Recently businesses have started tallying up what they spend to get each customer. One car dealership estimates every new customer costs at least $100 in advertising. An e-commerce firm figured out by the time they advertise and gave away free things to get customers, the cost is $250 per customer.

This illustrates one of the biggest problems businesses have. Generally, when we think of building bigger profits, we think about getting MORE customers. That isn't the whole picture. For bigger, quicker profits, also market to the customers you already have.

It would be great if your marketing hit the consumer and instantly persuaded her to buy from you now, but the process is almost always more complicated. Here's why focusing entirely on new customers can bleed your marketing budget dry with little sales to show for it.

STEPPING TO A SALE

Before anyone buys from you, they have to step through at least four stages. 1. You get their attention (the toughest stage of all since we are bombarded with hundreds of marketing messages every day). 2. Get the prospect to think about your offer. 3. Have the prospect make up their mind to buy from you. 4. Then the prospect must take ACTION to buy from you.

All four steps take marketing effort on your part. Each step can represent another ad you need to buy to march your prospects toward a sale.

Even after someone buys, they may not come back to buy again. Studies show many people can't accurately remember where they bought things several weeks after the purchase. Meanwhile, current and past customers are the easiest to sell again.

All this clearly leads to the need for you to stay in touch with customers you already have. Also include in this group hot prospects who have shown an interest in your business in the past. These are the most targeted and willing audiences you will ever find.

BUILD YOUR HOUSE LIST

Start right now to make a list of people who have bought from you in the last week, during the past month, over the past six months, and within the past year. The idea is to develop different list so you can send just the right offer to interest and motivate them.

If you clearly see that a big group buys one product or service while another group goes for a different offer, divide your customers up along these lines. You can double, triple, and quadruple your response rate by making your ads zero in on just what a customer or prospect is truly interested in buying.

Here is how this works. Meredith's sewing shop includes two major groups of customers: people who buy supplies to make crafts and people who like to design and make their own cloths. Some of the crafters only come in around holidays. Others are more active during winter months when they spend more time indoors. A large group of those who design their own cloths have no interest in crafts.

Meredith can develop specials, new products, and offers to deeply interest each of her main  groups of customers. The seasonal crafters can get her mailed flyer one month before each major holiday and two months before Christmas. Others get her information monthly or only during winter months.

You can use any database program to keep your lists organized. Most word processing programs include a basic database feature, or you can use a more specialized program like Microsoft Access.

AFFORDABLY MARKET TO YOUR LIST

The main reason for working your in-house list of customers and hot prospects is to keep your business in their minds. These days people have LOTS of options to spend their money on, even when buying specialized products and services.

If you live in a city of any size, there  are anywhere from a few to dozens of businesses selling the same things you do. There may be thousands more on the Internet that can take your customer's credit card order and deliver the product within a few days.  If you don't work to stay in the minds of your customers, others will.

But how do you work your list without taking out a major loan from the bank? Sticking stamps on thousands of letters can add up in a hurry.

Smart marketers who have come before us have endured all the trial and error to give us two good answers. Thousands have found their best low-cost marketing tools for working an inhouse list are postcards and email.

Postcards are cheaper than letters to send and don't require the customer to open an envelope.  Having no envelope is a BIG advantage. I didn't fully appreciate this until I watched my neighbor pull his mail out of the mailbox, walk over to his trash can, and start to drop letters in after only a momentary glance at the envelope.

Put a color photo or graphic on one side of your postcard. The other side should have your main offer in a bold, black headline. Follow it with a deadline for the offer. Busy people may put off buying and soon forget about you. Your postcard offer will never be more powerful than it is right now when the customer has it in his hands.

Finally, be sure to briefly tell people how to buy from you. List your web site, phone number, store location, and email address.

Building an email list is even easier and almost free. Unlike a postcard, your email messages can contain just as much information as you want them to. BUT, be careful how you gather addresses.

Get a free list management service like http://www.eGroups.com  or http://www.Topica.com  Both will give you a  form to put on your website to gather email addresses. You can also place a printed form in your office or store so that customers can request to get on your list. Make sure you keep the form they filled out in case there is ever a question.

Email messages tend to work best if they offer helpful information along with brief advertising messages. I put a short article with tips my customers will appreciate right at the beginning of the message, then follow it with a short ad.

There's an old saying that 80 percent of your business will come from 20 percent of your customers. Building your own inhouse list and marketing to it consistently will allow you to pull even more business from people who have already proven they like to buy from you.

Kevin Nunley provides marketing advice and copy writing for businesses and organizations. Read all his money-saving marketing tips at http://DrNunley.com/   . Reach him at kevin@drnunley.com or (801)253-4536.