Do You Heart Your Customers? ❤️

Heart your customers

Dear Reader,

Fast—What’s your first reaction when I say Valentine’s Day?

• Love for the special someone in your life,
• Red construction paper hearts with crayon notes, or
• Excuse (Oops, I meant “reason”) for a last minute marketing promotion ?

While this red heart shaped holiday rings up sales for roses, candy and jewelry:
Research reveals most people would prefer to spend time with their special loved one! 

Further professionals agree that spending time together enhances relationships, especially if you talk about what you want from it!

But beware, if your relationship is headed for the rocks, Valentine’s Day may be the breaking point.

So why do we need to buy symbols of our love instead of spending time together?

Maybe millennials have it right, at least for Valentine’s Day:
Choose experiences over things! 

Don’t worry—This is a marketing newsletter and I’m still a marketer.

Instead, walk away from your computer, when you get the overwhelming feeling to use every possible holiday and hook to promote your products and services!

Beyond appearing desperate for sales, it uncovers a deep misunderstanding of marketing!

Because:
You don’t know your customer!

Advertising legend David Ogilvy said it best:

“The customer isn’t a moron. She’s your wife!”

Take a moment to consider how to make a person feel better for paying attention to your message. Ask yourself if you truly heart your customers.

What would it take?

Imagine how you would change the message if your special loved one read it. What would you want for them?

The core of marketing is “Know Your Audience”. Beyond easy-to-define demographics and other visible traits, take the time to talk to your prospects and understand what they want and need.

Keep digging deeper until you discover what makes them different with regard to your business. 

Why?
So you can tailor your marketing to them. And, more importantly, they know it could only have come from your firm.

As a young girl, instead of handmade red hearts, I dreamt of a Valentine’s Day filled with velvety thorn-free roses, rich over-stuffed chocolates, and glittery gem-studded jewelry.

While I’m fortunate to have gotten these gifts and more, none of them has ever come from my husband on Valentine’s Day.

It’s not for lack of resources or imagination—rather he doesn’t feel that they convey his love appropriately.

And neither should you! 

Does this mean my husband loves me less than the men who gave these holiday-signaled gifts?
No. 

Rather, he knows that love doesn’t mean thoughtlessly signing for more-expensive-than-usual symbols of love. 

And you should too whether it’s your special person or your customers!

So what does this mean for your marketing?
ALOT!

While on vacation in Asia recently, we had some exceptional customer experiences!

By their nature, hotels provide customer experiences. But stays can be amazing or lacking the basics!

Among the above and beyond customer experiences were:

• The IroHa Hotel in Phnom Penh. The manager took us for a blessing by Buddhist monks before we visited the Killing Fields.
• The Ancarine Resort in Phu Quoc. We were offered an extra late checkout without charge to enjoy a few more hours on the beach.
• Chez Mimosa Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City. The manager arranged a special cooked meal when we arrived after 11:00pm.

The staff at these 3 hotels were educated and did their best to make our stay in their city special. When we left, the staff hugged us. Further, all of the staff at each hotel wanted to be included. And this took place in otherwise reserved cultures.

By contrast, a few weeks later, I stayed at a big brand hotel chain in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Since I was attending a conference, I chose the main hotel attached to the conference center. Despite the brand loyalty points, my non-cancellable reservation cost a lot more than other equally close options. 

Even worse, the big brand customer experience was anything but special. 

• No desk staff could offer me a street map of Chattanooga or help me see the local sights. While I didn’t rent a car, I was willing to pay for sightseeing.
• The lobby Starbucks closed at 1:00pm. When I asked for another Starbucks, none of the front desk staff could provide this information. Finally, a woman emerged from another area and gave me other alternatives.
• The hall carpeting outside my room had plastic taped to it for the entire week! When I asked about it at the desk, no one knew why it was there or when it would be removed.

To put this in context, in the US, southern states are known for their manners and hospitality. But the staff at this hotel never got the memo. Nor did they think to use Google, a major sponsor of the conference!

The saving grace from a customer perspective was its low level staff.

• In addition to giving better advice on dining locations and directions, one attendant drove me to a local restaurant in the hotel van when I asked him if it was safe to walk. 
• On my last night, unprompted, the night handyman brought me a pitcher of whole milk when I said that I didn’t like using cream from little plastic cups. 

To add to the less-than-stellar service, I received a computer-generated email wanting to know about how the hotel could improve their service.

So what do I recommend to improve your marketing? 

• Have senior management visit every location as a consumer. They should use personal credit cards and not announce their visit to get the full customer experience. Also have the most senior executive regularly walk the halls and engage with employees and customers.
• Train customer facing staff. Give them permission and guidelines to go off script to provide better customer experiences.

While you’re taking care of your honey and your customers, don’t forget to take care of yourself! Attending conferences and training are a great way to accomplish this!

Consider these events:

► Social Media Marketing World, either live or virtually. While I won’t be attending this fun and information packed event this year, you should put this conference on your calendar if you use social media.

► Also, I am keynoting the Midwest Digital Marketing Conference in St. Louis (April 8th to 10th). This conference has a special place in my heart since it’s organized and run by my friend, Professor Perry Drake.

Lastly, since I want to help show you some love, are there any marketing questions that you’d like me to answer? If so, please hit respond to this email.

Also, I’d appreciate it if you forwarded this newsletter to at least one colleague to show your love!

Shoutout to new readers: Amy, Bill, Emma, Jayvant, Jen, Jordan, Christine, Linuraj, N, Olga, Patti, Muhammad and Tara. Welcome and thank you for joining our community.

Happy Marketing,
Heidi