121 Direct Media

A New Approach

We’ll begin with the premise that you have some customers who are slightly loyal to your enterprise, that is to say that on at least one occasion they have bought your product, used your services, supported your cause, or given you their vote.  
And we will also assume that you wish to keep them as loyal customers, increase the amount of business they give you, make them less susceptible to “price promotions, “ or keep their vote.

Then you have come to the right place.  Our 1-2-1 interactive marketing programs utilizing the tools developed along with Zingboost.com will lead you down the road toward a culture of customer loyalty and engagement.

Strictly speaking “loyalty programs” don’t work – they are temporary at best – but a loyalty culture – a mind set that focuses lots of effort into the engagement and involvement of the customer with the product or service can make a large difference and reduce the effectiveness of price point competition.

A loyalty culture recognizes that not all customers are “created equal” and endowed with the same inalienable wants or needs.  A loyalty culture seeks to nurture a bond between an enterprise and her customers.

But before we get too deeply into the “how” you should read on about the “what” we are talking about in our commentary entitled “Sellus Interruptus.”

“Sellus Interruptus”

Or more commonly thought of in these days of media message bombardment as “Interrupt us to sell us.”  Let’s be honest here . . . most of us look at commercials as interruptions to our enjoyment of a program or music set designed (in many cases) to sell us something we don’t want, don’t need, or cannot afford.  It seems that every idle moment is now targeted by ad pitchmen demanding your attention even though our time to pay attention is scarce.

We recognize that it is more cost efficient for the advertiser to broadcast the same message to every consumer rather than engage any single consumer in a meaningful dialogue.  But we’ll say again that dialogue and involvement leads to loyalty for the more engaged the customer is with the product or service the less likely they are to stray based on price promotions.  
With cost efficient interactive technology your enterprise can take a step back and gain permission to “sell” things.  You can reward a customer for agreeing to receive your message of engagement.

We are not just talking about “online” here.  We have seen several companies invest heavily in “digital” advertising and not be any closer to knowing whether they have more customers or not.  They are no better off than the average mass marketer they just have a different set of numbers to stew over and decipher. There is more on this subject in our section called “Exposing Digital.”

But for now let’s explore how impersonal enterprise has become.

Nothing Personal

A long time ago . . . in a galaxy far far away . . . enterprises used to talk to their customers. They knew who they were, what they needed (in a general sense) and they cared about those needs and they had conversations. But then the mass market super market replaced the corner grocer, the big box home improvement store replaced the local hardware dealer and something was lost. The “personal touch” was gone and business became “nothing personal – strictly business.”

It is not hard to get that “personal” back into your enterprise. Today’s technology makes it easy – you just have to know how to apply it. We do. And many businesses have taken “half a step” in the right direction, but fail to go all the way. Read about some of those in our “Tales from the trenches.”

Know what to act on & act on what you know

Building a relationship with a customer does not mean “knee jerk” reactions of “OK, we’ll do it” to each and every whim that your customer might have.  However, you should not automatically write off any expressed want or need as stupid or overly indulgent.

But to not act on what you know that seems reasonable makes a mockery of the asking in the first place.  If you don’t change the way you treat some customers based on what you learn from those customers then you needn’t bother to waste the time learning.

Likewise if you don’t listen to the wacky ideas of the customers you may miss out on a significant business opportunity.  Potato chips always came in big bags until someone had the whacky idea to use small “individual” serving size bags and open up a whole new market for chips and snacks.  Think Frito Lay regrets listening?  Bet they don’t.

To Thine Own Self Be True

Be honest – don’t kid yourself.  You may have all the desire to create 1-2-1 relationships with customers and develop a loyalty culture, but there may well be too much standing in your way.  Too much baggage.  Too many old school obstacles.

Self assessment (a guide provided elsewhere on our site) and honest appraisal of the organizational and cultural abilities are key to remaking the enterprise into what you desire OR you can take Nike’s advice and  . . .