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As entrepreneurs, we understand the need for marketing. However, we don’t always understand how we should market our businesses. Marketing is a different animal than the other areas of business. It operates by a different set of rules that can seem like they have no rhyme or reason. As a result, we’re often left frustrated with our marketing efforts. But what if I told you there was a way to create raving fans who market your business for you? In today’s entry, I want to look at how business owners can create lifelong fans by taking the FIT marketing approach.
Follow Along With The Financially Simple Podcast!
This week on the Financially Simple Experience:
- Why marketing has a bad reputation among business owners
- Luke’s background and what led him to become passionate about marketing
- Reminder Media’s growth over the years and its specialty in creating raving fans
- Empowering entrepreneurs to live a life of freedom
- What raving fans are and how to create them
- What makes Chick-fil-A special and how unexpected experiences create raving fans
- How to create great, unexpected experiences in your business
- The FIT methodology and a tactical tip for segmenting your client list
- Building trust through accolades, client testimonials, and educational content
- Delivering educational content through podcasting
Do the Unexpected with FIT Marketing
As business owners, we want to create raving fans of our organizations. I’m talking about the people so blown away by your product or service that they can’t help but shout it from the rooftops. After a recent conversation with Luke Acree, President of ReminderMedia, I believe this comes down to providing your clients with the unexpected. But what does that mean?
Think about your most recent restaurant experience. What was your expectation? Most likely, you expected adequate service and a hot meal served in a reasonable timeframe. But what if the chef came out to personally check on your meal and thank you for choosing to dine at their establishment? What if your server took time to get to know your preferences so, they could ensure that you received things exactly as you like them on future visits?
You see, that would be unexpected. As such, you’d probably leave the restaurant ready to tell all your friends and family about your experience. That’s how you create raving fans. According to Luke, you can also accomplish the unexpected in your marketing by using the FIT approach. Let’s break this down a bit further.
Stay Fresh in Their Minds with Frequency
Looking at this from a transactional perspective, customers expect to hear from you while you’re fulfilling their orders. But the frequency in which you contact the customer can be a means to do the unexpected. You see, the normal rhythm goes something like this: when you’re trying to get the customer’s business, they hear from you constantly. Once they’ve made an order, you communicate the status of their order, but you’re not making contact as frequently. Finally, once the order has been fulfilled, many business owners drop all communication as they pursue the next lead.
Unfortunately, this pattern of contact works against you when it comes to getting referrals. This is due to what’s known as the loyalty gap. Basically, the closer a client is to the transaction, the more they think about you. As time passes, and they hear from you less, they begin to forget about your product or service. This is why frequency of contact is so important.
Think about your personal relationships. What if you gradually just stopped speaking to them? Eventually, there wouldn’t be a relationship. The same is true with your customer relationships. You must remain fresh in their minds with frequent contact. The beauty of this is that the more you connect with them, the less it feels like a consumer relationship. It’s why I’ve always used the term, “friends,” when referring to my clients.
So, how often should you touch your client database each year? While there is no magic number, Luke recommends 26 touches per year. Basically, your entire client list should hear from you at least once every two weeks. It keeps you fresh in their minds without being intrusive.
Create Raving Fans with Impact
If you’ve followed me long enough, you’ve probably heard me talk about impact. I want to impact as many lives, for the better, that I can with my time on Earth. So, when Luke said, “Frequency is only good if you’re making impact,” I perked right up. But what does that really mean?
Well, in my office, we have branded coffee mugs in my office. They’re very attractive and well made. However, if I gave a client a coffee mug every time I spoke to them, they would probably become pretty annoyed with me after just a few meetings. While it might be a great gift at first, it quickly loses its impact. So, how do you create frequency and impact?
Luke suggests using the FORD methodology. This stands for Family, Occupation, Recreation, and Dreams. It’s literally just getting to know people. If you know your customers’ families, their occupations, what they enjoy doing, and what they aspire to achieve, you’ve got a pretty good opportunity for making impactful contact. What you’ve got, is the foundation of a relationship.
Once you know your customers, you can incorporate their FORD methodology into your marketing touch points. Remember, not every touch point needs to be about your business or trying to sell something. For example, if I know John Q. loves classic muscle cars, I could send him a text saying, “John, I heard about this car show featuring classic muscle cars and thought you’d be interested.” As simple as that, I’ve now had an impactful moment with a client. These moments strengthen the relationship and build trust which brings me to my final point.
Build Lifelong Relationships with Trust
It’s been said that people do business with people they know, like, and trust. Taking the FIT approach enables you to cover all three bases. You make frequent contact so they know about you. Likewise, you build impact by connecting on things that are relevant to them. But how do you build trust?
One way to build trust is by outlining your accolades and accomplishments. If your business did $20MM in sales or you received an industry specific award, those are things you want your client to know about. Now, there’s a line you must toe to avoid coming across as braggadocious, but you want your clients to know you’re someone with expertise in your field.
Another method of trust building is through customer reviews and testimonials. Share great customer experiences with your clientele. Think about it. If you’re interested in a product or service, what’s the first thing you do? You go online to read the reviews. Right? Seeing other customers’ positive experiences with your company can help potential clients feel at ease.
Finally, you can build trust by providing free educational content through blogs, podcasts, and YouTube videos. As you grow your content library, you’re organically growing trust because people begin to view you as a thought leader or an expert in your industry. I’ve done this through Financially Simple even though my primary goal is to help business owners.
Wrapping Up…
Friends, take some time to look through your client database. How frequently are you contacting them? Are you making impactful touch points? Are there areas where you need to learn more about their lives? And finally, what are you doing to show them you’re someone they can trust? As you answer these questions, it should be clear whether your marketing efforts are FIT.
Look, life is hard but it’s still so good. I know marketing can be frustrating. Believe me. I do. But it doesn’t have to be. By building trust through frequent and impactful contact with your clients, you can make marketing at least financially simple. Let’s go out and make it a great day!
If you found value in this blog or if you have other business questions, reach out to our team. We would love to meet with you to discuss how we could help you grow and improve your business.
