do, see what you can do to help them build their customer list.
Good luck!
See you next Monday.
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