Las Vegas, Nevada March 28
By Tim Hendricks, President, Creative Cognition Group, January 4, 2018.
Do you want to create an environment at your bar or nightclub where you have a loyal following coming back
on a recurring basis? Of course, you do! Then you need to interact with your customers like you would in
your own day-to-day loyal relationships.
According to Joe Custer in his February 2017 article in Chief Marketer, “Loyalty is a lot like love. They both
come from creating a positive emotional connection with a person (or brand) through a series of positive
interactions or transactions that build affinity and become habitual over time.”
Loyal relationships are grounded in recognition. A card on a birthday. Dinner to commemorate an
anniversary. A drink to toast an engagement.
All of these interactions surround Life-stage events, which are the pinnacle moments in our lives.
As marketers, we should thoughtfully participate in these Life-stage events and be a part of the celebrations
that create these loyal long-lasting relationships (that Cheers effect). These relationships then, extend
themselves beyond the individual and into their friend and family network.
As we know from our own relationships, this does take work. So, we need to make the effort to provide the
recognition, care and interest to keep them vibrant and habitual.
Fortunately for marketers there is a way to accomplish this. Data is available to reach consumer during these
Life-stage events. It is at these moments when we can make those critical emotional connections.
Using direct mail and e-mail, we can reach consumers and celebrate with them during life events like:
- New Move
- Engagement
- Newlywed
- New Parent
- Anniversary
- Birthday
These are just a few. Once we engage with them and get to know them better we can also interact via social
media and text messaging. This all makes us a part of their relationship network where we can celebrate with
them at our restaurants, bars and nightclubs.
Recommended CRM Life-stage launch strategy:
- Create Life-stage and event templates for communicating offers and sentiment via direct mail, e-mail
and later text messaging. Be sure these templates comply with brandings standards and update
them as you proceed. Examples include: birthday card, new mover postcard, anniversary, etc. - Pull Life-stage list selections within 5 – 15-mile radius of your establishment(s).
- Execute a multi-channel campaign. Consumers respond to their preferred media choice.
- Drive responders in two ways:
A. Directly into your establishment with a personal offer to celebrate the event
B. To your website or a landing page like a pURL that will personally welcome them and enable
you to gather personal information (birthdate, mobile phone number, etc.). Here you can
offer invitations to join your loyalty club and receive special offers, event notifications, enter
sweepstakes or refer friends. - Communicate, recognize and make offers over respectable time-frames (monthly and special event
notifications).
Remember, all communication needs to be done thoughtfully, convey an interest in the individual and provide
recognition. That way you are enhancing and strengthening that positive emotional connection and giving
them reasons to visit you again and again.
Tim Hendricks is the President of the Creative Cognition Group (CCG), a direct marketing and sales consulting agency. He is an industry leader in targeted direct marketing and sales process optimization. As a marketing services leader, Tim’s
customer strategies and campaigns have increased traffic, sales, and loyalty driven by an emphasis on Life-stage
marketing. Tim can be reached at thendricks@ccgink.com or via phone at 708-610-1926.
