We’re deep into the holiday season and many businesses and organizations make it a point to reach out to their customers at this time of year. You’ve likely received a holiday “thank you” from the car dealership where you bought your most recent car, an emotional appeal from your favorite non-profit for an end-of-year donation, or the handy magnetic calendar from your neighborhood realtor.
While the holiday notes and touches are nice, marketing-savvy businesses and organizations make reaching out to their customers (or potential customers) an integral part of their business activities. They look for opportunities to connect throughout the year. Such opportunities are an excellent way to give your customers a reason to talk about you—and provide your business or organization with good old-fashioned word-of-mouth advertising.
Reach out to customers on a regular basis
A few weeks ago I received a phone call from my dentist’s office and learned that I had been chosen as a recipient of their “thank you” gift basket for December. Each month, I was told, they draw a client name to receive a special gift basket. (This dental practice is relatively new to the area as they bought the practice a little more than a year ago after my long-time dentist retired. So they are, no doubt, looking for ways to grow their happy client list.)
Here’s the really smart thing they did when awarding me the gift basket. Rather than deliver the gift basket to my home, they asked when would be a good day to deliver the basket to my workplace. As it happens, I work most days from home but mentioned that I go into the office at least once a week for team meetings. The receptionist I spoke with very nicely asked when I would be in the office next so they could deliver the basket there.
Such a simple thing to do and such a great idea! They knew that having a gift basket delivered to my place of work would most likely result in questions from my co-workers about the reason for the gift basket and where it came from, which would naturally lead to a discussion about my dentist’s practice.
And that’s exactly what happened. When I shared the gift basket contents with my co-workers during our recent staff meeting, I was asked who sent it and relayed the story about being their customer of the month. It was great word-of-mouth advertising for my dentist.
The gift basket was filled will wonderful treats—delicious cookies, an assortment of dried fruit and, of course, toothbrushes. They also included several copies of a brochure about a dental insurance program they offer to uninsured people. So while “appreciating” me as a customer with the gift basket, they also used this as a way to educate me (and my co-workers) about other services they offered.
Customer of the month gift basket: A simple and relatively low-cost way to build great word-of-mouth advertising!
Give your customers a reason to talk about you
Obviously, reaching out to your customers doesn’t require a gift basket—this is just one example. There are many ways to “touch” your customers and help build word-of-mouth advertising for your business or organization.
You could offer a referral incentive program. You could offer a punch card for repeat business. You could provide your customers with timely information or articles that would be of interest to them. You could send reminder cards or texts about upcoming appointments. You could provide postage-paid envelopes for soliciting donations. You could make it a priority to provide service that “wows” your customers rather than just meet their needs.
The point is to look for ways to give your customers a reason to talk about you throughout the year. With so many ways to reach out, the opportunities to integrate customer touch points into all aspects of your marketing and business activities are truly endless. Why not make it a priority in the coming year?
