Sticky Marketing is one of the best known secrets of businesses success. The concept is simple: day by day, step by step, draw the customer in deeper and deeper until there’s virtually no choice but to continue. It’s almost like addiction. The alternative (like withdrawal) is too painful to consider.
Sticky Marketing in practice
Sticky marketing is creating more and more reasons for your customer to keep buying from you. Sticky marketing is the natural result of getting to know your customer better and better, and filling more of their “wants and needs.” It’s not, as some think, products (or services) you “stick with” (like your iPhone: a Samsung phone does everything your iPhone does, and switching technically easy). As time goes on, the customer relies on you in so many ways that the benefits (like lower prices) of leaving you just aren’t worth the cost.
Example of sticky marketing
The classic example of sticky marketing is how banks keep you loyal. Loyalty in banking is measured (by the American Bankers’ Association) very simply: it’s the number of financial services you use from your bank. The more services you use: checking, savings, bill pay, student or home equity loans, and new “virtual” services, the more likely you’ll keep doing business with your bank. That’s successful marketing. This kind of marketing isn’t a special kind of advertising or promotion. Sticky marketing is more “enticing” your customer to use more of your products so they’d have to work too hard to find replacements.
Can Sticky Marketing Work for you?
Sticky marketing often starts slowly, and builds over time, by pleasing your client in more ways. It works best with “repeat purchase” situations. For example, Uline has supplied shipping supplies to my company for several years. They know their products well enough to recommend specific ideas that can help them. Every time we call, they know that it’s my company calling, they have my name in their database. They have our corporate credit card and deliver address on file. They can even tell me the products and quantities we’ve ordered, and on what dates. That makes my life easier…and is a good example of successful sticky marketing.
Medical practices are examples of marketing that sticks. Our family pediatrician has complete notes of every visit we’ve made since my kids’ birth. We might forget about a sickness 2 years ago, but they don’t. And they don’t forget about that soccer injury either. Our experience together is the ultimate in sticky marketing for medical practices.
You know the products that your customers buy again and again. And the services that help your customers better and faster. These are the ones to promote to existing customers, to make your marketing sticker.
So sticky marketing turns out to be even more than just selling more products. But the concept is the same: its the kind of marketing is helping your customer in more and more ways until it’s easier to stay with you than leave!