Do any of you have a "Keep in Touch" program in place for your business? I have been doing research on the topic of relationship marketing and am curious to know if any of you use such a program, and, if you do, what do you do to "Keep in Touch" with your customers throughout the year (both offline & online)?

I look forward to hearing your responses!

Warmest regards,
Amy B. Emerick
Access Office Services

I do Amy and it's called a 'newsletter'. I learnt a long time ago that the rule of good marketing was to keep in touch with client, past, present and future via a newsletter or some form of regular contact at least every 90 days. I made sure it was every 30 days and I think with the Internet now, that 90 days is probably too far apart.

I get good feedback from readers of my newsletter, always have people signing up as it gets passed on from people to people (even when it was in print form this happened years ago) and I usually write about things of interest and keep the 'selling' part of the newsletter very low-key.

Occasionally I might send a card in the post or something else to particular clients if I see something of interest to them, or personal emails forwarding something that might be ideal for them.

I do keep in touch with past and present clients. I haven't started a newsletter yet, although I'm planning to. I usually will pass on a great article I found or any important tax law updates that I feel would be of particular importance to someone. I also monitor my clients websites and watch for any important updates such as new projects or events that I may not already be aware of and then will send them a congratulatory email or something like that.

*Note: I never forward jokes or those cutesy little angel emails or crap like that. I don't care how close you are a to a client, I still think it's unprofessional and I HATE it when people send me that stuff.

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Rebecka Melson ~ Virtual Business Services

I have already in plans to keep in touch with my new and future clients. I plan on starting with newsletter, personal breif notes to see how they are doing, holiday and congratulatory emails/cards.

I certainly do agree with the forward jokes. I never care for them myself and always delate them immediately as they enter my inbox so I certainly would not send them to my clients.

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Brenda A. Jones
www.brevos.com

I plan on having some sort of newsletter. I will send some general business interest information (like tax changes) and information about any new services that I am offering. I am also planning on sending out holiday cards to all my clients for the year.

Andrea

I never thought about a keep in touch system, sounds good. I am thinking about puting one in place, that way the client will never forget about you.

I send birthday cards or ecards to my contacts and holiday cards. This is actually something I'm working on improving in my business.

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Lanel Taylor, CVA ~ Virtual Bookkeeper
Taylored Office Solutions
Custom fit solutions for all your office needs.

I keep in touch several different ways with past and present clients, as well as propective customers whose name was passed along to me.

I have a bi-monthly newsletter I email out toward the end of each second month in rotation. I discuss not only going on within TRImages,Ink, but also in the local communities that my clients live and work, and in the business world in general. I may also send out an additional "Quick Update" to industry specific groups (realtors, administrative, foodies, etc.) with timely topics, technology tips, or software/hardware deals and updates.

Then, on birthdays, anniversaries, special milestones or goal accomplishments I send out e-Cards as well as personal greeting cards with special, custom messages to each individual with a hand-written effect. When you factor in friends and family as well as business partners, the thought of sending out handwritten cards to each became overwhelming. But, I've recently discovered a secret weapon in that department called SendOutCards through another VA, and the process became much more streamlined; even faster and less expensive then the traditional ways of sending them so I've been using them pretty consistently now for a couple of months. Incidentally, it was a great platform for some of my customers to implement in their follow us systems... especially those in sales or training positions, but is actually easily applicable to ANY business or personal use. I was so impressed I bought a system. And if anyone is interested in learning more you can certainly email me and I can let you walk through my system for free.

Finally, I have a Holiday list that I send out emails and cards to every year. The lists vary depending on whether or not the recipient is an active or past client, prospect, or friend or family member. I don't want to forget friends and family because they love to talk about what I do and are a great resource for soft selling my business. I send one out for Thanksgiving, Christmas and the Fourth of July. I will occassionally send out Back to School announcements to those I know have children. And, I occassionally send out "Tax Time" reminders. The last touch-mail piece I send is usually in the Spring and Fall for the Time Change in our area; reminding them to not only reset their clocks, but to also check their smoke detectors, and possibly get ready to either winterize or spring clean major utilities, appliances and grounds around them.

As far as a "personal" communication, I like to try to get everyone together for a backyard BBQ and Business Exchange once a year for those who either live in the area or will be visiting the area. That's tougher to do when some clients are a couple states away, but then I'm at least talking to them on a pretty regualar basis anyway.

Long post... but hope it helps give you some ideas.

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TRImages, Ink
Tanya Ericksen-Troska
Executive VA - Member of Kudzu, IVAA, REVA, IREAA

Most of my clients are on the same platform: Mac. So whenever I read about a new software that might interest them, I prepare a little news brief along with details on cost, where they can buy it, etc. If this is software I use personally, I also include my review of it.