Why be remarkable? WebsiteMagazine.com reports that consumer attention span is now only eight seconds. Interestingly, this is the same as that of a goldfish. It’s also four seconds less than what it was in 2013.
This means you have an extremely small window of time to catch the eye of your potential customers and get them interested. That’s why it’s critical to strategically design ways to be remarkable in everything you do.
This includes looking for ways to stand out and shine – creating memorable customer experiences in all your business systems. This includes marketing systems (lead generation), sales systems (conversion), fulfillment processes (delivery), and customer administration too.
Where can you be remarkable in your business systems? How can you stand out from your competition so you aren’t seen as a commodity where price is your biggest (or worse, “only”) differentiating factor? Can you package your product or service in a unique manner? So uniquely that your customers want to show it to all their family and friends? Is there a way you can deliver your product or service in such a way that your customers can’t wait to share it with others?
I encourage you, for example, to check out how CD Baby packages their product when it’s sent out to customers. They obviously put some thought into how to be remarkable. Talk about built-in viral marketing!
Strategically seeking and implementing ways to be remarkable is what will not only help you satisfy your customers, but also turn them into raving fans who will willingly assist you in evangelizing and promoting your business.
Yet, there are some challenges we face in the process of creating customer experiences that “Wow!” It’s important to understand these so you can better ensure your strategies you come up with will work now AND in the future.
More – and more easily accessible – technologies offer both opportunities and threats
No longer do you have to have an unlimited budget to be remarkable. This is great if you are a smaller business and somewhat frustrating if your business is larger. Small businesses can now reach greater audiences and create amazing customer experiences through tactics like social campaigns and contests or even their own loyalty app.
On the other hand, large companies may find this frustrating because no longer can you rely on just being bigger – the marketplace giant. Whereas you once may have received the bulk of the market simply because your budget was bigger – and your mass media footprint larger – that is no longer the case.
However, changes to social reach algorithms and systems, also mean that you can’t just “do social marketing” – you must do it strategically as well.
In recent years, many businesses and entrepreneurs put a lot of emphasis on building social real estate. Sometimes, at the expense of growing their own web presence.
Then, Facebook, for example threw a wrench in things by changing how they displayed a business page’s posts. No longer was it as simple as post, appear in your fan’s feed, they liked or shared your post, and you were exposed to all their friends.
Now, your post only appears sporadically in a small percentage of your followers’ feeds—based on some formula you can’t figure out. Furthermore, you can no longer even message all your fans at once without paying. Therefore, if building your profile and following there was a major priority (while neglecting your own “real estate”), your wallet is now at their mercy if you want reach.
Your customers want to see real feedback, reviews, testimonials, and case studies that are organic, authentic, and entertaining.
Social proof has always been big but now it is big AND needs to be comprehensive and specific—evangelizing your brand, your product(s)/service(s), and broadcasting whatever it is they believe causes you to be remarkable. Thus, you can’t just leave this to chance or a simple request to “leave a review.” (As if that alone, isn’t challenging enough!)
Today, you need to intentionally seek out ways – and employ techniques – that demonstrate your remarkability, without being gimmicky, and then strategically encourage your customers (fans) to share this with the right “others”, at the right time, in the right way.
Perhaps this all boils down to a desire to – and strategies that do – build REAL relationships with your customers.
Truly, this might be at the heart and soul of your goal to be remarkable in your business. Now is the time to strive to get to know your customers on a totally different level and craft solutions (products and services) that show you care about their problems and you want to help them meet their needs.
So many companies see their customers as “leads” or “revenue” or “accounts receivable” that they forget these are real people, with real needs and problems, and they are choosing you to solve them. That’s not only a reward to you and your business, it’s a responsibility too.
It’s a responsibility to deliver what you promised when you accepted their order or especially, their money. If you make good on that responsibility, it’s a great start to your relationship with them. From there, if you center all you do around providing even greater extreme care and value, you will be remarkable.
