Welcome to the Hasseman Marketing featured Product of the Week! Our goal each week is to show you a piece of branded merch that we love…and give you 3 reasons to love it too! This week we feature a branded drinkware item that has high quality and a high perceived value.
Let’s talk about the Highland! Watch this short video below!
Here are the 3 reasons we love the Highland
Packaging: When you have a product with great packaging it makes it feel like it’s worth even more. It’s more of a gift!
Quality: This is a really nice drinkware piece (we have even featured it on Thirsty Thursday). It will keep beverages cold for days and hot for hours!
3 Lids: This might seem strange, but it allows you (and your customers) to use the product the way they like. I usually don’t like larger bottles, but I use this all of the time…and I think it’s because I can choose which lid works for me.
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If you are a marketer or an entrepreneur, you likely have more than a few challenges. But one of them is most likely, where to spend your time and resources. There is finite time and money, and you want to make sure you are doing the thing that will bring you the most return. Mike Michaelowicz turned me onto this idea in his book “Fix This Next.” Mike created a “Business Priority Pyramid” so that entrepreneurs can decide what is the right thing for them to be working on each day. I found this to be a powerful tool in order to make sure my efforts are going in the right direction.
But I find this to be a challenge for marketers too! There are so many marketing options to spend your time and resources on, it can be tough to know what to work on next. In addition, it seems like every day, a shiny new marketing tool comes out. As marketing professionals, we want to stay on top of the latest trends. But you don’t want to spend all of your time distracted by the newest toy…and lose out on the foundation.
That is why we created our HMC Marketing Pyramid
The concept is simple. We have created our HMC Marketing Pyramid as a worksheet for marketers. We have created levels so that you know where you are on your marketing journey. It also helps you prioritize what you need to work on next (or budget to work on soon). As you go through the pyramid, you want to check each box where you feel you are strong (or at least comfortable) where you are. After you go through the whole checklist, go to the lowest part of the pyramid where there is an unchecked box. That is where you need to start! You need to have a strong foundation if you want a pyramid that is going to last.
Rookie Level
If you love sports metaphors, you are going to dig this. If not, think of this as the foundation of your marketing plan. You might be starting a new venture, or you want to get back to basics. You start at the Rookie Level. At that level, you want to make sure you are happy with your logo, basic branding, website, and more. If you leave something un-checked here, no problem. It just shows you that it’s time to work on that to move your marketing efforts to the next level.
Starter Level
And speaking of the next level, now you are a starter! At this level, you have mastered the basics and you want to begin to be more intentional and more consistent. This is when you “up your game” on communication and letting your best customers know you love your fans.
All-Star Level
All-stars take it to the next level, and that is exactly what this ranking means. Once you have completed all of the tasks at Rooke and Starter, you can take bigger swings. Sure you have social media pages, but do you have a plan? Have you made the transition from rented media to owned media? I talk about what that means here. This is what happens at the All-Star level.
Hall of Fame
Marketers and entrepreneurs at the Hall of Fame level are truly building brands. They have custom events to showcase their services and to connect with their tribe. Many also feature custom apparel that their customers actually pay to wear! Now THAT is a brand!
So where do you land on the HMC Marketing Pyramid? This is a jumping-off tool to help you plan what should be next for marketing your organization. Let us know if you want to meet with one of our Hasseman Marketing reps to go over the pyramid…and plan the next steps!
“The person that gives the value first has the leverage.” Gary Vaynerchuk
We are living in a “Give First” economy. That is my belief. I believe that the person, salesperson, entrepreneur or company that has the strength to provide value first, will win…long term. The Give First economy does NOT mean the good old boys network. It does not mean that just because we play golf together you have to buy from me. It’s about value. It’s about providing more than you are paid for. It’s about doing business “the right way.” Push vs. Pull: Why? Because times have changed! Since the beginning of marketing and advertising, we have lived in a “push” world. The company that pushed their message out the strongest and the loudest won. But with the onset of the internet (and social media) that has changed. Consumers have the ability to tune us out. They have the ability to shut us off. The power in the relationship has changed. So we need to pull customers in. We need to “give first.”
“Life is an echo. What you put out you get back. What you give you get.” Zig Ziglar
But here is the great news, when it comes to Promotional Products: this plays right into what our Promo is all about. This medium is built on the idea that we provide something of value first, so that we might be able to earn your business. “Okay,” you might be thinking, “I believe you. I need to give first. But what does that mean?” Great question. We are going to dig into some real things you can start to do today in order to impact your business. But be forewarned, these are going to seem like common sense. They will seem simple. But here is a very important secret: simple is not the same as easy.
“The greatest distance in the world is the distance between “I know” and “I do.”
So let’s dig into the steps for building a business that succeeds in the Give First Economy.
Give Joy: That’s right. Give out Joy. The world needs more of it. Studies will tell you that 89% of everything you see in the world is negative. With social media and the culture today, my guess is that number should be higher. We are a culture that is drowning in the negative. That’s the bad news. But the good news is, it’s pretty simple to stand out. Just be positive. Give out Joy. By being the person that spreads good into the world, you have the ability to not only stand out…but to be the kind of person someone WANTS to be around. You will be different. And in the mind of the customer, better is not better…different is better. Pro-Tip: Do an audit of your personal social media pages. Look at the last 10 posts. If 4 or more can be “perceived” as negative, then you are likely seen as negative. Be on the lookout for ways to push out joy!
Give Praise and Thanks: Here’s a scary statistic: 69% of customers that leave you will do so because of perceived indifference. They will leave because they don’t think you care. Yikes. But you can do something about that. Take the time to send real thank you notes. Stop by when you are not selling something just to say thanks. Be grateful for your clients business. You be pleasantly surprised by the response. Pro-Tip: The best organizations and sales professionals send thank you cards. Most don’t. If you are not, start there. If you have mastered that, gather your client’s birthdays. Send them a birthday card…they will not be expecting that!
Give More Than They Pay For: Seth Godin says that if you want to be remarkable, you need do something worth remarking about! This is a simple, but totally under-used way to make people appreciate and remember you. Simply provide more value than your customer is expecting. When you do this, consistently, your customers will find you remarkable. Pro-Tip: The next time you have a large order, add a little “something extra” to it. Maybe this becomes a future sale…maybe not. But you will have provided more than they paid for…and that WILL pay off.
Give Content: This is a very important piece of the Give First success plan. That is why I post a lot about content creation. Social media and content (creation and curation) are great tools to use to provide value up front to customers and prospects. What does this look like? It might be as simple as sharing an article that would be helpful to your client base. It might be a fun video about your staff. It might be pictures of your team having fun. There are tons of ways that content can help you provide your customers and prospects value. What it is not is selling first. Too many entrepreneurs, sales professionals and organizations try and use social media to “push” their message out. You have likely seen them. They simply say “buy from me, buy from me, buy from me” and never provide value.
Pro-Tip: Think of ways to tell your story and provide value through content. Are you a writer? Do you like to take pictures? Are you a talker? Think about what you most enjoy…and get ready to provide value there. The fact is, there are tons of ways to win in the Give First Economy.
But what about the most obvious? Give Promo Premiums: Are you using promo to help to grow your business? We have been preaching that you need to provide value to your customers and prospects first…and this is the perfect tool. So before you go any further, its time to think about how you will use promo to grow your business. Pro-Tip: Create a quarterly appreciation plan for your Top 20% of customers. This will give you an excuse to reach out and provide value every 3 months. It shows them you appreciate their business and (when done right) provides a long term advertising piece right where they are.
One of the things I am adamant about, is that in today’s society, everyone is a media company. (Yes, Gary Vaynerchuk says this too).
If you are a car dealer, you are a media company that also sells cars. If you sell insurance, you are a media company, that also sells insurance. You get the idea. I believe you need to think like a media company. You need to create content that people want to consume. That act of acting like a media company will create an audience, and then you will be able to sell them something (or convince them of something). You will have gained their trust. I believe that.
But despite that belief, Hasseman Marketing has not consistently been acting like it. Don’t get me wrong. We create content. My hope is we even create content that our customers and peers like. But we have lacked the type of plan and consistency that I would like. So starting June 1st, my goal is to fix that. It’s time to up my game. And in this short blog post I wanted to outline my plan for what will be coming up the next 30 to 60 days. I would love feedback, thoughts and suggestions if you have them!
1. The DMJ Podcast is coming back: I started doing the DMJ Podcast at the beginning of this year on Mondays. My goal was to test it out and see if people enjoyed it. After the first 12 weeks of the year, I took a break. The feedback was good…so I am bringing this back on Mondays. It will be here on this blog and wherever you get your podcasts.
2. Delivering Marketing Joy: The staple of our content creation is our interview show Delivering Marketing Joy! That will keep coming and will be hosted at PromoCorner.com as it has been. If you have suggestions on guests, email us here!
3. Brand-ecdotes: Again, we played with this series and we want to bring it back. Here is a link to one of these. We welcome Promo Pros to weigh in on what they love about Promo. Let us know if you want to take part!
4. unScripted Podcast: This award winning podcast with Bill Petrie will keep coming at ya every Friday. It’s hard to believe we have done 100 of these! Don’t worry…more to come here.
5. New Blog Posts: This is the new curveball into the mix. Get ready for me to create a new blog post every business day! Some will be short. Some will be a bit longer. But the goal is to provide value to our customers, prospects and peers all of the time. And we think this will be a way for us to do that! So please check back. Read them. Comment. Give feedback. And by all means, help keep me accountable! Why would we do all of this? Because we believe we are a media company. Get ready for us to start acting like it.
Let’s start with a statistic. It will really make you think.
Studies show that 69% of customers who leave you (as a customer, donor, supporter, etc.) do so because of “perceived indifference.” They will leave you because they simply don’t think you care.
Seriously, think about that. Nearly 7 out of 10 lost customers come down to the fact that you didn’t show them that you gave a crap about them.
Customer Loyalty—The Stakes are High, But It’s in Your Control
This statistic both frightens and excites me.
On one hand, it means that my customers could leave me because I have just been careless and lazy. It means that if I am not careful, my competitors could swoop in and take my revenue…just by caring more! Am I doing enough to show my customers, regularly, that I sincerely appreciate their business? Are you? The question itself seems scary.
And yet, on the other hand, it is an entirely fixable (and improvable) situation. If I am not doing enough to show them, I can fix it! It is totally within my power to do so. That’s a good thing. I don’t have to wait for some cosmic shift in the economy, or some other outside force to change. This is something I can fix all by myself. I just need to care more, and then follow through with actions to demonstrate that I care.
Create Systems to Improve Customer Loyalty
On the third hand (is that even possible?) I see this statistic about perceived indifference as an opportunity. It means that most businesses—and likely my competitors—are NOT caring enough about their current customers. That means I (and now you) can create systems that allow you to gain market share…through caring! How cool is that?
So how do we do it?
Let’s talk about two very concrete ways to ensure your customers always know you appreciate them.
Two Strategies for Customer Retention
Start a Habit of Sending Thank You Cards
It’s funny. Sometimes the things that make a big difference in your customer’s eyes are the simplest.
Send your customers a card on their birthday.
Send them thank you cards for their business.
Send them a holiday card.
Send them a Thanksgiving card.
Most people open their mail standing over the trash can because all we get are bills and junk mail. A heartfelt thank you card really stands out.
The reason most people don’t send out cards regularly is they lack a system.
Let’s face it; most of us have good intentions. But those intentions go out the window when we can’t find the right kind of card, or we can’t find a stamp, or we don’t have the person’s address.
We need to schedule a specific time each day (or week) that we send out cards. One of my favorite practices is to try to create a reason to send out at least one thank you card each day. Sometimes I send a card to thank a customer for a purchase they made. Sometimes I send one to someone who helped me. It’s a fantastic practice.
Two things will happen. First, your customers will NEVER think you don’t appreciate them. And second, you will have a better attitude about life. If you spend every day trying to find something to be thankful for—guess what—you will become more grateful. That’s not a bad side benefit for doing something to help you increase your business! Now let’s talk about how to create customer retention with promotional products.
Send Quarterly “Thank You” Gifts to your Best Customers
If you are like most businesses, 20% of your customers or clients produce 80% of your sales. It’s not a universal rule, but it is surprising how often it is true.
So those 20% are the clients you REALLY want to show that you care. So, in addition to sending them a birthday card, a Thanksgiving card, and thank you cards, you want to reach out with something extra special at least once a quarter.
Start by establishing a budget.
How much are you willing to spend over the course of a year in order to say “thank you” to these top clients? Remember, these clients are your bread and butter. This is probably not the time to go cheap. How much you can afford to spend retaining your best clients will be different for every business, but, in my experience, you don’t have to break the bank.
Figured out how much you’re able to spend per year, per top client? Now, just for argument’s sake, let’s assume this number is $100 per year. That is, you’ve determined that it’s worth it to your business to spend $100 over the course of a year to say thank you to these top clients. Divide your number by 4. This means you have $25 per quarter to create some sort of gift to give to these clients.
This is more than just a nice gesture. This promotional gift shows your appreciation for them, and it also showcases your logo, reminding them each and every time they use the gift that you are a great company to work with! The trick is to tailor the gifts to your audience.
Start a quarterly thank-you gift program and you’re now “touching” these clients 4 more times a year with a tangible, useful piece of appreciation.
A Plan for Thanking Your Best Customers with Awesome Promotional Products
How does this work? Let’s give you an example. Let’s say you are an insurance agent who has a wide variety of customers. You have business professionals, farmers, families and more.
This diverse group of customers gives you an idea of things you do and don’t want to give. So, your quarterly gifts might look like this:
Quarter 1:Roadside Safety Flashlight. This makes sense because you are not only promoting your brand, but you are showing you care about your client on the road.
Quarter 2: High-End Travel Mug and Cooler Bag. This is a cool combo because your clients might be thinking of vacations or road trips for the warmer months. Great way to remind them that you are with them through the miles and smiles!
Quarter 3: BBQ Set. At this point they will be in barbecue season with tailgating just around the corner.
Quarter 4: Executive Calendar and Tumbler. These two gifts are sure to stand out in the office and the home.
Obviously, these are just a few ideas to get you thinking. There are thousands and thousands of options. But these are some cool things that transcend generations and gender.
Streamlining the Process of Ordering Promotional Products
Also, here’s a quick tip to make this easier for you.
Call your promotional products consultant (that’s us!) and tell them your plans. We’ll help you find the perfect products that fit your budget and will be genuinely appreciated by each of your top customers. To make it even easier, consider ordering all four quarterly products at once. Have them shipped to you about a month before you need them, which allows you to spread out the cost over the year.
Pre-ordering for the whole year, “poof!” creates a reminder system for you, so you remember it’s time to say “thanks” again to your best clients. When the boxes arrive it’s time to start!
There are lots of ways to thank your clients, to kick the problem of perceived indifference to the curb, and to spread marketing joy all year round.
Get creative too and have some fun thanking your customers. You will be glad you did!
