For today’s Marketing Monday slot, let’s talk about customer databases.
Data isn’t sexy. But if you know anything about Facebook and the Cambridge Analytica scandal, then the value of personal data is huge!
When you buy or sell a business, the customer database is the most valuable part. But, most photographers aren’t collecting data or using it to their maximum potential.
Why does Tesco love to give us Clubcard points? The kindness of their hearts? Hell no.
They track every purchase and with vouchers try to move you to a product that has a higher margin, or manufacturer rebate for them.
To build brand loyalty in our photography business we need to step up our marketing game. It doesn’t have to be expensive, in fact, the better the data quality, the cheaper the marketing.
What do I need in my customer database?
So, we run a family photography studio, what data should we be collecting?
For any family unit, we should know the basics:
• Names
• Contact Addresses, Telephone numbers, email addresses
• Birthdays
• Anniversaries
• Names of siblings, partners, etc.
Soft marketing that builds brand loyalty, is sending birthday cards, Christmas cards and other opportunities to stay in front of our clients. It doesn’t all have to be selling, but we have to stay part of the family and conversation.
✅ We can send dad easy gift ideas for mothers day (from ourselves and selected partners)
✅ We can send mum Christmas outfit ideas for Christmas mini sessions
✅ We can send cards and congratulations on important anniversaries and birthdays.
A good CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system such as Lightblue or StudioNinja can help us manage this data and run reports in a useful way.
GDPR.
The buzz word of 2019. There is no problem with having data on your customers as long as you use it in the ways intended. We have a legitimate business interest, as our customers have already interacted with us, so we can keep marketing to them and store their data.
ico.
I would recommend registering with the Information Commissioners Office, mainly to protect yourself and show you are complying with the regulations as far as possible. It’s easy to do and costs £40.
👇 Here is the link:
https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/data-protection-fee/
