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Sunday was one of America’s favorite holidays: Cinco de Mayo. As most people already know, it celebrates Mexico’s victory over France in the Battle of Puebla (not be be confused, however, with Mexico’s Independence Day, which is later in the year).
For business owners, you’ll often see a lot of sales promotions and discounts that are CdM-themed. We, on the other hand, offer something else you might want to consider: don’t sell anything. Before X-out of this browser window, let‘ me’s clarify what we mean.
Sales connected to non-gift holidays can be seen by your customers as gimmicky (think about all the sales you see for Memorial Day and Veterans’ Day). The data seem to show that those kinds of sales work in the short term, but do they build lasting customer relationships beyond those transactions? Given the fact that, on any given holiday, you can find articles like “5 strategies for navigating _ Day sales” (for our research, we used Memorial Day in the blank), we would argue probably not.
The alternative is something we’ve fond of and has helped us show our clients the human side of our business: customer events. Now, we do not host events for things like Memorial Day, but for occasions like Cinco de Mayo, Independence Day, and St. Patrick’s Day, we like to host customer events (we hesitate to call them “parties” lest someone get the impression they’re raucous or tasteless, but they are pretty fun in our opinion).
As business owners, you already know that finding ways to connect with your customers beyond transactions can be the key to longterm success. Events, like the ones we host and suggest here for our clients, provide unique opportunities to build relationships, foster loyalty, and drive growth in ways that “traditional marketing” simply can’t beat. After all, “Old Marketing” was about ads and sales, “New Marketing” is about relationships.
Building Relationships Beyond Transactions
Unless you sell essentials with inelastic demand in a competition-free market, then a strong relationship with your customers is critical. Customer events allows you to go beyond the typical customer-business interaction and foster genuine connections. (Don’t worry, it doesn’t mean you can’t also make sales, and we’ll cover how you can without it being gimmicky in a moment.) Events also don’t have to be parties or purely social gatherings. Whether it’s a product launch, a workshop, or an “open house” event, face-to-face interactions humanize your company and create memorable experiences for your customers. As you can probably imagine, these personal connections lay the foundation for loyalty and repeat business, as customers are more likely to support businesses they feel emotionally connected to. You’ve probably seen this done in businesses you frequent and know how memorable they can be.
Showcasing Your Brand Personality
As our clients know, “New Marketing” is focused on relationships reinforced by integration of branding and messaging across all mediums — including events. While customer events can provide an excellent platform to showcase your brand’s personality and values, you have to make sure they match your branding. (Think about a sporting goods retailer hosting a black tie gala — it probably sounds weird, right?) So when planning, remember that every aspect, from the venue choice to the activities planned, reflects your brand and who you are as a business. We won’t get into the Five Brand Personalities today (but will in a later article), we will say that, whether your brand is sophisticated, sincere, or one of the others, events offer a tangible way for customers to experience your company’s brand in action. By curating memorable experiences that align with your brand personality, you can leave a lasting impression on attendees and differentiate yourself from competitors.
Driving Engagement and Loyalty
Engaged customers are loyal customers, and face time with them at events gives you the opportunity to engage with your audience on a deeper level, providing value beyond your products or services. We mentioned product launches and workshops a minute ago, but the possibilities are nearly endless. Our clients hose events that also include fundraisers (a category of its own), AMA (Ask Me Anything) events, and a “Meet Your Agent” (where the company has customers and call center employees interact*). Regardless of what unique and creative idea you come up with, we hope you’re starting to see that this offers value for your business and your customers.
The asterisk is, in the example of the client who hosts “Meet Your Agent” events, customer service scores increased, retention rates increased, and call center turnover decreased — so the events are beneficial for both sides.
Gathering Valuable Feedback
Customer events provide a valuable opportunity to gather feedback directly from your audience in a low-pressure environment. We can’t tell you how many times we’ve been talking with a client (or potential client) who said at one of these events, ‘I wish you had _,’ or ‘I would give you a lot more business if _.’ This firsthand insight into customer preferences, pain points, and expectations is invaluable for our business, and likely would be for yours, too. From refining products and services offered, to learning about what marketing activities are resonating with your customers, to a whole lot more, you can hear firsthand what they think, what they like, and how they view your business — and it’s probably less expensive than setting up focus groups, panels, and depth interviews.
Driving Sales and Revenue
Now, let’s be honest, if a customer comes up to you at an event and says, ‘hey, I want to talk about buying _,’ you’re not going to tell them that no sales are allowed at customer events. (We giggled just writing about it.) Several of our clients host events that feature their products with a discount if they want to purchase any (but with no hard sales pitch) and, in two instances, a client has partnered with another company in a related category to host joint events. So, while the primary focus of customer events may not always be immediate sales, that’s not to say that sales at your events are impossible or even prohibited. It does, however, reinforce our point that events can have a significant impact on your bottom line in the long run. Whether it’s through direct purchases during the event, follow-up sales after experiencing your products or services, or referrals from satisfied attendees, the ripple effects of hosting events can lead to tangible business growth over time.
