Make your marketing strategy enjoyable for your customers


Making your marketing fun for clients is what makes them tell other people about you. This is the basis of viral marketing - the word of mouth that ultimately generates more business than all the advertising campaigns put together.

Humor is good, but something that encourages clients to pass on messages to friends, business colleagues, family, and indeed anyone else will outcome in improved brand equity and increased awareness of what your business is all about.

The message need not be too severe, either, or indeed be an overt marketing plug. Just passing the brand name along, and having it related with something entertaining and fun, is fairly sufficient. Your other marketing promotions will fill in the gaps, and anyway no single promotion will ever cover all the communication you would like it to - the very best you can hope for is that one communication will sensitize the customers to receiving a later one.

Radisson Hotels serve a predominantly business clientele. Business travelers typically invest a great deal of time in their rooms: they tend to use the time to catch up with work rather than go out sightseeing or to entertainment venues, since this permits them to invest more time with their families.

Radisson hit on the idea of supplying each room with a plastic duck to play with in the bath. The duck came having a note saying that the guest was welcome to keep the duck, maybe to take home for his or her children: if the guest preferred, however, the duck might be mailed anyplace in the world in its own unique crate, having a message from the guest.

Mailing the duck incurred a nominal charge that might be added to the guest's final bill: the charge was, in reality, more than enough to cover the costs of the duck, the crate, and the postage, but in luxury hotel terms it was little.

The result of this was that hundreds of thousands of Radisson ducks had been soon finding their way across the world. Children, girlfriends, husbands, wives, friends, work colleagues, bosses, and business associates started receiving the ducks, which no doubt raised a smile.

The impact was to raise the profile of Radisson, but more importantly it changed the brand personality - the stuffy, formal image of the common business hotel chain was modified, showing that even a top-class hotel has a sense of fun.

The shift in perception contributed to a growth in Radisson's weekend family trade, and made business travelers more likely to stay.

Do something that is fun. Ensure that it is as easy as feasible for someone to tell other people concerning the encounter. Try to have something tangible attached towards the encounter so that there's a permanent reminder of the event. Be careful that the message doesn't detract from the rest of the brand image.

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This article was sent to us by: Harold B. Olson at 01202011

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