Going the Distance: Four Ways to Build a Better Customer Loyalty Program for Your Brand

It’s easy enough for a customer to join your loyalty program, especially when you’re offering an incentive such as discounts. All your customer has to do is give out some basic information, and voila! They’re in the fold, a brand new loyalty member with your company. From there, it’s happily ever after. You offer the perks; they stand solidly by you, bringing you their continued business. Simple. Or is it? In reality, just how many of those customers are act ively participating in your loyalty program? Do you know? Sure, loyalty program memberships are on the rise according to market research company eMarketer, having jumped 25 percent in the space of just two years. However, that figure may be a bit misleading. The truth is that, while loyalty program sign-ups may be more numerous, active participation in such programs is actually in decline. At the time of the study, the average US household had memberships in 29 loyalty programs; yet consumers were only active in 12 of those. That’s just 41 percent. And even that meager figure represents a drop of 2 percentage points per year over each of the preceding four years, according to a study by loyalty-marketing research company COLLOQUY.

When discounts just aren’t enough

So what’s a brand to do? How can you make your loyalty program worth your customer’s while—as well as your own? After all, gaining a new loyalty member doesn’t mean much if your customer isn’t actively participating in your program. Consider this: Does your customer loyalty program offer members anything different from what your competitors are offering? Chances are your program includes discounts. That’s a given. And what customer doesn’t appreciate a good discount? But when every other company out there is providing this staple benefit in comparable amounts, it becomes less and less likely that customers will remain loyal to any one particular brand. Frankly, it’s all too easy for customers to get lost in a sea of loyalty member discounts. They’re everywhere. In fact, just under half of internet users perceive that all rewards programs are alike, according to a 2015 eMarketer survey. The key to success, then, is to differentiate your business from the crowd. If you can offer your customers something unique and valuable beyond the usual discount, chances are they’ll be more likely to stick with your brand. Here’s some inspiration from companies who get it.

Virgin: Reward more purchases with more benefits.

That’s not to say you need to get rid of discounts entirely. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Customers still love a good discount. The goal is to be creative in terms of the loyalty perks you offer. Take the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, for example. As part of its loyalty program, the airline allows members to earn miles and tier points. Members are inducted at the Club Red tier, from which they can move up to Club Silver and then Club Gold. Here, it’s not just a discount. It’s status. And people respond to feeling important, elite. Still, even where the rewards themselves are concerned, Virgin is motivating loyalty customers with some pretty attractive offers. At the Club Red tier, members earn flight miles and receive discounts on rental cars, airport parking, hotels and holiday flights. But as members rise in tiers, they get even more. At the Club Silver tier, members earn 50 percent more points on flights, access to expedited check-in, and priority standby seating. And once they reach the top, Club Gold members receive double miles, priority boarding and access to exclusive clubhouses where they can get a drink or a massage before their flight. Now that’s some serious incentive to keep coming back for more. Discounts are still part of the equation – but they are designed with innovation and personal value in mind, elevating them to more than just savings.

Amazon Prime: Pay upfront and become a VIP.

What if your customers only had to pay a one-time upfront fee to get a year’s worth of substantial benefits? It may not sound like the smartest business idea at first glance. But take a closer look. Amazon Prime users pay a nominal $99 a year to gain free, two-day shipping on millions of products with no minimum purchase. And that’s just one benefit of going Prime. It’s true that Amazon loses $1-2 billion a year on Prime. This comes as no surprise given the incredible value the program offers. But get this: Amazon makes up for its losses in markedly higher transaction frequency. Specifically, Prime members spend an average of $1,500 a year on Amazon.com, compared with $625 spent by non-Prime users, a ccording to a 2015 report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.

Patagonia: Cater to customer values.

Sometimes, the draw for consumers isn’t saving money or getting a great deal. The eco-friendly outdoor clothing company Patagonia figured this out back in 2011, when it partnered with eBay to launch its Common Threads Initiative: a program that allows customers to resell their used Patagonia clothing via the company’s website. Why is this program important to customers? And how does it benefit Patagonia? The company’s brand embraces environmental and social responsibility, so it was only fitting that they create a platform for essentially recycling old clothing rather than merely throwing it away. The Common Threads Initiative helps Patagonia build a memorable brand and fierce loyalty by offering its customers a cause that aligns with deep personal values. OK, so their customers get to make a little money, too. Everybody wins.

American Airlines: Gamify your loyalty program.

If you’re going to offer your customers a loyalty program, why not make it f un? After all, engagement is key to building a strong relationship with your customer. And what better way to achieve that goal than making a game of it. American Airlines had this very thing in mind when it created its AAdvantage Passport Challenge following its merger with USAirways. The goal: find a new way to engage customers as big changes were underway. Using a custom Facebook application, American Airlines created a virtual passport to increase brand awareness while offering members a chance to earn bonus points. Customers earned these rewards through a variety of game-like activities, from answering trivia questions to tracking travel through a personalized dashboard. In the end, participants earned more than 70 percent more stamps than expected – and the airline saw a ROI of more than 500 percent. The takeaway: people like games.

Stand out from the crowd.

Your approach to your customer loyalty program should align with your overall marketing approach. Effective branding is about standing out, not blending it. Being memorable is key. To this end, keep in mind that loyalty programs are no longer a novelty. That means that yesterday’s strategies won’t work moving forward, so look for ways to rise above the noise, setting yourself apart from the cloying drone of countless other cookie-cutter programs.

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Great Content, No Readers: How to Solve Your Subscriber Problem

Hybrid or Hummer: What kind of mileage is your content getting?

Previously, we established that content is the gasoline in your business growth engine. But your job doesn't end when you hit "publish." Promoting your content is just as important as creating it. If content is the gasoline in your business growth engine, then promotion is the difference between putting that gasoline in a Prius versus a Hummer. Even the most value-packed content can’t help your business grow if no one is reading it. For your content to deliver results, you must actively engage in bringing new people to your site.

Here are 12 tried-and-true tactics to boost your readership and maximize the mileage you’re getting from the resources you’re investing in creating great content.

Be a citizen of the web marketing universe.

No website or blog starts out with its own built-in community. However, established communities do exist everywhere around the Web. Identify the ones where the types of people who would be interested in the topics you write about are already hanging out, reading and making connections. Join in the dialog there by commenting on blog posts or participating in discussion forums. Don’t be a shameless self-promoter. Focus instead on adding value to the conversation. If you do a good job, people will be naturally curious to learn more about you, and they’ll seek out your site to see what else you have to say. Just make sure to include a link in your signature so they’ll know where to find you.

Don't beg for links; present win-win opportunities.

Once you’ve earned your stripes as a trusted and valued member of these communities, you can begin reaching out to the other blog owners that run in these circles for opportunities to gain exposure to their readers. But don’t just ask them to link to your site. After all, what do they stand to gain from giving you a link? Instead, frame your request so that it provides benefit to the person on the receiving end as well. For example, invite them to be featured in an interview on your site. Even the most successful and well-established bloggers are always looking for a little added exposure, and they’ll undoubtedly promote their appearance to their fans, too. Or ask if you can contribute a guest post to their site. Most bloggers will be relieved to have one less post to write, and you’ll get the chance to put your own original content in front of their readers, with the added benefit of a link in your bio.

Give links to get links.

When you’re composing your posts, there’s no need to pretend that you’re the one and only person who’s ever had anything of value to say on your chosen subject matter. Link to other articles and experts who’ve either offered great insights on that topic or taken an opposing point of view, if you want to refute their claims. When you publish your article, shoot the person whose blog you’ve linked to an email or a direct message on Twitter. It will definitely get you noticed and will more than likely get you either a retweet or a link in return.

Leverage the connections you already have.

Don’t assume that everyone who follows you on Facebook or Twitter also reads everything you post on your site. Every time you publish a new article, make sure you extend that content to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and any other social media platforms where you are active. Instead of simply posting a link to your article, a great trick is to turn your headline into a question. Open-ended questions leave people craving an answer, which will prompt them to click through to satisfy their curiosity. If you’re using this tactic on Twitter, remember to keep your post to 120 characters or less (link included) in order to allow for retweets.

Extra! Extra! Let them read all about it.

Create a weekly or monthly email newsletter that’s a digest of your most recent posts. Enhance the value of this newsletter by incorporating a few bite-sized tips or links to other interesting articles from around the Web. You might be surprised at the number of new readers the “forward to a friend” button might bring you.

Don’t be shy.

Opportunities to subscribe to and share your content should be omnipresent. Put your email subscription offer either in the header or the sidebar of your site so that no one who visits can miss it. Add extra incentive to join your list by offering a freebie at sign-up, such as an e-book, checklist or audio download. Be sure to present the chance to subscribe to email updates at the end of every article as well. If the reader liked what they read, that’s the best time to get them to sign on.

Give them options – lots of options.

Email addresses are pure marketing gold, but don't be so laser-focused on building your list that you only offer email updates. Let your readers consume your content in the way they most prefer, whether that’s by subscribing in an RSS reader, via StumbleUpon or through the social media channels where you post links to your latest articles.

Be attentive to your readers.

When someone reaches out to you – whether by leaving a comment on an article, sending you a direct message on Twitter or dropping you an email – respond. Making them feel like a part of a community whose members are truly valued will motivate them to spread the word about you and encourage others to join the party.

Create content that sparks conversation.

The real holy grail of promotion is not generating two-way conversation between you and your readers. It's the multidimensional communication that occurs when your readers start interacting with each other as well. That's when suddenly you make the leap from publishing content to building community. The key lies in how you craft your content. While it's important to write with authority and demonstrate your expertise, don't make the presumption that you have the final say. One of your most important jobs as a creator and promoter of content is getting the ball rolling on conversation and debate. Ask for input and advice. Solicit dissenting opinions. Encourage your readers to share their own personal experiences that relate your topic. Great conversation is magnetic. It will keep your current readers coming back again and again, and draw new visitors in when they see the lively interactions that exists around your content.

Find the right balance.

Remember that you don't have to post every day or even every week if that's not realistic for you. It's better to find a comfortable rhythm that will allow you to maintain a steady pace of both creation and promotion. It’s better for someone to come to your site and see that you post one must-read article every month than to see unpredictable fits and starts of activity.

When you find something that works, stick with it.

In the game of promotion, there’s no magic formula for success. It may require a lot of trial and error before you find the right combination of tactics that work for your audience and your schedule. When you do uncover a particularly effective strategy, mine it for all it’s worth. If you write a guest post that gets a lot of attention, find out if there might be an opportunity for you to become a regular contributor on that site. If you get a significant proportion of traffic from one of the sites or forums where you’re a regular participant, by all means, keep it up. If you write a post that gets more traffic, more retweets or more comments than average, continue to develop other articles around that topic. When people tell you what they want, give it to them.

Slow and steady wins the race.

If this sounds like a lot of work, it is. Community building requires time, patience and persistence. There are plenty of articles out there with enticing headlines like “How I got 10,000 subscribers with one post!” This probably won’t happen for you. That doesn’t mean your efforts aren’t worthwhile. Don’t risk becoming a pariah by being overtly pushy and self-serving in your methods. Instead, tread carefully and treat everyone you encounter in the blogosphere – readers, commenters and fellow content creators alike – with respect. As always, follow the rules of trustcasting and allow your community to grow organically in breadth and depth as you cultivate your reputation as a credible and authoritative source of information. Over time, you’ll build a robust, thriving community of people who will not only consume your content voraciously but will ultimately become customers and evangelists for your brand.

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8 Keys to a Lead-Catching LinkedIn Company Page

Given the mind-boggling speed of all things social media, it's easy to lose perspective on the passage of time. So try not to choke on your chai latte when you read these words: LinkedIn is now officially a decade old.

Yep. It launched in May of 2003 – when Mark Zuckerberg was still an unknown Harvard freshman. Facebook's predecessor MySpace, now having its midlife crisis and hanging out with rock stars, hadn't even been born. And Twitter was three or four years from hatching.

While logic would suggest that businesses would be the earliest adopters of any platform that’s founded on the concept of virtual networking, LinkedIn has been sluggish in giving brands a seat at the community table.

In the latter half of the 2000s, Facebook and Twitter quickly adapted for business users as marketers chased customers into those exploding communities. LinkedIn, however, didn't even allow companies the ability to post status updates until late 2011.

But in the last year and a half, LinkedIn's evolution has picked up the pace, and newly redesigned Company Pages were rolled out in September 2012, giving brands the ability to market products, recruit new talent and engage more directly with the greater community than ever before.

So if you've passed on LinkedIn to focus on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, now is the time to grow your presence on the network built for business. Here's what you need to know to build a killer LinkedIn Company Page that will capture new eyes and convert new leads:

1. Getting started

If you have employees on LinkedIn, you likely have a Company Page already. LinkedIn creates them automatically via data from a third-party service – probably Dun & Bradstreet, though it's difficult to tell. But be warned. If you have one of these robo-profiles, it's little more than a short description, some contact details and a link to your website, so you'd better take control.

The first step is to establish an admin (or several) with editing privileges. These individuals need to meet LinkedIn's basic requirements, which in summary are:

• They must be a current employee.
• They need a company email listed on their LinkedIn profile.
• The company's email domain must be unique (e.g., jdoe@example.com), Sorry, Gmail won't work.
• They must have filled out their personal profile to a reasonable extent.
• They must have some connections.

If for some reason, you don't have a Company Page, the setup process is pretty straightforward after meeting the above admin requirements. Here's how according to LinkedIn.

Click Companies near the top of your home page.

Click the Add a Company link in the upper right area of the page.

Enter your company's official name and your work email address.

Click Continue and enter your company information.

If the work email address you provide is an unconfirmed email address on your LinkedIn account, a message will be sent to that address. Follow the instructions in the message to confirm your email address and then use the instructions above to add the Company Page.

A red error message may appear if you have problems adding a Company Page.

A preview of your completed Company Page is not available. When you publish the page, it is live on our website.

2. Look like you mean business

Once you've moved in, it's time to hang your open-for-business shingle on the door.

First, upload a company logo. For now, logo size is severely limited and the display quality is poor. It seems that LinkedIn is downsampling logos – removing pixels, and therefore sharpness – to save file space and speed page loads. So focus on keeping logos simple and legible at small scale. For example, compare the readability of the first two automotive logos below with the latter two.

Next to your logo, the banner image on your home page is your primary way to distinguish your brand visually. It's an at-a-glance way to say something about your company, and that expression can take any form you like.

Apple's banner conveys in both layout and message the brand's commitment to minimalist, functional design.

Nike, with its global corporate footprint, had a lot of ground to cover to represent its extensive brand portfolio in such a small space.

MAQS Law Firm is described as "a modern law firm combining professionalism and tradition with creativity and efficiency." Their logo/banner combination definitely says "creativity and efficiency" with a look that's more design firm that law firm.

3. Give 'em something to talk about

Like Facebook, Twitter and most other social sites, the front-and-center feature of your Company Page is an update feed.

It's worth noting, however, that its functionality is little more than broadcast medium, like the news page of your website. As a company, you won't be able to reply to comments or "like" another LinkedIn user's updates. That kind of give-and-take engagement is reserved for real people, like your employees.

So with this limitation in mind, focus your updates on topics that seed conversations and get shared across the LinkedIn community. Post news about your organization or links, with commentary, to interesting content around the Web.

Utilize colleagues to engage further with followers and commenters. Employees are also a great way to syndicate your updates as they share content with personal networks.

Unfortunately, creating engagement this way is like attending a networking event with your hands tied behind your back – it's kinda tricky and what you say had better be really good.

4. Promote your products and services

Nowhere do Company Pages offer more flexibility or marketing power as in the Products & Services tab.

A dozen parameters are available for describing and promoting each product or service in your portfolio. There are basics like description, title and links as well as the ability to identify key contacts, a sidebar area for special promotions and one for YouTube video embeds.

In addition, a header image slider drives visitor traffic to specific services listed below or to external-pointing links, back to your website for example. (This is a great way to build inbound links for you SEO-ers out there.)

To get started, provide a short description of each product or service along with a thumbnail image and link to your website. Believe it or not, this will put you ahead of many of the organizations using LinkedIn Company Pages today.

Once you've got the basics in place, slider images, videos and promotions can turn your Products & Services page into a compelling sales lead tool.

5. Audience segmentation

LinkedIn has built into the Products & Services tab powerful audience segmentation filters that allow you tailor your Products tab to different types of visitors. These filtering options are mapped to data from member profiles, such as company size, job function, industry, seniority level and geography.

6. Promote your groups

If your organization manages one or more LinkedIn groups, be sure to promote them on your Company Page.

If not, groups are a great way to build out your corporate LinkedIn presence and drive engagement with customers or those in your industry. When creating a group, try to focus on a topic or industry niche that lets you position your brand as an authority or that serves users in a way that’s unique to your brand.

For example, a private user group exclusive to your customers would let you gather insights for product development, provide another customer service channel and directly address criticism within a relatively closed environment and in front of your other customers.

Whatever group you run or may eventually run, be sure to let people know about it on your Company Page.

7. Analytics

Built into Company Pages are some pretty handy analytics tools, which LinkedIn refers to as "Insights."

Accessed via the blue "Tools" button in the header of your Company Page, Insights provide a straightforward view into how users are engaging with your brand, including:

• Page views broken down by Company Page tabs
• Update engagement by impressions, clicks, likes and shares
• Visitor demographics by seniority level, industry, job function, geographic region and company size
• Follower identification and demographics, broken down by seniority level, industry, job function, geographic region and company size

If you're familiar with professional analytics tools, LinkedIn's Insights will seem pretty light. But because they are built on user data behind LinkedIn's membership wall, Insights provide detail about your company's LinkedIn engagement that other analytics suites cannot. Ignore Insights at your own peril.

8. A word on Career Pages

If you see a Careers tab on an organization's Company Page, it's because that business is using LinkedIn's paid Talent Solutions services.

Talent Solutions offer powerful recruiting tools that, like audience segmentation, utilize LinkedIn's vast user data to drive more qualified candidates into HR departments. More than half of LinkedIn's revenues come from Talent Solutions, so it makes sense that the social giant would invest heavily in this tool.

If your organization is paying for Talent Solutions, make sure your careers tab keeps those recruiting leads excited about the possibility of working for you. The features are too extensive to cover here, but that's okay. For the price tag of Talent Solutions, you should have access to someone at LinkedIn who can help get you started.

For some Careers Page inspiration, look to companies that are widely known as great places to work. Here are a few to get you started:

Starbucks Careers Page

Zappos Careers Page

Google Careers Page

Inspiration to go

Now that you know what goes into a killer Company Page on LinkedIn, all that's left is to go build your own.

We've avoided specific step-by-step instructions in this article because they are subject to change as features are added or updated. But don't worry. LinkedIn provides guidance notes within the editing areas of Company Pages as well as an extensive help center with setup guides, FAQs, user forums and more.

Still, sometimes there's nothing like seeing it all in action, so I'll leave you with this 90-second snapshot of LinkedIn Company Pages. And don't forget to follow Fame Foundry on LinkedIn for additional digital marketing insights and news.

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