Tag Archives: crm

Social Media for Entrepreneurs: 3 Reasons Why Social Media is Made for You

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Note: This is Part 2 to the Social Media for Entrepreneurs series.

Social media networks are powerful tools for both individuals and businesses. No, I’m not referring to the fact that it has a huge user base (because you will not be able to reach out to all of them anyway) but the ability to do the below 3 amazing things for your business.

Watch the short video below!

If you missed this part in the video above, let me ask you again:

“Everyone, including your competitors are on social media networks. Why are you on social media? What are you doing different than them?”

That may sound like a simple question but you’ll also need to understand the 3 reasons why social media will benefit you as an entrepreneur to understand what can be done:

Note: the below is an excerpt from the video above (with a little extra)

#1: Social Media Levels the Playing Field

Social media is all about building a relationship with your target audience in a two-way conversation. It is not meant to be collected and admired upon. This also means that brands with huge budget cannot directly purchase success on social networks, unlike on print ads where visibility wins. High visibility does not guarantee a growing relationship with your audience.

On top of that, these social media platforms often go through updates (like the recent Facebook timeline update). Big brands have to keep up with it as well and there are no shortcuts to it.

#2: Social Media Can Be (Very) Targeted

One of the advantage social networks have over traditional mediums is that it can be a whole lot more targeted. Not only it allows you to target potential customers in a specific location, gender, age or interest (such as in Facebook Ads), it can also be used to target conversations (on Twitter) or even current locations (on FourSquare).

This means that entrepreneurs today have the ability to reach out to their target audience specifically without spending unnecessarily while effectively meeting the ‘wants’ of a customer.

#3: Social Media is a Network of Networks

Many people limit their networks to their immediate friends or followers, thinking that it is only them that they are reaching out to and this is a flawed concept. One of the main benefits of social networks is the ability to tap into the networks of your friends or followers. This can be done through the ‘sharing’, ‘retweeting’ or ‘recommend’ feature on Facebook and Twitter.

How else can social media benefit you as an entrepreneur?

Next up in Part 3: The 5 Realities of Social Media

This is Part 2 to the Social Media for Entrepreneurs series. Quick access to the series below:
[ Introduction | Part 1: The Basics | Part 2: Why It’s Made for You | Part 3: The Reality | Part 4 ]

Disclaimer: The video was recorded as part of the RU Ready series targeted to entrepreneurs in Malaysia by Prudential which I was involved in. This also happen to be my first ever video series :)

The Credibility Curve, 2nd Impressions and Social Media

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I was listening to someone over the radio the other day speaking about sales on how the importance of building your credibility in your networks will attract more business opportunities. I wasn’t really paying attention at first and I suddenly thought:

“Hey, isn’t this true on social media networks too?”

If you take a look around, you’ll find many companies, businesses and individuals trying their very best to accumulate masses of fans. You know how it works – some put together promotions and contests requiring you to first “Like” their page or to “Share” with their friends, some go all out to build connections and to send personal invitations, some create a welcome page with a freebie to give away upon a “Like”, and some go by the shady way of just purchasing fans / followers.

Where am I getting at

Many tend to spend their time accumulating, amassing huge amount of fans by creating a very well polished, presentable and approachable first impression. It’s like walking into a newly opened cafe in town and the waiters are friendly. They greet you by name, start small talks and will even leave you something so that you’ll come by again. All these are great to have, however…

How many take note of creating a great 2nd impression?

It is very easy to start off something big but it is never easy sustaining its growth and its the same on social media. You see, being social does not end at having amassed 100,000 or 1,000,000 fans. In fact, whatever the number of followers are, that is only the beginning and here are 3 reasons why:

#1: You’re the new kid in town

Which also means that you’re probably one out of the many competitors out there doing the same thing.

A painful truth: Your followers may have “Liked” you only for the sake of winning that brand new gadget you offered as a prize.

What can you do: Show them you’re not just a pretty face. Give them reasons to remember or to talk about you in their personal networks. Leave them something to share and to take action of, keep them involved in one way or another.

#2: You’ve left them looking forward for more

Consumers have high expectations, especially when you’ve created an unforgettable first impression. They’ll want to experience it again, or more.

A painful truth: If you’re unable to keep up with their expectations on their 2nd experience with you, there’s a possibility that you’re out.

What can you do: Never, ever over promise beyond your means. Can you still fulfill that promise if you have 10, 100, 1000 or even 10000 customers? Go small, but strive to over deliver all the time. Ask yourself, “What else can I offer to create a better experience?”. Sometimes the key is not to create an extensive but a unique experience.

social call to action#3: You’ll be forgotten, soon

No matter how good the experience is, there’ll be a time where your customers will experience something better elsewhere and you’ll be forgotten.

A painful truth: They forget quicker online. Can you remember all the pages you’ve “Liked” on Facebook in the past? When was the last time you posted / interacted on a brand’s Facebook page?

What can you do: Don’t let the momentum of your launch campaign go down. Start putting out content that matters. It helps when you tell your fans what you want them to do or to even ask for suggestions on what you can do better. This may sound like common sense but the more people you get interacting, the more people will see your brand on their timeline.

So how is credibility related to this then?

Creating memorable experiences naturally breeds memorability towards your business. When that happens, a relationship is formed between you and your customer – because you’ve been there with them. It’s a feeling of familiarity, or trust. The reason why you say or think that social media isn’t working for you is because the perception of risk continues to supersede the perception of trust among your customers.

To make social media ‘work’, you’ll need build your credibility with your customers.

So if you haven’t already, remember,

2nd impression matters. It drives credibility.

Yes, even on Social Media.

Photo credit: Bob Gorrell

A Crawling Restaurant Experience @ The Hungry Hog

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It was my mum’s birthday last weekend and we decided to head to a nearby cozy local restaurant for a simple celebration dinner. It wasn’t our first time there so we ordered our usuals and all was well… until my dad started swinging his leg about. He stood up and lo and behold, a cockroach fell out of his trousers. Yes, it crawled into his trousers when we were eating. Disgusted, we decided to get the bill and leave.

Being concerned customers, we told the waiter (or what seemed like the boss) what happened and to my disbelief, she just shook her head saying:

“Sorry, it’s too bad. I just got in so I didn’t see what happened.”

Followed with the bill, with a 10% service tax and the usual 6% government tax.

What was she thinking!?

Now, we weren’t expecting a discount or a free meal but it would be nice if we got a (nicer) apology rather than a (very) poor excuse. While you’re nodding your head in agreement (I’m guessing you are), it’s amazing to see similar occurrences happening even on digital platforms. From the recent Paul Christoforo to Versace’s Facebook wall-closing incident, we can learn two things:

1. Treat your customers like customers. Sure, some customers can be a pain and customers are not always right but they’re still your customers. Did you know that for every 1 complaint received, there are 26 others that did not complain, making up to 10,000 dissatisfaction?

2. Avoiding the situation won’t make things better. In fact, it’ll get worse. In the case of Christoforo, let’s just say that his career is over. As for Versace, well, they got a whole lot of blasting themselves from fans and supporters.

With all that said, it is important for businesses today to remember that…

Customers today are social customers

They no longer are customers who purchase blindly and allows you to get away with things easily. The proof?

social media supporting consumer decision making in malaysia

click for larger image

Malaysians actually rely pretty heavily on social networks to receive advice prior to making a purchase. On top of that, 78% of the Malaysian internet population are on Facebook and 31% of them has a blog on Blogger (source: Nielson Research). This also means that if they don’t like you, there’s a 78% chance you’ll end up on their Facebook wall or in a blog post somewhere in the digital world.

What happens in the digital world? It gets worse

Not only the complaints are visible to potential customers, they are permanent. And since these content are user generated, you have no way of removing them. A well optimized complaint on a blog will probably guarantee frontage results across search engines. Same goes to negative reviews on FourSquare, Amazon, eBay or TripAdvisor and shared across Facebook and Twitter.

Think about it – would you really want that for your business? What if you’re able to turn that around to a positive testimonial instead? Wouldn’t that be good? I’m sure it is.

With an experience like that, will we go back there again? We won’t. Will you?

Brand Focus #5: Groupon in Malaysia – Friend or Foe for Your Business?

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will groupon help businesses grow?It has been a couple of months now since Groupon officially came into Malaysia by acquiring GroupsMore.com and many businesses have hopped unto what I call the Groupon hype – a similar scene happening around the world. Businesses go on Groupon for marketing purposes, to draw crowd or bargain hunters to their store / outlet and hopefully translates into future sales (click here if you’ve never heard of Groupon before).

I managed to talk to two different business owners recently and we somehow got to the topic of Groupon and it would seem that they both have been badly ‘pinched’ by Groupon.

Initial Observation: Groupon As a Foe

1. Their business actually experienced losses. Groupon deals attracts the crowd, that’s for sure. If your products already have low margins to begin with, you may experience losses – especially when the crowd pours in for your awesome deal.

2. Their business cannot cope with the crowd. So you’ve got a deal up and you’re fully booked for the whole of next month – but you do not have the resources and the capacity to manage each and every customer. Mismanagement may turn away customers for good and if you’re planning to invest into more manpower and equipment, you better have the margins well calculated because…

3. Your existing customers (that may not be on Groupon) will also want discounts because of the awesome deal you’re already giving to others.

4. On top of that, the customer retention rate is said to be very low, at about 5% – 10% and in some cases it still does not make up to the ideal margin.

While the above may not be true for every business out there, many have experienced the negative affect of Groupon which led me to think – is Groupon really that bad of a business / marketing model to adopt?

My answer is: no.

7 Tips on How to Maximize Groupon for Your Business

#1: Know Your Margins

Understand this before proceeding: while every business can use Groupon, not every business should use Groupon. The reason is simple – if your business operates on very low profit margins, you’ll definitely end up with a loss – especially if you’re a small business without any marketing budget set aside. Know how much of a margin you’re able to spare (and survive), even if there’s a large crowd. Set the group discount rate at a level in which you’re comfortable at and yet remain attractive.

#2: Know Your Business Operations

This applies best to the service industries. Know when are your peak and off-peak seasons or timings in a day. ‘Sell’ your off-peaks cheaper in return for crowd. This is where Groupon can truly shine – put in terms and conditions specifying that the offer / deal will only work during specific timing of a day (e.g. 3-5pm) to boost sales rather than not making any sale during the off-peak hours.

#3: Never Give in Quality for Quantity

Use the crowd to your advantage – show them what you’re able to offer even when you’re under pressure. Whether it is customer service or food preparation, make sure you’re showing your customers the best you can offer. This is the time to give them a reason to come back for more!

#4: Build Your Database – Engage

Take this opportunity to build your database by engaging with your customers individually. Talk to them, get them to subscribe to your newsletter, ‘like’ you Facebook page, ‘follow’ your Twitter handle, sign-up for a loyalty programme, participate in a contest or even to write a testimonial for you. In other words, do not let them leave without leaving you with something valuable for your business. On top of that…

#5: Follow-up Offers

Don’t let them leave empty handed! Give them something in return to invite them to come back for more. Something along the lines of “bring a friend on your next visit to enjoy a similar treat” can do wonders. Retention rates are low because businesses do not give the customers sufficient reasons to stay. So why let them leave empty handed?

#6: Make The News

Make use of the crowd to spread the news! Snap pictures, tweet away, launch a Foursquare special and create buzz across existing social media platforms. Customers are drawn to crowd and if you are already attracting one, let them know you have one!

#7: Encourage Feedback

This is the most important of all – always ask for feedback from your customers so that you’ll know what went wrong / right to do better in your next Groupon deal. Offer as many feedback options as possible – through Twitter, Facebook, contact forms or emails and be sure to respond to everyone of them positively.

Have you used Groupon for your business? How did it work out for you? How else do you think Groupon can benefit businesses?

Brand Focus #2: Basic Customer Service Mistakes You Don’t Want to Bring onto #SocialMedia

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I was hungry one afternoon and I did not want to leave the house as it has been really hot where I’m at lately. I thought that since I’ve not had pizza for quite some time, I could just order one and have it delivered within 30 minutes – after all, that’s their service promise. To top if off, they now have a tracking service so I’ll know where my pizza is at. Cool!

Dominos Pizza Malaysia

So I placed my order at 2.32pm, expecting it to arrive at 3.02pm and you’ve guessed it – it did not arrive then. “No problems”, I thought. “I’ll just get a free pizza on my next order and delays do happen anyway.”

3.15pm and the pizza has yet to arrive and this is where I decided to put Dominos Malaysia’s customer service to test. I called up the call centre and reported my “missing” pizza in which they told me that perhaps the rider was lost and advised me to give him another 5 minutes else I should call them back.

10 minutes passed, 3.30pm and still no sign of the pizza. I called Dominos as they told me to and they told me to wait for another 5 to 10 minutes and that there is nothing that he (the sales rep) can do to help. Shocked by his reply, I probed further and he then said his manager may be able to do something about it but he isn’t free at the moment and mentioned that the manager will call me back the moment he is free.

The verdict? 3 days have passed, no calls received.

This incident reminds me of my past experience with another company.

3 Basic Customer Service Mistakes That Should NOT Be Brought To Social Media

Lesson #1: Don’t Assume If You Aren’t Sure

5 minutes. Are you sure? If there’s one thing in common in most customer service personnel, they give inaccurate information or in other words, false hope. They give a solution that is of most convenient to them and hope that it’ll never come back to them.

On social media platforms, it is worse. When a customer posts a question or complain on your blog / Facebook page / timeline, they are most likely already confused or dissatisfied with you and should be handled with care. If you do not know the answer, seek for help or offer to discuss the solution privately via email (and get someone to help you out!). Do not ever give answers for the sake of giving them.

Lesson #2: Be Careful of What You Speak

customer service on social media - think before you speakLike it or not, you’re representing your brand and saying “I can’t do anything to help” can be detrimental, even though it was not meant in that way. This may be more difficult to do over the phone but you’ve got no excuse if it is on the computer screen.

Take some time to structure your words before clicking on the “submit”, “update” or “tweet” button.

Lesson #3: Do What You’ve Said You’ll Do… and Don’t Take Too Long

The last thing customer wants is to wait. Get back to them within the shortest time frame possible! If you’ve said you would call, email or reply to their enquiry, do so! I personally think that no business should take more than 24 hours to respond. Anything more will clearly spell out to the customer that you’re N.O.T.I.N.T.E.R.E.S.T.E.D.

It won’t look good if the same customer posts on your wall for the 2nd time demanding for a reply. Remember, everyone is watching!

Is there any other mistakes you think should be avoided at all cost on social media? Share them below!

 

By the way, the pizza came at about 3.40pm and I received a standard voucher for a free pizza on my next order but still no phone call from them.

Why You Should Forget About Conventional #Marketing

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Every business on this planet is fighting for attention, trying to sell a product or service to the consumers and sometimes it just backfires despite your effort. So why market your product? Don’t bother producing promotional campaigns – you’re wasting your money and here’s why:

#1: Consumers Don’t Care About You

And they really don’t. In the eyes of the consumers, you’re just ANOTHER product / brand. Yes, you may be the best among all but think about it – your competitors are shouting the very same message and this will result in a long, and perhaps an unfavorable journey for your business, simply because it will take time for the consumers to consider your message, evaluate and compare them with your competitors.

#2: Consumers Are Surrounded With Marketing Campaigns (and Gimmicks)

You can look at the outcome from two perspectives:

1. Consumers today are better decision makers – they tend to research and ask around for opinions before purchasing.
2. Consumers today had it enough with marketing campaigns – they simply avoid you (see short video here).

Neither outcome favors you as an marketer, especially when your business is new – budget constrains and lacking in credibility.

#3: Consumers Want Solutions

“Enough of selling! How about giving me a solution to my problem instead?”

Today’s consumers had it tough. Not only they have to put up with marketing spams, they have their own problems to attend to as well and all they want is a solution to their problems. If your marketing campaign only talks about your product, give it up – consumers won’t buy-in.

Going Beyond Marketing – to Creating an Experience

Instead of talking, why not try listening to understand what is it that the consumer wants rather than assuming? While it may be difficult to reach out to consumers before, social media platforms have made it easy today. Focus on creating an experience with the consumers instead of pushing the product to the consumer and you’ll see the difference as below:

The lines in grey illustrates the processes involved in the conventional consumer purchasing funnel and the one in red shows how powerful a bond / relationship with the consumer can be. It builds confidence among the consumers allowing them to jump into purchase – more powerful than conventional marketing efforts.

It Takes Time

I’m no way suggesting that this method is a shortcut to success. It takes time to build a bond with the consumers but its effect may be greater than conventional marketing efforts and social media makes it possible. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are great tools to approach the consumers because they are already on it. Approach them like how you would to approach a friend without being pitchy.

5 Things to remember when approaching consumers on social media:

1. You’re there to offer a solution to their pain.
2. You’re there to build relationships.
3. You’re there to give value.
4. You’re there to ultimately convert them into advocates.
5. You’re there to listen.

It’s time to do away with conventional marketing and let the ‘human’ do the job. Let people drive your business, not products.

What are your thoughts on conventional marketing vs social media marketing? Does the buying power solely rests on the consumers themselves now?

diagrams adapted from: Harvard Business Review.

5 Reasons Why #SocialMedia Contradicts Conventional Media Marketing

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The more I dive deeper into social media, the more I see how different is marketing today compared to before with the usage of various social media tools and platforms. The conventional way of ‘mass marketing’ or ‘mass advertising’ don’t seem to work that effectively anymore and even some small business owners are beginning to explore this new ‘thing’ called social media.

Before we go further, there’s this VERY interesting video on YouTube that you HAVE TO watch:

Interesting huh? With those thoughts on your mind, here are the 5 reasons why social media marketing contradicts conventional marketing methods:

#1: Conventional Marketing Says TALK. Social Media Marketing Says LISTEN.

Just like the video above, conventional marketing does all the talking and they’ll just go on and on to promote their products and brand just like how this sentence will go on and on without any punctuations and you’ll have to read the entire sentence in one breath and yet it still does not end because they’ll want you to buy and if you don’t they’ll keep talking and talking.

In other words, it’s just a ONE way relationship. Consumers today respond better to conversations. Remember, a conversation is TWO way. Before you click that “update” button, think – will YOU as a consumer respond to a post / update / tweet like that? How does that reflect you as a business? Is it too pitchy? Are you giving an opportunity for your followers to respond?

#2: Conventional Marketing Says KEEP. Social Media Marketing Says SHARE.

Content used to be exclusive. My research is mine. My video is mine. My article is mine. My statements are mine. Can’t blame them though, there isn’t any content sharing platform back then. However, such content were considered as trade secrets and even employees are not told of it.

Today, social media marketing is all about sharing. It is about getting as many people to share the message as possible. Call to actions are no longer limited to “Enter Your Email to Win Prizes” but to “Share This With As Many Friends As Possible to Win”. Companies are even creating content solely for sharing purposes – through SEO (you want to share your content), viral videos, contests and more!

#3: Conventional Marketing Says SELL. Social Media Marketing Says GIVE.

Conventional marketing focuses on the money. You have to pay if you want something from me. Makes sense, right? However in social media marketing, it’s all about giving, and believing in the philosophy of ‘givers gain’. Giving does not necessarily mean money, but VALUE. This can be done through information, service, support and even conversations to keep that relationship with your consumers alive.

#4: MONEY Determines Conventional Marketing. ENGAGEMENT Determines Social Media Marketing.

The rich becomes richer and the poor poorer in conventional marketing. Big corporations have millions of dollars every year to put up huge marketing campaigns with their brand plastered on every wall, ceiling, car and walkways, so much so that it feels as though they dropped a bomb in a city and yes, they do get the word out rather effectively – with a lot of money.

Not so on social media platforms. Money helps, but it does not necessarily produce results. The engagement and relationship speaks louder on social media. Think about it – what is it that really makes a content viral? The content? Or the consumers? The consumers make it happen. Yes, you can purchase fans and followers but that is equivalent of hiring a delivery boy to hand out your flyers and that does not go very well on social media.

This is where smaller businesses stand a chance against the big guys.

#5: Conventional Marketing Says QUANTITY. Social Media Marketing Says QUALITY.

Now this is an interesting one. Many have spoken on this before and I, too have written an article about quality isn’t exactly everything on social media networks (yes, I believe quantity matters, too!). However when it comes to conventional marketing, quantity ALWAYS matters. Think about it: the number of flyers, brochures, airtime, commercial spots, newspaper advertisements, coupons to giveaway, buntings, billboards… you get the drift.

Social media marketing on the other hand, aims for quality. Quality articles that educates, quality fans and followers that become your brand advocates, quality updates to drive conversations and quality conversations to build relationships.

Moving Forward

Recently I met with a potential client that just could not comprehend why would people blog to share personal / company information, update their status so that others would know what they’re up to and ‘check-in’ so that people could stalk them. He knows he needs to ‘do’ social media but just can’t get the reason why are people so into it.

Having looked at all that, it is clear that social media marketing really DOES NOT make sense to a conventional marketer. If you’ve been wondering why is it so difficult to convince an “experienced” marketer in your company (or client) to adopt social media methods, it is because it does not make sense to them.

It’s sharing time! Are there any other areas that conventional marketing efforts contradicts social media marketing? Do leave your thoughts in the comments section below!

#SocialMedia Lessons from My Visit to @StarbucksMY

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Just about 3 days ago I had an appointment with a potential client at a Starbucks outlet in town. Being one that frequents Starbucks quite often especially for discussions, I walked into this particular outlet without any expectations – already with a drink in mind.

I opened the door, stepped into the outlet and the baristas on duty turned and welcomed me. Nothing special here, most Starbucks outlets do that. It’s also a common sight in many cafes around the area.

I continued walking to the counter into the queue and something caught my attention. The barista introduced herself to the customer in front of me, got the customer’s name and began conversing with the customer by name. She eventually wrote the customer’s name on the cup and have been addressing the customer by name ever since.

I was impressed. Even after I got my drink I stood to observe just a little longer and all the baristas were doing the same – something totally different from the other outlets I’ve been to.

What’s the deal over here?

I can’t help but to think that businesses and individuals can learn a great deal from the situation above in their social media endeavors.

Here are 4 lessons I’ve learnt from this visit:

#1: A Warm Welcome – Welcomes are no longer a ‘good to have’ today. It is now a ‘must have’. Customers have grown to expect a welcome as it also makes them feel important and recognized.

welcome to janwong.my

#2: Personalization – This is the tricky part. On social media platforms such as Twitter, many are seen to be using automated tools to do the welcoming (auto DMs, anyone?). The least you can do is to take a few minutes to look at your new followers’ Twitter profile or blog and to address them by name. I usually try my best to give my new followers a shout out on Twitter to create an opportunity to get to know them better.

#3: Be Genuine – “Be yourself. People can sense when something is forced” @BrandonPDuncan. Take genuine interest in your followers by getting to know them first. There are plenty of ways to do this – read their blog, check out their Facebook page or their tweets. You can never pretend to know them.

#4: Consistency – The last thing you would want to be is to be inconsistent. Whether as a brand or an individual, consistency is key to build your presence and a lasting perception. I would say that you shouldn’t start off anything if you doubt you can stick with it. It may do you more harm than good.

Is there anything I missed? I would love to hear your thoughts on how businesses can enhance the experience of their fans and followers.

Are You Taking #SocialMedia Seriously: 23 Complaints = 10,000 Dissatisfactions!

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Just a couple of days ago, my good Twen @AskAaronLee tweeted an interesting stat:

Tweet by @AskAaronLee

Interesting, huh? It has much truth in that.

Many businesses and individuals go on social media to leverage upon it’s strengths and opportunities. You hear of testimonials of how great comments and feedbacks have benefited them and their business. Are we overlooking something over here? If positive feedbacks spread well on social media networks, negative feedbacks spread even better.

If that does illustrate the magnitude of dreadfulness, here is a scary calculation:

For every ONE complaining customer, there are an average of 26 customers who don’t bother to complain = 27 unhappy customers

27 unhappy customers x an average 16 people they will tell = 432 dissatisfactions

And this is just for ONE complaining customer.

What if we have 23 of them?

23 complains x 432 dissatisfactions = 9,936 dissatisfactions for every 23 complains!

How scary is THAT?

If it’s still not scary enough – understand this:

This research was done WITHOUT the involvement social media networks.

Which also means that the figures above were calculated based on conventional means of communication. Having that said, imagine what will happen with social media?

Using a similar calculation, if you have 1 dissatisfied fan on your Facebook Fan Page, that again totals to 27 dissatisfied fans.

If each fan has an average of 130 friends, 27 unhappy friends = 3,510 negative impressions on Facebook alone.

What happens if you’ve more?

Think again before ignoring that complain – it may cost you more than you thought it would. It is never ‘just a fan’ on social media. It is ‘what the fan can / would do’.

It will be awesome to hear your thoughts regarding the findings above!

Resource Source: White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington, DC

What is Beyond Buzz Marketing?

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So, you had an awesome ‘pull’ strategy. Your promotional strategy became the talk of the town. People are responding on a daily basis. Is that it? – to merely generate as many responses at one go? What’s next?

Just a week ago a local hair salon dropped a simple viral bomb in the community where I live – especially for the ladies. They hit the streets distributing ladies-only vouchers that entitles them to have a hair cut by a professional stylist at only RM1, for 1 week only. Yes, only RM1, equivalent to only 33 cents USD – it was definitely a steal and it became the talk of the town almost immediately.

Needless to say, both my mum and sis were drawn to the offer and they decided to make a trip to the salon to give it a shot after making a prior appointment. They walked in, confirmed their appointment and here comes the stylist. Being accustomed to a typical salon’s service, my mum described how she wanted her hair to be layered and was given the reply “your hair is already layered so we do not need to do anything to it”. As for my sis, well, snap-snap-snap and the whole ordeal was done in less than 5 minutes.

What happened here? The salon came up with a great ‘pull’ strategy and managed to get the crowd in. Do you really want to keep your customers in for only 5 minutes? It would have been a great opportunity for them to showcase their professionalism, services, hospitality and etc but they chose to give it away.

What they could have done?

1. A proper welcome would be nice. It doesn’t need to be elaborate but since there was a prior appointment made, perhaps the staffs could standby to greet you and guide you to a (labeled / reserved) seat? That would be a simple, but personalized service.

2. Cease the opportunity for a proper introduction. The objective of the promotion is definitely to generate future repeat customers. A mini tour around the salon, explaining the store’s concept, products, equipments and etc may instill confidence and memorability to your brand.

3. Leave something with the customers as they go. A return voucher, a loyalty card, a picture taken and signed by your hairstylist or anything that reminds them of you.

These small and inexpensive gestures can go a long, long way.

How important are your promotional / viral strategies? Very. A follow-up strategy? Imperative.

How would you react if you were there? What can they do better? Do share them below :)