Recruiting and Retaining Customers Through Your Brand

A large amount of sales and marketing’s attention is focused on getting the customer. But what about your current customers? Why should they come back?

Customer retention is a branding challenge. What separates your business from the competition? And do your customers care enough to come back again and again?

You don’t have to be brilliant at everything. Pick a focal point. What is your business known for?

Focus On Customer Service

Delivering exceptional customer service is more than a corporate value, it’s a process. Companies that deliver exceptional customer service invest in it. They hire more people, provide them better training and tools, and give them the freedom and room to delight their customers.

It’s not easy to deliver outstanding customer service, and that’s what makes it a powerful differentiator.

Take a look at your customer service process.  Are there things you are doing great?  Are there things in which you can improve?

Focus On Choice

Being able to buy everything you’re looking for in one place is appealing.

Offering breadth of service is a differentiator, provided your customers take advantage of your broad abilities and you excel at each of them. However, offering too many options may dilute your brand. Build your portfolio of products and services around your customer and their needs.

Focus On Your People

Happy employees create happy customers.

In some industries it’s very hard, if not impossible, to differentiate the products or services. And while these industries may not have a lot of external options to differentiate the brand they can still differentiate internally.

Organizations that build dynamic cultures stand out. Customers notice happy, engaged, and productive employees.

Your culture creates an energy that radiates out into your marketplace, and sets your brand apart from everyone else.  Why do people love working at Google? Because they have built an internal program that engages the employees, values the employees…and even lets them bring their children and pets to work.

Focus On The Experience

What’s it like to work with your company? Do you deliver a unique customer experience that sets your business apart?

Do you provide one-on-one service?  Are you accessible?  Do you take the stress out of your customers’ lives by delivering on the promise you have made? Some customers may come to you because they tried something else and had a bad experience.  Don’t make them regret they came to you.  A twice-burned customer is even harder to get back.

An experience goes beyond the products and services. It focuses on how your customers interact with the brand, and how you can aid them.

Focus On Convenience

Can you create a hassle-free experience?

This could be achieved by where you’re located, and getting really close to your customers (or being mobile). It could focus on the buying experience, and streamlining the process. It could focus on the product, and making it easier to use and maintain.

Saving your customers time, energy and money are excellent ways to differentiate your brand.

Pick a Focal Point

A brand can’t be all things to all people, and it’s unlikely you can be excellent at all five focal points. Just pick one.

A brand can stand out by doing one or two things better than everyone else.

But always keep your customer in mind:

1. Do they value the focal point?
2. Does it bring them back again and again?

The goal is to create an experience that your customers recognize, value, and seek out. What do you have to do to give your customers a reason to come back?

When developing your brand and choosing your focal point, ask the questions that all reporters ask:  Who, What, When, Where, How and Why.

WHO are you and WHO is your target audience?

WHAT services do you provide and WHAT sets you apart?

WHEN do you need to achieve your goals?

WHERE have you been and WHERE do you need to be?

HOW are you going to get there?

WHY do you do what you do?

If you need help answering any of these questions, contact SK Consulting.  We can help you develop a strategic brand and plan that will help you acquire customers and get them coming back again and again.  www.stonekingconsulting.com.