Show Your Human Side With Gratitude
Small business has changed in the hearts of Americans today. People are gravitating back to local shops and businesses. Why? Because they don’t want to buy from a business. They want to buy from people.
What does this mean for your marketing?
It’s time to be more human in your marketing. Be more personable in your email campaigns, your social media campaigns, and even in the types of sales you have. Striking the right balance of professional and personable can be difficult if you are used to the old formulas of attracting customers. As Thanksgiving approaches and we are all counting our blessings for this almost normal year, let’s consider how much gratitude can play a role in helping your customers keep coming back.
5 Ways To Show Your Gratitude
1) Celebrate Your Anniversary
As a business owner, your business anniversary is a great time to look back at how far you have come, how much you have grown, and how much you have overcome. Take this introspection a step further and email your current customers, thanking them for their support. Let them know how much they are appreciated and that you know your business would not be the same without them.
Make it personal. Share a story or two about ways their support got you through a tough time. After the past couple of years, most of us have a story or two to share.
2) Reward Your Highest Spenders
You have heard it before, eighty percent of your sales come from twenty percent of your customers. Create a campaign just for these customers. You can host an exclusive event thanking them personally for their support and offering discounts for the day. If an event feels like too much, consider handwritten cards they can present within a certain time frame to receive their discount.
Your main goal in rewarding your highest spenders is to make them feel special and appreciated.
3) Celebrate Your Employees
Celebrating your employees has two benefits. First, it helps you retain your employees by showing them how much you appreciate them. Second, it shows your customers and potential customers a more human side of your business.
People respond to business owners who treat their employees well. Celebrate the big things such as birthdays and work anniversaries, but also celebrate the more personal things such as your young employees who make the Principal’s Honor Roll or other employees who have achieved something special in their lives. Maybe they ran a marathon, went back to school to get a degree, or have been volunteering at a local shelter.
Your employees are amazing! Let your customers see that on social media.
4) Reward Your Biggest Fans
One new phenomenon that we have seen in the past few years is that our biggest fans are not always our biggest spenders. Consider the people who always comment on your social media posts, share your newsletter with friends, or show up at every single event. You may not realize it but these fans represent a huge opportunity for you. They are the people who can provide you with the best user-generated content.
Create an ambassador program for these individuals. Give them first dibs on the hottest new items in the store, host a sneak peek evening just for them, or highlight them on your social media as an ambassador. This is an easy way to turn a fan into a brand evangelist and this is a powerful way to show your customer base that you notice your customers in a positive way.
5) Use Social Media
So often, I meet with a new client to discuss their branding and they tell me how they wish people knew… They wish people knew how good their customer service is, how creative they are with their cocktails, or how they have a way of getting products to market ahead of the competition. One thing they don’t say is that they wish people knew how much they appreciate their customers, their employees, and the community.
You can change that. Create a social media campaign that runs throughout the year highlighting all of the things you appreciate about being a business owner in your community. Do you love how everybody shows up to support the local high school sports? Does your face light up in the morning when you hear the first customer walk through the door? Does it warm your heart when a customer shares personal stories about how your business has changed their lives? Create a list for yourself and share these stories throughout the year. Might we suggest that you use video to make it even more personal and effective?
Gratitude goes a long way toward making your life personally better. Study after study has proven that. But it goes even further with your customers and potential customers. Gratitude helps people see that you are indeed a local small business owner and you need and appreciate their support.