Posted: November 25, 2019
It’s the time of the year that reminds us all to look deep inside ourselves and give thanks for what we already have in our lives. But your brand should be giving thanks as well, especially to your customer evangelists and recent customers.
Although Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals run amok through the month of November, the end of the year is a great time to thank your customers:
Since holiday sales are so prevalent this time of year, why not break out of the status quo to offer your customers something outside the box? Here’s a list of a few ways that you can tell your customers “thank you” and show that you appreciate them:
- Offer an “Insiders-only deal”: Nothing shows exclusivity like offering deals to a select group of customers. Why not honor your customer evangelists with an insider’s only deal or offer them a link to a new product or service launch before you offer it to anyone else? Even if an evangelist doesn’t sign up or make a purchase, they’ll feel that warm fuzzy feeling of getting first dibs before anyone else.
- Prepare a white paper or e-book: Offering something of value doesn’t mean it has to be a new product or service. Depending on your buyer personas and your company’s sales goals, both you and your customers may get more value out of a new e-book or white paper that teaches them more about the problem and solution that your product/service solves.
- Take advantage of power users: Maybe it’s too early to launch something new. However, one way to show that you value your customer’s opinions and feedback is to enlist a group of “power users” to help with beta-testing. Again, the exclusivity factor will make your customers feel important while you’ll get valuable insight into how your top customers respond to the product/service.
- Annual or quarterly awards: One simple way to highlight your best customers is to have a quarterly award highlighting new and veteran customers. If you provide a service or SaaS, highlighting power users or letting the top X number of users know that they are in an elite tier is a small gesture that makes customers feel appreciated.
- Showcase a customer’s story on social: Highlighting one of your customers that is doing innovative things with your product/service provides marketing material but also shows your customers that you do care about how they interact with your brand. You could set up a rolling sweepstakes to highlight a random customer each week/month/quarter or have them submit entries via social media using a custom hashtag.
- Give away some swag: No one can say "no" to free stuff. Include a free gift with a purchase, such as stickers, phone holders, t-shirts, koozies, reusable bottles, mousepads, etc. Etsy sellers and beauty stores take advantage of the benefits of offering free samples all the time. Not only do consumers love getting “something for nothing” but it can introduce them to a new product they may not have considered in the past. Free is easy: An alternative to offering free things with a purchase or providing an e-book is to create simple, digital giveaways.
- Create printables, desktop backgrounds, or phone backgrounds: Lifestyle bloggers do this a lot, by offering free digital goods that keep their brand top of mind. Every time a consumer looks at their phone and sees your logo or design, your brand will be what they think about, and that’s a great way to cut through all the marketing noise this time of year.
We’re not saying that offering sales or promo codes during November, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas shopping is a bad idea, but it’s pretty expected at this point.
To get your marketing efforts to break through the surplus of sales noise this time of year, give your customer’s something new and unexpected from your brand. It’s a simple way to show your thanks and gratitude for your customers.