SmallBusinessNewz

Personally, of course, does not have to be too personal. You want people to understand that their purchases mean more than an authentication code spewed out of the credit card machine after approving their purchases.

Microsoft's Small Business blog at Office Live Community (sheesh, Microsoft, again with the mile-long names) asked a simple question: how do you get to know your customers?

It's an important competitive question these days. Competition means if you don't know them well, or make an attempt, another business may pull in that conversion regularly instead of you.

Are you asking for a birthday month and day in your signup material for marketing purposes? An emailed birthday greeting could work wonders at reinforcing an existing relationship.

Other ideas should come to mind based on the scope of your business. You don't want to be a nonstop presence in someone's mailbox or inbox, but you should be there when seasons, dates, or current events merit it.

Holiday weekends should be time to remind people of the merits of a tire checkup, for example. Heavy rains may be an opportunity to let customers know you're their for them if they need a plumbing repair, or tree removal.

There's a certain nimbleness needed with marketing this way. Technology helps, and we'd be remiss if we didn't mention email marketing as an effective avenue for delivering more personalized messages.

But you need information from your customers first. Take some time to offer them an optional way to provide it, and follow up when they do. It's brand reinforcement, and hopefully a continuation of the customer relationship. These days, every little bit helps.