K.I.T. Calls

While I'm on the subject of marketing, I wanted to suggest to you that's it's important to KIT, or Keep In Touch with your client base. One good way to do it is to get on the phone and just shoot-the-shit a little, and another way is to just drop someone an email once in awhile. Whichever way you do it, it's a good idea. Remember what they say... Out of sight, out of mind". The longer you're out of contact with a client, the more likely they are to find a new supplier.

Of course, like everything else, you can overdue this... I think that dropping someone an email once a month is just about the right frequency. The tough part about doing this is coming up with a good excuse for the contact. If you're at all like me, it's not all that easy for you in the social arena. Frankly, it's not my nature to just pick up the phone and chat, so I need to come up with an excuse. I'm always searching for excuses, but here are some favorite ideas I have for contacting clients...

Web page update - just let them know I've updated the site and that they should check it out if they have time. (just used this one today...)

New shot that I like - I'll send a .jpg and ask them to check out this new technique or style.

News / Gossip - Hey I heard so-and so just got canned.

I thought of you - ...when such a thing happened.

Ask a question - Hey, do you happen to know ...

Those are just a couple of my excuses. The tough part comes when you have multiple contacts at the same place. You just can't (you can, but you feel stupid) send the same kind of email to the same office, just in case the two people happen to talk aobut you and compare notes.

This may sound really contrived and a little fake, but it's still a good idea. If it comes naturally to you, great. If not, that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. Remember... Out of sight, out of work.
:+)