How to Cultivate a Connection with Customers with Chris Shaffer, Ep #29

In a world where so many businesses are competing for attention, you must create a connection with customers to stand out. You may offer a similar product or service, but what you do to brand yourself and connect will make a difference. This episode is all about connection, marketing, and how to stand out from the crowd.

Chris Shaffer—an expert in customer relationships and branding—joins Kevin in this episode of Maximizing Ecommerce. They worked closely together to put on Brand Accelerator Live with Scott Voelker. He’s an absolute whiz in ecommerce and here to share his expertise. Don’t miss this episode!

Do you know how to connect with your customers and build a loyal following? If this is something you struggle with, join Kevin and Chris Shaffer in this episode of #MaximizingEcommerce to learn how to cultivate a connection. #Ecommerce… Click To Tweet

Outline of This Episode

[2:55] Cultivating relationships with customers
[4:50] Kevin introduces Chris Shaffer
[5:55] Background in Ecommerce
[11:55] Baseline Budgeting
[13:30] Strategy and optimization
[15:35] How to start building a list
[17:30] Learn your target market
[20:20] Facebook has a group for everything
[24:30] Content – how do you pick where to start?
[26:50] The power of Facebook groups
[34:00] Market, message, match.
[42:20] Learn how to communicate with your list
[51:30] How to track how your emails are performing
[57:20] How to connect with Chris

If someone wrote you a blank check, what would you do?

If you were offered unlimited resources to grow your business, what would you do? Chris points out that it can be fun and allows you to be creative with marketing. You can experiment without the fear of an idea failing. In reality most of use don’t have an open-ended budget, but what if you attempted to innovate as if you did?

Many companies follow a strategy labeled “baseline budgeting”. In simplistic terms, if they don’t spend their complete marketing budget they run the risk of being stuck with a lower budget for the upcoming year. This drives the marketing team to spend money wastefully—and why you’ll often see CPC driven upwards towards the end of the year.

They’re spending upwards of $10,000 a month when they could get the job done with $6,000. Chris believes this type of budgeting system needs to be phased out. It penalizes a team for doing great work on a lower budget. Chris and Kevin continue to talk strategy and figuring out your target market, so keep listening.

Offer value where your audience lives

If you understand your target market, you need to begin to learn where they “live”. Is your customer on Facebook? YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest? Start where others in your market have found success. Once you build an audience, you can transfer it to any platform you prefer.

Scott Voelker and Chris met because they had booth joined ecommerce Facebook groups and were answering questions. They quickly became the go-to experts in the group because they offered value. It was one of the catalysts that led to the success of the Amazing Seller podcast.

They were involved in the community and leading with value. When the podcast was launched, a linked was dropped in the Facebook group. It took off. People in the group downloaded the podcast, and chatter about it spread to other Facebook groups.

What could you do to boost your business if you simply placed the needs of your customers first?

One of the best ways to connect with customers is to offer value on whatever social media platform they spend time on. To learn more, check out this episode of #MaximizingEcommerce with Chris Shaffer! #Ecommerce #AmazonSeller #ProductSales… Click To Tweet

Market. Message. Match.

List-building is a strategy that everyone everywhere recommends, and for good reason. It allows you to directly market to people who want to hear from you. It pulls traffic to your website. But how do you get people on your list? According to Chris, one of the easiest things you can do—and the hardest to mess up—is a product giveaway. Don’t do something crazy like an iPad. Everyone wants one and you won’t convert true followers. You’ll end up with a lot of people who hit “unsubscribe” after the getaway.

Instead, offer a package that plays off of your target market and meshes with your product. Chris’s favorite way to do this is to offer a “newbie” giveaway and an “expert” giveaway. It speaks to both sides of the spectrum of customers. Whatever you do, make sure to always remember: does the product you're offering match the market you’re offering it to? Chris summarizes the principle as “market, message, match”.

A connection with customers can’t be an algorithm

Chris points out that your #1 competitor is a nameless and faceless brand on Amazon. Email marketing can be one of the easiest ways to cultivate a connection and relationship with customers. That connection allows you to transcend the platform—and separates you from the lowest priced offer on Amazon.

How do you create that connection? Treat them like your friends.

Make your emails conversational. Treat people like people, not an algorithm that you’re trying to figure out. Allow people to learn to hear your voice in your writing. The way you read a message from a friend is a different, deeper connection. It’s not always about the call-to-action. Start by piquing their interest, offering something of value, and building the relationship.

Chris and Kevin talk about how to incorporate a call-to-action, how often to include one in your emails, and how to track how they’re performing. If you’re looking to connect with your customer on a deeper level and ready to build a loyal following for your brand, this is a can’t-miss episode!

Customers want to connect with a real person—not an algorithm. To learn how to take your email marketing to the next level, listen to this episode of #MaximzingEcommerce with guest Chris Shaffer. #Ecommerce #AmazonSeller #ProductSales… Click To Tweet