Merge

Terry Weaver is a guest blogger for Merge and also serves on our Board of Advisors. Terry is the Owner and CEO of Chief Executive Boards International, an exclusive group of business owners, presidents and CEOs whose members are committed to helping each other achieve both their business goals and their life goals. Members meet regularly as a confidential, collaborative advisory board to help each other become more focused, effective and strategic. CEBI operates in 11 major US cities. You can also check out Terry’s Blog at www.chiefexecutiveblog.com.

I've been volunteering at the Greenville Chamber of Commerce, helping with a monthly brown-bag series called the Small Business Owners' Forum (SBOF). We recently had a session on using E-Marketing tools to maintain "Front of Mind" with prospects and customers.

It happened that I had recently made a similar presentation at the 2009 Spring Summit of Chief Executive Boards International, but was planning to be in Houston for a CEBI meeting on the day of the SBOF session. The idea was to do just a short kickoff piece to set up the concept for the live audience. So, I agreed to record a voice-over behind a few of the PowerPoint slides I'd used earlier. For those interested in the "how" of this, I have a digital recording setup and some good editing/screen capture software, Camtasia.

The core idea is that prospects, and even customers, forget about who you are, what you do, and how you might be able to help them. And they do so frighteningly quickly. This little piece turned out better than I'd expected, and I've subsequently posted it on YouTube. I encourage you to watch the Video Blog Article on what "Front of Mind" is all about, and why you'll want to consider E-Marketing tools as part of your customer contact arsenal.

My own testimonial: This stuff works. CEBI has been sending an E-Newsletter to both members and prospects every month for the past 18 months, and the results are amazing. Here are a couple of typical email responses we've received lately, 1-2 days after sending a monthly newsletter:

From a prospect who first inquired in March of 2006:
"I am ready to join your organization"

From a prospect who first inquired in January of 2006:
"Terry, I think it is time for me to join your organization"

We've had no other communication with these two people (both now members) for over 2 years. Our E-Newsletter alone kept CEBI on their radar until they each decided they had a need for a source of some new ideas.

Bottom Line: If you're not doing something to actively keep your brand in front of your prospects and customers, give it another thought. You'll be glad you did.