The Thank You Economy

The Thank You Economy announces the return of small town courtesy to the world of business, thanks to social media, and shows you why business must not neglect nurturing its one-on-one relationships with customers through the new channels online, to thrive in the modern world.

Imagine owning a bakery in 1874. How would you make sure your customers keep coming back to you? You’d probably chat a little with everyone when they come in, since you know most of them anyway. Maybe you’d also give them the occasional loaf of bread free of charge, and ask them about their day, life and family.

Showing an interest in your customers and building an actual relationship with them is what small town courtship is all about, and without it, you were out of business faster than you could spell horse-drawn carriage.

Gary suggests that while this effort to bond with individual customers has lost its importance during the industrialization and move to the big cities, small town courtship is now back, and it’s more important than ever.

When cities first got bigger, there was a huge mass of customers available to every store, so keeping them around didn’t matter much. But now, thanks to social media, this matters again.

Just like your neighbor would tell the whole village that you threw him out of your store back in the day, now everyone can take their complaints public, and massively damage companies’ reputations. For example, when McDonalds tried to get people to tell great stories about it by using the hashtag #McDStories on Twitter, people instead recounted the horrible experiences with their food there.

Things can backfire quickly on social media, but if you take the time to really talk with your customers 1-on-1 there, ask the right questions, and keep them engaged, you can draw on a loyal base of fans for as long as your business is around!

However, that doesn’t mean traditional media is dead. When Gary released his first book, Crush It, he also used billboard, radio, and direct mail ads. And while those drove less orders than even a few tweets, he reached a certain group of customers he’d never have reached on social media. It might seem weird to promote a book that’s about social media offline, but how else are you going to reach the people who aren’t on social media, for whom the message is probably the most important? However, the best results are usually achieved when you combine and mix them, which is called transmedial advertising. For example, you could run a TV commercial showing how your little bakery makes a wedding cake, but keep one secret ingredient hidden and promise to reveal it…