As business owners, we know that new clients are fantastic \u2014 but having repeat clients is where success truly lies. Whether you\u2019re a huge conglomerate organization or a small business with four people on staff, making sure each customer you interact with comes back to you next time is crucial to the longevity of your business.<\/p>\n
Building strong relationships takes time and, sometimes, money. But not always. There are ways you can capture \u2014 and keep \u2014 the attention and dollars of your customers without having to blow your marketing budget. How?<\/p>\n
Conscious connection.<\/p>\n
A perfect example of this is Dove. Where many brands choose big-name (read: big dollar) celebrities to endorse their products, Dove has made themselves relatable. The people in their ads aren\u2019t supermodels or high-profile actors, they\u2019re people who look like you and me, which makes it much<\/em> easier for us to picture ourselves actually buying and using the products being featured in their ads.<\/p>\n Dove\u2019s relatability is cranked up a notch with their Self-Esteem Project. For more than a decade, Dove has been delivering self-esteem education that has reached more than 20 million young people. They also have a section of their website dedicated to providing resources for not only young people but also for teachers and parents, with the goal of creating a confident, self-assured next generation of human beings.<\/p>\n While such an initiative certainly requires resources, having a social conscience does not, and is the main takeaway from what Dove is doing for future generations. Demonstrating that you care about your customer and not just about their spending habits is an important way you can foster a conscious connection with them, on a personal level. If they recognize that you care about them and the world we all live in, the chances of them becoming a repeat customer are much higher.<\/p>\n Telus is another brand that dives deep with their customers. Aside from the fact that they have huge dollars for donations, Telus encourages their employees to give back to their communities by volunteering a certain number of hours each year. In 2017, Telus’s Canadian employees set a goal and volunteered a #millionhours in their communities. Their slogan for their volunteering initiative is “We give where we live.” You can\u2019t demonstrate your commitment to paying it forward more clearly than that. While Telus may have the resources to initiate this project, it\u2019s the thought that counts. Telus customers become loyal, repeat customers because they see a huge organization giving back to the community in which they \u2014 and Telus employees \u2014 live. Paying it forward can happen without a big (or any) budget but it\u2019s an enormous demonstration of conscious connection, and one that your customers will not miss.<\/p>\n My third example of the importance of conscious connection comes from a local level. My children attended a local dance studio when they were younger. As they got a little older, we decided not to attend anymore. At Christmas each year, the studio gave t-shirts to the kids, with a note telling us how much they missed having them as part of their community and that they hoped to see us again sometime \u2014 but in the meantime, they wanted the kids to know they were thinking of them.<\/em><\/p>\n And isn\u2019t that the point \u2014 and the power \u2014 of conscious connection with your customer, when you can build a relationship with someone who knows you have them in mind, even when they\u2019re not actively participating in your business?<\/p>\n