Successful Blog

Four loyalty programs worth following

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By Diana Gomez

Every day I read about how to grow your business and expand your clientele. And sure, getting new customers is an important factor in any marketing tactic, but what about the ones you already have?

Hand with loyalty cards

One look at how phone companies are rethinking their treatment of already-loyal customers is proof that those are the ones who need attention. Don’t just give new customers the chance to get a new phone at a good deal. Offer those perks to the people who you already have on board, and they’ll be spreading the good news rather than telling their friends to steer clear.

Don’t limit yourself. Stop thinking of ways to get newbies when the key lies in your current customers — that is, if they’re satisfied. And they will be with a simple thank you. Reward them with experiences worth bragging about. Points-based loyalty programs are fine if the reward is clear, but it’s the reward experiences that will help grow your business via good old word-of-mouth, from your currently thrilled customers.

Here are some examples of companies that apparently get it:

Starbucks

It didn’t take much convincing for me when a cashier first told me how much I could save with My Starbucks Rewards. The idea is to download the app, which keeps track of every purchase. With each purchase, you get a star, and on the 15th, you get a free drink. Keep collecting stars and you can get extras at no cost. You know all of those adjectives we use to order a coffee? They cost money, and it all adds up.

So rather than pay extra for soy milk and vanilla, I accrued 50 stars and got all of that stuff for free. And it genuinely feels like I’m doing a friend a favor by informing them that their latte could be cheaper. Everyone wants a cheaper Starbucks coffee, don’t they? But get this: not only do you get rewarded for purchases through the app, but you can also make purchases within it and avoid the queue. Quite the game changer when you need a quick coffee en route to the office at 8:45 in the morning.

Orange

One of the most successful, widely used loyalty programs is offered by Orange. Formerly known as Orange Wednesdays, two-for-one Wednesdays have staying power with the deal of a deal: two movies for the price of one. Not only do you have to tell a friend (because you have to bring a friend), but that person will be equally enthusiastic about the reward of a free night out.

Wednesday is now a crazily crowded night at the theatre, but Orange also offers discounts on other events. From theatre to comedy to music, users get a chance to have all kinds of cheap nights out. Again, the idea of offering an actual experience proves effective in gaining loyalty. How many people stick with Orange solely due to the two-for-one deal? A lot.

KLM, and Most Airlines

Although airline rewards programs have been popular for years, they’re worth mentioning because it’s a tried and true example of how customers will keep coming back again and again if there’s a reward worth getting. And cheaper tickets, upgrades, and VIP treatment in airport lounges are definitely perks people want.

Sure, I can find a lot of great deals from a competitor, but wasting miles on an airline that I haven’t done a lot of business with is a no-brainer: I’d rather stick with the program I’ve built the most miles with. When those points accrue and inevitably pay off, it’s entirely worth it to get an entire free flight one day rather than a few slightly cheaper ones along the way.

Costa Coffee

So many people love a tangible rewards card, and the Costa Coffee card is a pretty popular one. Simply registering for a card alone will earn your tenth coffee on the house, and that immediate gratification is just the hook that will leave a customer instantly…hooked.

Keep using the card, and every nine hits gets you a free coffee. Sometimes, a simple free coffee is worth shouting about on a Facebook status. Anyone can give away things people may not need, but there’s a guaranteed smile in store for anyone whose day is made brighter by a complimentary cup of something that is entirely necessary for the day’s survival.

So there you have it. Follow in the footsteps of programs like these that have earned their own following and kept it, and you could very well see the numbers rise without spending a second focused on anyone other than the customers you’ve already snagged. Offer incentives that are actual experiences worth shouting about, and they probably will. People appreciate a thank you now and then, and showing that your company is generous will speak to your customers the most. Ultimately, the benefits will boomerang right back at you.

What loyalty program do you use the most?

Author’s Bio: Diana Gomez is the Marketing Coordinator at Lyoness America, where she is instrumental in the implementation of marketing and social media strategies for USA and Canada. Lyoness is an international shopping community and loyalty rewards program, where businesses and consumers benefit with free membership and money back with every purchase. Check out Lyoness on Twitter.

Why is SEO Not One of Your Top Priorities?

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aseo

Name your top priorities as a business owner.

There is a good chance items like keeping your finances in the black, hiring and retaining the best employees and having the best customer service going are among things you zero in on.

With that said, where does maintaining a strong SEO presence rank? Wait, you are not even up to speed on SEO for starters?

For those a little late to the game, SEO means Search Engine Optimization. If you are not familiar with it, take the time to get familiar sooner rather than later.

With more and more consumers turning to online browsing and buying, business owners must have a solid website that ranks high on Google and other search engines.

When that is not the case, your site can be hard to find in generic searches, oftentimes leaving your competitor/s to rake in the business.

Finding the Right SEO Agency

In order to get your SEO game on and rank at or near the top of your respective industry when consumers search online, working with a knowledgeable SEO Agency is a necessity.

With many business owners glued to their finances, employees and more, knowing how to pick the right SEO agency can be a daunting challenge in some cases.

Among the factors to look at include:

  • The agency’s history and reputation. Do they have a good record or a laundry list of customer complaints;
  • What kind of service are they going to offer and is customer service a top priority? Bad customer service can be detrimental to your company;
  • Does your SEO consultant/company stay on top of various changes in the industry? If they don’t, you could find yourself getting the necessary advice a day late and a dollar short. From content to links, stay on top of what Google and others do and do not like (see below), allowing you to create the best SEO plan.

Need to Change is Important

Just as you have to make alterations in how you run your business, it is also important that your SEO provider adapt to ever-changing Google moves.

Keep in mind that Google is continually providing updates to its search algorithm during the year, so your SEO expert needs to stay abreast of such changes. If he or she doesn’t, your search ranking will suffer for it.

While your SEO provider should know all the basics from A to Z, it doesn’t hurt you as a business owner to be clued in on important facets of SEO. Keyword research and density, important backlinks, relevant content and how often you update your website are among the items you want to stay on top of.

So, feeling a little more up to speed on SEO?

If you’re still facing questions without answers, consider some of these following benefits in having a strong SEO game plan:

  1. Website experience – You want consumers coming to your site to have a positive experience. If your site does not provide this, you may not see them again, but your competition likely will;
  2. Avoiding penalties – If your site’s content is stale and/or duplicative or has that spam feel to it, Google could very well hit you with a penalty that impacts your PR (page ranking). Once that happens, it can take some time for your site to get back to a positive PR;
  3. Optimization – Last but not least, having a site that is correctly optimized gives you the ability to enhance both your search engine visibility and also your stature within the online community. Google Analytics also allow you to get a better feel for who is visiting your site, therefore helping you customize your advertising and marketing outreach.

Making SEO a priority in your daily business tasks should not be an option, it should come as a necessity.

Photo credit: Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About the Author: Dave Thomas writes for a variety of websites on topics such as social media and marketing your business.

Life Lessons in Branding from Five Female Celebs

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By Diana Gomez

We’ve all heard the saying that there’s no such thing as bad publicity, but is it possible to go too far?

With information spreading farther and faster than ever, it can take just a few moments to tarnish a reputation, something countless celebrities have proven possible.

Here are five lessons we can learn from spotlight-seekers — and how to apply them to your own business.

artistic Marilyn Monroe face

Miley Cyrus: From Hannah Montana to Wrecking Ball

The baby-faced daughter of country star Billy Ray Cyrus won over our hearts as a Disney Channel star, but quickly grew into a magnet for scandal by getting high on camera, posing nude and engaging in X-rated antics onstage. While the star has alienated her loyal young fans and enraged protective parents, she’s whole-heartedly embraced her risky new image as a pop provocateur — going so far as orchestrating a fake storm of controversy surrounding her Bangerz tour.

Miley got the attention she wanted, but many fans have been left scratching their heads about what exactly she’s doing. Is she a marketing genius or just a hot mess? Either way, she’s standing on shaky ground.

Lesson learned: If you change your company’s image in a wholesale way, do it after careful consideration and full awareness of former customers you may alienate in favor of attracting new ones.

Sinead O’Connor: If you don’t have anything nice to say…

After being cited as an inspiration for Miley’s racy “Wrecking Ball” video, Irish singer Sinead O’Connor shot back with a series of open letters expressing her disapproval of the pop star’s actions. “You have enough talent that you don’t need to let the music business make a prostitute of you,” Sinead wrote in one letter. Miley responded by reposting a series of tweets Sinead had written two years earlier when she was seeking psychiatric help. Sinead followed up by demanding an apology and threatening Miley with legal action if she didn’t take down the tweets, saying she’d been subjected to media bullying.

This wasn’t Sinead’s first time in the hot seat. Most memorably, the buzz-cutted singer drew scorn for ripping up a photograph of the pope on Saturday Night Live in 1992. Her career fizzled out soon afterward, and her only headline appearances revolved around her personal life — most notably, a suicide attempt and a custody battle.

Lesson learned: Don’t start hurling criticisms unless you’re prepared to receive a few of your own.

Gwyneth Paltrow: Is honesty always the best policy?

When Gwyneth and her rock star hubby Chris Martin decided to separate, there was nothing quiet about it: The actress announced the split via her popular blog, GOOP. Gwyneth painted the divorce as a “conscious uncoupling,” then proceeded to explain their decision as a new, more progressive way of being in relationships. She may have been attempting to control the spin on the separation, but many people responded negatively, taking it as an example of how out-of-touch Gwyneth is.

Lesson learned: Tell the truth in times of crisis, but keep it simple. Spinning the story and adding details can dig your company into a hole.

Martha Stewart: Moving on

The world was shocked when domestic diva Martha Stewart was sentenced to five months in prison after lying to investigators about selling stocks. Ten years later, Martha’s media empire is still going strong — so strong, in fact, that it’s easy to forget about her prison stint altogether. Her magazines, books, TV shows and product lines are thriving. And while many doubted her ability to bounce back, Martha always knew she would.

“I was very confident,” she said in a rare interview with Matt Lauer last year. “When you know inside that you’re good, that you’ve done well, and that you are an honest person, you know you can live through disaster.”

Rather than focusing on the negative, Martha chose to remain confident and carry on with business as usual as soon as she’d served her term. And that approach has certainly worked out in her favor.

Lesson learned: If you suffer a setback, take the fall with grace and style, and your rebound will be that much easier.

Taylor Swift: The power of loyalty

Taylor Swift’s country-pop tunes dominate the airwaves, and it’s not just because they’re so darn catchy. The young star is frequently lauded as a marketing maven. For one, her ability to understand and cater to her massive fan base represents a valuable lesson in contact marketing.

And that connection with her fans is a huge part of her success.

Taylor is known for tracking down her most passionate followers and rewarding them with memorable experiences, and she’s extremely active on social media. When Taylor asks her army of fans to call in to radio stations and politely request her songs, you can bet that DJs across America are immediately bombarded.

Lesson learned: Know your audience, give them what they want and never take them for granted.

What other celebrities have stories with lessons that businesses can learn from?

Author’s Bio: Diana Gomez is the Marketing Coordinator at Lyoness America, where she is instrumental in the implementation of marketing and social media strategies for USA and Canada. Lyoness is an international shopping community and loyalty rewards program, where businesses and consumers benefit with free membership and money back with every purchase. Check out Lyoness on Twitter.

Photo Credit: kaneda99 via Compfight cc

Secrets of solving the customer’s problem

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The plumber told me I needed a drywall guy.

Then the drywall guy said he couldn’t remove the garage ceiling without the HVAC guy moving the ductwork.

HVAC guy noticed that the rat had chewed through some electrical wiring. Time to call the electrician.

Pest control guy came in and killed the rat.

You know who my hero is in this story?

Yes.

Pest control guy.

As a business owner, I work extremely hard to read between the lines when I’m talking to a new customer (or a potential customer). I want to be the rat-killer hero.

variety of contractor action figures

Listen First

“To a guy with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” Mark Twain

It’s tempting to fall back to your favorite solution every time a new customer approaches. However, if you want to be successful in the long term, you have to hear what the customer is telling you.

In my example above (true story), I wasn’t telling any of those contractors that I needed new drywall, revamped HVAC system, or rerouted electrical wiring. Yet that’s what was recommended to me in each case. I looked exactly like a nail.

An entrepreneur with staying power will be comfortable referring business to others, coming up with a tailored plan of action, or simply refusing business if the customer isn’t a good fit.

Make Sure You Have Many Perspectives

Nurture diversity of thought on your team. Assemble colleagues who will bring different experiences to the team, so that when a new customer comes in the door, you can offer a well-seasoned approach.

Solving the customer’s problem often requires putting yourself in his/her shoes. It’s much easier to do that if you have surrounded yourself with creative thinkers, and people from different backgrounds.

Help Them Even if You Can’t Help Them

Occasionally, a potential customer will require services you simply don’t offer. Rather than trying to “sell” them, offer to help them find a partner that will be a good fit. You will earn trust and gratitude, and build the foundation of a great business reputation.

Offer to help, even when there’s no obvious benefit on your part. That’s how you build “whuffie,” as described in Tara Hunt’s book, The Whuffie Factor. She says, “Individuals understand how to build Whuffie because every relationship is important to them – especially when they are starting out..”

In your next conversation with a customer or potential customer, stop selling drywall and start looking for the rat.

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Photo Credit: JD Hancock via Compfight cc

How To Over-Deliver by Setting Expectations

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When I was about 13, my family went on a camping trip. Canoeing, roasting marshmallows, and hiking were on the agenda.

Allegany State Park

“Hiking” as a concept is not generally something a teenager will be keen on.

In my case, I was definitely more of a “find a shady tree to read under” type of teenager.

The rest of the family wanted to do this hike, so they told me it was “just a short walk, no big deal.”

By mile 5, I was aware I had been bamboozled. (Turns out it’s about a 6 mile hike.)

You really don’t want to hike several miles with an irate teenager. I proceeded to make the rest of the day miserable for everyone, because my expectations had been thwarted.

Whenever you’re dealing with your customers, vendors, business partners, and employees, it’s all about setting expectations up front.

  • Is your service going to lift my revenue by 10% in one year?
  • Is the meeting going to last 15 minutes?
  • Are you going to send me 2 customers a month in referrals?

Whatever stake you put in the ground at the outset is going to determine whether the other party feels the relationship was successful.

The people who bungle this rule the most are sales people.

“No, termites aren’t a problem around here.”
“Sure, the software has that feature!”
“My workshop will change your life.”

Over-promising and under-delivering are a two-headed monster.

So how does a successful entrepreneur stop himself/herself from getting carried away?

  • Be specific in your claims
  • Back it up with real customer stories
  • Have a documented process
  • Connect the sales team with the development and customer service teams
  • If you’re talking with a prospect, paint a realistic picture of how your relationship will work
  • When you’re talking numbers, be aggressive but not dishonest. Don’t promise that you’ll get them the top slot on Page 1 of Google search results.
  • Ask your customer what their expectations are, right at the outset.

And don’t ever take your teenagers camping.

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Having Inconsistent Contact with Customers?

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acontact

You have a fantastic website that gives customers all of the information they need about your product or service. You may even have a blog to go with your website to provide further information or to answer questions.

However, many businesses often overlook the importance of one page: the Contact Us form.

Even if they include it on the site, they fail to maximize its potential.

Call to Action

Businesses often lack the knowledge on how to use call to actions to convert more customers by making the contact form a bigger part of the website.

It’s commonly added to the menu along with the other pages on the site. However, a link to the form should be included with all of your calls to action.

At the point where you invite customers to contact you, there should be a link that makes it easy for them to do just that. If they have to navigate from somewhere else, they may get distracted and forget to complete the action.

What Makes a Good Contact Page

After viewing your website, the Contact form is the next “first impression” that you make.

If someone is taking the time to contact you for any reason, you want to make it a positive experience for them. It should be easy to access and have personality, but it should not be cluttered. You don’t want your visitors to get bogged down with what is on the page and forget to actually make contact with you.

The problem with many standard Contact pages is that they are designed solely for functionality without thought about the people that will be using them.

As Howard Yeh, founder, investor and president of ContactUs.com says about the process of designing a contact form, “We approach the problems that websites face not just as web developers, but as online marketers, experienced lead-generators and sales account managers. And with that mindset, we’ve built both features and data solutions to make those jobs easier.”

You want to look at your Contact page as a marketer.

Does it provide a warm welcome and then a call to action that visitors will understand?

It should also be short and efficient.

Collect the necessary information to provide an accurate and thorough reply but don’t waste your visitors’ time filling out unnecessary fields.

Multiple Avenues to Reach You

While some customers will feel more comfortable with the idea of sending out a message or email, others still prefer a phone call.

A contact link should be visible on all pages right in the area where it does the most good.

On some pages, this may be as a sidebar while on others; you might want it right below a product or list of services you provide.

An effective Contact Us form is one that converts your visitors into customers. It is included as a way to help you establish new relationships and continue to grow current ones.

Make sure your contact page is working for you.

Photo credit: Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About the Author: Joyce Morse is an author who writes on a variety of topics, including content marketing and small business.