When I first started at ReachForce, we were still in start-up mode and all marketing was focused on acquiring new customers. Because we run on a subscription model, I saw an opportunity for continued customer marketing to help increase our renewals. I developed a fully integrated program which you may have seen on the blog, the ReachForce Book Club. Throughout the year we are sending great Marketing books to our customers. For about 2 months after we send the book, we discuss it here on The B2B Lead.

Here are the steps we take:

• We hand write a short note in each book to help tell them why we chose this book and to make the exchange more personal.
• We also put a little notecard in the book to tell them a little more about the book and direct them to The B2B Lead to join in the conversation.
• I send an email to all of our customers about a week after mailing the books to tell them to expect the book to arrive shortly. This email also links to The B2B Lead where I have posted about the new book and which chapters we will be reading the next week.
• Every week two of us from the marketing department blog about the chapters we are reading.
• I email the author to let them know what we are doing and invite them to join the conversation.  These are often busy people but they are usually happy to help promote their book.

A book club isn’t ideal for every customer base but you should have a current customer program in place, even if your sales model is not subscription based. You of course always want to keep your customers happy for referrals, case studies, as well as cross-selling and up-selling opportunities.

When you begin a current customer program, start small. We started with Thanksgiving cards. Be sure to clean up your database to make sure that all of your contacts are still there and that you have correct contact information. According to MarketingSherpa, in house databases go bad at a rate of 2% per month, but who knows which 2%.

So far, we have had a great response from our customers and we hope to continue to grow the program to really create a community for smart marketers.