Kids love him, parents embrace him wholeheartedly and businesses absolutely wait for him as eagerly as kids do. That’s the charisma of Santa Claus.
Grinch has been trying to mutilate his efforts since 1957, and yet, Santa Claus has been making us relish the spirit of Christmas with same level of exuberance. Santa Claus never fails to bring happiness in our life, come what may.
This fat old man we simply love also teaches us a lot of marketing lessons, and he teaches us by practice. He doesn’t believe in lecturing, he believes in leading by example. For all the ecommerce business owners around the globe, Santa has plenty of marketing lessons. You simply need to look and observe. Here’s what we learned from Santa…
First Lesson: Reliability
Kids wait for him every year, and Santa has always reciprocated the love with unshakable reliability. Santa never fails to deliver, are you doing the same?
Your customers are much akin to the kids who look forward to Santa keeping his promise. It’s your job to meet their expectations, and whenever possible, outdo the same.
How to become reliable? Simple, it all begins with service quality. How good your products and services are determine the reliability of your business. The best marketing tactic is to be reliable. When your customers know their feedback matters and you work on them, they automatically start trusting you. And we all know we like to do business with people we can trust.
Second Lesson: Surprise & Delight
Santa makes sure he delights us with surprises every year! Not once did he miss our present. He always knows what we want on Christmas.
As a business, your USP is the surprise that makes shopping experience delightful for your customers. It starts with analyzing the market and keeping a tab on your competitors. You need to observe how they run their business, how customers feel about them and how you can make things better. Find out the missing link, leverage upon it and make your mark.
Also Read: Tips To Improve Customers Relationships
Third Lesson: Inspire People to Write
Santa loves to read letters written to him. He inspires kids to write letters to him, telling him what they want for Christmas.
For ecommerce business owners, this is the power of dynamic content. Encourage your customers to share their reviews, engage them with survey forms; get to know more about them. If they like your products and services, ask them to share the experience with people. If they don’t like something, motivate them to talk about it with you.
When they feel free to talk to you, they’d love to talk to you.
Fourth Lesson: Rewarding
The first question Santa asks a kid is, “Have you been naughty or nice?” What follows next depends on the kid’s answer. Good kids are rewarded. Naughty kids are motivated to be nice so that next Christmas brings bundles of joy.
Your loyal customers are just like the nice kids. They keep coming back to your ecommerce store to buy more. They also have all the good things to say about you, and they talk about you with their friends. It’s time for you to return the favor.
Similarly, customers who have attained a particular cart value can be rewarded with a discount coupon or free shipping. It’s all about appreciating your customers, make it a habit.
Also Read: Create Buyers Persona to Reduce Marketing Errors
Fifth Lesson: Teamwork
Santa doesn’t work alone; he has a team of elves and 8 reindeers that work with him. Reading all the letters and sending the right gift to the right kid takes more than just one man, even if it’s the Santa Claus we are talking about.
Just like your online ecommerce business, running every business needs a good marketing team that brings brilliant ideas together. Nobody can do everything alone. Teamwork is the key to reap maximum benefits from your marketing efforts. Marketing is a skill that nobody perfects as a lone warrior. It’s teamwork.
Sixth Lesson: Brand Image
Santa not only has a remarkable image, but also knows how to market himself. He knows his target audience (kids), he knows what they want (gifts they asked for), and above all, he knows exactly when to give them what they want (Christmas).
As an ecommerce business owner, your marketing tactics should be based on this knowledge. Knowing your audience, their needs, wants and requirements and when and how they want it is the key. Taking the first step is important, but knowing in which direction this step must be taken is more important. This lesson helps you in finding out the direction. It’s about knowing the right questions and then finding out the right answers.
Conclusion:
You may or may not believe in Santa, but you can’t ignore the fact that he is the biggest brand you can come across. He is obviously doing things the right way. He has got his marketing game completely sorted, and has become an unshakable brand over the years. As a matter of fact, his brand image is getting stronger with every Christmas. While you could learn a thing or two from Santa, we gave you six of his best attributes. Inculcate them in your marketing strategy and you’ve got yourself a clear winner. Merry Christmas!
