Erica Arroyo, the Marketing Director of Social Media for Cornelius & Anthony, uses social media to acknowledge the brand’s customers and to thank them for their ongoing support and loyalty. “It’s about our supporters,” she explains. “What I want is anyone who’s smoking our cigars is to be recognized and to show our appreciation to them because I appreciate every single person,” she explains. “I make sure they’re recognized and I thank them. That’s what needs to be shown in social media.”
4. Exceed Expectations
Have you heard of the phrase, “Under promise but over deliver?” If not, adopt it as your business’ new mantra. Every customer has expectations about your business and what he or she will gain from it. To earn a customer’s loyalty, you need to set out to exceed his or her expectations on a regular basis.
“Customers are giving you their hard-earned money. They’re giving you their trust. Serving customers is a challenge–make sure you’re living up to their expectations, make sure you’re getting it right all the time, ensure operational improvements, and make sure you always have the right amount of inventory so that your customers want to keep doing business with you,” advises Ted Swearingen, Chief Operating Officer at SmokingPipes.com.
5. Ask for Feedback
What do your customers think about your business and its products? When is the last time you’ve asked for a review or for feedback? According to BrightLocal’s 2014 Local Consumer Review Survey, 88 percent of consumers read reviews to judge the quality of a local business and that same percentage of consumers say that they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
Feedback and reviews have figured heavily into the cigar category for years with reviewers and various media outlets awarding cigars a numeric grade that is later incorporated into a company’s marketing efforts. Feedback can be as complex or as simple as you’d prefer, ranging from a pop-up questionnaire on your website asking how your business is doing to seeking feedback on a product and sharing those testimonials with other retailers and customers.
Invest your time and efforts into building a loyal customer base and you will see the benefits for years to come.
For more marketing and business tips for tobacco businesses, be sure to bookmark tobaccobusiness.com and follow us on Facebook and Twitter @tobaccobizonline.
– Story by Antoine Reid, an editor and digital content director for Tobacco Business Magazine. You can follow him on Instagram @editor.reid
