Surprise & Suspense Element of Your BRAND?

We { Consumers } like something EXTRA than what we are expected to get. Value of that EXTRA is incomparable. It becomes talk of the town, cause for referral point and repeat experience. 


Mindset of offering EXTRA  { going out of the way } , entrepreneurs can make their offerings Extra Ordinary.

- Surprise - Offering Pleasant EXTRAS

- Suspense - Every-time something Different ( Different Surprises ) 

Restaurant is offering free meal every Monday but it will not be announced in advance. At the time of billing customer is informed that it was free.

Stock Broker is offering brokerage refund for one week and next time sending free gift holiday vouchers to their value clients.  

Home Builder is offering school scholar ship to children of all habitats. Next time full sponsorship of all festivals. ( We have in India many many festivals we celebrate )

Dentist offering free Coffee ( CCD or Barista or Starbucks ) to their patients , next free annual check up for the family.

Garment Store offering free  { Fashion tips and grooming seminar } , next family picnic pass.

Accounting Firm offering free accountants training to clients , next free seminars to clients from marketing experts. 

What are the SUSPENSE and SURPRISE elements of your BRAND ? { Most brand unfortunately do not surprise and offer suspense but sacrifice i.e. less than expected/promised  offerings !!! }

5 Ways to Make CUSTOMERS your BRAND Ambassadors

People believes in customer reviews rather than brand ambassador's large cut outs and recommendations.Real brand ambassadors are customers as they recommend after using the offerings and so called brand ambassadors recommends for money they get!!!

When TRUST is the highest influencers  these new breed of brand ambassadors r preferred and searched on the net & social media. Today u search for any product or services , you will invariably get users reviews.I use reviews when I buy mobile phones, when I book hotels outstations,  when I want to experiment new things, when I do not want to subscribe to Speak Asia kind of schemes (I found whole lot of irregular things and cpl of articles by Sucheta Dalal in her magazine Money Life abt the Speak Asia drama which is going on with the help of Indian Print Media these days).Telling example of Branding vs Actual Customer Xperience. (now 19th May- govt has ordered inquiry into the affairs)

Bottom line is CUSTOMERS are net promoters or demoters of every BRANDs. Invest more in customer experience and less on BRAND Ambassadors which is paid , scripted & hence less authentic. 


Here are the ways U can make yr customers , yr brand ambassadors: (Experiment rigorously)

1) Go out of the way to solve customer problem.  Do it with SMILE. If U are a Dentist,don't just remove the teeth but give dental care booklet and free check up once a year bonus. 

2) Invite happy customers to periodic customer get to gather. Share their stories on blog, website and social media. Offer some branding mileage to those customers.(Introduce them and their business on social media)

3) Help and try to make your customers more successful in what they do. Have solution and not transaction approach.

4) To the extent possible customize the deal and make them feel special. As a tour organizer U have tie up with particular hotel, have an arrangement with the hotel to convey customer's preference, data and choice for surprise and delight. They must feel special for booking the hotel through yr company. 

5) Have Happy Hour.  On any one day a week ,lets say every Tuesday, allow any one randomly selected customer free shopping/buying/consuming every hour. Word of mouth publicity will much more cover the cost of free offerings.

Have as many surprise elements in yr offerings as possible.  

I am a FAN of Zappos.com , Starbucks & Virgin way of doing business. Why not every one else too? Looking for similar passion and enthusiasm from Indian Company !!!! Any 1 ? Kingfisher is closing in.

Not only do business , make it a fun for all involved.We ,after all , live only once and time to make FANs  are too short. Go full blast from TODAY. Share yr results here.