I really like Thai food and Mexican food. This is a story about both.
I look to some people to learn about internet marketing, and I look to others to learn about internet business. It’s not that internet marketing gurus are not good at teaching internet business and vice versa, it’s just that everyone is great at something, and it makes sense to learn from the best people in every area.
Jason van Orden is one of my favorite internet business guys. One thing I will never forget is a tale that Jason tells about a friend of his that ended up on the wrong end of an investment joint venture. The guy had a successful business, but after the deal went bad, he no longer owned the business. In fact, he was forced out. He lost everything over night.
Well, not everything. As it happens, the guy had his email list. He was able to contact his loyal customers, explain the situation, offer value to them (as he always had in the past), and rebuild his business quickly. When people say “the money is in the list,” I think they have it wrong. The value is in the list.
What About Thai Food
Well, I was eating Thai food the other day and was talking to Ann, the owner (I cannot even say her Thai name – it is beautiful, but I am a native Texan with limited language skills). Anyway, she had recently tried to sell the restaurant. When this happened (months earlier) I was sad because I had been eating there for years and the new owners were just terrible.
In fact, the new owners were so bad that they ran off all of the old customers (10 years worth of loyal customers) in a matter of weeks. On top of that, they apparently did not pay Ann for the restaurant and walked away from the deal after selling a lot of the tables, chairs and kitchen supplies. Ann was left with a gutted restaurant and few customers. When I was in there, the place was a ghost town.
What Ann needed was an email list. If she had been asking for emails for the last ten years, she would have thousands of loyal customers on her list. Just a simple monthly coupon is all a restaurant needs to maintain a list and drive foot traffic. Using Aweber, this costs about $20/month. You don’t even need a web site (although I recommend one).
Ann could have simply sent an email to her list explaining about the Grand Re-Opening and how happy she was to have the resturaunt back. She would have been flooded with customers (me among them). But she did not do any of that list building, so now she has to start all over again building a new customer base. Ten years of work gone! It’s a very sad story. Are you like Ann? Do you have a site without an opt-in?
Then, There Is Mexican Food
I also like Mexican food, and I eat at my favorite neighborhood place as often as I can. I know the owner there too (Kevin). Every time I eat there, Kevin catches me up on the progress they are making on their new location. The new place will be much nicer and will bring more traffic to the business because of a better location. They are moving in August, and I am a little bummed because it will be further from my house. Not too far, but definately farther.
I love this particular place, and I like the owners. So, I asked Kevin when the Grand Opening would be. I want to eat there on the first day — to be part of his success. He said — we are not sure yet, but we will notify the mailing list as soon as we know!
I am already on the list. I love it. I get coupons and drink specials from him about twice a month. It’s just enough to remind me that he is there — or to offer me free queso with my fajitas or what ever. See the difference — Ann just about lost her business and Kevin is able to move his. All because of email marketing.
Two Lessons For You
Lesson 1: You better have opt-ins on all of your sites.
Lesson 2: You can probably sell Aweber to people like Ann. They need you, and you can help them.
I don’t really do this because I have a day job — but you could. How? Simple. Create a page on your site describing how email marketing can help offline business. Offer consulting, setup, and whatever else you are comfortable with. Create a 1 page flier with the same information. A business card would be nice too.
Then, go eat (I am reall good at the eating part).
You to waiter: This place is great! Is the manager around? I’d like to compliment him on your service today.
Waiter: I’ll be right back!
You to Manager: I just want to tell you that I love this restaurant, and we had great service from Jimmy.
Manager: Thanks, we appreciate your business.
You: Do you guys have a mailing list that I can sign up on so I can remember to come back here. This was great.
Manager: No, I am sorry. We don’t do email.
You: You’re kidding. You could really get your numbers up with some email marketing. If you ever want to consider it, give me a call. I do that sort of thing for a living. Customers love it. Here is my card.
Manager: Thanks. I’ll think about it.
You get the idea.
One last thing. If you want to know what to do with your list after you start it, I recommend Josh Spaulding’s email marketing guide called New Age Email Marketing. It is excellent.
Have a great day,
Mark
