I recently read an interesting article written by Laura Lake about applying a strategy to drip marketing. She provides some thoughts on mediums and methods for developing your own drip campaign. These methods include stand-by’s such as:
- Postcards
- Newsletters
- Promotional or Sales Brochures
In support of these ideas, I recall the story of a client at iMakeNews whose drip marketing eNewsletters yielded a large sale.
In the beginning, this small technology company would receive a lead, qualify the lead, and if no immediate sale occured the lead would go cold as the sales people stopped contacting the prospect. Then this company implemented their eNewsletter program, which consistently hit the prospect with information every month. 18 months after the regular communicatons began, these cold leads had turned into $500,000 in sales. (full story)
In this case, drip marketing was performed through an eNewsletter. But that doesn’t mean that is the best or only method that should be practiced (see my previous article called Drip…Drop…Drive …Socialized Drip Marketing).
This story is just one of many instances where consistent communications drives sales. I have personally experienced how monthly phone calls can achieve a similar result. The interesting point about the phone calls was that they typically ended up being more personal conversations, and less about business. When the client was ready, the personal relationship offered me the opportunity sell to the client first.
With socialized drip marketing you have the opportunity to not only progressively communicate strong company messaging, but you get to share a little bit about yourself.  This may seem like a scary proposition to some organizations, but at the end of the day personal brand has always mattered. Now the personalities of everyone in your organizaton become an important aspect of your direct marketing strategy.