Thursday

Frequent Flyer to Frequent Diner

Producing a web site for a company, any company, highlights all of that company's process challenges and business opportunities in a single spot. Sure, you've got a web form for customers to fill out, but who within your company gets the information? How do they process the information? What phone number do we use for this promotion?

I've been working with Delta on their web site preparing for the merger with Northwest. If there is one thing that stands out in terms of their marketing ability it's this: everyone there understands the importance of measuring, monitoring, and making incremental improvement toward gaining share of wallet and more profitable sales.

In other words, they focus on their existing customers to get them more often and more profitably. Frequent Flyer miles are an important tool for them in this regard.

Email: Get double miles IF YOU CHECK-IN ONLINE.
Web Site: GIVE US YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION AND SIGN UP and we'll give you 500 miles.
Direct Mail: We'll give you 1.5 times your miles IF YOU BOOK IN BUSINESS ELITE.

In every case, we'll give you this if you do this for us.

For your restaurant, increased trial of menu and services leads to frequency of visit:
- FREE dessert with any seafood entree (because maybe seafood is more profitable for you, or maybe you just need to move it)

- FREE lunch with any catering order (the secretary/meeting planner/pharm rep gets something personal for ordering for others)

- Unlimited fries between 4pm and 6pm

- $1 breakfast sandwiches BEFORE 8am

It's important to note that NO ONE at this multi-billion dollar company with some of the brightest minds in marketing is complaining that they'll diminish their brand by "incentivizing" customers with Flyer Miles. No one. Why? Because they're trading value for value and modifying behavior. The brand isn't being diminished and neither is yours by incentivizing catering or different dayparts.

Wednesday

Restaurants Take Note...

Delta Air Lines, one of the world's largest, has an interesting philosophy. Instead of trying to gain new customers, in this economy where leisure travel is a luxury and business travel is a hard fought battle-ground, they work on frequency and ticket average.

I'm really impressed with Delta and their marketing strategy: modify consumer behavior to a) increase share of wallet and b) move to more profitable products and services.

If they don't have all of a business traveler's bookings, they incentivize them some more (double frequent flyer miles anyone?). If customers are using travel agents or an 800 number, Delta incentivizes them to book and check-in through more preferred channels: online and through more profitable kiosks.

As it turns out, profitability isn't the most important thing for Delta right now (it's important for everyone, but bear with me). Instead, they're instilling new habits. Visit our site for the lowest fares. Check-in online. Look to us for car and hotel offers. Make Delta your one-stop shop.

At the end of this down turn, expect Delta to have a strong and more profitable customer base than it did going in.

Compare that to restaurants. There are a lot of folks right now, and some of them are smart people (not all of them, but at least some of them), saying that building the customer base is the most important thing! It's the only way to survive!

More customers is a way to survive. The problem is, people aren't trying new things right now. Sure, the younger demographic with roommates for whom dining is an adventure are still trying new things and haven't stopped dining out a whole lot.

Families aren't though. They've cut WAY back. When you cut back, you don't try new places - too much risk. Frequency of visit is cut in half and, therefore, customer counts drop like a stone. This isn't lack of customer base, folks. It's lack of frequency.

Make hay while the sun is shining. Gain customers when the economy is rosy. It costs less money to increase customer counts through frequency of visit than through new trial generation. This is more true in a climate like this than at other times.

Build customer frequency, build customer loyalty. Your margins will go down, but your customer counts will go up. In the end, you'll have a stronger base for it. In the meantime, your bank account will be healthier for it.

You can't take percentages to the bank.

Monday

Shaking Hands and...um...delivering babies

CIMA is a local OB/GYN that serves the immigrant population in North Atlanta. They have five clinics and reach out to their communities, most of whom do not speak much English.

Their clientele ranges from poor and scared to middle class and planned. They serve first time moms and those with two or three children.

Maria Francis is an RN who is also in charge of marketing. Less than 10 years ago, she says, CIMA was delivering fewer than 13 babies per month. Two years ago, that number was up to 150 babies per month. So how did they build the business, from a single clinic with 13 babies to a string of 5 clinics with 150 babies per month each?

"We went out into the neighborhood and talked to people," Maria tells me. "We held 'well-baby' clinics, we joined other healthcare companies to provide free tests, we met with local church leaders and elders to build trust." Maria tells me all of this matter of factly, as thought there were no other way to do it. "We became part of the communities we served."

Bolstered by success, the managing physicians decided that doing health fairs and meeting with mothers in churches was productive enough. They hired a marketing director, gave him a budget of $120k, and told him to get the word out.

The new campaign? Full page ads where they used to do classifieds. No more yellow pages, no more health fairs. TV and Radio replaced community meetings.

The result? Eight months into the campaign the budget is gone and new customers per month have dropped from 150 to around 95. More than a 33% drop off with three times the budget.

Instead of a cost of $20 per new customer gained with Maria and her crew building trust, the group now spends $100 per new customer gained. And they don't gain as many.

When you care about the things the community cares about, they care about what you care about. Build trust. Shake some hands.

Saturday

Nothing Fishy Here...

The Georgia Aquarium announced today that, though they pull from a trade radius that spans several states, their true objective for the coming years is...

Frequency of Visit. You'd think that a significant percentage of people have never been to the aquarium, and that a campaign to "get more customers" would be the thing to do. But bucking conventional wisdom, and actually understanding they dynamics of their business, the new CEO made the right move. Get repeat visitors.

The thinking is pretty simple: if you live nearby, and you enjoy your visit, you're likely to tell friends. You're likely to bring friends and family when they come to visit. You're more likely to come for just a few hours (with a season pass, instead of dedicating a day to it all).

That may lower the check average, but it's a relationship the aquarium is seeking. If they play their cards right, they're on track to get one.

I'm Back!

Whew! Been gone for a while, but have a whole lot of things to post. What I'm noticing about recent topics is that there's an interesting commonality to a lot of notable marketing these days: Frequency.

The GA Aquarium. Delta Airlines. Chick-fil-A. All have frequency in their sights - but not so much new customers.

Another interesting parallel: shaking hands and kissing babies. Again to the big boys: Delta, Home Depot; along with some smaller folks. Getting to know the people in their neighborhood and driving traffic (usually frequency, but some new trial).

All this and more over the next few days, but right now it's off to the village for happy hour. Haven't been in a while.