The commitment of your customers to your services and products is a key factor in your advertising.  As the article on colour shows, how committed people are to you affects how they see your advertisements, which means it must affect how you advertise to them.

You can imagine four types of people:

1. Those who have never used you because they have never heard of you
2. Those who have thought about using you but not done so
3. Those who have used you once
4. Those who use you regularly.

Put like that it is obvious that each has his/her own perspective of you.  For each you need a different approach.  For example,

1. For those who have never used you because they have never heard of you, you need to introduce yourself - but if you do this by talking about how big, long established, and wonderful you are, nothing much will happen.  To the reader, you are nothing - they don't know you.  So think about the customer's needs and then suggest that you can meet them.
2. Those who have thought about using you but not done so have been put off by something.  It might be inertia, it might be that they don't understand what you do, it might be that they perceive you to be too expensive.  You need to focus on a perceived problem and gently undo the misunderstanding - without being negative, and while seeing the world totally from the point of view of the reader.
3. Those who have used you once you need to ask, have they only been once because they only needed you once, or because they were unhappy with the service.  If the former, you need to encourage them to expand their interest - if the latter it might be too late to retrieve this customer, but you certainly need to change what you do to stop this happening again.
4. Those who use you regularly are your friends, your partners in this venture.  Most firms regularly lose customers because they spend so long getting new customers they fail to nurture their existing customers.  Treat them as equals.  Walk along with them, holding hands.  Be kind and gentle.  Seek their thoughts and their ideas.  Be friends.

Often when I talk on this topic with new clients of mine I am told "we have no trouble holding on to our customers" or "everyone knows us".  When I have been given a chance to test these statements I have always found them to be totally untrue.  If you find yourself tempted to think in either way, I would urge you to test the matter.  Look at your order book from two years back. Is everyone who was a customer then, still a customer now at the same or bigger level?  Buy a mailing list of your industry and write to or phone up your potential customers and ask them if they have heard of you, and check that they know what you supply.  Only then can you be quite sure.

Free analysis of your mailshot

This article is written by Tony Attwood, Chairman of Hamilton House Mailings Ltd.  If you would like to discuss the writing or design of your mailing campaign, or indeed a single mailshot, with Tony, without cost or obligation, just call 01536 399 000, or email Creative@hamilton-house.com   You can also send Tony a copy of your latest advert and he will call you back with his thoughts on how your response rate could be raised - again without cost or obligation.