A good question was posted by a reader about how to collect the email addresses of an existing client base in ways that comply with federal laws, and let’s add, ISP best practices. Many businesses have an established client base, but don’t have their customers' email addresses.

Today, it’s common for businesses to want to gather client email addresses so they can communicate with customers by email.

Equally important as gathering the email addresses is obtaining their permission to send them email marketing. This is basically making customers into subscribers, and it’s an important goal for marketing departments because existing customers make great prospects for future services.

A great way to approach this challenge is by lead generation activity. Email lead generation often involves the exchange of valuable content for an email address and gaining permission to communicate via that email address. Here’s a way to approach this type of marketing initiative and project:

1.  Inventory Business Content

What content does your business have that’s valuable to customers? Often companies that have been in business for a while and grown a customer base have a lot of valuable content. And often this content isn’t easily accessed by customers. Making this content available to them is valuable to those customers. It forms a good basis for the exchange of information via email between your business and your customers. Examples of valuable content that a company may already have created include:

a. Manuals & Safety Guides

b. Best Practices & Auditing Programs

c. Reports & White Papers

d. Documents, Presentations & Videos

e. Product Plans & Roadmaps

Companies create this sort of content because they need it to do business. And marketing departments bring value to their customers when they distribute these kinds of content to them.

2. Make Content Digitally Available

When a company creates content it’s usually in the form that’s most practical for how the business is done. And often the content form that’s most practical for doing business isn’t the most practical for distributing to customers. Making content available for digital distribution in standard formats is a core element of online lead generation. This is also a way that marketing departments give value to customers - by making the content they need easily accessible.

3. Plan New Content

In addition to existing content, what other content do your customers need that’s within the resources of your email capture project to create. The more valuable content you can create, the more you add to your bowl of subscriber incentives.

4. Place Content Behind Registration Forms

Once you have your content inventoried and scheduled for development, then it’s time to begin distribution. Place the content on your business Web sites behind a registration form. In exchange for accessing the content, your subscribers will fill out the registration and permission forms. In your existing customer communication channels include notices of the digital content that is now available. On your sign-up permission forms make sure your subscribers understand what kinds of mailings you’ll be sending them (i.e. reports, newsletters, offers, etc.). Better yet, let your subscribers tell you what kind of content they want to receive from you with selection forms.

5. Stay Focused On Your Customers

Once you collect permission from your customers and begin sending them email communications, stay focused on what kind of content they respond to best. This is done by tracking such metrics as opens, clicks, and Web page activity. Focus your content inventorying and production efforts on the kinds of content customers want the most of. This is how you continually improve your marketing success rates.

6. Extend Marketing Programs Into Lead Generation & Prospecting

Once you’ve developed these types of marketing programs you can extend them beyond your existing customer base and use them to prospect for new customers. You already have valuable content and a way to distribute it, all it takes is a little refashioning. Follow these same steps in planning lead generation and prospect marketing programs. This is taking it to the next level.

The skills you develop for turning customers into subscribers are the same skills that will enable you to turn searchers into leads, and leads into prospects. When done right, following best practices and continually analyzing your response data, there’s the potential for a marketing department to bring a lot of value to its business.

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About the Author

Josh Aberant is the Privacy & Standards Director at DMi Partners in Philadelphia, PA. DMi is a performance-based interactive agency that leverages Lyris HQ in offering a fully integrated suite of online marketing services. At DMi, Josh is focused on helping customers implement marketing programs and understand their ROI.

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