In all the blogs and articles I read about marketing, one aspect is missing. It's what I call part 2.
Basically, you've got them in the store, now what?
In many ways, that moment when they are in the store, your actions are marketing, though some may call it customer service.
In retail it is pretty obvious and the contrast is sharp. About a week ago, I went to Sonic to indulge in a forbidden fruit - the blended root beer float. I left without my float after 20 minutes of waiting. While I could claim a conspiracy involving my doctor, my girlfriend and Sonic, I think they simply were unable to handle the customer load - which didn't seem all that heavy to me.
A recent trip to a nail salon with my girlfriend - yes I like pedicures - resulted in a 45 minute wait before they started on us. And there wasn't even an apology for the wait.
By contrast, I've recently moved to Mt. Juliet and for the first time have begun shopping at a Publix. In every department, there is an employee asking how I'm doing, if I'm finding everything, or if I need help with anything. There is a strong feeling that the employees want me in that store. It was impressive to the point that I e-mailed corporate about their excellent service.
But there's something to this in any environment. In the newspaper industry, I once had a sales rep who made a comment about an advertiser along the lines of, "Oh it's ok. They are already running in the paper." Bad, bad, bad.
We all all understand and talk about customer service, yet in practice we often don't go the extra mile. Yes, an existing customer is an excellent source for new business, but only if you treat that customer well, which our sales rep was in danger of not doing.
Think of customer service as an actual investment in marketing. I'd suggest making it part of the marketing plan.
A few years ago, I did some PR work for a retail chain in New England. The company was Boomer McLoud and it was a chain of independent car stereo installers and retailers. One of their internal catch phrases was to provide "outrageous customer service."
If you decided to install a new set of woofers or subwoofers yourself, and got stuck, you could call a Boomer McLoud installer and he'd talk you through the problem for free. That time was considered a marketing expense. The free wiring harness that cost $3 or $4 was considered a marketing expense. It was all designed to build brand loyalty.
In my own business of copywriting, I'll be honest. To say I don't desire billable hours would be like playing Fantasy Land. So I market myself hard.
But there's something else. When you make a decision that you need a copywriter and you give me a call for that first project, I work like there's no tomorrow on that project...I will try to do an outrageously good job on the project. Why? So you'll call me again. And again. And again.
There are a lot of freelance copywriters out there. Just like there are a lot of grocery stores, car stereo shops and places to get blended root beer floats.
The ones who are poor at marketing to existing customers (in other words, customer service) will fail. The ones who are OK at it will do just that - OK. The ones who are excellent at it will gain much more than the others in repeat business.
And they'll have the added value of word of mouth and positive recommendations.
Call it what you want, but this level of "in the shop" marketing should be a big part of your marketing plan, and not just dumped under a general phrase of customer service.
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