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One of the keys to drip marketing is consistency of message. This means coming up with a slogan or phrase that you use everywhere. The slogan or phrase ties all of the different activities that you do together. Obviously it should be printed on everything that a client or potential client sees, including your letterhead, invoices, business cards, traditional advertisements and vehicles.

With drip marketing, the key is to do something every month. Traditional forms of marketing (print media, broadcast media, billboards and yellow pages) can all be part of the plan. Relying exclusively on these methods of advertising every month can get very expensive. However, they can be part of an effective drip-marketing campaign.

Include personal forms of marketing along with traditional advertising. This way you know that your message has at least reached your client base and potential client base. Part of the plan should be an e-mail marketing program.

Sending informational e-mails once a month will help tie your clients to your company in a non-intrusive way.

Another cheap marketing idea is to give out at least 500 business cards per year. You can put them in your bills (even the person at the power company may need a agent, inspector, plumbing or an HVAC repair person), give them out when you go to restaurants, etc. I was recently with a customer who, at the end of the meal, put a business card in with the paid bill. He simply said to the waiter, “I put a business card in here, which I would appreciate you giving to your manager. We are in the plumbing and air conditioning business, and he might need our services sometime.” He does this whenever he goes out to eat to spread the word about his company.

Make sure that all of your clients have a magnet with your company’s name and telephone number on it. You might even use a magnet as a mailing piece to potential clients once a month. The magnet stays on the refrigerator (or office filing cabinet) and is noticed each time the refrigerator door or filing cabinet is opened. When the client or potential client needs your services, they will remember having that slogan in front of them every day and all he has to do is go to the magnet to look up your telephone number.

Newsletters fall into the drip-marketing category. There are several newsletter companies who target our industry that will write them, print them, and mail them for you.

Most let you write some of it (e.g., a letter from the president), however, if you are not comfortable writing, they will take care of it all. Look around…I use Constant Contact personally and for my business. If you look into them and discover as I did the value in their services, tell them Brian at First Call Inspections sent you!

One of my favorite drip-marketing technique is simply postcards. They don’t have to be fancy—just use brightly colored paper with a message and a reason to call printed on one side. If you consistently send out a postcard once per month with your slogan after the message, people will get used to seeing them and within a few months they will begin tying the message to your company and remember them.

Again: Use drip marketing to avoid the sell/produce curve. It takes planning; however, you will see a consistent growth in your customer base when you execute the plan.