Page 221 - 101 Ways to Market Your Business

101 WAYS TO MARKET YOUR BUSINESS

To start a club you need to do a few simple things,
including:

• decide on a name for the club;
• develop a regular newsletter;
• give people a reason to join (things like discounts,

regular newsletters etc.);
• develop a membership card or some other form of

identification; and
• decide whether membership is free or if there will be

a yearly cost (I recommend that it should be free if you
can afford it).

Forming a club may be a great way for you to create a
loyal band of customers who will not only shop with you
more regularly but will also tell their friends about this
great club they are members of. Like all marketing ideas,
your club will only work if you tell your customers about
it. Make the information readily available and make joining
simple. If the membership document is ten pages long, no
one will join. All you really need are the customer’s name,
address, telephone number and email address.

I also find that it is important to reassure people that
the information you collect will be kept confidential. Iron-
ically, more people know more about what we do now than
ever before.

If you have a website, try to encourage people to join
the club via your site. This is a fairly simple procedure that
any web designer could set up for you.

Managing your club membership details can become
quite a job as numbers grow, so be prepared to set aside
enough time to manage your database well.

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