THINKing

Holiday For Charity Is Back

Americans spent more in two months on holiday items than they did all year on charitable giving in 2007. Holiday retail sales for November and December 2007 in the general merchandise category were up about 1.7 percent, totaling roughly $469.9 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. Charitable giving for 2007 set a record, topping $306 billion.

I am not against capitalism – far from it. But I think that Americans should be giving at least as much to charity as they are spending on holiday gifts. So, we started a program called Holiday For Charity in 2002, and once again My Creative Team is promoting the program that provides some simple ways to help the less fortunate.

The number one thing you can do is ask friends, family and business associates to donate to charity instead of buying you gifts. I think a lot of people would donate to charity in someone’s name but they don’t feel right doing it unless they have that person’s approval. So, give them your OK and help someone who needs it more than you need a Christmas gift.

Here are some other elements of Holiday For Charity:

1. sell the holiday gifts you receive online at eBay’s GivingWorks and donate the proceeds to charity

2. register and shop at iGive.com, whose merchants donate a portion of each transaction to your charities

3. offer to do volunteer work in lieu of buying holiday gifts

4. donate directly to charity in lieu of buying holiday gifts for clients and customers

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Email: It’s Not Dead. It Says It’s Not Dead.

Fans of Monty Python and The Holy Grail will recognize the headline allusion above. According to the latest poll by SubscriberMail, email is not dead. No, really.

As the economy continues to struggle, it is not surprising that email marketers are often called on to do more with less. What is surprising is that 52 percent of email marketers who participated in this March 2008 study reported improved results over the previous twelve months. Email marketers attributed the improvements to optimizing email lists; employing email marketing best practices; improving content, email layouts and creative; and improving message relevancy.

A majority of marketers surveyed by Subscribermail indicate improvements in email performance. Fifty-two percent report slight to significant improvements in their performance, while two percent say their performance is off significantly.

Top obstacles to success, according to survey respondents are:

Delivery – 12 percent

Swamped inboxes – 12 percent

Time/resources – 12 percent

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Random Links – 7/16/2008

If you are marketing at C-level, you know how hard it is to reach the CEO. Good advice here on how to break through the corporate defenses to reach the CEO.

Is your blog a networking tool? Jennifer Gniadecki from Everyday Networker takes on the topic.

When old school brands like Sears begin embracing a marketing technique, its time has come. Read about the retailer’s foray into social media.

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Cheaper To Keep

You’ve heard it all before when it comes to stats about customer retention. Some say that acquiring a customer costs five to 10 times more than retaining one. Repeat customers spend, on average, 67 percent more. After 10 purchases a customer has referred as many as seven other people. I’m not sure about the math, but I am sure that the underlying premise is correct: keeping existing customers is cheaper than getting new ones.

So, if your focus is on acquiring new customers instead of keeping the ones you have, you are off the mark. Here are a few thoughts on customer retention.

- Ask. New York Mayor Ed Koch was famous for asking “How am I doing?” He always knew where he stood, even if he wasn’t always happy about the answer. So, survey your customers about their likes and dislikes. Then, follow through with the information you receive.

- Profile. Learn as much as you can about your customers and then do something with that information to show them that you value them. Find out what makes a “best” customer and then put programs in place to move more of your customers into this category.

- Reward. Humans like to be treated as if they are special, and they will return to businesses where they have had these positive experiences. Reward them with special deals, or just pay a little more attention to them. In this era of digital communication, just sending a hand-written note gets you major points.

New business is exciting, I’ll admit. But it is the clients you have that will bring you the most success over the long run. Don’t spend five to 10 times more to bring in that new customer. Instead, invest a fraction of that to keep your customers coming back and referring similar “best” customers.

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Great Employees = Happy Consumers

Companies spend millions of dollars each year identifying their brand, and then communicating their brand promise through various media. Employees are the primary “media” in the majority of brand contacts. Raise your hand if you think a majority of your employees understand your brand promise well enough to live it and articulate it clearly.

I don’t see many hands up.

Tons of research has been done on this subject. Typically, the results indicate that more than 75% of employees are achieving much less and feeling far less enthusiastic about their work than they could be. One Gallup study suggests that if all your employees were “fully engaged,” your customers would be 70% more loyal, your turnover would drop by 70%, and your profits would jump 40%. In a 2006 study, Gallup reports that, “the lower productivity of actively disengaged workers costs the US economy about $328 billion.”

Research also has found that consumers who felt fast food restaurant employees did a great job were five to six times more likely to come back to that brand. At banks where employees stood out, the customer was six to 20 times more likely to continue the relationship.

Additionally, great employees also tend to engender “passionate” customers. For example, customers who praised store-level associates were 16 times more likely to be passionate about the retailer’s brand.

My analogy is this: drop a pebble into a pond and the largest splash occurs at the point of contact and then radiates outward in circles. The point of contact, from a branding perspective, is inside your company. Get employees on board from an emotional perspective and they carry their passion out to the next circle: customers. Passionate customers carry it beyond to prospects through word-of-mouth.

Effectively communicate your brand position with your employees, and unleash some passionate financial results.

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It’s The Relationship, Stupid

I don’t care how you slice it, when it comes down to fundamentals, business is all about relationships. Ignore this truth at your own peril. There’s a Huntersville, NC restaurant that I frequent called Positano. First time I went, my wife and I liked it a lot it. Good food, nice wine list, great desserts, good vibe, but only adequate service.

Second time, not liking it so much. They didn’t do a good job of handling the crowd but we forgave them. There had been a glowing newspaper story that day and everyone piled in that night. So, we tried it again. Service was slack, but everything else was good. Didn’t go back for a while.

New manager, David, appears on the scene. So, we decide to give it another try. David quickly learns the names of everyone at the table, what they like to drink, brings free apéritifs for the table. Food good, wine good, service good? Check.

We go back again. David recognizes us, calls us by name, visits the table, brings us limoncello. He does something a little special for us now each time we go. Guess what has become one of our favorite restaurants?

On the reverse side, there’s a business I will not identify by name. I have been going to this bar for about three years but have eased off lately. I have been such a loyal customer that they now often take me for granted. Sometimes I can’t get waited on. They ignore me and several other long-time customers, as well, because they think we won’t go anywhere else.

Business must manage their relationships with customers just as they do with friends and family. But you can’t get too comfortable and disregard your most loyal customers in favor of new business. Did I tell you that Positano has a nice bar and an excellent and attentive bar staff?

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