Deb Rapacz

Are you looking for ways to create more engaging and compelling content?

Engaging buyers is a regular theme in marketing conversations these days. Social Media Marketers are driving participation and encouraging people to become so engaged with a brand that they own the responsibility of creating content and sharing their enthusiasm. Loyalty and Relationship Marketers are encouraging enrollment in their programs to keep people engaged with a brand on an ongoing basis. Advertisers are constantly trying to break through the clutter to get people to take notice of their messages. Salespeople are looking for ways to gain attention from their prospects so they remember how and why their product is worth considering. Sound familiar to you? Then read through this list of Engagement Energy boosters and think about how to add them to create more compelling content and communications.

What is Engagement EnergySM?

For the purposes of...

Are you limiting the number of brand relationships you could be having by requiring program membership?

If you require that people “join” your Loyalty or Relationship Marketing program, you just might be limiting your ability to build a bigger base of brand loyal buyers. This is a decision you may want to rethink.

Joining a program is often too big of a commitment for people to make, especially too early in a relationship. Would you ask someone to meet your parents after just one date? If you answered yes, then you probably don’t need to read any further, because I’m probably not going to be successful in convincing you to woo that special person a little longer. This article is based in the premise that you have “Brand-Interesteds” that you don’t know, and that you should find a way to market to them, even if they haven’t joined your program yet.

Requiring “membership” can significantly limit the number of customers who will ultimately...

How many loyal buyers did you start 2011 with? How many did you end up with?

With all the time and money spent to increase brand loyalty, it seems that tracking the total number of loyal buyers in a brand franchise would be a standard exercise. But I’m surprised how many times brand managers or their loyalty partners can’t answer that question.

Do you know whether your base of loyal buyers is growing or shrinking?

If so, please jump in with comments to this article to help others understand how you define a “loyal” buyer for your organization. How and why do you track your overall number of loyal buyers from year to year? How has this buyer-centric look at loyalty helped you revise your loyalty strategies or overall marketing efforts?

If you don’t know whether you ended the year with more loyal buyers than you started with, I’d like to know why you don’t track that. Is it that you track overall retention rates, share...

If you are about to invest a single minute of time or dollar of your budget on someone who is not, or cannot become, one of your Top Shoppers, STOP!

The most valuable segment your brand has is the relatively small set of buyers who deliver the majority of revenue and profit. For most consumer brands, about 30 percent of consumers typically represent 70 percent of annual sales. Top Shoppers are a brand’s core. Focusing on the acquisition, development and retention of Top Shoppers will help a brand grow faster and more profitably, year after year.

How well do you know your Top Shoppers?
No savvy marketers would claim they undervalue their heavy buyers. Yet, I find it surprising how many brands cannot provide an in-depth picture of these buyers and how their brand is performing with this segment. Next-generation Shopper Marketers will clearly understand the three levels of benefits their Top Shoppers deliver to their brand: Brand Economics, Brand Insights...