"Cognitive dissonance" is the academic term for post-purchase anxiety. (Professors use big words to impress their students.)

It sounds something like this: Should I have bought this? Should I have shopped around more? Should I have asked more questions? Could I have done better? And on and on.

Post-purchase anxiety can potentially deter customers from making a return visit to you. It can certainly reduce their willingness to refer others to you. They may fear that their perceived mistake will be called out.

The thing is, it's not because you've done anything wrong! Nevertheless, it's in your best interest to anticipate it and reduce it.

Provide reassurance (with evidence, documentation or other support) early and often in the shopping process. This isn't just good for reducing post-purchase anxiety, it may also nudge fence-sitters into buying when they would otherwise chicken out.

If you want to make the customer experience thoroughly enjoyable, keep in mind their potential for worry and doubt. Find ways to alleviate it -- give them peace -- and everybody wins.

Labels: customer service, differentiation, marketing, messaging, salesmanship

Southwest Airlines is currently running TV spots where baggage handlers remind us Southwest doesn't add fees for checking luggage. At one point out on the tarmac, they yell at a competitor's plane, "Why are you charging for luggage?!"

The airline industry is perpetrating this nuisance almost unanimously right now, with Southwest being the notable holdout. Kudos to them for pointing it out!

It's not always this easy to find a point of differentiation that really resonates with your customers, but it's worth a few minutes of your time to find one. Think of something that really irritates customers in your marketplace, something widespread that has always been considered "normal" but frustrates customers.

Does that irritant exist with you? If not, follow Southwest's lead and boldly point it out. If so, find a way to get rid of that bug in your system, and then let everyone know what you've done.

If "industry-standard" means irritating to customers, defy the standard -- and don't keep it a secret!

Labels: advertising, customer centered, differentiation, marketing, messaging, strategy

Lushin and Associates is still proudly advertising their "expensive and difficult sales training." Doesn't the tough economy mean they should scale back their advertising, or at least scale back their emphasis on "expensive and difficult?"

Not if they believe in it. And not if they are committed to the value their services provide. Not if they can prove their services are worth a premium. Surely they can argue that sales excellence and effectiveness are more valuable now than ever.

Times are tight and customers are cost-sensitive in every market, but that doesn't always mean an automatic price concession. Just thought I'd say publicly that I respect them for holding the line.

Labels: branding, differentiation, messaging, pricing, salesmanship, strategy

Want to build your brand? Want your company brand to be effective for you?


At great risk of sounding like a broken record, know your customer in a deep, meaningful, insightful way*. Then make their information-gathering better. Make their shopping experience better. Make their buying experience better. Make their post-purchase experience better.


Voila! Your branding is better!


Too much emphasis is placed on "pushing" a brand image out to the market, and too little on knowing the customer better and making the whole process work memorably for them. That's how you brand, and that's what your brand really is -- whatever your customer perceives it to be.


Your customer's perception of you will be based much more on their experience with you than on anything you've claimed or projected it to be.


To put it another way, don't build a brand and content yourself with projecting it outward. That's backwards. As you adapt to your customer, your most effective branding will grow naturally. And it will be real, not just projected.


That's customer-centered marketing and branding -- a reputation that is rooted in the customers themselves.


* I'll be posting a new article soon that will help with this! Watch www.foxmarketing.us/reading.php!

Labels: branding, customer centered, marketing

I was reading an enjoyable article today about John Swisher, founder and president of JBS United, a producer of nutritional livestock feeds.

Mr. Swisher's company has always incorporated more science than most in that industry, which is a differentiating factor in their sales. They do a great deal of testing to get nutrient content right, and closely measure animals' responses.

"We let the pigs tell us what they think, and pigs don't lie," says Mr. Swisher.

Which reminded me of marketing research and getting feedback from customers. But not just verbal feedback in response to surveys or questionnaires -- you can get vital information by watching their behaviors in and around your business and products.

Sometimes their words are softened to give you the response you want in a survey, but behaviors aren't. Watch where they stop, where they look, what they touch, what they pass by. Those behaviors will tell you what they think without even being asked.

Labels: customer centered, marketing, research, strategy

While purchasing some photography for a client yesterday, I noticed a special offer on my receipt. It was from a related design business, providing me a special discount code for my first purchase with them. And this: "Offer good through December 31, 2020."

That's pretty amazing. I have eleven years to check out the site, see what I might need, and save a little. In 2020, I'll have two kids in college, so I think I'll hold onto that discount because I'll need it more then than I do now!

Special offers are good. Promotional tie-ins with complementary businesses are good. But I'd encourage you to inspire a sense of urgency. Positive urgency, of course -- curiosity, excitement.

With eleven days to check it out, I probably would -- at least to see what it's all about. But eleven years? I'm not driven to action quite so much...

What timelines could you use to your favor? Create urgency to invite that first visit, or even to encourage a repeat purchase. Customers are "in the now." Make sure you are, too.

Labels: advertising, creativity, differentiation, marketing, planning, strategy