HarborBlog

Football season is finally upon us! Every Saturday and Sunday, fans congregate around the television to cheer on their favorite college and pro team. Captive audiences hang on every word of the commentators and every image on the screen as if their lives depended on it. And several times a quarter or half, the game is paused so that multi-billion dollar corporations can sell their wares to football fans who are paying more attention to the television than they paid to their jobs all week. Large companies advertise to consumers in a very large way. They have a built-in audience around the television. They are going to exploit it and make another couple billion dollars in the process.

You don’t have that luxury. As a small business, your budget doesn’t have room for a $5 million 30-second television spot.  However, there is still a way to reach your audience with little effort or money on your part: scheduled email marketing.

People are creatures of habit. I know I am. And once a month, I receive an email from a website that sells funny t-shirts. Each month they have brand new shirts that they’ve designed. I don’t think about this site for 29 days out of the month, unless I have a reason. But once a month, the email appears in my inbox. And once a month, I open it and click on the link to go to their website. And every few months, I buy something. And I look forward to getting this email every month.

I have become that captive audience, and you can do the same thing. Direct traffic to your website through ads or search engine optimization and get people to sign up for your email newsletter. This is your captive audience. They have gone out of their way to request more information from you. And at a regular interval, send them something. You’ll stay fresh in their minds and if they enjoy your offering, whatever it is, they’ll continue to read your emails, click on your links, and help build your business one purchase at a time.