In Love Your Customers

When you are just starting out, marketing your business can be overwhelming. Besides understanding your business intimately enough to define your target market, your distribution process, and your unique benefits AND being able to explain it while travelling skyward on some imaginary elevator; you’re going to have to actually do marketing stuff!

And you’re probably thinking I’ve got enough to do; can’t I just put a sign out front?

The start-up phase of any business is probably the most stressful and chaotic time. Trying to figure out what marketing thing to do first simply falls to the bottom of the To Do list.

So I’ve put together a list of basic marketing activities that you can use as a guide when you are just starting out and don’t know where to start OR you’ve been at it a bit and may have gotten stuck.

Everything on the list is a marketing activity which means that marketing doesn’t mean just selling and advertising. It’s all stuff related to your customers which means much of this stuff is actually fun and easy to do.

The most important part of marketing is the doing of it, so just get started!

51 #customerlove Marketing Tasks

  1. Send out a simple handwritten thank you note after a customer makes a purchase, it will create raving fans.
  2. It goes without saying that you should collect the contact information for every customer and every potential customer.
  3. Send out a monthly newsletter. If you have the resources do a physical newsletter, if not then do an email newsletter. Newsletters remind your customers that you love them.
  4. Create a referral program and reward those customers that tell others about you.
  5. Get a web page up and running, use WordPress to make it quick and easy, use it to tell your customers what you can do for them.
  6. Create a Facebook page to share quick info and fun stuff; it will engage your customers.
  7. Offer a guarantee to build trust with your customers.
  8. Create an exceptional Unique Selling Proposition (USP) and begin using it on your marketing materials.
  9. Begin collecting testimonials, kind words, thanks and words of praise. You can show #customerlove by showing others what your awesome customers have to say about you. Really, we like to be recognized when we pay a compliment.
  10. Don’t pass up a holiday! Holidays are a great excuse for sending your customers a card. Post cards can work great for this too.
  11. Start a birthday club and offer a discount or small gift on customer birthdays.
  12. Offer a free seminar or webinar on an important subject related to your business but that benefits the customer.
  13. Tie in with a local charity to raise money and gain exposure in your community.
  14. Educate your customers. If they don’t know they need it, they don’t know they want it.
  15. Remove “No” from your vocabulary. Do your best to accommodate special requests.
  16. Plan and practice your telephone greeting. Be clear, concise and friendly.
  17. Inject some humor into your marketing materials, everyone likes to smile.
  18. Keep commitments. Meet customer expectations every time.
  19. Deliver the exceptional. Nothing says #customerlove like going above and beyond to provide the best possible product or service.
  20. Stand out. Once in a while go big. Do something a little outrageous.
  21. Know your fans. If you’ve got customers who believe in you, treat them like gold.
  22. Join forces with another business to provide a special offer or product specifically for your customers.
  23. Share your story to create affinity with your customers.
  24. Profile your customers on a website or in a newsletter.
  25. Share positive customer experiences and results.
  26. Focus on the benefit to your customer not on the features of your product or service.
  27. Communicate regularly to make sure the customer knows what is going on with their project or purchase.
  28. Follow up after a sale to make sure the customer is happy; then listen.
  29. Survey prospects and customers to learn how you can do your job better for them.
  30. Create an email or snail mail flyer just for the heck of it. Use a holiday as an excuse to simply say “hi.”
  31. Offer a discount just because.
  32. Create a multiple purchase program: Buy 10 get 1 Free.
  33. Focus on the customer first, not the sale. Build rapport. We like doing business with people we like.
  34. Create a contest or sponsor one.
  35. Refine and practice your “elevator speech” — know the answer to “What do you do?”
  36. Attend networking events to meet new customers or potential joint venture partners.
  37. Pay attention to your packaging, make delivery of your product special and memorable for the customer.
  38. Create an image that aligns with your customers’ perception. Lawyers wear wing-tips; designers wear Converse.
  39. Be prepared to answer any question about your product or service: Knowledge = Authority.
  40. Provide a unique experience. One that fits with your target customer’s wants and needs. Women like shoes, men like sports.
  41. Consistency is key. Be consistent in your delivery of product and service to meet customer expectations.
  42. Align your business practices with your customer’s perception. High-end products deserve high-end packaging. Details matter.
  43. Run a ‘gift with purchase’ campaign to thank your customer.
  44. Pay attention to what other businesses are doing, then use the successful practices modified for your customers.
  45. Track and measure. If it works keep doing it, if not abandon it. Listen to your customers.
  46. Make it painfully easy for customers to buy from you.
  47. If you have a local angle, use Google Places to make sure you appear in local searches.
  48. It’s not what you say but how you say it; make sure your language matches your customer’s – make sure you know the lingo.
  49. Provide an unexpected gift or extra; it will make your customer feel special and appreciated.
  50. Be everywhere, tell everyone. Get out there!

Which of these simple tips will you add to your #customerlove toolkit? Tell us in the comments below!

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Showing 11 comments
  • Eugen Oprea
    Reply

    Wow, that’s such a great starting point.

    I am going to save the list, maybe print it and see what I can check from it.

    So, to answer your question, I will add all of them and then check them out one by one

    Thanks Yolanda!

    Eugen

  • Yolanda Facio
    Reply

    Thanks for stopping by Eugen!!! Let’s see how many you can hit before the end of the challenge. Keep us posted!

    y

  • Birdy Diamond
    Reply

    What a great list, Yolanda! 🙂

    Great to see you over here, joining in on the #customerloving.

    I’ve always loved giving customers a bit more than they expected – whether it’s a wrap above & beyond what they paid for, an extra goodie, or the like, so that sounds like an excellent thing to keep on doing!

    Will definitely be thinking on more as well, as time goes by.

    Thnx again for a great post! 🙂

  • Yolanda Facio
    Reply

    Birdy!!!! Sounds to me like you know what #customerlove is already!

    Glad to be over here, couldn’t help myself, LaVonne RAWKS!

  • Thanh Ngoc
    Reply

    Hey Yolanda, what a great list post. Thank you 🙂

    We’re at the beginning of my photography business and we haven’t made a sale yet, so that would be first on this list with everything you have written following. I would love to do all wonderful things for my customers, but I have to build them up first!

    This weekend we will be doing “#50 getting out there”: visiting galleries with our portfolio (just finished) and getting some prints framed. Yay!

  • Yolanda Facio
    Reply

    Yes, well probably #50 should have been first!

    You’ll do great! Practice #39 and be ready!

    Keep us posted.

    y

  • Susan T. Blake
    Reply

    Excellent list! It’s not easy to pick a favorite, but I think it has to be #1. Writing a hand-written thank you makes a huge difference, and it will set you apart.

  • Yolanda Facio
    Reply

    Hey Susan!!

    It soooooo makes a difference. I’ve had people call me and thank me for the thank you note. How funny is that!

    People really love to be appreciated!

    y

  • Jeanine Byers Hoag
    Reply

    Great list! As someone just getting started, I have saved the ones that I think will work best.

    The ones I think I will start with are creating and practicing a unique USP/elevator speech, creating a FB page, having a contest, offering a free seminar and offering a discount.

    Jeanine

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