How to grow an email list is the perfect complement to word of mouth in doubling your client base
Introduction
This isn't your regular marketing blog post.
I’m not interested in just pumping out any old content saying how great digital or internet marketing can be for your business.
As a training business, you probably rely a lot on word of mouth for gaining new leads and course bookings.
Many focus solely on word of mouth and personal referrals to get new business.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with using word of mouth as a channel to promote your business
Even the the CEO of Facebook lauds word of mouth as an effective approach:
"People influence people. Nothing influences people more than a recommendation from a trusted friend. A trusted referral influences people more than the best broadcast message. A trusted referral is the Holy Grail of advertising.’’ – Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Facebook
However, getting people to talk about and refer your training business is not easy.
Fortunately, you can use other approaches which integrate very well with word of mouth.
Growing an email list is one such approach that can provide great traction to word of mouth and extend your reach to new prospects
The great thing is that both approaches are a perfect fit for getting people to TALK about how great your business is .
"On average, email can see a 4300 percent return on investment (ROI) for business"
You may have your word of mouth process in place but have you thought about growing an email list to complement it?
If you are, sign up for a simple way to build your first email list by filling the below:
START BUILDING AN EMAIL LIST NOW
Use this FREE checklist to successful build an email list of people interested in your courses
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Key takeaway tips
In this digital and internet age, building relationships with your customers is vital for the success of your training business.
The better that relationship, the more likely that customers will 'share posts and stories' about you online and refer your services to family, friends and colleagues.
For an ambitious training business looking to grow, word of mouth, on it's own, cannot give you that scale and opportunity to reach a large audience of prospects
The answer?
Growing an email list is a simple and low cost way of supporting word of mouth to reach your target market.
There are key tips you can use to achieve your goal of extending your reach to bring in more buyers of your courses:
- Going the extra mile
- Personalisation
- Don't forget to ask
- Show your appreciation
Going the extra mile
Going beyond what you usually offer to your customers can be a win-win .
For your customer, that satisfactory feeling of being valued and not just an opportunity to make money
For your business, the high likelihood that going beyond expectations is likely to convert to a referral.
An email list can support that conversion.
For example, a customer receives a series of gentle reminder emails for booked courses with directions and parking discount vouchers.
Personalisation
Sending targeted content which is specific to a customer's needs and adds value is a good way of showing that you care.
For example, a caterer would expect you to send content related to gaining a food hygiene certificate, and certainly not on construction site induction courses.
That level of personalisation shows that you care about their needs, meaning that they are much more likely to talk about your services to family, friends and colleagues over trainers who do not personalise.
Don't forget to ask..
A customer may love your training course, but it can be difficult for them to think about you after completion of a course.
That's why you should always ask for a referral.
Because delegates are usually the happiest just after course completion, why not automate that request especially through your email list?
For example, automatically send an email from your list to those who have passed your course which encourages referral to a friend to get £50 off for the
advanced level of the course.
Show your appreciation
Everyone likes to be appreciated.
It is particularly important to show appreciation to those who send more delegates your way.
If someone refers you, they are going out of their way to help you.
Be sure to to use your email list to thank them.
By segmenting referrers in your list, you can automate sending a simple thank you email.
Acknowledging their effort will go a long way to keeping your customers loyal and getting more referrals.
In Summary
No matter where you are in your journey to get more course delegates, referrals can play an important part in meeting your business goals.
A good quality and targeted email list, will always help to make that goal achievable easier and quicker and allow you to automate building successful relationship with customers, who are satisfied, happy and most of all, loyal to your training business
CREATE THE PERFECT EMAIL LIST OF LEARNERS
Get started with a quick and easy way of building a list of learners interested in your training services
To get this download, simply subscribe to one or more of my mailing lists. This ensures you get the further super-valuable hints, tips, news and the occasional offers. I protect your data in accordance with my Privacy Policy. By downloading this content, you have agreed to the terms of my Privacy Policy.
You can unsubscribe at any time