Strategy and Best Practices

We all struggle with relationships, so it’s no wonder that brands struggle with relationship marketing. There are self-help books by the millions for individuals and for marketers, too. Despite this, it’s still hard for all of us to get the basics right. Stepping back from the marketing strategy, let’s look at everyday life for clues on how to avoid those bad relationships.

Too much of a seemingly “good thing” reduces the impact of promotional offers when everyone is fighting for your customers’ attention. Having an offer strategy that takes into account different segments’ characteristics, preferences and/or purchase history will boost the response rate and yield truly incremental sales.

It started with a failed card swipe and ended with what this cardholder thought was a superbly developed and executed customer service experience. How do companies turn what should be a mundane experience into something memorable? Here's the story of how American Express turned the simple act of ordering a replacement credit card into an exceptional customer experience.

Preserving prestige is what sets brands such as Burberry and Hermes apart from Gap and H&M, but that same elitism has previously kept certain luxury brands from engaging in the digital space/social media — one of the most powerful forms of marketing at the moment. Despite the initial industry-wide hesitations, we have seen a recent increase in digital marketing initiatives from select premium brands; with Burberry leading the way.

Don Adams and Jon Parise have their own relevant dialogue about surprise-and-delight loyalty marketing programs, recalling their most recent experiences with MyPanera. Do unpublished rewards truly motivate behavior? The pros and cons of unpublished loyalty programs are weighed alongside the goals of driving profitable incremental sales.

In case you missed it, AiMA had their monthly event on Wednesday night. Action! Gamification Technology and User Behavior Social Media with Chris Nelson (CMT), Gab Aldrige (The Super Group), Craig Kronenberger (Edelman), and Omar Divina (Badgeville).

Personalization is often confused for relevance. While both are important, smart marketers distinguish the two and how they can use them to improve marketing response.

Birthday gifts have become a common element of  loyalty programs. Sometimes this specific benefit is clearly stated upfront.  Other times, it is deliberately not – thus leaving an element of surprise (as well as allowing flexibility for delivery and / or fulfillment of the gift).

RetailWire wrote about Safeway Canada's Safeway Club Elite Customer program and we see that as a great illustration of one of the fundamental tenets of loyalty:  that not all customers are created equal.