Are You Ignoring Your Fan Base?
O.K., so when you think of your business’s fans, you think of your customers, right?
But really, who’s more interested in your company’s success: those who buy from you or those who work for you?
Your customers may rely on you for quality service, quality product, and quality customer care. Yet all of that quality comes – or doesn’t – from your people…and those “assets” constitute your primary 24/7 fan base.
So just what have you been doing to recognize them?
Alright, sure, having a job and getting a paycheck and accompanying benefits are neato-deluxe. However, it takes more than regular income to make your “family” feel like family, and it’s the members of that family who present the day-to-day face for your business.
Furthermore, it’s not just your employees. It’s also their own families. Spouses and kids need to know that your people are appreciated. Bonuses and annual BBQ’s or picnics only go so far. They don’t enter or stay in your employees’ homes, and they often require “attendance” that interferes with the respective family’s plans….and/or present a kind of “political” obligation that should not be ignored.
Why not, then, occasionally send your people some dimensional marketing gift as a “Thank You”…and mail it to their home address? Nice surprise for the employee, but an even nicer atta-boy for the employee’s family or cohabitant.
Plus, it puts your name and identity and image directly into the employee’s home.
The surprise doesn’t have to be expensive. It could be a coffee mug or a fridge magnet or thermal cup or whatever on the low end of the cost scale. But it ain’t about the value of the item. It’s about the direct and appreciative contact with the employee and his/her family.
Most business people view promotional products as items to help promote and generate sales. Yet dimensional marketing products are equally effective in generating esprit de corps among employees, and in that they can accentuate such esprit among the employees’ families, cohorts, consorts, et al.
And on that, don’t just look at sales & management staff. Go companywide – from the ivory tower down to the shipping dock! Let every employee be acknowledged…and again, with something that’s mailed to the home address, not just “couponed” in the paycheck envelope.
The mailed gift item itself isn’t as important as the fact that the employer chose to honor and respect and appreciate the employee’s contribution to the company…and in that, that the employee’s family got to see that said employee isn’t ignored.
Joe may be a lowly warehouse worker making minimum wage. But lo and behold, here he gets a personally addressed package from his employer! Talk about making Joe feel better about his employer!
Yes, there is an expense involved. But it’s a marketing expense. And employee turnover is immensely costly. If you can keep Joe from leaving….well….?
And more, if Joe feels appreciated and noticed………………..