Hot take: The traditional agency pitch of “we will help you get thousands of new customers for $100,000 a year” is outdated for the majority of small- to mid-sized businesses.

You’ll have to work extra hard convincing strangers why you’re a brand they should pay attention to among a hundred other options, and you’ll get in an expensive spending cycle as they rotate in and right out the door again. Slogans used to work in the past, but in a world where all the information someone needs to make a purchase decision is at their fingertips, consumers are gravitating toward businesses who create authentic relationships

Customer retention can be a much more powerful and affordable option compared to acquisition. So why are so many businesses and their marketing agencies still so focused on new customers instead of building deep connections with current customers? Because it takes time to do the latter. And it can be hard for even the most steadfast business leaders to trust the process for long-term results.

If you can prioritize long-term growth goals over short-term revenue spikes, you’ll build longevity and loyalty with your base.

Loyalty leads to many benefits, including consistent feedback about your business, and most importantly predictable, sustainable income.

Data shows that regulars are overwhelmingly more willing to buy from their preferred brand over a competitor, and are also more willing to spend more money with those preferred businesses than others, even when their preferred brand doesn’t have all the newest products and features. 

Customer Relationships Take Time

Relationships with your customers are not a one-time, in-store kind of thing. You should have ongoing relationships, digitally, and in person, to excite them to come back, to foster loyal advocates, and to excite them to spread the word for you.

Engaged customers can turn into regulars. Everyone fantasizes about being a “regular” right? It’s romanticized in our TV and movies. The thought that as soon as you walk in the door, someone recognizes you and already knows what you’re looking for, whether that’s a cappuccino, or an amber ale, or the newest edition in a long-running comic book series. 

Regulars love gushing about their favorite things to their friends, creating organic word-of-mouth marketing, or what we call the golden ticket.

Sure, you can place ads in local publications and spend money on Facebook and Instagram, but that kind of word-of-mouth marketing is the most powerful, compared to anything you advertise about yourself. So how can you be the person other people are recommending? Retention marketing of course!

But trying to craft a retention marketing strategy that works for your business from reading the whole internet by yourself can be overwhelming and time consuming.

Retention Marketing Made Easier

There should be other options for you to get you where you need to be. 

Sure, you may need someone with marketing expertise to complete a project for you, but you may not have budget, time, or need for a full-time leader. Wouldn’t it be great if you had a CMO, but only when you needed one? Or wouldn’t it be great if someone could just give you a template, guide, or thought-starter to help you connect with customers? 

So, that’s us. Hopefully, we can help solve some of these issues as you grow your business.

What Could Retention Marketing Look Like For You?

We like to use cost effective marketing tactics to help you engage your current customers and build that trust and loyalty. Our preferred methods are emails for a personalized communication channel, and content like blog posts to engage their interests and share your knowledge. We also love to talk social media post ideas, but since we can’t be in 50 states at once, we can’t actually do the social media for our clients. 

Whatever you need, if you want to prioritize your current customer relationships, we’d be delighted to support you.