To effectively build a small business email marketing program, having a good and growing email list of prospects and of customers is a critical component. Many businesses find the building of a good email list of their customers and prospect to be a daunting task. There are many ways, if you just think about them a little bit, that you can use plain old traditional marketing methods to help build a good email marketing list.

A friend of mine owns and operates a kitchen remodeling company. He sells in the higher end of the market where his remodeling projects will cost the buyer more than $50,000 by the time the project is complete. Experience has shown that he gets the vast majority of his business from existing client referrals and the reputation that his company has earned over the years. He has come up with a wonderful way of continuously adding new prospect names to his company’s email list.

After they contract with the client and while the project is ongoing, they ask the client to host a “New Kitchen Celebration” party after completion of the project. The remodeling company agrees to provide wine and cheese, hors de oeuvres, as well as small gift for each attendee. Also, while the work is progressing, the workers go to neighboring homes and place a door hanger advising the owner that “Counter Dimensions is doing a remodeling project for their neighbor, the Smiths, and if they are making too much noise, creating a mess or otherwise inconveniencing the neighbor, will they please notify the company at 333-222-5555″.

These door hangers tend to perk the curiosity of the neighbors and they cause neighborhood discussions to turn to the Smith’s new kitchen. As progress continues on the project, the remodeler asks the owner for a list of people to invite to the “New Kitchen Celebration” and they specifically ask that their friendly neighbors be invited. Of course, people in the same neighborhood as the project house will likely be of similar income and demographics. This is a great target market!

The company then sends out nicely printed invitations to the party, including the fact that each attendee will get a nice kitchen gift (usually a small cutting board branded with the remodeler’s name & phone). Response to these invitations is by RSVP and it usually draws a good response rate as human nature causes most people to want to see what the Smith’s new kitchen is like.

At the “New Kitchen Celebration” event, the designer of the kitchen presents each of the features of the new kitchen and how it will benefit the homeowner. Attendees are, of course, invited to tour all of the aspects of the kitchen on their own and there will be several remodeler’s representatives there to answer questions. Each attendee is provided with a nice gift and asked to provide their email address. Discussion ensues about the many options that people have in deciding what to include in their custom kitchen.

The email addresses collected are added to the remodeler’s email list on AWeber and a double opt-in confirmation is sent out. When the email is verified the email address is placed on the company’s prospect email list and they will be getting periodic marketing messages about specific kitchen remodeling issues. This educates the prospect about the various issues and options, eliminates lower price competition by building the value of the workmanship of a custom remodeling project, and generally endears the prospect to the remodeling company. This is small business marketing at its finest!

Why not think it through and jot down a diagram of your company’s interface with its clients and identify ways that you can invest in good email marketing campaigns? You will need to identify ways to collect email addresses proactively. Even if this costs you a few dollars (as in providing wine & cheese for a party, sending out invitations, small gifts, etc) you will likely find this considerably less expensive and better targeted than almost any other way of attracting customers. Nothing sells like a happy customer!

Resources - Don Seibert is a retired business executive who, as an Expert Author, writes timely articles, books, and blogs on issues concerning using the Internet in a small business. Having retired twice, Don is host of http://www.LocalBizIdeas.com. Visit the site for a complete discussion of how to attract more customers to your business using the power of the Internet.

Don and his business partner, Rich Lamkin, have recently published a popular book entitled “Powerful Small Business Internet Strategies”