Drip Marketing

Drip Marketing: Maximize Your Customer Database

Marketing gurus call it Top of Mind awareness. Whatever the name, most would agree that having you or your firm come to mind when a potential client thinks of services within your niche is a very good thing.

So, if the benefit is a given, the question is then simply; How best to accomplish?

If your firm name is General Motors or General Electric, then congratulations for; a) you already have a huge leg up, and b) your advertising budget provides avenues that are simply not available to those of us not quite in that category.

The rest of us need to be a little more creative in our marketing approach and expenditure of what most likely are very scarce marketing dollars. Drip marketing can be a component and perhaps even cornerstone of the more creative approach. An important tool in any firm's bag of tricks, Drip Marketing is an essential tool for medium and small businesses. Just like the irrigation scheme from which the name was derived, drip marketing takes a bit of thought and work to set up; however once established it can run on auto-pilot servicing large numbers of clients very effectively.

What is Drip Marketing?

Drip Marketing involves contacting your clients or prospects on a regular basis, providing them with a steady stream of information over a period of time. Effective Drip Marketing uses various media including print, email, phone, and face-to-face if applicable.

What kind of information gets dripped?

Two sources of relevant information immediately come to mind:

Information about products or services your customer already has
General information on topics of interest in your area of expertise

If you are an Insurance Agent and/or Financial Planner, the latter category may be most relevant. Information and expertise regarding potential solutions to the issues your clients face are the foundation of your success. A steady drip of valued information can help you establish your firm and yourself as a valued information source, positioning you as the logical first choice as needs arise. Furthermore, the information provided might bring to light a need your client either is not aware of or simply has not had time to address. As an added benefit, listing all of the information provided in an easily accessed format such as a page on your website, possibly obtains for you not only Top of Mind awareness, but also Top of the Favorites list positioning as well. With that kind of awareness, who's your customer going to call?

Prospective customers provide a slightly different challenge, although the premise is the same. Most sales experts agree that the average quantity of contacts needed to establish a relationship with new customer is higher than most sales people and/or organizations are willing to attempt. Whether the expert defines the number as nine (Cargill Consulting Group), or twenty-nine (Lisa Wines, Marketing Director for Prospect Digital), we can agree it is more than a handful; yet most organizations and people stop well short of that. Drip marketing can provide a constant stream of product information and benefits that, because it is trickled out, is read and doesn't overwhelm your prospective client.

Message content and sources of information

Newsletters, articles, product announcements, and holiday and special occasion wishes all can form the grist for a stream of natural communication to your customers. Delivery can be as simple and inexpensive as periodic emails, or slightly higher on the cost scale, periodic mailings. Personal contact of course is critical at some point; the point is that a mix of media is appropriate and effective.

You can be equally creative regarding sources of information. If you like to write, subject matter for your articles is readily available; insurance and financial websites, magazine and newspaper articles, and government sources are all easily accessed. No time or inclination to write? There are numerous firms providing newsletter and print services to the Insurance and Financial communities. Most services offer turnkey packages that provide an immediate library of material, an automated means of distribution, and tools that allow you to easily brand your message. And, many of these services can be surprisingly affordable.

Automating your delivery

If even a moderate number of clients are key to your success, then accomplishing the level of contact in a drip marketing approach is difficult if not impossible without automating the process. Several firms provide tools and services that make automating the periodic delivery of a stream of messages to even a very large number of clients fairly straightforward. Once your stream of messages has been created, they can be used again and again, leveraging your initial investment of time and energy. A moderate maintenance effort can keep your messages current and therefore relevant.

Getting Started

Regardless of your means of implementation, the following areas need to be thought through:

Identify your target audience
Understand your audience's needs
Define your message
Create your campaign
- Specifically what messages and when
- Other communication; introduction, special occasion wishes, etc.
- Select the media for each message or other communication
- Automate your delivery

Probably the easiest means of getting started is to contact one of the many firms that specialize in this area. Two such firms can be easily accessed through the AgentQuote.com website, simply click on the link labeled Affiliate Products. Or, feel free to call AgentQuote.com at 888-223-4773. In addition to the firms found on the web site, AgentQuote.com is aware of other firms that provide this service and we will be glad to provide the contact information for those firms.