More about building relationships

You may remember my post recently about marketing and building a personal relationship with your list. I was reminded of that today simply because it's my birthday.

There's nothing that really makes my birthday any more or less special than anyone else's, but today, between all the cards and letters I got from friends and colleagues, I was made to feel that it was. What made it different from any other year were the number of ecards and emails I got from fellow marketers whose lists I had signed up for.

So how do a few birthday wishes relate to the business world? Well, I may not be an expert marketer, but I am an expert consumer, and I can tell you this. Every birthday wish from every list owner told me something. Each one of them has gone the extra mile to make me feel like a VIP. It doesn't matter whether they pre-programmed the auto-responder to send out a birthday email or if they checked a calendar and sent it themselves, they still took the time to add the personal touch to their marketing campaign. I may not have been personally from them, but it was personally to me.

It was so refreshing, too. Not one of those ecards or emails had a sales presentation. Just a "Happy Birthday, Sheri. We hope you have a great one.", and many variations on that theme. So, who do you think I will buy my next script or software package from? Obviously it will be one of those astute marketers that sent me birthday wishes today. The only difficult part for me will be choosing between them all.