Normally we think of a leaky faucet as that annoying sound, drip, drip, drip, and in my house my wife saying when are you going to get that dripping faucet fixed? I would love to reply but honey that constant drip is a reminder of the metaphor for drip marketing, but I don't.
If you are in marketing you know how crowded your space is and how much bandwidth your customer has, especially in the consumer space. You know how much cash you can churn getting and keeping your customers attention, just think of Jan and Toyota, or Lilly at ATT, and wow the Verizon and can you hear me now guy going a competitor, holy smokes!
In B2B marketing, it works, if you do it in the right way in a pleasant and persistent manner. Not always of course. Somebody said pleasant persistence knocks down resistance. How do I mean? Let me give you a real live personal story
I have a new client who reached out to me, a new person at a "drip client" wanting me to work on a very sizeable job. This person got my name from one of my "drip-ees". The first drip-ee we will call Jane Doe, I have never met personally and have only spoke to once on a conference call about 15 months prior to her associate Jane Smith reaching out to me. I started this journey with ABC company almost 2 years ago when I first reached out to Jack Miller, Jane Doe's boss and he scheduled our conference call. Call went well, but NOT ONCE since then could I ever get a call back email or anything from Jane Doe. It was like I wasn't being hear or completely ignored. Sound familar? I would call in frequently, and pleasantly and email. NADA!
What did I do differently, I dripped through dimensional mail. Once a quarter for almost two years Jane Doe would get a dimensional mail piece from me, as well as her boss Jack Miller only because that is where this story started. I would come up with a new self promotion idea and off it went to Jane. I would send a card too in the mail monthly (some of you have received the same card), just trying to keep them thinking of me. 15 months later WHAMO!
Was it worth it, you betcha! When this first project is complete and to their 100% satisfaction, it begins a relationship that both parties benefit from, and 15 months ago neither party thought would happen.
What else does drip marketing do for you?
It tells the buyer you are not a fly by night person or company. The 15 months showed Jane, that this guy is for real he is here in the long haul, a good sign.
It shows creativity, different mailers, different ideas, showing them you can help your client.
It showed persistence, you clients want to know you will work for them, and this does that.
So even though the leaky dripping faucet in my house should get fixed, never will I stop dripping
Derek Miller
ProPrinters Inc
609 807 8856
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