Drip marketing works much the same way. By sending several promotional pieces to current and potential clients on a strategically timed basis, you keep your name in front of them and build share of mind. Drip marketing can be effective, but it should be just one part of your overall marketing strategy. Just as a well-diversified portfolio should contain uncorrelated investments, drip marketing should be combined with carefully developed and placed advertisements, media tactics, networking activities and a viral marketing plan (one that encourages individuals to pass on your message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in exposure and influence). After all, this is a people business, and nothing can replace a good networking and PR strategy.

A few years ago, I received a phone call from a distraught young planner. She had purchased a mailing list of 5,000 homeowners near her office and created a postcard announcing that her Web site was up and she was open for business. A certain type of financial planning was her "draw." She imagined people would visit her site to learn more and call her to get acquainted. But her phone didn't ring. A onetime mailing to a cold list with a small lackluster postcard was, sadly, a substantial amount of money down the drain.

It takes multiple impressions before your message takes hold and your identity sets in. First you must till the soil and plant the seeds. Then at strategic intervals, return to feed and water them. Over time, some of the seeds will germinate and produce fruit. Not all will grow, and each plant will bloom at its own speed. The successful drip marketer is a patient gardener.

Who do you want to attract? First you have to build a database of clients you want to cultivate. Develop an ideal client profile. Who are your best clients and what do they have in common? Describe your niche markets using demographics and psychographics. Demographics are the physical characteristics of a population such as age, sex, marital status, family size, education and geographic location. Psychographics are psychological characteristics of a group of people--conservative, adventurous, outgoing or controlling.

Check out www.epodunk.com to learn more about how to identify various target markets. The site offers community profiles and data such as "the fastest growing counties," "most liberal cities" and even "Starbucks per capita." Also take a look at the American Community Survey at www.census.gov. It offers information such as income, commute time to work, home value and veteran status. Finally, www.marketing.about.com/od/demographics contains a wealth of information.

Build your list. The best way to create your database is to think about who you know who (a) could refer business to you (b) could open doors for you (c) is a candidate for your services because they fit your ideal client profile, and (d) may be inclined to do business with you and/or may be receptive to your message.

Use community and association directories, the yellow pages (hint: start at the back and flip forward and you'll be surprised how many more connections you see), business cards you've collected over the years and friends of friends to build your "house list." Include people who will know you or may have heard of you. Consider adding people with a common affinity. For instance, if you love to fly-fish, look for stores and organizations where fly-fishing is the connecting thread. If you own a sailboat, add boat storeowners or yacht club members to your list. If you coach youth softball, scan the league directory for information and connections. If your niche is women executives, find out about trade association events and determine who the chapter leaders are via online search tools. You can purchase modular information about associations at www.marketingsource.com/associations. Also, check out www.jigsaw.com, an open source (contributor-driven) business directory.

Once you have created your house list, you want to build onto it. You could purchase a mailing list through a service such as www.infousa.com. You can search its database of 200 million people for free and select by name, by age, income, home value, lifestyle and more. You can buy lists of doctors, new homeowners, people who've just moved to a certain area, etc.

Choose a list source company that, like InfoUSA, lets you use the list more than once because you don't want to have to pay each time. Most list companies charge you even if you forget to repay by using "plants" in their lists, who send in any mail or e-mail they receive.

List brokerage services get their information from telephone directories, mail order buyers and subscribers, real estate records (deed and tax assessor), voter registration data, magazine subscriptions and survey responses. Usually, 10% to 20% of the names are undeliverable, since people move frequently.

The InfoUSA site also offers a list-enhancement service that might help you fill in missing pieces of information in your existing database such as phone numbers, mailing addresses, e-mail addresses and demographics.

Harness the best technology. Client Relationship Management (CRM) is a great way to organize contact information, pertinent client details and the people to whom you'll be drip marketing. Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express might be all you need, but many advisers prefer commercial contact management software like ACT! (www.act.com) or Goldmine (www.frontrange.com/goldmine). I've also heard good things about a Web-based solution, Salesforce (www.salesforce.com). In addition, several industry-specific programs, such as Junxure-i (www.gowithcrm.com) and ProTracker (www.protracker.com) can help you manage the drip marketing process.

If you want to learn more about using technology and the Web, I recommend Kip Gregory's book, Winning Clients in a Wired World (www.winningclientsinawiredworld.com), and the e-newsletter produced by David Drucker and Joel Bruckenstein, www.virtualofficenews.com. Whether you use an off-the-shelf program or a one-of-a-kind-solution, think ahead about how you'll use it to catalog essential data, segment groups and implement your plan.

Create your drip-marketing plan. Your drip-marketing plan should be tied to seasonal events such as springtime gardening, summer vacations, back-to-school shopping, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hanukkah. Scott Maxwell and Brent Hicks, two CFPs in Portland, Ore., commissioned caricatures of themselves in pilgrim attire on color postcards for Thanksgiving one year; they sent out custom-printed greeting cards the next. Norman Boone, a San Francisco CFP and his managers have been known to deliver cookies with a personalized note to VIPs on Valentine's day. Sheryl Garrett, a CFP in Shawnee, Kan., sent a Happy New Year letter, containing year-in-review highlights and announcing improvements for the coming year to her house list of 1000.

Create a drip-marketing calendar to get a clear overview of how and when to send your communications throughout the year, noting deadlines for promotional pieces you'll need to produce and send on the appropriate dates. Add in the seminars you'll be producing, the events you'll be hosting, the key meetings you'll attend and any periodical newsletters.

A communications grid is helpful. List the development date range, the item to be developed, the event date, the delivery or implementation date and who is responsible for seamless execution. To keep things manageable, you might create a quarterly campaign calendar for key groups by segment (clients, prospects, suspects, Centers of Influence, media-national and media-local).

Use a variety of media. The right mix of mail, e-mail, phone and face-to-face contact is important. Mail is the best way to send letters, postcards, newsletters, invitations, greeting cards, promotional gifts, flyers, brochures, special reports and reprints of articles in which you were quoted or featured. Web sites such as www.usps.com or www.cardstore.com provide fast, affordable ways to automate your mailings. Try www.amazingmail.com for full-color postcards that you can create and schedule to go out--to one person or specified groups--as much as a year in advance. Write to lscott@amazingmail.com for volume pricing and to set up an account.

E-mail is more appropriate for announcements, investment briefs, financial planning commentary, or an easy-to-read e-zine filled with interesting facts and business updates. You can also use e-mail to send an "in case you missed this in the recent news" note with a PDF of an article in which you appeared. Also use e-mail to send reminders about special events and article abstracts that spark curiosity and link back to your Web site.

You can use Word as your e-mail editor in Microsoft Outlook to create e-mail messages with standard PC formatting such as different colors, fonts and graphics. If you need more horsepower, Web-based e-mail programs, such as www.constantcontact.com or www.imakenews.com, can help you manage and create fancier messages. If you have a relationship with a turnkey Web site provider, such as www.advisorsites.com, you can use their technology to create branded e-mail that looks like an e-newsletter (their content or yours).

HNW Advisor offers an exciting, new e-newsletter service. You can customize one of their predesigned templates with your logo, photo and company information--and select the right level of prewritten content (there are mass affluent, high-net-worth and private client categories) and/or add your own content. This could be a boon for advisers who want to send a monthly e-mail presence with minimal fuss. The HNW product also provides real-time reports so you can see how many newsletters were opened, which articles were read and how many readers accessed your site from the e-newsletter. (Visit www.hnwadvisor.com and enter code A123 for a $50 discount.)

Phone calls are also a drip from your faucet. Follow up mail or e-mails or special offers and events with a call. Prepare a written script of what you or your staff will say. Then practice out loud until the delivery is natural and relaxed. Be sure to log all responses into your CRM software.

Face-to-face contact can be strategically coordinated "chance" encounters at high probability meeting venues. If you want to meet other small-business owners, for example, attend their meetings, exhibit at their conferences and write for their publications. If you suspect that Mr. Big will be at the charity ball, rent that tuxedo or dry clean that ball gown and go. If you volunteer for a worthy cause, look at your prospective client list and the information you've gathered to leverage your opportunities while doing so.

Develop your materials. Only send top-quality materials--such as a pocket folder that holds a well-written, visually appealing brochure; individual topic, single-page supporting material on your letterhead or branded one-sheet; reprints of articles that quote you, or which you have written, etc. Work with a marketing professional if you have doubts about the potency of your message or design impact.

Content is the essential ingredient in every marketing program. An effective and well-written value proposition describes the tangible results a client gets from your product or service. A weak value proposition elicits a "so what?" response, while a strong one creates a desire to learn more. Keep it conversational and get to the point using concise, specific language. However, shorter is not always better. If you deliver solid content that matches the needs of your target audience, they will keep reading--if you pull them along with strong verbiage, dynamic graphics, strong subheads and plenty of white space.

If you communicate in a meaningful way, your clients and others in your database will look forward to seeing your name in their mailbox.

Marie Swift is a marketing consultant and president of Impact Communications (www.impactcommunications.org).