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We have been helping small businesses get a grip on their marketing planning and execution for over 20 years. We have written the articles here with a particular outdoors flair to add some levity and some relevance. We are confident that they will benefit your business if you are prepared to give them a try. So draw a bead on a more profitable future and get prepared to haul in more trophy sized customers!

Marketing Basics Target Marketing Tradeshow Campaigns Marketing Budget Drip Marketing Online Marketing Look Professional Camera Plus Customers Referral Program Advertising Media Experts Social Media Secret Pay Per Click - written by: Galen Sonntag Sign up to receive our monthly Outfitter Marketing Tips notice. Drip Marketing for Outfitters Have you ever heard the expression “out of sight, out of mind”? If your prospects can't find you, they will book with someone else. Drip marketing is a strategy that will help you to stay top of mind by sending multiple promotional messages to your customers and prospects over an extended period of time. The objective of drip marketing is to create a steady growth in your revenue. A good way to approach drip marketing is to do something each month to put your name on their desk or computer screens. Customer videos on CD are a great way to market to potential clients. Hand out at trade shows, include in your next direct mail campaign or use as phone call follow up. Keep in touch with your customers by sending a simple newsletter. Add all of your customers past and present to the list and encourage them to pass it on to others. Once you have a plan for a Drip Marketing program, in just 15 minutes to an hour a month you can implement an effective marketing. Spend 15 minutes per month and watch your sales grow! Send this article to a friend. Recommend this article. Add a comment. This article has been recommended 76 times. Gear Shop Special Search Engine Marketing Made Easy In order to use drip marketing effectively, you must create a plan! By creating an action plan and following it through you’ll ensure that your message will eventually get through. While you’re developing your plan, don’t be afraid to use three or four different media types to reach your customer. It will help you cut through the clutter and will improve readership as well. What methods can you use in your drip marketing campaign? Here are a few ideas: Personal letters Email Post cards Newsletters Email newsletters Promotional or sales brochures Customer testimonials Things to Remember: 1. Be patient! Drip marketing is a long-term strategy and it may take time for your campaign to generate results. If your first activity does not generate a flood of leads, do not panic. Just stick with your plan and be patient – it will pay off. 2. Keep it interesting! Look for ways to make your message fun, informative or useful. Add helpful hints, industry information, or other non-sales oriented material. It is easier to communicate the strengths of your business if people enjoy the material while they are reading it. 3. Keep it going! Do not let long periods of time pass between your messages. Part of developing a strong brand and a strong image is using repetition. No matter how strong your message, most people need to see your brand five to seven times before recall occurs. 4. Help your customers learn to want your service. Show your customers how they can benefit from your service in a variety of ways. Educate your customers; don’t just tell them to buy! Use testimonials to prove the value. Testimonials are much more truthful than advertising. Sample Drip Marketing Campaign We will now go through a sample drip marketing campaign for a hunting outfitter. Step 1: Develop your plan – put it on paper so that you know exactly what you are doing each month. Not only does this keep you on schedule but it helps to plan your preparation time each month as well. If you include execution dates it is really easy to stay on task and to complete each activity in a timely fashion. Remember to plan something every month! Most activities will require little more than an hour or two each month. Consider using some of the following examples of materials for your drip campaign. Personal Letter to Introduce Yourself Determine list of recipients (source local hunting clubs, your customer list, national associations, trade publication mailing lists, etc.). Draft letter – who you are, what you offer. Prepare envelopes and labels. Email Send a “Did You Know” email to all contacts in your database – come up with an interesting fact and write a couple of short paragraphs, include a couple of supporting pictures. Email Customer testimonials. Include a couple of quotes and a few pictures. Direct mail - Season's Greetings Prepare a card or letter. Use a great outdoor shot of your hunting area, your lodge, trees with snow, or some other scenery that reminds your customers of the Christmas season, and make them think, "there a big buck in the woods". Prepare envelopes and labels & mail. Email Search for and find an interesting story on your state DNR website, a new regulation, or a forecast of animal populations. Include a short summary and link to the actual article. Direct Mail Send your company brochure. If you plan to attend any tradeshows shows in the coming months, tell your customers where to find you. Email Travel directions - show your customers how to find you, with directions from the nearest airport, or driving instructions from the main highways. It's a subtle hint that your accepting new customers without any pressure sales tactics. Direct Mail Activity guide of other local events. Give your customers, especially those traveling a long distance, more reasons to come visit you by educating them of other local attractions. Email If your website includes a photo gallery, send them a few customer trophy pictures a link to the gallery on your site. Simple suggestions such as "We have room for more trophies", or an invite to join your customer "Hall of Fame" can often help customers visualize themselves on the page. Direct Mail or Email Send an overview of local hunting seasons. I recommend using a plan where the activity occurs on the second Tuesday of every month. Mondays and Fridays are not necessarily the best day to try and reach people. On Monday they are all trying to get organized for the week and people may not take the time to read an informational email. On Fridays people are usually trying to wrap things up before the weekend and again may not take that time. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays tend to have the best response rates for promotional emails. Proposed Drip Campaign Month Drip Activity Preparation January Introduction letter Take a great winter picture for use in December.  Pick a topic for next month's Did You Know. February Did You Know email Choose a customer to profile next month.   March Customer testimonial email Pick a topic for next month's Did You Know.   April Did You Know email Order/print brochures for next month's mailing.   May Mail your company brochure Find a copy of local hunting seasons and print copies. June Send an overview of local hunting seasons Choose a customer to profile next month. July Customer testimonial email Prepare travel directions. August Email travel directions Choose 2 great images from your photo gallery.   September Send photo gallery link Pick a topic for next month's Did You Know. October Did You Know email Find an interesting story on your state DNR website.. November Email the story from DNR Add a holiday greeting to your winter picture.   December Direct mail - Season's Greetings Prepare the plan for next year's Drip Campaign. Email is a great medium to use to reach customers because it is free and it takes very little time to prepare. However, take caution so that your messages don’t become seen as “spam”. Be sure to include an opt-out option for customers so that they can be removed from your email list and be sure to honor each request. If you keep your content fresh and interesting you should have a fairly good response to your email campaigns. By using the “Did You Know” emails, you can save yourself a lot of time by writing about local facts and trivia. These emails are educational and highlight different customer experiences based on unique facts (what makes you different) about your company. It is important to supplement your email campaigns with other materials as well. Incorporate a different type of message approximately every second month. This will help to manage the preparation time and cost for each campaign. You will notice that there is a different media type used for each of these campaigns. This is where it becomes important to have a common element throughout so that people will recognize that the information is from your company. Step 2: Decide who you want to target. Do you have a list of potential leads and past customers? You will definitely want to include these people in your plan. Even though they know about your product you want to keep them thinking about it so that they remember you when they are ready to book a trip. Step 3: Be sure that there are consistent elements in each of the pieces so that they are easily recognized by your audience. Always include your contact information with each message, phone number, email, web site address. Remember, this is not a hard sell, take action, impulse buy type of campaign. Resist the urge to push your customers into making a booking right now. Over time, a successful Drip Marketing Campaign builds credibility and interest. They will approach you when the time is right. 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