June 24th, 2010
Customer loyalty matters, because selling more to current customers is easier and cheaper than finding and selling to new ones. Loyal customers tend to buy more, more regularly. And they will frequently recommend your business to others.
Public Relations, by definition, is how people think and feel about you. So if your PR activities are up to scratch, by default you’re going to have loyal customers.
Here are my PR tips for customer loyalty:
Understand the true purpose of PR. Effective PR is in large part about building trust and developing relationships. You want to create and maintain a strong feeling with customers so they are continually choose and recommend you.
Use PR to enhance your brand. I’m not talking logos and snazzy tag lines here. Branding that builds customer loyalty goes beyond what the eye can see. Great public relations builds brand at the emotional, gut-feeling, sensory and intuitive level.
Understand what your customers are paying for
You may think it’s your expertise. Yet the only way a customer can evaluate your expertise is through your credentials. What they can assess is positive outcomes. Did I feel good using this business? Did I feel valued? Just like the client I mentioned. He felt he could trust me – as his PR sat nav – to get him to where he needed to go.
Outcomes matter
Feeling valued and appreciated will only take you so far with customer loyalty. They need to see results and learn something from you to make it worth their while to continue as a customer. Here your PR activities need to involve showcasing the outcomes, or, if there’s a lag on results, being honest, explaining what you’re doing to get the right outcome, and reminding them what you’ve achieved for similar customers to maintain trust.
Posted in Marketing, Publicity | 2 Comments »
June 17th, 2010
I’ve decided to coin a new phase in PR & marketing speak. From now on, think about ‘customer embracing’ rather than ‘customer-facing’. After a weekend with Charles Melton Wines, I have felt embraced, applauded, saluted and valued. Far better than being ‘faced’, don’t you think?
All I’ve done is regularly buy over a dozen bottles of wine from Charlie each year – and by way of thanks he invited Tony and I to his 25 years in business bash. Over 240 customers flew in from around Australia, where Charlie and his team ran a social weekend of food, museum wine tastings, live music, dancing and more. All we had to do was get there and find a place to stay. The rest was on Charlie.
As a person with a passion for great wine, magical marketing and authentic PR, the weekend provided all three in abundance. Next time you’re thinking about your customers, check in and ask when you embraced them last. And for some great examples of testimonial and word-of-mouth marketing, check out the winery’s Facebook page from the weekend!
Posted in Inspiration, Marketing, Publicity | 2 Comments »
June 10th, 2010
One of the most enjoyable aspects of owning your own business is the creativity. It’s not the domain of creative ‘types, you don’t need to be a designer or an artist to get creative in your own business. Creativity helps distinguish you, turns customers into fans, and helps get attention from the media.
For example, The National Railway Museum (NRM) in the UK hired a six-year old as their “director of fun,” which led to nationwide overage on the BBC. The story wasn’t a gimmick, simply a great, creative PR response to a six-year old who’d applied to be director of the museum when he’d heard the encumbunt – Andrew Scott – had announced his retirement.
Sam Pointon wrote saying: ‘I am only 6 but I think I can do this job’. His letter explained that he was perfect for the job as he had been on lots of trains, had visited the NRM, and owned an electric train track on which he could control 2 trains at once.
Bosses at the NRM were so touched by Sam’s enthusiasm and determination that they decided to appoint him as their ‘Director of Fun’. Sam’s job will be to tell Museum bosses how he thinks they can make sure the NRM is the most fun place for kids to spend a day out.
View the full story on the BBC website.
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