Going the Distance: Four Ways to Build a Better Customer Loyalty Program for Your Brand

It’s easy enough for a customer to join your loyalty program, especially when you’re offering an incentive such as discounts. All your customer has to do is give out some basic information, and voila! They’re in the fold, a brand new loyalty member with your company. From there, it’s happily ever after. You offer the perks; they stand solidly by you, bringing you their continued business. Simple. Or is it? In reality, just how many of those customers are act ively participating in your loyalty program? Do you know? Sure, loyalty program memberships are on the rise according to market research company eMarketer, having jumped 25 percent in the space of just two years. However, that figure may be a bit misleading. The truth is that, while loyalty program sign-ups may be more numerous, active participation in such programs is actually in decline. At the time of the study, the average US household had memberships in 29 loyalty programs; yet consumers were only active in 12 of those. That’s just 41 percent. And even that meager figure represents a drop of 2 percentage points per year over each of the preceding four years, according to a study by loyalty-marketing research company COLLOQUY.

When discounts just aren’t enough

So what’s a brand to do? How can you make your loyalty program worth your customer’s while—as well as your own? After all, gaining a new loyalty member doesn’t mean much if your customer isn’t actively participating in your program. Consider this: Does your customer loyalty program offer members anything different from what your competitors are offering? Chances are your program includes discounts. That’s a given. And what customer doesn’t appreciate a good discount? But when every other company out there is providing this staple benefit in comparable amounts, it becomes less and less likely that customers will remain loyal to any one particular brand. Frankly, it’s all too easy for customers to get lost in a sea of loyalty member discounts. They’re everywhere. In fact, just under half of internet users perceive that all rewards programs are alike, according to a 2015 eMarketer survey. The key to success, then, is to differentiate your business from the crowd. If you can offer your customers something unique and valuable beyond the usual discount, chances are they’ll be more likely to stick with your brand. Here’s some inspiration from companies who get it.

Virgin: Reward more purchases with more benefits.

That’s not to say you need to get rid of discounts entirely. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Customers still love a good discount. The goal is to be creative in terms of the loyalty perks you offer. Take the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, for example. As part of its loyalty program, the airline allows members to earn miles and tier points. Members are inducted at the Club Red tier, from which they can move up to Club Silver and then Club Gold. Here, it’s not just a discount. It’s status. And people respond to feeling important, elite. Still, even where the rewards themselves are concerned, Virgin is motivating loyalty customers with some pretty attractive offers. At the Club Red tier, members earn flight miles and receive discounts on rental cars, airport parking, hotels and holiday flights. But as members rise in tiers, they get even more. At the Club Silver tier, members earn 50 percent more points on flights, access to expedited check-in, and priority standby seating. And once they reach the top, Club Gold members receive double miles, priority boarding and access to exclusive clubhouses where they can get a drink or a massage before their flight. Now that’s some serious incentive to keep coming back for more. Discounts are still part of the equation – but they are designed with innovation and personal value in mind, elevating them to more than just savings.

Amazon Prime: Pay upfront and become a VIP.

What if your customers only had to pay a one-time upfront fee to get a year’s worth of substantial benefits? It may not sound like the smartest business idea at first glance. But take a closer look. Amazon Prime users pay a nominal $99 a year to gain free, two-day shipping on millions of products with no minimum purchase. And that’s just one benefit of going Prime. It’s true that Amazon loses $1-2 billion a year on Prime. This comes as no surprise given the incredible value the program offers. But get this: Amazon makes up for its losses in markedly higher transaction frequency. Specifically, Prime members spend an average of $1,500 a year on Amazon.com, compared with $625 spent by non-Prime users, a ccording to a 2015 report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.

Patagonia: Cater to customer values.

Sometimes, the draw for consumers isn’t saving money or getting a great deal. The eco-friendly outdoor clothing company Patagonia figured this out back in 2011, when it partnered with eBay to launch its Common Threads Initiative: a program that allows customers to resell their used Patagonia clothing via the company’s website. Why is this program important to customers? And how does it benefit Patagonia? The company’s brand embraces environmental and social responsibility, so it was only fitting that they create a platform for essentially recycling old clothing rather than merely throwing it away. The Common Threads Initiative helps Patagonia build a memorable brand and fierce loyalty by offering its customers a cause that aligns with deep personal values. OK, so their customers get to make a little money, too. Everybody wins.

American Airlines: Gamify your loyalty program.

If you’re going to offer your customers a loyalty program, why not make it f un? After all, engagement is key to building a strong relationship with your customer. And what better way to achieve that goal than making a game of it. American Airlines had this very thing in mind when it created its AAdvantage Passport Challenge following its merger with USAirways. The goal: find a new way to engage customers as big changes were underway. Using a custom Facebook application, American Airlines created a virtual passport to increase brand awareness while offering members a chance to earn bonus points. Customers earned these rewards through a variety of game-like activities, from answering trivia questions to tracking travel through a personalized dashboard. In the end, participants earned more than 70 percent more stamps than expected – and the airline saw a ROI of more than 500 percent. The takeaway: people like games.

Stand out from the crowd.

Your approach to your customer loyalty program should align with your overall marketing approach. Effective branding is about standing out, not blending it. Being memorable is key. To this end, keep in mind that loyalty programs are no longer a novelty. That means that yesterday’s strategies won’t work moving forward, so look for ways to rise above the noise, setting yourself apart from the cloying drone of countless other cookie-cutter programs.

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Eight Steps to Conquering Local Media

Anyone charged with the task of growing a business salivates at the idea of landing in the national media spotlight. The lure of the massive exposure that just one mention on CNN, Good Morning America or Oprah or in the pages of Bloomberg Businessweek or USA Today delivers is the driving force behind many PR campaigns. However, it's important to remember that the cardinal rule of real estate also applies to media relations: location, location, location. Of course your potential customers are tuned in to news from the national players. But these customers also exist as members of their local communities. They live locally, shop locally and do business locally. They also read, listen to and watch local media outlets. No matter the size of your business or the scope of your target market, it's critical to develop a systematic approach to leveraging local media. That's why no matter the size of your business or the scope of your target market, it's critical to develop a systematic approach to leveraging local media outlets to increase awareness, build trust in your brand and boost sales. But if you want to make an impact, you must get strategic. Even at the local level, the competition is stiff for airtime and column inches. Here are the fundamentals of breaking through the clutter and conquering the local media markets where you do business.

1. Do your homework.

Every market offers a wealth of opportunities for media coverage. Make it your mission to uncover all of the outlets available to you in each market and then narrow your hit list according to the demographics of your target market and their media consumption preferences. For print media, you'll want to identify the major daily newspaper as well as smaller suburban weeklies and specialty publications that serve niche audiences like parents, women and retirees. Even the humble neighborhood association newsletter can be a valuable tool for showcasing your expertise or increasing awareness of your services. On the broadcast side, local television news programs are a given, but don't forget about local daily or weekly radio and TV talk shows, which often have strong loyal followings. Morning and afternoon drive shows in particular attract a huge number of listeners during the daily commute. Locally produced call-in and talk radio can also be ideal targets for your promotional efforts, particularly if you can offer an expert to field questions or provide insight on topics of interest.

2. Go grassroots.

In your efforts to canvas the traditional media outlets in a given market, don't forget to also investigate the opportunities that may exist to gain exposure among locally based online communities. In today's digital era, companies have unprecedented access to highly active, motivated and powerful influencers who can use social media platforms to disseminate information through their networks of friends and fans. A successful local social media-driven PR campaign begins with researching the popular websites and blogs that cater to that specific market as well as identifying individuals have a strong following on Facebook or Twitter and whose needs and interests overlap with your offering. Once you've pinpointed the sources that are the best fit in terms of both size and scope of their influence, that's when it's time to put trustcasting to work. You must strive to create authentic relationships with these individuals who hold a position of leadership within their tribes. You must also overcome the burden of proof that your company and your products are worthy of their recommendation. By giving you their endorsement, they're putting their reputation and their credibility on the line. Make it worth their while, and they'll make it worth yours in return. For example, when Just Focus Massage & Wellness in Charlotte, North Carolina, needed to build awareness for their new FocusForward wellness seminar series, they identified popular local lifestyle blogs and approached the owners with the opportunity to attend the series free of charge in exchange for sharing their experience with their readers. For a minimal investment, Just Focus was not only able to gain exposure to a highly targeted audience, they also reaped the benefits of the inherent trust that comes with the word-of-mouth recommendation of an established tribe leader.

3. Get to know the gatekeepers.

It's always a good idea to get to know the talk show hosts and reporters who cover topics of relevance to your products or services. However, it's important to keep in mind that many of these individuals have relatively little control over the stories they report. The real power players in local media are the editors (print), producers (radio) and assignment editors (television) who tell the writers, hosts and reporters where to be and what to talk about. If you can get to know these gatekeepers and how to get in front of them, you'll greatly improve your chances of gaining the coverage you seek.

4. Develop genuinely local angles and events.

It's tempting to distribute the same press release or pitch to every outlet on your hit list, especially if you think your story offers a broad-based appeal. However, going the extra mile to enhance your story with local interest will pay dividends in securing coverage in the markets that matter most to you. For example, let's say you're an HR consulting firm pitching a story on the rising costs of health care. This is a compelling story that might gain coverage simply on the merits of its timeliness. However, you could significantly boost your chances of catching the eye of a local newspaper editor simply by including a few relevant details like how local cost increases compare to the nationwide average or the contact information for one of your consultants who is based in that location and can offer expert insight on how these changes are affecting the job market in that city.

5. Don’t forget the fundamentals.

Give your press release the “Would I read it?” test. In addition to giving local media stories that offer local angles, local impact, local data and local people, you must also make sure you’re obeying the fundamental rules of good storytelling. Give your press release the “Would I read it?” test. Keep it simple and find hooks that tie into universal themes. Time your pitches to correspond with news cycles and seasons. Offer compelling visuals and expert spokespeople. Learn the audience demographics and the hot-button issues for each media outlet you plan to approach, and shape your story accordingly.

6. It’s all in the delivery.

Even the best pitch can fall flat it it’s not delivered in the correct manner and at the appropriate time. An important part of building relationships with media professionals is getting to know how and when they prefer to be contacted. Does he live and die by his Blackberry, or will your e-mail just collect dust in his inbox? Would she like to hear from you, or would a phone call be an annoyance? Timing is everything. You must make sure you’re on the radar when editorial decisions are being made and that you’re not trying to get attention when a reporter is up against a deadline. Make sure you’re on the radar when editorial decisions are being made. While every news organization works differently, there are a few rules of thumb that apply in most cases. Deadlines generally fall in the afternoon for daily print publications and three to four days ahead of publication for weeklies. Radio show producers typically have either weekly or bi-weekly meetings to plan upcoming topics and guests, while assignment editors for local television news broadcasts make their final determinations about where to dispatch camera crews and reporters on a daily basis, usually very early in the morning. It’s important as well to be realistic and bear in mind that there can and will be times that no matter how strong or well-timed your story idea might be, no one will bite based on prior commitments or breaking news. Simply accept this graciously and move on to the next pitch.

7. Don't underestimate the personal touch.

Always remember that there are people on the receiving end of your stories. "Media relations" can be a bit of a misleading term. It implies that you’re sending your press releases and pitches to some nameless, faceless news-generating machine. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Always remember that there are people on the receiving end of your stories, so put your best relationship-building skills to work. Call and introduce yourself to local writers, editors, bloggers and producers when you have nothing to actively pitch. If possible, invite them to lunch to discuss their needs and interests as well as how they prefer to receive information, and demonstrate consideration for those preferences when you contact them in the future with story ideas. Do keep in mind that many media outlets have strict policies regarding gifts, so be sure to know and play by the rules.

8. Give ‘em the goods.

Product placement can go a long way in getting free advertising for your company, especially in radio. If you run a bakery, deliver a tray of your most popular treats to the afternoon drive show personalities. Or if you own a day spa, invite the busy mom who hosts the morning show to enjoy a free day of pampering. While there are no guarantees, chances are good that you'll at least get an on-air thank you and maybe even a genuine, glowing review of your products or services. Additionally, radio and TV producers are always looking for prizes for promotional giveaways and sponsors for events. These opportunities tend to cost much less than traditional paid advertising on the same stations but deliver high-impact exposure and referrals.

Let the conquest begin.

Remember: if you want to win the war of PR, you have to win the battles being fought in your own backyard. By employing these time-tested tactics, you can help to ensure that your pitches will stand out from the crowd and establish your company as a trusted source for local media outlets in the markets where you do business.

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Mythbusting Google’s “Mobilegeddon"

Back in December, we published an article called “Another Google Game-Changer: How Going Mobile Friendly Will Boost Your Search Visibility” that addressed the new “mobile friendly” designation that the search engine was adding to websites that had been optimized for mobile devices.

At the time, Google said that they saw “these labels as a first step in helping mobile users to have a better mobile web experience.” They went on to say, “we are also experimenting with using the mobile-friendly criteria as a ranking signal.” Many people speculated that it would only be a matter of time before Google started rewarding sites that were mobile friendly, and thereby penalizing those that were not. That day has come.

In a recent announcement, Google clarified their intentions for this mobile friendly label, stating that “starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results.”

If your site is not mobile friendly, Google has been quite clear in the fact that that site will no longer be given the same consideration that sites that are responsive and mobile friendly will be given. If you haven’t yet made multi-device support a priority on your website, now is the time to do so!

In prestigious company

Creating mobile friendly websites that are built with a responsive approach is not a new idea. The article that introduced this term to the industry was published in 2010 and it has been a best practice for years with Google recommending it as their preferred solution for multi-device support for quite some time. Still, even though responsive web design has been an important part of the Web industry for a while, there are many companies that have not yet implemented these best practices on their own site. If you are one of the companies that has thus far eschewed this approach to multi-device support, rest assured that you are in prestigious company.

A recent article by TechCrunch found that 44% of websites for Fortune 500 companies failed when using the Google PageSpeed Insights API. This tool shows if a site is, indeed, mobile friendly. The findings of this report show that the failure to go responsive is not always due to financial reasons. The prestigious companies on the Fortune 500 list can certainly afford to redesign their websites to add a mobile-friendly experience. So why haven’t they done so then? Oftentimes, when a company fails to go responsive and create a site with an optimized experience for all screens and devices, it is because they do not fully understand the importance or benefits of doing so.

Mobile expectations

Google’s changes to their algorithm show that they expect more from websites and the experience they deliver to mobile devices. This makes sense, because web users as a whole have begun to expect more from mobile websites.

A short time ago, Google conducted a survey of website users and their opinions on the mobile web experience. They found that “72 percent of mobile users say it’s important to them that websites are mobile-friendly, yet 96 percent have visited a site that doesn’t work well on their device.”

The survey, and resulting report, went on to state that “users are five times more likely to abandon the task they are trying to complete if the site isn’t optimized for mobile use, with 79 percent saying they will go back to search and try to find another site to meet their needs.”

As these numbers show, the expectations for mobile websites are rising and the patience to deal with non-mobile friendly sites is greatly diminishing. Because of this, the “do nothing” approach to multi-device support is simply no longer an option.

The “do nothing” approach

The “do nothing” approach to mobile web support is pretty easy to accomplish, because, as the name suggests, you do nothing to your website and allow a layout that was intended for large screen, desktop monitors to display on all devices and screen sizes – mobile included. Before the rise in popularity of mobile devices, this is how all websites were built. As such, when people first began using those mobile devices to access websites, they accepted the fact that sites were difficult to use on those devices. They had to “pinch and zoom” to read content or tap links that were meant to be clicked with a mouse, not touched with a finger. Once responsive design took hold, however, and as more and more sites integrated this approach and improved their mobile experience, expectations from customers were raised.

In short order, the “do nothing” approach went from an unfortunate, yet acceptable, solution to a sign that your site was behind the times. Now, with Google’s changes to their search algorithm and their clear stance that the “do nothing” approach is no longer acceptable, this approach will not only show you are behind, it will also hurt your site’s overall SEO. If you have not yet made your site mobile friendly, and you are not planning to do so now, expect that your site will fall further and further behind the times and lower and lower in Google’s search engine rankings.

The case for mobile-friendly

Google’s algorithm changes are the final piece that many companies may have needed to finally take the steps to make their site mobile friendly – but maintaining quality rankings is not the only reason to use this approach. There are a number of benefits to going responsive on your website, including:

Customer service – since customers expect a website that works well on all devices, from desktops to tablets to phones and beyond, by delivering a quality experience on all these devices, you present a better overall customer service experience

Business development / customer retention – as the Google report shows, customers who visit a site on a mobile device and find it not optimized for that device are likely to leave the site and seek out an alternative for the products or services the need. This is lost business for you! A site that works well on all devices ensures that the traffic you get is the traffic you keep!

Content consistency – with a responsive website, you have 1 website to maintain and manage, as opposed to separate sites for mobile versus desktop users. That one site will dynamically reflow its layout based on a user’s screen size. This means that while the look of the site may adjust for different users, the content will remain the same, ensuring that the right message is always delivered regardless of the device being used to access the website

Take the leap.

Expect search engine rankings to change dramatically after April 21st as Google begins using mobile friendless as ranking criteria. If you are not ready for this change, speak to your web or marketing team immediately and get the ball rolling on plans that will bring mobile support to your website and have your business ready for the increasing mobile-centric future of the Web.

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