Growing a database of all your customers is a great way to re-engage them and keep them up to date with your new offerings. A good database takes a while to grow and can be invaluable to a business. The more information you receive from the people, the better your marketing strategies can be. This means you can target your customer base better and hopefully keep them fully engaged and interested in your business.
There are various ways you can set up your database and grow it. Below are our top ten tips for small businesses to create and keep their databases up to scratch.
1. Point of Sale
At the point of sale usually the most valuable information is collected it is also the easiest time to ask for further details. In most stores the sales representatives will ask leading questions to gain more information from you. Even in online checkouts there are options to include more information whilst you are paying.
2. Web-based forms
The optimisation of web-based forms on your website is crucial for gathering important information from your clientele. When installing this form you should make sure it is optimised on all different forms for mobile too. This is because there is much more web traffic that derives from mobile as opposed to desktop. Make sure your forms are fully tested and tried out to ensure ease of completion. This way more people would potentially fill them out, especially if it is for a free trial or competition.
3. Social Media
This has been one of the most important ways to grow and expand your database in more recent times. As your customer base will already be sharing what they are doing, what they are interested in and what they want to do or see from brands or businesses, you can easily track them. It is especially important, as they will have other friends online that could be your potential customers too.
4. Email Marketing
Sending out relevant updates and newsletters is so easy once your customer has shared their email address with you. This also allows for email analytics to take place, these allow you to get more interest and retention from your customer base. The best way to do this is through giveaways, competitions, exclusive offers or access to new drops and coupons or discount codes. Not only will this make your customers remember you, it will also promote your business and potentially interest people to spend more money with you.
LinkedIn has been rated a very impactful with regards to gaining additional information from prospect customers. It can be used to create a clear picture on how your relationship will fit with a persons business or organisation in general. This is most influential for business to business sales. Facebook and Instagram are both powerful online social media tools. They can both provide you with a lot of information and prospective customers really easily. Now both the sites offer advertising too, so this should be utilised to reach a wider demographic and build your database further.
5. Content Marketing
As marketing and advertisements have saturated the online markets, content marketing has become very influential. Now it is quite common to nurture leads through the use of content marketing strategies.
6. Face-to-face
This method is especially influential at networking or trade show events. The best way to make a lasting impact face to face is through confidence, knowledge and providing your client with a memorable keepsake. These have always been via business cards, but now some businesses offer goodie bags or personalised items that you sell relative to the prospective customer.
7. Surveys
This is a great way to gain qualitative date from your customer base, or potential customer base. They are usually very quick and easy to navigate through and are focused on one specific topic to keep the user engaged. They allow you to gain more insight into what people want and are cheap to create and easy to distribute.
8. Webinars
This is a great way to increase the understanding and interesting into a new product, service or solution your business is hoping to roll out. Webinars allow you to create both content marketing pieces and to further your client base. It is a really interactive and informative way to educate your clients and potential clients. They usually require people to sign up, this information can then be used in your database.
9. Website visitor tracking
This is a way to track all anonymous visitors that come onto your site but do not buy anything. They use tracking codes and a reverse IP lookup code to map out who visited, when they did and their information to better market towards them in the future. This can be then saved into your database and added to your mailing list of advertisement focus.
10. Create dynamic content
Dynamic content is the best way to increase potential customers onto your site or social media pages. This in turn allows you to track, trace and add them to your database much easier. Dynamic content should always divert your customers back to your page, products or selling point. This in turn will increase the chances of them investing in your business and to grow your database.
Conclusion
These are the top ten tips to creating and growing your businesses database. Whilst there are other methods, these seem to be the most rewarding ones for your business. If you spend a little bit of time and budget on these tips you can grow a really extensive and beneficial database that can stand you in good stead.
