If you are looking for a method to build your small business customer list you may be interested in e-courses as a mode of transportation. E-courses are a great way to provide beneficial help to customers while getting into contact with the clients.

To institute an e-course marketing plan you will need to perform several up-front tasks and concentrate your efforts on the best way to market your company. E-courses can be taught on any subject and submitted to your website. However the most profitable course for you to teach is one that concerns your actual small business.

If you sell mountain bikes then you may want to work on creating an e-course on trail side tire changing. This e-course allows you to identify the consumers that you are most interested in serving and providing the consumer with useful information that they can use. By providing the consumer direct information that concerns your products or services you are reaching that critical subconscious state of the consumer that identifies yourself and your company as subject matter experts.

Once your e-course topic is decided upon then it is time to move into the actual building of the e-course. An e-course can be as simple as a *.pdf file or as complicated as an online video tutorial. If you are going with the e-book style e-course you need to make sure that your presentation includes such critical items as pictures, diagrams, and even illustrations of what you are covering in the e-book. Whichever method that you wish to use needs to be well written and executed.

Now that you have a functioning e-course it is time to start marketing your e-course and building your customer list. One methodology for the list build is to require a sign-up before the customer can access the e-course.

By requiring a sign-up and verification of the e-mail address you will be increasing the online customer list that you have for later communication and access. This list can be used to send things such as sales specials and even company updates and you will know that the list is reaching a live audience.

The second method that you can use to garner an on-line customer list is to provide free access to your e-courses and then offer a sign-up button at the end of the e-course for additional e-courses from your company. Individuals that sign-up with your online customer list with this methodology are most likely to read and not immediately scrap your contact efforts with them later.

If done properly the utilization of e-courses to create customer lists is an invaluable exercise. The people that you add to your list using this methodology are hundreds of more times likely to purchase something from your company and to even give you a return visit.

The return visit means that you have reached a state of being with the consumer that is almost utopia. The consumer that returns naturally is twice as likely to utilize your mailing list when your mailings are received.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Entrepreneur and outdoor photography adventurer Caroline Melberg is President and CEO of Small Business Mavericks, a division of Melberg Marketing. She has over 20 years of experience creating marketing communications materials and writing copy for some of the largest and most successful companies in the world. Her small business columns are syndicated online, and she publishes the popular e-Zine “Maverick Internet Marketing Secrets.” Learn insider Maverick Marketing secrets you can use immediately to find new customers and increase your sales. Get your FREE subscription at www.SmallBusinessMavericks.com today!

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