written by Will Fraser | March 9th, 2013
When it comes to establishing your brand and company, nothing is more important than connecting with your customers. Obviously your customers are your company’s lifeblood by way of revenue. Not-so-obviously your customers are also your company’s lifeblood when it comes to customer growth and product improvement.
Rocket ship growth and deep product insights only happen when you know your customers and they trust you. Trust doesn’t come from knowing your name by reading your welcome email. Trust means that they feel like you care about them personally and they can count on you.
Luckily, when it comes to establishing these connections the bar is so low than almost anything will make you look like a rockstar (even if you spent almost no money on it).
HootKits with Dave Olson
One of my favourite people to talk with in the Social Media industry is Dave Olson over at HootSuite. Sitting down and chatting with Dave is like plugging your brain into the matrix training program for the first time and feeling the raw knowledge course through your mind.
Dave is a huge proponent of building real community and real relationships. The type of community that tells friends about the HootSuite product, the type of community that gets together with other users in the real world, and the type of community that is so proud to be HootSuite Certified that they put it on their resume.
When I last sat down with Dave, he shared with me one of the simple ways that they build their community. They send out what is now their infamous HootKits; well, they are infamous if you are a passionate fan of the HootSuite community.
These kits simply have a few stickers, some temporary tattoos and a couple of buttons in them. If you get a shipping contract with the postal service you can send kits around the world for about half-off and the contents are very cost effective.
Cookies with Noah Kagan
Another person that is known by many in the startup world is Noah Kagan, the founder of AppSumo and respected online growth expert. Noah has become the face of many techno-hackers attempting to make a go of it in the online world.
Noah has built a tribe of individuals that subscribe to the 4-hour work week belief system. His ability to connect with this tribe and the customers that sell to it has been a huge part of his success.
Noah recently did a presentation at Growth Hack New York. Unfortunately I was unable to attend, but they did film his talk which you can watch here. In his talk he mentions that they send fresh cookies with a personal note to important clients as a Thank You.
This kind of gesture, while affordable, is what we at SaaSquatch call Tweet-worthy. This means that the personal touch is so amazing to the recipient that they can’t help but blog about it, tweet about it, and tell their friends at the water cooler.
Wrapping it All Up
These two great brands have found unique ways to connect with their customers in a meaningful and personal way. Neither solution is overly expensive but buys them more good will than most nights on the town.
Think of what small, personal and unique ways you can connect with your customers and then watch them return the favour to your brand 10 times over.
Will Fraser
Will Fraser is a co-founder of YUPIQ, a premier Viral Promotion Builder that makes it easy for anyone to create promotions that encourage and reward the sharing of their videos, webpages and special offers with friends.
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