All small businesses should have a contact management method in place. Tossing the cards you collect at various events into a shoebox doesn’t count! To build your business and keep it going, you need to be able to actually reach out to those potential clients/customers as well as keep in touch with your existing client base. If you have let this go for too long and are now feeling so overwhelmed by the task that you can’t bring yourself to begin, this is an excellent opportunity to take a Virtual Assistant for a test drive. Contracting with a VA to set you up or catch you up with a contact management system will give you both a chance to decide if you’re a good fit for each other AND finally get this daunting task off of your plate so you can concentrate on more important things.
There is a wide range of online systems available for email marketing, and Vertical Response is just one of them. Used to its greatest potential, Vertical Response can be a very powerful tool. You can import and export lists using Excel, filter contacts, include contacts on multiple lists (but only enter them once), build opt-in forms to place on your website, send out fabulous marketing emails and more. What sets Vertical Response apart from the pack is that they offer a pay-as-you-go plan, something I did not find with any other provider that I researched. So, while you’re building your list, you’re not going to be paying a monthly fee to do small, infrequent mailings. One more “plus”: non-profits get their email marketing for free!
