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Depending on which study you believe, and what industry you’re in, acquiring a new customer is anywhere from five to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one. Harvard Business Review
And THAT is expensive both in money and in time.
So the message here is simple, if we can reduce our customer churn rate, we’ll make more money.
And we can do that by increasing our Brand Value so that our existing customers are more likely to stay with us…
Here are 5 ways you can increase the brand value of your business:
1) Re-brand
Your brand is not just your logo, it’s every experience your customer has of your business.
So if some of that experience isn’t quite where it should be, maybe it’s time for a re-brand.
We can have the best brand identity (the logo bit) in the world, but if the customer experience doesn’t match, then we’re on a hiding to nothing.
Re-branding is really about getting your house in order and positioning yourself as the best customer experience in your market, both in product and after sales.
Once you have that right, your customer is more likely to stay with you than go somewhere else.
An effective re-brand can add massive value to a business, not just in terms of customer experience, but actual value of the company.
2) Customer Service
This is part of your brand, and you need to be on top of this one before anything else.
In this fast paced consumer society, customer service is lacking more than ever.
The faceless landscape of online sales illustrates this beautifully.
Plus human values are changing. We’re moving from a serving society to a self-serving society, and that’s plain selfish.
You know what it’s like when you have a bad experience with a business, the staff are rude, nobody wants to help, everyone has their head down on the their phones, it doesn’t feel great, and chances are you won’t hurry back.
So if you can go the extra mile with your customer service, a smile, attentiveness, genuine interest in your customer, after sales care, then you’re going to position yourself above the competition who don’t really care.
3) Random Acts of Kindness (RAoK)
This follows on from point 2.
Has any person or business ever surprised you with a gift out of the blue?
Feels pretty good doesn’t it? And it doesn’t cost a lot from a business perspective to do that.
We ran a RAoK campaign recently, where, on a stinkingly miserable Monday morning, we delivered to our customers freshly baked, branded Cupcakes with a big smiley face on top, with a note saying “A little something to make your Monday a bit brighter”.
It went a long way and cost us very little in the scheme of marketing budget.
Even finding out your customer’s birthday and setting it up as a reminder in your CRM to send them a card - people LOVE birthday cards!
4) Ask
As business owners we often get buried in the day to day grind, turning out our products and service that we think our customers want.
And sometimes we’re off the mark and the business isn’t flowing.
We might be just slightly wide of what our customers really want, yet we don’t know it.
So why not ask them what they really want from a business or industry the you’re in?
People love to be heard, and are happy to tell you their biggest frustration with suppliers or service providers.
So get out there and ask them what their single biggest frustration is with X.
This has a double benefit - because a) they’ll tell you what they want, and b) they’ll tell you in the exact language that you can then use to market back to them once you’ve solved their problem.
We use ‘Surveys’ a lot in our business, although we don’t call them surveys, we ‘ask’ for our customers help, because people hate surveys but love to help…
5) Free and Valuable Content
Give as much value as you can to your customers, without expecting anything in return.
Send them free tips and information that’s going to help them with their problems.
Provide valuable content on your social media feed instead of just shouting and asking them to buy your stuff.
We use one of Gary Vee’s tactics - Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook! That is, give 3 times value for every call to action to buy.
The more value you can provide, the stronger your position and authority in your marketplace.
Owning a strong brand is one of the most rewarding things you can do in business. So why not take time to step back and look at your brand offering and value.
And if you’d like to know more, or if you’d like to explore what a re-brand could do for your business, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. (See what I did there? 5 x value and 1 call to action).
I’ll even buy the coffee and bring the cupcakes ;)
About the Author
Andy is on a mission to help you grow your business.
Having worked with some of the leading brands in the world, he founded Great Circle to fill the gap of business owners needing an effective outsourced brand and marketing solution.
For help with your branding, website or marketing, please get in touch for a no-obligation chat:
[email protected]
WhatsApp: +34 648479684
