What I want to look at today is a concept called appreciation marketing. It’s a type of marketing that’s done by showing appreciation for your customers or clients. Before we get into it, there’s a couple of things you must first think about:
1. Definitely have the right mindset. It is incredibly important to be genuinely thankful for your clients and customers. I know we’re all thankful for them to some degree, but it’s paramount for you to come across as genuine when you’re showing appreciation. If not, you might seem insincere and cheesy, and your marketing efforts can actually have the opposite effect from what you intended.
2. It’s important to break your clients up into different categories. For example, you can categorize them by how much they’ve spent with your company. You might have large, medium, and small clients in this case. This doesn’t apply if you only have one major product or service. However, if you have a thousand different customers and a lot of price points, be sure to segment them. Doing so can help you create different appreciation marketing campaigns depending on which type of client you are targeting. For larger customers, you may choose to add a personal touch when marketing to them, while a more automated approach is recommended for smaller clients.
Keeping those considerations in mind, let’s go over some ideas for appreciation marketing:
– Host a special exclusive event for some of your best clients. It’s a great idea on its own, and oftentimes you’ll actually gain more business during these events through referrals. Special events can also help increase the retention rate of your clientele as a whole.
– Give gifts. This is an easy one, but I want to encourage you not to use this tactic during the Thanksgiving/Christmas season. It’s a little bit less effective at that time because of how busy everyone usually is. Your appreciation marketing efforts will stand out more if you schedule gifts randomly or maybe during another holiday that is not as prominent. One example would be giving flowers to all the moms on Mother’s Day. You can create a buzz or some excitement because the gift is so unexpected.
– Give an extra product or service without asking for payment. Including a bonus with your customer’s latest order can go a long way. Obviously you want to make sure that the gift makes sense for your particular product or service.
– Send your best clients personal notes via snail mail on birthdays, holidays, etc. I’m talking about a hand-written note or something that can add a huge personal touch. For smaller clients, you can use email instead. By the way, remembering the birthdays of your clients’ kids will make you look really good. And nowadays, you can easily send a birthday card or even a small gift through social networking platforms like Facebook.
In closing, appreciation marketing will increase your business. Not to mention it’s very fun and rewarding to do. So go out, take action, and make it happen today!
