I just read about the possible demise of Business 2.0 magazine. They've had a drop in ad revenue of about 30% compared to same time last year.
That's too bad because I liked it. Of course I didn't subscribe to it or regularly visit their website.
This got me thinking about how often that sort of thing happens...my husband will mention his surprise at a restaurant he says he liked, while at the same time telling me he read they're closing. He may have liked the restaurnat but he didn't think enough of it to suggest going back.
No business can stay open for very long when it has to constantly win new customers all over again. That makes the cost of doing business too high. There needs to be at least a large core of regular customers. The challenges lie in deciding what level of patronage falls under the heading of regular for your business and within your market segment (so you know what target to shoot for), and then coming up with a way to make these customers feel such a strong relationship to you that they not only continue to come back to you but they tell others about you.
So the key here is providing a product or service the customer wants (if they have a need for it that's a bonus, but lets face it -- we buy stuff because we want it and rationalize that we need it) and then providing it in such a way that they begin to feel there's no one else who can provide it the way you can.
Sure, they may try another provider, but they should be able to recognize the clear difference you provide and return to you.
The other important piece here is inspiring them to tell other people about you. When that happens of course, the cost of doing business begins to drop because your customer base becomes an extension of the marketing team. Rewarding them in various ways is a lot cheaper than rewarding a bigger staff.
So how could Business 2.0 have done this? Especially when we're all on information overload.
How will you (or how are you) generate some great word of mouth about your business and how will you promote loyalty?
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