The Spare Room

The Purple Cow article got me thinking more about how to make my client a purple cow. Throughout the quarter we have all been talking about how to get people talking about our group and individual clients but this is the first time that I have really seen how to do it. I was still focusing on the product and/or services as what make my client remarkable. But as the purple cow article said, it’s less about the P’s. So in the process of “looking for the edges” to see what is really remarkable about my client I started to brainstorm about what customers are already saying about the client. Some things that came to mind are how people comment about low prices, cool and unique products, how clean it is even though it’s a ’flea market’, etc. But one thing that I don’t hear them talk about but something I’ve seen our new customers really take notice about is how most employees can greet customers by name. Also, a majority of the client’s regular customers have developed a personal relationship with employees. So what is remarkable about my client is that it’s the store “where everyone knows your name.”

The other article also touched on the fact that less and less people are motivated to shop based on discounts, and more influenced by what other people think about a business. Consumers are being more careful about where they spend their money so they do more research before trying out a new business. Since my client is already focused on low cost, this low cost or discounts should not be what marketing focuses on, instead it should be focused on building stronger bonds with existing and new customers. These customers will market for the client and this bond is in itself incentive for customers to purchase from the client. With “likes” on Facebook trumping customer reviews to show support for a company, gaining support of customers will bring in more customers.

Also, with this closer bond with customers comes loyalty. In fact, some of the client’s customers are already purchasing from the client simply because they want to support the client, not just because they like the product. Customers will come in and look for something to buy from the client, even when it can be purchased at another local store.