Fergie Tales

MARKETING WISDOM FROM A CANINE PERSPECTIVE

She’s smart, she’s scrappy, and she courageously defends the office, sounding the alert whenever imminent danger approaches — imminent danger being the postman or pizza delivery boy. She has a dog’s eye view of the goings-on at Tartan Marketing, and has a little insight of her own to offer.

Fergie Tale #1

Peeing on the Rug: A Story of Earning Customer Loyalty

Hey, mistakes happen. Whether it’s accidentally peeing on the rug (sometimes you just have to go!) or giving your customer a less-than-satisfactory experience, it’s only human (or canine) to err. How you handle your misstep, though, can have a profound effect on whether or not that customer does business with you again, and whether or not Tartan mascots get to freely roam the office.

Try to think of mistakes as opportunities to right your wrongs and win back the good favor of those unhappy customers. Going above and beyond to personally correct a mistake can often turn an annoyed individual into a more loyal fan than they were before. So whether correcting the error costs time, money or company resources, make it your top priority to earn back lost trust. Me? I’m impossibly adorable, so being forgiven for soiling the rug usually doesn’t take long.

See an example of how Tartan helped build a customer loyalty program.

Fergie Tale #2

Chasing Squirrels: A Lesson in Customer Acquisition

To effectively capture a squirrel, one must employ focus and… LOOK! SQUIRREL!…

Forgive me. I’m easily distracted. As I was saying, to effectively capture a squirrel, one must employ focus and direction. There is just one of me, and hundreds upon thousands of squirrels. Chasing after all of them would not only be impossible, but would exhaust all my energy, and I would likely end up catching nothing at all.

Casting too wide of a net is a common mistake when chasing new customers, too. Rather than aimlessly chasing every squirrel that crosses your path, be selective. Narrow your focus, so you can spend your time and energy more wisely, pouncing on the prospects you are in the best position to catch. It’s the 80/20 rule. Spend 80% of your resources on the top 20% of your highest-opportunity customers, and you’ll bring far better results to your bottom line.

I don’t know about you, but I prefer to go after the red squirrels. The gray ones are too darn fast, and those albino buggers are just too few and far between to bother with. Yeah, the red squirrels. There’s enough of them in my own back yard to keep me scampering all year long. If I can stay focused, that is.

Fergie Tale #3

Merchandising Your Value: A Tale of Staying Relevant

A mascot’s job is never done, but even after a long day’s work, my humans still say, “That dog sure lives the life. Eating, sleeping, staring out the window all day. Spoiled rotten, she is.” How easily they forget all the value I bring!

Between protecting the business from intruders (I never trusted that beady-eyed FedEx guy), scarfing up the cookie crumbs after every client meeting, and making the rounds to see that team morale doesn’t take a digger – it’s enough to really exhaust a girl, you know? Being a loyal canine companion is a full-time job, but you’d never believe it with the little appreciation I get around here.

It’s not that they’re bad humans. They honestly don’t know how much I actually do to earn my keep. And your customers might be overlooking your value, too, unless you take the time to remind them of it on a regular basis.

Proof of performance. That’s what they need. If my humans only knew the number of threats I neutralized by chasing those squirrels out of the yard. Or the real role my “cute factor” plays in landing those big accounts. Heck, if I only pointed out the true ROI I’m bringing to the business, they’d sure be a lot more sheepish about the measly table scraps they’re paying me!

In these days of shrinking budgets, you’d better be sure your customers know exactly what you bring to the table, and why you’re worth it. As for me, the next time I catch a squirrel trying to sneak in the back door, I’ll just leave the evidence on the doorstep so they can’t miss it. You can’t argue with results.