Watch below as we answer:

Q: My business sells trinkets and kitsch items online. How do I grow my email database in an effective way in which people will respond positively?

• Featured strategists are: 

  Ashton Bishop – Head of Strategy,
  Step Change  

  Andrew Durack - Head of Copy and Insights, Step Change

  Kevan Baker - General Manager, BrandMail

• About Stump the Strategist:

  • Questions from the floor, answered live in nine minutes
  • It's opinion, not advice
  • Step Change charges clients for advice, Stump The Strategist is free

A:

• The fastest way to increase your database is to post your original content on Facebook and turn that into advertising for your business. You can turn this into something that allows customers to opt-in and moves them into your database.

• Facebook allows you to geographically target people. You can also look at your existing database and create a custom audience within a certain area. Facebook can then be used to find more people similar to your existing customer base and allow you to make contact with them.

• Instead of simply asking people for their data, offer them something of value in exchange for their data. Create an autoresponder that offers interesting and shareable content, like blog posts or short videos, and give them the opportunity to opt in. 

• Engage the community with competitions. Offer a prize, and the community will generate the content for you, while also building a database of individuals who are already interested in the service that you provide. This will allow you to gain a large amount of information on your customers with relatively little effort on your part.

• Try integrating into an e-commerce platform such as eBay, or Amazon. This will allow you to become part of the flow of internet traffic and allow you to gain information about your customers. You can also invest in an occasional physical stall at a market or festival to allow customers to fully experience your wares, and generate more interest in your internet presence. 

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