Reprinted with the author’s permission from Business Record Iowa Biz.
Loyalty programs are the rage right now.
As companies fight to get as much of our disposable income as possible, they are wise to create incentives that reward and encourage repeat business. But most of them are missing a key ingredient.
They don’t let their customers share the wealth. Let me show you what I mean.
The McLellans are a big fan of TGIFridays. (part of that is because the West Des Moines location has the best waitress I’ve ever known…but that’s a different blog post)
So we’re high frequency users of their Give Me More Stripes loyalty card. It’s a simple program. Spend enough money over time and you get e-mailed a coupon for $8 off your next visit.
All well and good. But here’s the part they are missing. The card holder has to use the $8 coupon. I can’t give it to a friend or co-worker. As the card holder, I must redeem the coupon with the card in tow. I can enjoy the reward…but it doesn’t encourage word of mouth. It doesn’t give me a tool that I can use to help Friday’s grow their business.
On the flip side, we have United Airlines. Also a McLellan favorite. United lets me rack up frequent flier miles and the more I fly, the higher my status. As a Premiere Executive level member, I get lots of perks. But United is smart enough to let me share those perks. Here are some of my options:
- I automatically get upgraded to first class if there’s a seat available. So does my flying companion (if I have one)
- I can check three bags for free. So can my flying companion.
- I can use my miles to buy tickets or upgrades for anyone I choose
- I can donate my miles to Make-A-Wish or other worthy charities
United lets me share the love. It gives me ample opportunity to “show them off” or share them with someone else. It makes my loyalty stretch to also influence other people.
Creating a loyalty program is smart. Why not thank your best customers while encouraging them to come back yet again? But…creating a loyalty program that is shareable is brilliant. Not only do you earn the love of your best customers…but you also earn their word of mouth endorsement.
Drew McLellan is CEO of the McLellan Marketing Group. Check out his blog, Drew’s Marketing Minute.
What You Need to Know to Make Your Corporate Blog Succeed
Reprinted with the author’s permission from What’s Next blog.
A client asked me recently: What if we just want to have a blog that’s just good enough to help us with search engine rankings, but won’t win any awards?
No! The world doesn’t need one more plain vanilla corporate blog. The client’s question was based on several misunderstandings and myths about corporate blogging.
An effective company blog is not:
What good is a corporate blog and why put the time, money and effort into building and sustaining one?
Staying top of mind
Let’s say that people now come to your website to buy your products somewhere between two and four times a year.
A blog that is interesting, interactive, well-designed and professionally written can create daily readers who will have your company top of mind every day.
Email is becoming more of a nuisance every day for most people, and it’s become harder, and more expensive, to create effective email campaigns.
Your customers and potential customers undoubtedly don’t pay a lot of attention to your online display ads—no matter how annoying you try to make them.
Engaging content
When people do get to your blog, you need to be talking about what people want to hear, not just what you want to tell them. Simple as that sounds, heavy-handed selling or, worse yet, bland “don’t offend anyone” writing are the major reasons that nobody reads most corporate blogs.
Looking good
The vast majority of corporate blogs lack a compelling graphic identity. They’re bland looking and they have bland content.
They have tiny pictures or they rely on cheesy clip art. There’s no excuse for that when there are sites like iStockphoto with images for as little as $1.
Good writing is the key
Most people would rather have root canal than write several blog posts a day. And most people don’t have the skill, talent, experience, or training to write well on a constant basis. (That’s much of what’s wrong online, but that’s a whole other post.)
Posts that are more than 300 words are unlikely to be read—unless they consist of short sentences and paragraphs; bulleted points; subheads and plenty of white space. Who has time to read 1000-word+ posts on your blog?
If you need more than 300 words in a blog post you probably should split it into a series of posts.
The easy answer is to have a professional writer or editor on your corporate blog.
The bottom line
Is all this going to be cheap? No! A good corporate blog costs money and time. Time to write, promote and most of all, time to build an audience over time.
B.L. Ochman is publisher of What’s Next Blog and Managing Director of Emerging Media for Proof Integrated Communications, a WPP-owned company. She has been helping Fortune 500 companies incorporate emerging media into their business strategies since 1996. She is co-founder of Pawfun.com.