If you have sent off a marketing email, and then created a record for that lead in CRM, you can stop there until you receive a response from the lead. Once you do reach this point, it is a good idea to move on to Step 2, adding them to a mailing list.

If a prospect responds positively to a marketing email, meaning that they express interest in working with you, complement your work, ask for more details, etc… then you should add them to a mailing list. If they say something along the lines of “Thanks, but no thanks” then you can probably let that one go. But if they leave any door open, by saying something like “We’re all set for now, but I’ll let you know if anything changes in the future” - then that is still a good candidate to go on your mailing list. They can always unsubscribe after the first email they receive if they are not interested.

Organizing your Mailing List:

A mailing list can be as simple as an excel spreadsheet with a list of client names and email addresses, but it’s probably a good idea to take it further than this and add a bit more organization.

Consider having separate lists for actual clients, and people who are still just leads or prospects - as you may be communicating differently with these different types of people. You can also consider creating segments or groups within your mailing list, to further organize and divide up the members of the list. For instance, you can have a mailing list for all of your leads, and then have segments for “Hot Leads” and “Warm Leads” (Cold Leads probably don’t belong on the mailing list at all)

What Info to Store on the Mailing List:

Like with your CRM System, you can choose what information about each mailing list member you’d like to store. I recommend having the following fields on your mailing list:

First Name

Last Name

Company Name

Email Address

Email Address is obvious. I like dividing First and Last name into their own fields, and including Company Name for the following reason: Merge Tags. Merge tags are what allow you to customize your emails and address each recipient by name, it’s also nice to be able to refer to their company. So rather than saying “Hi Prospect! Check out my latest Commercial Demo….” you can say “Hey Tom, I recently updated my Commercial Reel and I’d love for you to take a listen and if you’re working on any projects over at ABC Productions that you think I’d be a good fit for…”

Step 3: Social Media

The final step you should take, after you’ve sent an email, stored the data in CRM, received a reply, and added the prospect to your mailing list, is to connect with the prospect on social media.