9 ways to stand out with your marketing and create better customer experiences this year
What are you going to do this year to stand out with your marketing and create better customer experiences? Today, I’m going to gift you 9 ways to do just that. Remember, if you don't give your target audience something to talk about, they're not going to talk about you!
Start with looking at your customer journey online and offline. Notice all the different areas along the journey, not just at the lead generation where most businesses are focusing. Look at it throughout. From the first contact to asking for the referral to creating those loyal fans that keep buying from you over and over again. Are you creating immersive experiences that are using all of the senses to really get them engaged and keep you top of mind? Wondering how do you do this? Let's talk about different ways!
Packaging: This takes a promotional item from being a giveaway that has a lower perceived value, to a gift that has a higher perceived value, and it adds more excitement. Think about when you receive a gift…how does it make you feel? Are you excited, curious, happy?
2. Surprise and delight them: Purposefully create special moments along the customer journey to surprise and delight them which will create loyalty to you. Do limited-edition items, rewards, welcome kits, thank-you, birthday and anniversary gifts, VIP specials, and bonus items to give you some ideas. Think through the customer journey from your client’s eyes and ask yourself how can I surprise and delight them then add it!
3. Branded items: I know what’s hot and what’s not in the branded item, swag, merch, whatever term you use marketing space. Put your branding on an item that is hot AND that’s in alignment with your brand and your customer’s journey. Did you know that multi-functional items are hot and so are tech items, especially tech that goes with smartphones? If you incorporate these items into your customer journey, you are not only going to stay top of mind and induce the law of reciprocity, but your customer helps you get more eyeballs on your brand and that will help you grow your business.
4. Retail look: Branded items with a retail look or one that’s on the retail market give your brand a higher perceived value. When you brand these items, you are perceived as high quality, fashion-forward, trendy, and fun. People want to be associated with that and want to own that. Give them what they want!
5. Feel good apparel: That's organic, eco-friendly apparel. Apparel that's made from recycled water bottles. Apparel that is saving the earth. People want feel-good fabrics and they also want to feel good in their fabrics when wearing their clothing. They also want apparel that is visually appealing that has more textures, colors, stripes. These items are getting a lot of attention and if they have a gadget pocket, that's a bonus.!
6. Personalize your customer’s experience with you. Randomly ask them what’s their favorite candy bar and put that info. into your CRM. When they have something going on in their life when they are feeling down, you can make it better by putting together a little chocolate basket with their favorite candy and give it to them. Make it personal, show you care, and make them smile!
7. Handwritten cards: You should know by now that I am a huge proponent of handwritten cards. They make you memorable and it’s the first piece of mail that is opened. They are kept because it makes them feel good that you took the time to write it and we’re thinking about them. A handwritten card drives that relationship forward and builds it deeper.
8. Add nostalgia: Bring them back to their childhood. What was going on in their life when they were younger? Metal lunchboxes? If so, we can create a survival kit or a welcome kit out of one for you to give to them. You can do a Rubik's Cube. Think, what did your customers play with when they were kids. Bring in that experience and bring them back to the feelings and memories of when they were kids.
9. Give it to them faster! Most people want it yesterday so it’s important that you are delivering as fast as possible. Automate everything you can. If there's a way for you to increase your service and products to get there faster, do that.
Weave all of these things together into a customer journey that knocks their socks off! This will drive your business forward and your relationship deeper with your clients. Please share this out so you can help me with my mission of helping more people grow their business and build deeper relationships. I would love to see what you're doing for your customer’s experiences. If you have any questions, need help with your marketing, etc. I'm always here to help. Do me a favor, if you found this valuable please share this out. We are on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Youtube, and Twitter. Follow us on your social media network of choice.
Hugs and high 5's,
Shana Anderson-Nute
P.S.
1.Don't forget to follow our blog. That's where you're going to get these types of tips to help you with your business every time they’re posted.
2. Don’t have a marketing calendar? I have you covered! You know that people with systems have the greatest success. Click on the image below to download my FREE Monthly Marketing Calendar Worksheet. I’ve made it easy to plan out your monthly marketing activities.
Enter what marketing activity you’ll do and when
List your top 3 priorities that month
The theme you’ll create that month’s marketing around then follow your plan.
When the month's done, evaluate it and tweak what's not working.
Don't forget to check out our previous blog post:
• I'm not a mind reader so how can I figure out what's going on in your head?