Maya Angelou once said: People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. What do you feel is the most important factor in establishing personalized relationship building? How you make customer relationship marketing the most important factor is key.
Hands down the most important factor, in our opinion. Like making new friends. Assure customers that you are who you say you are is the foundation. It is becoming the most important element of social commerce.
“I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying.”
For some reason, many of us have been conditioned to be more afraid of failure than we are of inaction. However, failure, in addition to being inherently valuable as a learning process, contains within it the chance of success. And no matter how small that chance is, it’s better than the chances of success when we choose not to even try.
Have you noticed the growth in interactive marketing? How about personalized customer engagement? Lots going on in this field.
But what exactly is interactive marketing? The main ingredient of interactive marketing is being social. At its core, it focuses less on an immediate sale and more on building a relationship. Building relationships with customers by engaging them in conversation.
Customers are the lifeblood of any business, which is why companies often focus a lot of their efforts on continuously acquiring new customers. However, they fail to realize that what matters is not so much how many new customers you acquire but how many loyal customers you keep. It is also harder to acquire new customers than to retain old ones, which means that businesses must shift their focus to customer retention instead.
With the proliferation of social media and mobile phone use, opportunities have surfaced that make interactive marketing easier than ever.
So how are well-known companies putting it to use, and more importantly, how can you? Let’s take a closer look:
Jack Daniels and customer relationship marketing.
Customer relationship marketing … Jack Daniels wants your stories
Stories of intrigue, passion, and maybe a few chairs and tables flying. That’s what great bar tales are made of. Sensing that everyone loves a good story, whiskey manufacturer Jack Daniels invited users to share their wackiest, most unbelievable bar story. They then bundled them into a campaign it called “The Few & Far Between”
Some of the stories involve Jack Daniels, like the “200 Shot Salute”, wherein a well-liked bartender’s remains were cremated and added to shots. These shots were then consumed (knowingly) by patrons at his bar. Others don’t involve Jack at all, but are still funny and worth sharing. The brand doesn’t place itself at the center, but rather hovering in the background, but still noticeable and still in the back of consumers’ minds.
Key takeaway
You don’t have to put your product or service in the spotlight. With interactive content, simply inviting users to share a story from your particular industry can be enough to reinforce your own brand. What stories are your users waiting to tell?
Yoplait shows support to save lives
Every year, Yoplait yogurt donates 10 cents per specially marked pink yogurt lid mailed back to them, to the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation. Yoplait’s parent company, General Mills, is estimated to have donated between $35-50 million dollars since the movement started in 1997.
That adds up to hundreds of millions of lids sent in by customers, all for a great cause supported by them all.
Key takeaway
Support a cause that gets your customers involved too. If it is a national cause, then center activities on your local ones.
People are more likely to recommend your product or service to their friends if they can interact with it (i.e. mailing in lids) or even do so on a social basis (like or share) and see the impact of their action.
Related post: Social Media Platforms … The Magic Every Content Marketer Needs
Customer relationship marketing … Coca-Cola and social marketing
Coke’s wildly popular “Share a Coke with…” campaign replaced their iconic logo with popular names and invited consumers to share a coke with their friends.
The hashtag campaign #shareacoke on Instagram generated over 340,000 posts and enjoyed a 96% positive (or neutral) customer reception. That is the kind of numbers any brand dreams about.
Key Takeaway
Sharing a Coke with someone isn’t just about enjoying a drink. To Coke and its customers, it’s about capturing a moment in time and building a friendship. That something all social commerce wants to do.
And while you may not be a giant corporation, you can still add a personalized touch through brand incentives.
Much of the viral marketing that happened 2 summers ago surrounded the Ice Bucket Challenge, designed to raise money for ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease).
As a result of the ice bucket challenge, the ALS Association was able to raise over $79 million dollars while also spreading awareness and gaining exposure for this little-understood disease.
Of course, one of the biggest pulls were the celebrities who participated – tagging each other to see who would be next.
The virality of tagging pals to participate and video their reaction is what made the challenge so memorable for so many. Plus, it started in the hottest part of the year, so it was natural that people didn’t mind “cooling off for a cause”.
Key takeaway
Of course, you don’t need a major celebrity’s endorsement to start your own viral sharing challenge. Think about something simple, fun and do-able by just about anyone.
Whether or not they’ll have the same incredible success that the ALS Association saw remains to be seen, but the seeds of promotion have a chance. You’ll never know until you try.
The bottom line
The great thing about interactive content is how quickly it can spread, and how the concentration is on the customer and their response, rather than the brand and its benefits.
Creating such challenges, stories and relationships often involve little other than a great idea and a receptive audience. The direction is up to you.
What are some of the great examples of interactive marketing you have noticed? Have you used it in your own business?
Share your experiences and perspective with us below in the comments and let us know how it has helped you forge even stronger relationships with customers.
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.
