Customers have seen and heard enough. People don’t buy from you just because you invested in an ad. Don’t focus on attracting customers if you don’t have a plan to retain them. Loyalty is the new currency. Loyal (and repeat) customers are the ones who keep your lights on and doors open, and are most likely to advocate for your brand.
Intense loyalty is what drives Apple’s revenue. That kind of extreme loyalty inspires confidence in others, which in turn drives new sales. In the three months of Q2 2015, Apple sold an incredible 61 million iPhones. That’s up from 43 million iPhones during the same quarter in 2014 and is the second-biggest quarter for iPhone ever.
“Be undeniably good. No marketing effort or social media buzzword can be a substitute for that.” — Anthony Volodkin, Hype Machine founder
Of course, not every company is Apple. Your product probably can’t do all the talking. Your business wins when you focus on attracting loyal customers instead of emphasising traditional marketing. Putting together a good retention strategy will lead to increased customer profitability. An insane focus on pushing marketing messages to your target audience doesn’t work anymore.
“Good marketing makes the company look smart. Great marketing makes the customer feel smart.” — Joe Chernov
Customer education is the new marketing. One of the best ways to establish and reinforce common values to attract and retain customers is to create highly educative and epic content that’s so highly specific to your industry that it defines not only your brand, but the customer. Buffer is doing exactly that. And guess what it’s working and they are one of the authorities on social marketing education.
“When you start with what’s at stake for the buyer, you earn the right to their attention.” — Jake Sorofman
Companies that can boast of great success in their customer retention endeavours often have one thing in common though — great customer service. Retaining customers starts from within. Are your employees delivering the best service…ever? Your customers are the best to judge.
“News of bad customer service reaches more than twice as many ears as praise for a good service experience.”- White House Office of Consumer Affairs
Can your customers honestly say they are getting the best value for money from you? People don’t stay where they aren’t valued. You may be losing customers because of how you treat them. Everyone wants to have a home. When people feel at home, they connect. Get them talking and they will tell you how they feel about your brand. Brand loyalty has always been driven by emotional engagement. Start engaging your customers today.
“The only people who care about advertising are the people who work in advertising”– George Parker
Give people a reason to buy from you.
Make every offer and every ounce of content relevant and engaging to the people — living, breathing, individual human beings. Don’t sell me your products and services. Teach me how to buy them. Show me how they will make my life and work easier, simpler, and more meaningful. Be critical to my mission, and I’ll be ready to invest in you.
Loyalty is a relationship. If you want to attract customer fans, be a fan of your customers as best you can. Listen and respond to feedback, and offer help and advice — don’t simply sell; have real conversations with your customers. Business is personal. Focus less on automated technology and more on empathy.
