Tuesday, July 27, 2010

The one-two PUNCH: Loyalty Best Practices for Small Businesses

Good morning all! I came across this press release this morning and think it has some GREAT tips for keeping customers loyal. Many successful companies have great loyalty programs that keep people coming back for more. Read these tips and think of how you can incorporate them into your everyday business practices! 


"The first punch is to deliver a 'jab,' which is a philosophical transformation in the way loyalty-leaders treat customers. Each loyalty-leader treats their customers like they're made of gold--meaning there is a deep level of respect and courtesy given to customers at every touch point. Having a friendly and polite staff is numero uno. The second punch is a 'straight punch,' which is delivering the proper marketing message and seamless technology to loyalty members. This allows you to identify customers, track spending, motivate behavior, reward performance, and measure results."
Brooks explains that once small businesses are able to effectively combine the one-two punch, they'll be on their way to delivering a "knockout" program.
He also offers the following five loyalty best practices that every business owner should include in their loyalty strategy:
1. Do unto others.
Yes, it's the loyalty program golden rule. Give customers a reason to be loyal, because if you don't, your competition will.
2. Clearly disclose all program benefits and rules (including potential restrictions).
Remember to put all rules out in the open. Dedicate space on the company website, or have printed material available that is easily accessible to website members. Keep your customers well informed.
3. Offer attractive redemption options.
The goal should be to motivate customer behavior. To do so, offer redemption benefits that are relevant and very attractive to your member base--not par for the course.
4. Communicate with customers.
When the customer enrolls in your business' program, ask them to opt-in to your newsletter or promotional e-mail updates. If e-mail is not an option, try communicating through receipt messaging, statement inserts, or other potential touch points such as social networking. You'll see that communicating stimulates activity.
5. Empower employees.
Train your employees to fully embrace the loyalty program as they hold the keys to the loyalty kingdom. Your loyalty members will buy-in if they see your employees have bought-in."

Roger Brooks, loyalty strategist and author of The Power of Loyalty: 10 Essential Steps to Build a Successful Customer Loyalty Strategy





Wednesday, July 21, 2010

New Press Release Out From Us Today!



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 21, 2010

Contact:
Kristin Andrews
Twigg Marketing
210.275.3292
kandrews@twiggmarketing.com



Unprecedented Social Media Management and Training Brought to San Antonio
Twigg Marketing shows small businesses how to utilize social media as an affordable and effective marketing strategy
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - July 21, 2010 – Social media outlets such as Facebook and LinkedIn are an affordable way for San Antonio small businesses to gain new contacts, loyal customers and a bigger bottom line. Unfortunately, there are few resources in San Antonio for small businesses to receive training on how to utilize these resources in an efficient and effective manner without taking the focus off of their day to day operations. Twigg Marketing recently has bridged this by offering social media management and training™ for small and medium sized businesses in the San Antonio area.  

“During these tough economic times, it is especially important to utilize affordable outlets such as social media to reach your target audience and grow your business,” said Kristin Andrews, executive director, Twigg Marketing. “It is our goal to provide our clients social media strategy, innovative campaigns and targeted training that allows them to get a big return from their efforts.”

Twigg Marketing can provide a variety of social media training services including sales, marketing and recruiting strategy, social media policy writing, best practices for growing customer base, and more. They also provide a variety of management services which range from an occasional post to full management of all social media sites.

“The social media outlets that Twigg Marketing set up for Major Inc. allowed us to get our name out in a way we were unable to before,” said Nathan Rizzo, director of business development, Major Inc. “We are able to build our business by connecting with new customers, current clients, vendors, fellow association members and even our competition.”

About Twigg Marketing
Twigg Marketing provides affordable social media management and training for small and medium sized businesses in the San Antonio, Texas area.  For more information, please visit www.twiggmarketing.com or call 210.275.3292.

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Thursday, July 15, 2010

How Sweet it is!

Great couple of days this week. Yesterday I ventured downtown to the county court house in order to  get my assumed name filed so that Twigg Marketing can become my official operating name. Very exciting stuff! Seems like things are REALLY coming together and I could not be more excited.
In social media news, ice cream giant Ben and Jerry's dropped email marketing in favor of a strong social media stategy including Facebook, Twitter and tasty iphone apps including "Scoop of Happiness" and "Moo Vision." Read the full scoop on how they are going to build their business using social media:

http://www.bizreport.com/2010/07/ben-jerrys-drop-email-in-favor-of-social-media-marketing.html.


I love ice cream puns: can you tell?  I also love reading stuff like this and thinking to myself SOMEBODY gets it! This is such an exciting and game changing time in marketing! Social media can truly change the way we do business! 

Now I am in the mood for some Phish Food or Cherry Garcia.

Kristin

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Networking or Socializing on the Clock?


Microsoft launched a Outlook/Facebook integration that brings status updates right to your inbox. I am (obviously) all for using social networking for business, but is this business or socializing on the clock? 


I think this new development has to be handled with the maturity and discipline that comes with having a job. Obviously each day employees are faced with the choices that we may not have had 5,10 years ago. Do I want to do a report or email my friends? Go to that meeting or mindlessly waste an hour organizing my paper clips? This new integration should allow your team to keep up with contacts in real time with out having to go to an additional site.  Will you take advantage of this new feature?


Check out the scoop on the integration and a screenshot here: http://tinyurl.com/32q4rjh


Happy Tuesday, 
Kristin