May 23 is Taffy Day – How sticky is your marketing?

I’ll let you in on a little secret; I’m in the editing phase of a new book that can be used by any industry that will have more than one set of marketing ideas for every day of the year. I’ve been working on it off and on for about 3 years; this thing is chock-full of ways to attract, entertain, engage and build deep-and-long-lasting relationships with more customers in your community.

I specifically wrote it in light of all of the media available today, so the “idea” isn’t just there, but the idea and how to use Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms is built in. Contest ideas? Social media posts? Web resources? E-mail marketing instructions? They’re all there, and will be at your fingertips!

May 23 is Taffy Day; and 2 principles come to mind.

One is flexibility. When taffy is fresh, it’s malleable, flexible; you can work with it, pull it out and reshape it without breaking it. What a great principle for you as a leader as well as for your business.

When it comes to dealing with other people, are you flexible? Are you able to stretch yourself to new lengths? The next time you field a customer complaint or strange request, think about “being the taffy.” Be willing to be stretched and folded over and over again, to be blended with new experiences and reshaped into the best piece of taffy you can be!

The second principle that struck me is the “stickiness.” How sticky are your marketing messages? If you practice “one and done” marketing, your messages aren’t likely to be very sticky in the minds of customers. However, if you create a strong brand across all your marketing channels and across all customer and employee touchpoints, you are much more likely to have a brand that sticks in the minds of your customers and is reflected in the behaviors, attitudes and actions of your employees.

The same holds true for your marketing campaigns. You can’t just tell customers about a product or service one time and expect that they will jump for joy and elation and rush to your business. It might take months and a dozen messages before customers suddenly “remember” that new product or service you have that they “suddenly” can’t live without. Consistency and constancy are the keys to sticky marketing!

Here’s an idea for making May 23 – Taffy Day – work to help build some delicious customer engagement:

Fill a large container with taffy pieces (count first!) and hold a guessing contest. Post a picture of the container online so that people can enter in-store or online. Use entries as a means of collecting contact information to grow your database, get more e-mail subscribers, Facebook or other social media followers. After the contest, extend a special offer to all entrants. Extend a special offer to the employees of local candy or gourmet food stores.