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The real reason Nike made Colin Kaepernick the face of their new campaign

September 7, 2018 By admin

Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. #JustDoIt pic.twitter.com/SRWkMIDdaO

— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) September 3, 2018

Ever since Nike announced Colin Kaepernick as the face of their new campaign, they’ve gone viral. From across the pond, it’s really strange to see how much divide this campaign is causing in the US. I happen to have heard about Colin Kaepernick, not because I’m an odd European watching American Football instead of real football (I watch neither to be honest), but because I happen to follow US politics and social issues (at heart, I’m still an anthropologist). Most Europeans however, don’t know who Colin Kaepernick is, so for them, seeing people burning their Nike gear over some guy must be a strange sight.

But, I’m not going to go in on the European perspective of the US, nor am I going to say anything about US politics, or racial injustices and police brutality against black people in the States. I’ll save that for another day. Today, I’m looking at the Nike campaign from a marketing and copywriting point of view because, in my humble opinion, it’s genius. Everything that Pepsi did wrong with their campaign starring Kendall Jenner, Nike is getting right with their campaign. Let’s get into it.

Hero’s Journey

A very compelling copywriting technique is storytelling. I’m talking specifically about the hero’s journey where the underdog has to fight an enemy that’s logically speaking way too big to take on for the hero. The hero experiences some setbacks and goes into training often with the help of an older, wiser figure (think: Mr. Miyagi). The hero goes back to the battlefield and comes out victorious. This type of story is so persuasive because it directly touches our hearts. We root for the underdog because we often feel like, in life, we’re the underdog ourselves.

In Kaepernick’s story, he is the hero who’s fighting for racial justice for black people in the US. While fighting for his cause, he’s faced with enemies that are way too big for him to take on: one part of society that disagrees with him, the NFL, and even the president of the United States. Kaepernick’s fight has led to him being shunned by every football team, and now he’s out of work. The situation seems hopeless. Enter Nike.

Nike saves the day for our hero. Someone on Twitter pointed out that Nike is one of the NFL’s main sponsors. And to be honest, if they’d cared that much about Kaepernick’s situation, they could have just threatened the NFL to retract their sponsorship if they wouldn’t stop working against Kaepernick. But, instead, they decided to make Kaepernick the face of their new campaign. Knowing they had a perfect hero’s journey in their hands. They even chose to use the slogan “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.” It doesn’t get more heroic than that, right?

Controversy

There’s no doubt that the campaign is controversial. And you might wonder: why would Nike choose to be this controversial? They must have known beforehand given the opinions people have about whether or not Kaepernick is disrespecting the US anthem and military by taking a knee. And, as evident from the people that are burning their Nike gear, they’re losing a lot of people with this campaign. If that was your company, would you do the same? Or would the thought alone of taking a stand that’s this controversial scare you too much?

But does it really matter if you take a stand on an issue that fosters such strong responses? Actually, it doesn’t. First of all, it’s that very controversy that’s making this campaign go viral. Leading to Nike’s brand awareness to go through the roof (as if they weren’t already a globally recognized brand). Secondly, you can’t please everyone. Neither do you need to please everyone. You just need to appeal to your target market. The people you’re trying to sell to, and that’s exactly what Nike is doing with this campaign.

Data

While 53% of Americans say that it’s never appropriate to kneel during the national anthem in protest, you can bet that Nike knows what they’re doing. And that they know their target market. Who would they like to appeal to? Let’s have a look at the numbers for each polled group.

Republicans are the most opposed against kneeling during the national anthem: 86% say it’s never appropriate against 51% of independents and 29% of Democrats.

Furthermore, 58% of white people are against taking a knee against 22% of black people and 54% of Hispanic people.

But of people that fall in the age category of 18 to 29 only 38% think it’s inappropriate to kneel during the national anthem. So does 50% of people aged 30-49. Of people of 50 and over 63% disagrees with kneeling during the national anthem.

It’s precisely that age group that in large agrees with the Kaepernick’s protests that makes up 67% of Nike’s customers. Moreover, their customers are more ethnically diverse than average.

In fact, with this ad, Nike is appealing to Millennials.

Millennials

If you’re like most companies, you’re probably wondering how to appeal to Millennials. This group has now almost entirely entered the workforce and needs to be recruited as the next group of consumers. They spend $600 billion annually in the United States alone, and they’re expected to grow their spending to $1.4 trillion annually by 2020 which means they’ll represent 30% of total retail sales.

So, if you care about the continuity of your company, now is the time to reel in those Millennials. But they’re perceived as a hard group to reach. They’re less materialistic and less sensitive to status than their parents.

Well, Nike clearly has invested in getting to know those Millennials because this is exactly how you appeal to them. Millennials are socially conscious, and they expect the companies they buy from to be as well. There’s this conception about Millennials that they’re not loyal towards brands. This is not true, they can be very loyal, and part of that loyalty comes from wanting to contribute to a better world with their economic power.

Emotion

The only way to sell is through emotion. This sounds counterintuitive because people like to think about themselves as rational beings. We’re not. A decision to buy is made in a split second, and the decision is made based on how we feel. Only after we’ve already made the decision, we try to find reasons to justify why we feel we need to buy something. People get emotionally invested in brands. Think about it: Nike and Adidas both sell sports gear. The gear even looks much the same for the most part. If you have two identical looking shoes, that are both the same price, one is from Nike and the other by Adidas, what do you base your decision on? You base your decision on whatever brand you feel is more you.

Everyone that stands behind Colin Kaepernick will now choose Nike. And this connection can become so strong that those people will choose Nike for the rest of their lives, without even considering any other brand. And that type of brand loyalty is exactly what companies strive for.

Nike’s future

In the end, this hero’s journey will still be a good story to tell after 100 years. And if Nike still exists at that point, they can say they stood on the right side of history.

Don’t believe me? Just remember that Nelson Mandela was once considered a terrorist for his non-violent activism. So was Gandhi, so was Martin Luther King, and even Jesus…

Is Nike genuinely concerned about the racial injustice that black people experience in the US? I didn’t investigate the company well enough to say something about that. But from a marketing perspective, it doesn’t really matter because all that matters are the sales coming out of this campaign and the consolidation of the Nike brand within their target market.

CNBC reports that the Nike stock has fallen after the release of the Kaepernick ad. The hashtag #NikeBoycott has been trending on Twitter. People are burning their Nike sneakers and cutting the swooshes out of their clothes.

But all of that still doesn’t matter. Nike’s Q4 results are the real measurements of the effectiveness of this campaign.

References:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2018/05/23/poll-53-percent-of-americans-say-its-never-appropriate-to-kneel-during-the-national-anthem/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.c603e6a27d06

https://www.businessinsider.nl/nike-colin-kaepernick-deal-strategy-2018-9/?international=true&r=US

https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insight-outlook-who-are-millennial-shoppers-what-do-they-really-want-retail

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/09/04/nike-stocks-colin-kaepernick-ad.html

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How case studies can help you improve your overall marketing efforts

July 17, 2018 By admin

Man, how I wish I could start every new customer journey by interviewing at least 3 of their happiest clients to create case studies. I’ll tell you why but first let me ask you: do you use case studies for your marketing?

If you do, you’re probably familiar with their power. By showcasing your happy clients, you can attract new clients because nothing beats the power of social proof when it comes to selling. Social proof builds instant trust, and that’s why everyone first visits a review site before buying anything. You could say that case studies are the online equivalent of mouth-to-mouth marketing. But this isn’t the only reason why I’d love to start every new client relationship with writing case studies for them.

See, case studies can help your marketing in so many more ways besides by providing social proof. That’s what I found out while writing case studies for my client Resourcing Pros.

It’s pretty obvious to me now but there’s no better way to get to know your clients than by interviewing them for a case study.

Case studies help you join the conversation

Most writers will tell you to write how you speak but the real deal is: to connect with your reader you need to write how they talk. By interviewing your client, you get to hear the exact words they use when they describe their pain points, the benefits of your service or product, and their challenges in general. Use those words in your content and copy and your clients will feel like you’re in their heads. Right where you want to be.

Your strongest selling points

Interviewing for a case study doesn’t just help you to get to know your client very well, those interviews can also help you find out on what points you’re outperforming your competition. They tell you why your clients appreciate you. The clients I interviewed for Resourcing Pros, for example, all praised their empathy and ability to get to know all the ins- and outs of their client’s company in a brief period of time.

That’s great to know! Now, you can attract new clients by using your unique selling points as identified by your current clients and by writing copy and content about those USPs in their words. Making your prospects feel like you truly understand them. That’s how you sell: a prospect needs to feel that you understand his problems and that you have what it takes to solve those problems.

So, if you’re not sure yet about your strengths and about what your clients need and want but you do want to invest in expanding your business: start by investing in a couple of case studies. They really are a good foundation for your inbound marketing strategy.

Download my content reference card to know exactly when to use case studies

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Your first step in setting up your inbound marketing

April 4, 2018 By admin

Get your FREE reference list of content types here

In this blog, I explained why it’s a good idea to take out time to plan out an inbound marketing strategy. If you need a refresher on that check out this blog and come back after for advice on where to start.

So, most marketing professionals will tell you that you need to start your marketing strategy by building awareness for your business through blogging, vlogging, podcasting, social media, or any other type of attraction technique.

I’m going to tell you something different.

See, the vast majority of people already have some kind of online presence. Even if it’s just as a private person. I mean, who isn’t on social media these days? That’s why I advise you to work on your business’ awareness and lead generation through your personal online presence because I believe that’s the fastest way to get results.

“But how?” you ask.

Well, – and here’s where I’m telling you something different than anyone else again – you start out with your lead magnet.

Crazy, right?

Or, is it?

Before you give me the side eye, keep on reading… (via GIPHY)

I’m telling you it’s not.

Why start with your lead magnet?

Just so we’re on the same page: a lead magnet is a free piece of content that you can give to people in exchange for their email address. Those email addresses are what you’re after. You have to build a list of prospects so you can reach out to them, nurture them and eventually sell them your product or service.

So, the sooner you can get some email addresses, the sooner you’ll be able to start selling.

Most people procrastinate on creating their lead magnet because it seems like it involves a lot of work. And that’s true for some types of lead magnets. But think about it, when you create your lead magnet first, it means you get that one thing that seems to be the hardest to create out of the way. And when you do, you’ll feel like a boss!

That feeling when you get your lead magnet done. (Photo by Ryan Moreno on Unsplash)

But I’m not only a fan of creating your lead magnet first just to get it out of the way. No, when you have your lead magnet in place, you have something that you can build on. That works in two ways.

First of all, you know exactly what you’re offering prospects so you can build your content such as blog posts or vlogs around your lead magnet. That way you’re able to target your prospects more accurately than when you write a bunch of blog posts first and create a lead magnet after that sort of needs to fit those blog posts. Second, if you decide to create a long-form lead magnet like a white paper or a guide, you can use pieces of it and repurpose it into different types of content such as articles, social media posts, and videos.

And you can then use your repurposed content to nurture the people that downloaded your lead magnet. Did I say it works in two ways? Apparently, I meant three ways!

Get your FREE reference list of content types here

Lead magnet done. Now what?

Before you do anything else, you need to create an opt-in page where people can leave their email address and download your lead magnet. That way you can make sure to capture the email addresses of every single person interested in your lead magnet. You’ll also need an email sequence that’s sent to anyone downloading your lead magnet. This is a good time to set that up but if you’re really pressed for time, you could do that later as well. Maybe when you actually have content to share with your subscribers. Although, you shouldn’t be afraid to share third-party content either. But I digress…

Thank you page

The best time to convince a prospect to share your lead magnet with their connections is right after you convinced them to download your lead magnet. So, if you really want to get the most out of your lead magnet you should set up a thank you page where you can encourage downloaders to share your lead magnet on their social media. The more exposure your lead magnet gets, the better.

Share everywhere

Your lead magnet and funnel are done. Now it’s time to share it on every social media platform you’re on. But don’t just stop at sharing it publicly (and don’t forget to ask your connections to share as well). Try sharing your lead magnet privately to anyone who you think might be interested in it. That way you can target specific people and make sure they see your lead magnet.

By the way, if you happen to have an email list already, you can send your lead magnet to the people on that list as well. You know, to give them some love a.k.a nurturing.

But do remember to always share your lead magnet’s opt-in page when you’re sharing with people that aren’t on your email list yet. Otherwise, you won’t get the email addresses that you need for the following phases of your marketing.

So, in short…

What do you need exactly to make all of this happen?

Email service provider
Opt-in page
Lead magnet
Thank you page
Email sequence

That’s it. Your first step to building your inbound marketing empire.

Good luck with getting your lead magnet done!

Don’t know what to use as a lead magnet?

Grab my FREE reference list of content types here to see what types of content you can use as a lead magnet and to see which types of content you can use to build awareness and to nurture prospects.

As a bonus, you’ll get to go through my own funnel and see exactly how I’ve set up my opt-in and thank you pages and my email sequence including useful nurturing content.

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How to shift from outbound to inbound marketing in 2018

January 10, 2018 By admin

Happy New Year! Wishing you all the best in 2018 with tons of success, good luck, and happiness. Live long and prosper!

It’s a new year and although resolutions are usually made to be broken – at least I broke a few of my resolutions before – it’s a good idea to do some marketing strategy planning now.

That is if you want to grow your business this year. Which I’m sure you do.

But…. coming up with a marketing plan can be sooooo overwhelming. There’s tons of information out there, and if you get into reading about funnels and buyer awareness, it can become a tad bit confusing. Am I right?

Anyway, I’m sure there’s only one question on your mind.

Where do I get leads? Aaaaaaah!

via GIPHY Before anyone asks: this is not me, check me out on my Why me? page.

Ok, calm down. Don’t pull out your hair just yet. I’m here for you…

Confessions of a copywriter

So, the truth is… Like most of my clients, I’ve been relying on outbound marketing to promote my business. Meaning, I’m contacting prospects to see if they need help with their marketing. Or, clients are referred to me by other clients, friends, or family. And honestly, sometimes outbound marketing can make me feel just a little bit like this:

via GIPHY Begging! Youuuuu….

Just a little bit.

But so far, this approach has been successful enough.

Only, inbound marketing, where clients come to you is a much more effective approach in terms of sales.

How? The content that you publish makes you an expert in the eyes of your prospects.

Badabing badaboom: content marketing 101 right there. (Seasoned marketers, go away, I didn’t write this blog for you)

Once a prospect client thinks you’re an expert he (or she!) needs less convincing to actually buy your services or products by the time he contacts you. And as an added benefit, your prospect won’t argue over pricing as much as when you get in touch with them.

Basically, you’re in a better negotiation position every time someone contacts you as you would be the other way around. As a matter of fact, when you do inbound marketing right, it will get you more leads for fewer effort and costs.

And that’s why I’m dedicating January to creating my marketing plan for 2018. Who’s with me?

Creating the perfect inbound marketing strategy

You could say that there are three stages to creating an effective inbound marketing strategy. These are:

Knowing your client
Making a marketing plan
Sticking to the plan

Let me explain.

It seems super obvious but if you don’t know who your client is you won’t be able to connect with them, and your marketing efforts will simply fall flat.

via GIPHY: Can you tell I’m having fun with GIFs today?

Anyway, if you want to create a genuine connection with your clients you got to find out what their pain points are and solve them. You need to know where your prospect would go to find information about the type of services you offer. Because that’s what you want, you want your prospective client to find you. Once they find you, you need to conveniently leave them a piece of information that solves a problem they’re having. Keep in mind that to make them want to consume your content, you need to know what type of information your prospects are looking for. Do they like to watch videos or do they prefer to read articles? What type of lead magnet would attract them? Do they want to read a white paper or do they need a checklist?

Find out as much as you can about your perfect client. Until they can’t help but feel like:

via GIPHY I just had to include one New Girl GIF because this show makes me ugly laugh. Even going through the GIFs made me lol.

Once you’ve gathered as much information on your prospect as you can, you’re able to create a marketing plan. Think about your goals. Which result do you want to get out of your inbound marketing? Do you want to attract more website visitors? To generate leads? Or, do you want to position yourself as an expert?

via GIPHY What prof. X said.

Your goals determine the type of content you need to create. To attract more visitors, you might want to consider blogging. To generate leads, you need a free piece of content to give to prospects in exchange for their email address.

Sticking to the plan seems like a no-brainer, right? But what if you do not see any ROI? Well, I hate to break it to you, but with inbound marketing patience is key. It can take some time before you start seeing results. Give it at least 6 months to a year.

via GIPHY Even the A-team needed patience for their plans to work out. How are your plans any different?

Tracking results can be a bit hard because sometimes your results aren’t as tangible as a sale. And sometimes, you don’t exactly know if your inbound marketing efforts have made a difference in a deal. I’d advise you to track your website visitors, social shares and growth of your email list.

If all of this seems a bit overwhelming, just take it easy. The important thing to do is building your email list. You can do that with just one great lead magnet. Use social media to promote your lead magnet. Try to create content on a regular basis. Even if you blog only once a month, you can see results fast as this success story of my client Independent Expat Finance shows you.

Have questions about marketing? Post them in the comments below; I’d be happy to answer!

And if you’re wondering how you should get started, read my blog on your first step in setting up your inbound marketing here.

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How FI’s Can Use Content as a Marketing Strategy

June 21, 2017 By admin

Companies are becoming increasingly more aware of the positive effect that content marketing can have on their business results. A survey by the Content Marketing Institute shows that 89% of B2B marketing managers use content marketing as a marketing strategy. Of the 11% that don’t use content marketing today, half say they are planning on getting into content marketing within the next year. If they pull through, that means that next year around 94.5% of B2B marketers will use content marketing as a marketing strategy.

94.5%!

My history teacher used to say that 99.9% of the population in a dictatorship would ‘vote’ for the president. If one person hadn’t been sick, the voting percentage would have been 100%.

The content marketing percentage comes close to dictatorship voting numbers, except marketers are voting for content marketing willingly and with good reason.

See, content marketing is 62% less expensive than traditional marketing efforts while generating 3 times as many leads. Can you imagine what could happen to your sales if you would increase your content marketing budget?

Still, there are many companies that aren’t on board the content marketing train yet.

I did some research on company blogs of financial institutions recently, some of them do have blogs, a lot of them don’t. When they do have blogs, most of them aren’t well maintained. Obviously, content marketing doesn’t exist solely out of blogging. But, it can be a very powerful content marketing tool. And, if you want to reap the benefits of content marketing and see an increase in your sales, you need to step up your game sooner rather than later.

So, where should you concentrate your efforts to make your content marketing strategy a success?

The same report by the Content Marketing Institute finds that marketing managers that saw their content marketing strategy become more successful in the last year attribute that success to content creation. Marketing managers think that high quality and more efficient content creation accounted for 85% of the increased success of their content marketing strategy. They also cite making content marketing a bigger priority as a large factor in their increased success. That makes sense, right?

On the other hand, marketers blamed their stagnant or decreased success with content marketing on too little time spent on content marketing and on content creation challenges.

Which goals can companies achieve with their content marketing strategy?

Why is content marketing so important to B2B marketers? The below list proves how versatile content marketing can be in terms of results. Companies can use content marketing to achieve a number of important business goals:

● Lead Generation
● Brand Awareness
● Engagement
● Lead Nurturing
● Sales
● Customer Retention/Loyalty
● Building an Audience via Subscription Growth

According to a survey done by Demand Gen Report, 47% of B2B clients consume an average of 3 to 5 pieces of content before they ever engage with a salesperson. Meaning, your clients are checking out your content before they decide if you are worth their time, effort, and most importantly, their money. In the past, it might have been enough to have a website. Now, you really need more than just a website to convince your customers to enter the buying process.

And don’t you dare consider putting up a white paper that customers can download in exchange for their email address. You can do that, only if you also have content that is freely available. Why? Well, who in their right mind would leave you their email address without knowing if your white paper will be worth it? Clients want to check out your free content first. If your free content is any good, then they might become interested in your white paper.

This means that you have to produce high-quality content. That doesn’t mean that you should choose quality over quantity, though. You should create a lot of content that’s high in quality. It’s always better to put out some content over nothing. According to a Hubspot study, you get 3.5 times more traffic if you put out content 16 or more times a month over 0 to 4 times a month.

There are many ways to put out content. You can create social media posts, newsletters, blogs, e-books, white papers, videos, webinars, and infographics to name a few.

Guess what marketers are saying will be the most critical to content marketing success in 2017?

Blogs.

Why is that? Because that’s the way to reel your potential clients in. Yes, you want to share on social media, but you also want your clients to come to your website. Once they are on your website they can view all your content in one place and they can download your lead magnet.

Your blog can definitely help you to demonstrate your authority in your field and convince people to enter your sales funnel. Actually, your blog is the top of your sales funnel.

How can you measure the success of your content marketing efforts?

On average, companies spend 29% of their marketing budget on content marketing. This number excludes the budget going towards staff.

If your company is keen on starting to use content marketing, you could start with the 29% average and see how it goes. Or, you could start low and gradually increase your budget over the years. Keep in mind that you shouldn’t approach content marketing as a campaign. You should integrate it into your business processes. And as with every other business process, you are going to want to track the results you get from content marketing.

The most effective ways to measure the results of your content marketing strategy according to the B2B Marketers surveyed by the Content Marketing Institute are:

● Website traffic
● Sales Lead Quality
● Sales
● Higher Conversion Rates
● SEO Ranking
● Sales Lead Quantity
● Time Spent on Website
● Social Media Sharing
● Subscriber/Community Growth

Take the current results of all these measurables and use them as a baseline. After a few months of putting out high-quality content, you should see your numbers growing.

There’s a lot of competition in the financial industry. If you want to professionalize your content marketing, you’re lucky. Many of your competitors haven’t professionalized their content marketing strategy yet. If you start investing now, you can still be ahead of the game and come out on top.

Start by attracting a digital marketing manager to set up your content marketing strategy.

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Customer is King: How to Enhance Client Loyalty Through Customer Care

June 13, 2017 By admin

There’s no question that customer care remains vital for any business. That’s why for ages companies have lived by the adage, ‘customer is king’ to ensure great customer service.

I mean, businesses wouldn’t exist without their customers. So, we should always treat them well, right? There really is no question about it. Like kings over their subjects, customers have infinite power over your company. Not only by deciding if they want to buy from you, but also because they have the power to change the perception of your brand – for better or worse.

Remember those days when clients only had a small reach through word of mouth? Well, those days are over. In the internet and social media era, the reach of clients has become enormous — global, even.

Look at what happened to United Airlines after a video of a customer that got dragged off of the plane went viral. Their brand perception had to take an incredible hit for it.

Today’s customers have a gigantic toolbox at their disposal when deciding to buy or not to buy a product. They can and will Google everything they can before making their decision. From a product’s benefits to the features, prices, reviews, user videos, and complaints. They will do research on a company and best believe that they will find all the dirt that is out there.

This is even more the case for B2B customers. These customers deal with company money and have to spend large amounts. They base their decision on rationale instead of emotion. It doesn’t matter if you service B2C or B2B clients, you want your reputation to be impeccable. So, treating them like kings sounds like a good idea. But is it?

Why you shouldn’t think your customer is king

You want to treat your customers like kings to ensure they have a great customer experience, and to ensure that they will never write a bad review or tweet about you.

But think about this: with infinite power comes corruption. Like kings, customers can start to expect a certain type of service, to the point where they feel entitled to that level of service. They then start demanding ever-increasing quality for ever-decreasing prices — something you will most likely be unable to keep up with.

What kind of customers are you creating if they become used to you serving their every whim? Be careful with what you put in, the output might be less than desirable.

When you think your customer is king, what do you become?

You become a servant.

King and Servant. You have unnecessarily created an unbalanced relationship.

Click to Tweet:
When you treat your clients like kings, you become a servant and servants are replaceable.

And what to think about your own behavior?

When you believe that your customer is king, will you still be able to be personable and transparent? Or are you acting out of fear — fear because you don’t know if you can keep the King happy.

Will you neglect your boundaries as you receive pressure from your king?

If you adopt the attitude of a servant, that’s how people will start treating you.

But as a servant, you are replaceable.

What happens if you can’t keep up with your client’s ever-growing demands of quality for lower prices? Your client might threaten to take his or her business somewhere else. That’s because he or she doesn’t care about you.

And let me ask you: do you genuinely care about your king?

If customers aren’t kings, what are they?

How should you treat customers if you stop living by the adage ‘customer is king’? How can you make sure you still give outstanding client care if you let go of the thought customer is king?

Treat your clients like friends.

Focus on an equal relationship. Treat your customers like friends and they will start treating you as a friend as well. That way, you teach them to treat you with care, politeness, and respect.

Think about your best friend. How do you treat him or her?

You probably want what’s best for him or her.

Your best friend is very important to you so you listen with interest to what’s going on in his or her life. Wherever you can, you will help him or her out. And you help in the best way possible. If your BFF needs it, you will even give him some tough love. You will speak the truth to your best friend.

Wouldn’t it be easier to be transparent towards your best friend than it would be to the king you serve? It would certainly be a lot easier to be personable.

Be a friend and trusted advisor to your customers. Become somebody that will make them feel cared for, in return, they will be loyal to you and your company.

Why would you want your clients’ friendship and loyalty?

Easy. Because they will reciprocate whatever you give them.

Imagine Bob, a customer that wants to buy a new cloud solution for his general physician practice. Bob is already a customer of yours but is unaware that you offer the solution that he needs. He has been looking around and found multiple brands that offer the solution that he needs. So far, he understands “Brand A” to be the cheapest option.

Bob finds some customer reviews mentioning the bad customer service Brand A provides. Those reviews recommend looking at your brand instead. Your solution is more expensive but your customer service is the best in your industry.

Bob is very happy that you offer the solution that he needs. He knows he can trust you and decides to immediately purchase your solution.

Sounds too easy? It really works this way. People aren’t only creatures of habit, they also feel the intense urge to reciprocate what you give to them. That’s why content marketing works so well. That’s also why treating customers like friends makes them loyal customers (while treating customers like kings won’t!)

Click to Tweet:
People need to reciprocate. Treat customers like friends instead of kings to make loyal customers.

How to treat customers as friends?

Be kind.

Listen to what your customers have to say and ask them for their opinion. Don’t try to sell them anything that doesn’t bring them value. Fix their problems. If you can’t fix their problems, be transparent about it and offer them another solution.

Most importantly, treat them as human beings. Don’t look at them as if they are walking dollar signs. Keep their best interest in mind. If a product is perfect for them, they will want to buy it. If you sell them something that doesn’t fit their needs, you lose their trust.

Find service agents that are empathic and are the type of people that like to take care of others. It takes a person that really loves to help and solve other people’s problems.

If this seems all too obvious, it’s because it is. Like most things in life, it’s better not to overthink customer service. Instead, treat people the same way you want them to treat you. That way you can’t go wrong.

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