Marketing for our clients requires a little math. Why math? We need to figure out the cost and value of keeping a life time/long term customer, compared to the cost of getting a new one-time customer. Our type of marketing also requires building relationships with your customers. We believe that maintaining long term relationships with your customers is more valuable and more profitable than attracting new customers through traditional marketing methods.

Take this scenario for a restaurant marketing client: casual diner Bob eats here 2 times a month. His average tab is $45 dollars a visit, or $90 a month.  So this year, Bob is worth $90 x 12 months or $1080 a year. Let’s say Bob sticks around for only 18 months. This means Bob’s lifetime value for 18 months, is $1620. That’s a lot of cash!

So how do we market to Bob? Well, first of all, we have to understand that we need a relationship. But we also need to do things to reward him as he grows in his relationship with us. After all, it’s pretty rude to never say thank you to someone who does nice things for you.

What should the rewards look like? Well, when was the last time he came in with a group, and you offered the entire group free desserts on the house—just for fun? Never? Well, think about the food cost to do that compared the marketing expense to get another Bob to come for the first time and stay. It’s probably worth a ten dollar food cost for the entire table to get something special that they will talk about for several days to come – and probably on social media where hundreds of folks will hear their testimonial.

Sometimes spending a little of the commodity you have to keep a good customer is much better than spending unknown amounts to reap unknown rewards. Keeping customers happy and returning by building relationships (with or without free food) can be far more successful than procuring new customers through unmanageable and unverifiable means.

Don’t be like AT&T! What do I mean by that? Well, have you noticed that if you want to get a great deal from AT&T, you can’t be an existing customer? If you already have their service, and you’ve faithfully spent thousands a year on their service and their phones, you can’t get the cheapest deal on their phones!
Sounds backwards, doesn’t it? Take care of the customers you do have, so they’ll do the heavy lifting and bring their friends to your establishment.

And that will be some of the best marketing you’ll never have to do!

Photo Credit: Andy Chapman taken at Bravo! Restaurant in Jackson, Miss.

** Editors Note: After I wrote this article, I was in one of our clients local soda fountain, burger joint. I asked if I could mingle and talk to customers (one of my favorite parts of the work I do). I met a doctor who told me that he’d eaten there every Wednesday for 40 years. (They start making his order when they see him walk in, it’s the same thing every time…) To use today’s dollar value let’s calculate the dollar value of those meals. That’s 52 x 40 or 2080 meals.  For  an $8 meal, that’s $16,640 and counting, not including the friends he’s brought to visit, and the grandchildren etc. There’s some lifetime value. - Andy

An alliance partner of Team HALO’s called Blue Clover – a new media advertising agency based in San Antonio, Texas – sent out an e-mail to all of their clients and partners recently that said the following…

Welcome to Blue Clover!  The Mission of
Blue Clover is to create a remarkable experience for every Client, every time.

Well, after laughing outloud and thinking that maybe their marketing guy had been reading the same Seth Godin books I’ve been reading, (have I ever mentioned that I believe Seth Godin is required reading for ALL business people?) I went on to see that they wished to know my birthday, anniversary, favorite food and drink and favorite local restaurant.

Now, think about that for a minute. If you had that information about all of your best customers, you could really put together some gifts that were memorable. What an experience of service and customer care you would be creating. For me, I’m fulling expecting a gift certificate to Bravo on my birthday (my favorite local dish) or a swanky bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon when I turn 40 (that’s not this year, by the way).

Here’s another similar example –

A couple of years ago, a client of mine did something similar. He started by making an annual calendar of event options that he would sponsor and setting a budget including number of people he could entertain at each event. Then, he sent a letter out to all of his best clients asking them to mark "types" of events that they might be interested in – categories that matched precisely to his event calendar. The list included golf outings, cooking classes, spa treatments, fine dining, professional baseball, etc. Then, the responses were matched with the opportunities and remaining slots given to hot prospects. And you can guess what happened next, right? The good clients gave rave reviews of the business owner to the hot prospects while all networking and building relationships over a nice steak dinner, professional baseball game or game of golf. You get the idea?

One word of caution, however…

The KEY to the success of such high level customer retention tactics – plan what the customer wants (by asking them first) then DO it. Don’t forget birthdays once you have them. Don’t fail to invite on an event after you’ve teased with a questionnaire letter. Know that your budget is there and plan to take this tactic all the way to fruition or don’t do it at all!

The last week in February, Andy, Trisha and I had the privilege of working with the Tunica Chamber of Commerce and Tunica Main Street on some strategic planning for the downtown district in the town of Tunica. We spent three days working on site where we got to know the wonderful people of Tunica – the leaders, the business owners, the customers. We got to experience the wonderful food of Cafe Marie, the Blue and White Restaurant and The Hollywood Cafe (where we attended a tourism familiarization tour event for tour bus operators and where Andy joined blues musicians on stage for a couple of songs – thank you Webster and Bill!). We got to tour homes at the new Tunica National development, and got to learn not just about the building and business inventory of their downtown – but the true heart and soul of the community.

The Town of Tunica has a tremendous asset in their downtown district. They have what many would only dream of having – they have millions a year visiting a major tourist destination located only a few miles away. We are so pleased to have had the opportunity to work in this tremendous community – made stronger by its citizens and the hearty dose of enthusiasm and energy that they all possess.

We made many friends – and we look forward to helping this downtown blossom by recruiting new businesses, working more closely with its partners to be a part of a total package both visually and
literally, and seeing the customers flock to enjoy this true Mayberry in the Mississippi Delta.

Photos: (top) Trisha, Bill Cantor with the Tunica Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, and Marianna enjoy the music and fried dill pickles at the Hollywood Cafe in Tunica. (middle) View of Tunica’s Main Street. (bottom) Team HALO voted 1251 Place’s Southern Pecan coffee the very best around. Be sure to stop in for a sip and take home some for yourself. We found this delightful interiors and gift market to be top notch.