Acquiring new customers is great. But keeping them and growing your relationship with them is even better. One of the best ways to do that is to establish a loyalty program for your most loyal customers.

Loyalty programs can be as simple as a repeat buying program and as complicated as one that establishes a new form of currency. It could be executed with paper tickets and hole punchers, or with robust data capture, barcoding and other CRM techniques.

But if you aren’t careful, your loyalty program could be a giant waste of money. Here are 5 steps to creating a good loyalty program: Read more…

I received an amazing piece of direct mail yesterday from McDonald’s. Yes, McDonald’s. This piece, written in Chinese, is marketing 2 new chicken sandwiches.

Now, as a Chinese American I get mail and phone solicitations all the time in Chinese. As a direct marketer, I know that my name on a mail file is sorted and tagged as “Chinese”, this despite the fact that I can;t read or speak a word of Chinese.

But what makes this piece strange to me is not that they assumed I spoke Chinese but that they made some assumption that Chinese people like chicken sandwiches. After all, there must be a few other CHinese people who received this printed piece besides me.

In fact, if you look closely, you will notice a few other insights into McDonald’s strategy: People eat chicken for breakfast! Because McDonald’s Southern Style Chicken Biscuit is positioned as an “AM” sandwich. In addition, people apparently only like pickles on their chicken sandwiches. And finally, and perhaps most importantly, McDonald’s feels that sending FREE coupons in the mail to Chinese people will get them to come into the restaurant. I, for one, will use it because I can;t pass up something for FREE.

P.S. One thing McDonald’s should know is most Chinese people prefer dark meat.

One summer when I was home from college, I took a job as a telemarketer. It was the most stressful job I have ever had in my life. I had a quota to fill every week. And if I didn’t deliver, I would be let go.

But, for as stressful as it was, it taught me quite a bit about persuasion. Our product was a publication for board members of non-proft organizations. It was a monthly publication that provided content that would allow non-profit organizations operate more cost-effectively and efficient both in their internal processes and in how they raise money through donations and sponsorships.

The sales pitch was something like this: Read more…

In response to the recent news of The Sharper Image facing bankruptcy and therefore not honoring Sharper Image gift cards, their main competitor, Brookstone, has seized the opportunity.

Brookstone is honoring those Sharper Image gift cards by giving customers 25% off all items. No one likes to see a company go down. Who am I kidding? No one likes to see a company down more than a competitor. The important thing is to not get caught just watching the downfall as a spectator. There are customers to acquire and those customers are ripe for the picking.

In the case of Brookstone and The Sharper Image, customers thought the unused gift cards were barely worth the plastic they were printed on. By giving a blanket savings for those customers, Brookstone, which sells similar items and caters to the same audience acquired them for a fraction of the normal cost of acquisition. Read more…

This morning I was greeted with an unexpected marketing message. As I waited for my train into work early this morning, I was greeted by a woman with a warm, friendly smile holding a basket of samples. She had made it around the room of tired, early-riser commuters handing out samples of something to the 6:00 AM crowd.

I thought to myself, “Great idea. Must be a local bakery passing out cookies to sample.” I was only partially correct. Because, although it was a cookie that was passed out, the company was much more appetizing for the commuter crowd.

It was a cookie with a wrapper advertising a company called Dinner Trends: Meals Designed for Busy Lives. This company allows you to prepare gourmet meals from a selection of fresh, gourmet ingredients in their kitchen and then cook them in yours. Read more…