Who is Following You?

Good day to everyone! This is Chris Teague welcoming you to another marketing post from my work with the WIN Firm. I would like to apologize for not having this post up yesterday: there were a few glitches on blogger that prevented us from posting. Are you ready for a simple marketing lesson many of us tend to overlook?

Look over your shoulder...check your rear-view mirror...turn around....are you being followed? It is kind of creepy to think you are being followed at times, but as a company, you want to be followed. In fact, we as people desire to follow. Yes, you may lead, but you really follow. Sorry to burst your bubble, but we are just made to follow and that is perfectly okay. So, do you know who is following you? Really? I bet there are people you are missing. Keep reading; I will explain.

Customer retention is so important to a company's growth. Any executive, store owner or manager will tell you that keeping customers is less expensive than finding new ones. While this may be true, many organizations are unaware of who their customers are. What do I mean? I am talking about the customers that have not purchased anything from you, but like you and will buy from you. What? You mean I have a large customer base following me? How do I reach them? You just need to engage this customer base a little and provide them a purchasing avenue, but you must know who they are first. Want to figure out who is following you and increase your beloved customer base? Come on down to see how we at the WIN Firm help clients "track" those following you.

Step 1: You must be open to knowing that your industry is constantly changing, people are changing and your customers no longer look exactly alike. Well, they don't on the outside. Once you are open to UNDERSTANDING your customer today, you will be prepared for the next step.

Step 2: Let's explore alumni giving a little bit. WIN works with colleges and non-profits that depend on the public's support of their efforts to remain sustainable, financially speaking. There is one question that we always hear from our clients: "Who out there will give?" Great question! To discover the answer, we have found that anybody will give and will, but he/she simply hasn't found a reason to just yet. So, figure out this reason and engage your givers. Wait! I thought we were talking about tracking our followers. We are! Keep reading.

Step 3: Now that you know people need a reason to do something, you can effectively discover your followers. How? Analyze your current customers and their buying, or in this case, giving behaviors. There are those that buy/give a lot, and there are those that do not buy/give a lot. Common knowledge, right? Right! So, use this knowledge to figure out who is following you. That's right! You can know who is following based on the characteristics and mannerisms of your "known" customers. Stay with me.

Step 4: Okay, you know that some people simply have plenty of money to spend/give, may really like you and even have found satisfaction in your product. There are others that want to share the same thing as these people, but you haven't discovered them yet. We at WIN are innovative, so take this next step/tactic/strategy openly. Check it out!

Step 5: People are everywhere. How do you find those following you? Engage them. Bring them out of the jungle and unmask their camouflage. We understand that people give due to various reasons, especially depending on where they are in life. We created a concept that reached and brought the following groups together: current students, those freshly out of school, those at the beginning of a career, those starting a family and those "established." These are all customers following a college, but the college does not really know who they are. Why not find them?

Step 6: We approached a school and offered them the concept of being "Social." No, I am not talking about social media just yet. I am referring to the power of socializing and networking. We created various socials within the college's community that connected these groups and allowed them to chat, meet one another and network. What brought them together? Their common connection: COLLEGE. Using the theme of "Helping," we were able to create a reason for these unknown customers to be engaged. The college discovered its "unknown" customer and giving increased!

Blessings,
Chris Teague
V.P. Marketing
WIN Firm