It’s safe to say that the most reliable businesses and industries are the ones that satiate our biological needs. That means that food retailers, restaurants, and producers and farms never really bottom out, even in recession. They can certainly be mismanaged, but the product is never out of demand.
Following this line of logic, it’s best for entrepreneurs to take a baker’s point of view when it comes to marketing. What are you feeding your customers? If you analyze failed business strategies, you’ll generally find companies that did not capitalize on the needs of their audience, or the existing market.
Treating your product or services like food, (like a commodity), works best. We all have appetites and the only way to curb those appetites is to offer delicious products that excite our sense of taste. We’re not just selling items for our benefit—we’re actually providing a need.
Our recent rebranding at Gimmee Jimmy’s Cookies is a prime example. We specialize in delivering local bakery goods to our customers nationwide and beyond and offer convenient online options. The need is FRESH baked gift options. The additional need is convenient delivery, since our customers usually don’t have the time or resources to seek out physical stores, but still want everything a local, fresh bakery entails.
We’ve also found a way to improve customer satisfaction and thus invest in customer retention. Customer retention is not just a way to say thank you and be “sweet” about the whole matter. Our gifts in cookies also increase brand awareness and brand trust.
When customers receive free gifts they learn to associate the brand with positive emotions. That means more lifetime buys and customer loyalty. It’s good for the customer to be satisfied with purchases, and it’s good for us to reach out and treat each business relationship with care.
Our corporate gift strategy is just one example of how to keep customers happy by feeding them. We offer free gifts in product samples, easy ordering options, options in flexibility and for numerous kinds of events. Investing in corporate gifts and customer gifts has ensured our growth over a short period of time, and much our recent success we owe to strengthening customer relationships through customer retention strategies like free gifts.
The lesson here is, keep feeding your customers with positive emotion and with the products they need. Address their needs and keep them regularly satiated, with recurring shows of appreciation, strategically planned for the best and most productive seasons. Too many companies make the mistake of giving up or abandoning their strategies halfway into it, or even before. Give your customers a cookie and they’ll be happy for a day, but feed them continuously and you’ll have a solid base of customers that will never go away!
