In a perfect world, it’s not one or the other. In a perfect world, which means you have unlimited funding for your marketing efforts, you should target both. However, since most of us don’t live in that world, we have to make educated decisions about who to target, what to send them and how to execute it. The fact of the matter is that takes a much larger budget to gain new business from folks that may never have heard of you, than it does to “remind” your existing customers that you’re anxious to help them…again. Strengthen your relationships, and be in front of your existing customer base so that when they need your services your widget, you are top of mind.
As a small business considering an e-marketing campaign, the first thing to ask yourself is if you’re doing a good job of collecting contact information from your customers, then maintaining it in a list to use for communication efforts. If you are, then it makes sense to stay in front of that audience first with a monthly or quarterly e-news message of some sort. Once you’ve got that down, start to think about implementing a new business approach targeting a list of prospects. Just remember when you undertake this initiative that it takes time — depending on your sales cycle, it could take quite a bit of time. Oh yeah, and some money too. Average open and click through rates are documented, but there are variables including what industry you’re in.
If you need help with an initiative like this, MDzyn Solutions can help you.