Dr Jeff Cornwall

We had the pleasure of welcoming Clint Smith, who is co-founder of an e-mail marketing business called Emma, to one of my classes this week. Just four years old, this Nashville-based business has had impressive growth. At first glance it would seem that they must have built their growth using their own systems — that is, through e-mail marketing. However, this is not the case, as their system is based on permission — it is not a spam model. Their system is designed to take contacts that a business already has, and develop a customized system to communicate with them through e-mail. Therefore, as Emma is a new business, they did not have existing businesses to e-mail to. Therein was their challenge.
The approach Clint and his co-founder Will Weaver took to marketing was efficient (like any good bootstrapper strives for) and personal. Clint refers to the personal part of their approach as “karma marketing.” They also clearly understood their target market, and designed all of their efforts toward reaching those clients.
The founders of Emma defined their customers from the very beginning as small business and non-profits for which “style” matters. They targeted specific types of business that fit their profile, such as design agencies, non-profits, artists, music venues, universities, and “cool stores and hangouts.” And they targeted cities where they believe that style matters.
They filled their message with wit and humor, and made it have a personal feel. Here is an example from Emma’s website from one of the profiles of a staff member (and former student of mine):

Sara works with small businesses who’ve expressed interest in using Emma to help interact with their customers or members. “We’re interested,” they may have said, sometimes adding an exclamation point on the end for emphasis. And so Sara gives them a tour, often regaling them with tales of Nebraska along the way. Did you know they have a replica of Stonehenge made out of cars? Carhenge. Kid you not. Sara wields a degree in Music Business and Marketing from Belmont University, where she was a member of the (nationally ranked) Belmont Speech and Debate Team and the Belmont Service Corp and the Student Advisory Board and president of her student council in high school. It really is amazing what you can learn about people when you actually read all the way to bottom of their resumes.

Surprisingly, they use very traditional print media for much of their own marketing efforts. They send out postcards to targeted businesses and they use print ads in alternative weekly newspapers. They do some advertising on local public radio stations, as this is the best outlet for their target customer profile. They also go to their target cities and set up events and “chats” at popular local watering holes, inviting existing customers and prospects.
Emma builds good “karma” with existing customers with techniques that are simple, personal and powerful, building strong customer loyalty along the way. Here are some of their tools:
– Visa gift cards (with the Emma logo on it) for referrals, sent in hand written thank you notes
– Free Emma tee shirts for any customer who asks for one
– Discounts for anyone who takes Emma with them to a new employer (called “friendly discounts”)
– Sponsorship for selected customer events
They also have a program called “Emma Twenty-five”. Each year they ask existing customers to nominate non-profits that need Emma’s system, but cannot afford to pay for it. Emma picks the twenty-five most worthy and gives all of them free e-mail marketing services to keep in touch with their contact base — and they get this for free for as long as they need it.
Why is Emma so successful? They know who their customers are and how best to reach them. Once Emma has them as clients, they find as many ways as they can to make them feel good about working with Emma — they focus on building loyalty through building “good karma” about Emma as a service and as a company. And they work hard and have fun doing it. A good formula for any small business trying to grow.