The Baer Facts Issue 86: Give your customers something tactile, tangible, and terrific

Do You Use Tactile to Turn Customers Into Fans?

I'm a Swiftie.

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I'm not at the "I'd sell a kidney to get a ticket to Eras Tour" level, but I admire Taylor Swift, what she's built, how she engages her community, and the poise with which she operates while under extraordinary scrutiny.

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She's so adept at making her audience feel that they are PART of something.

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For example, the "Taylor Swift friendship bracelet" phenomenon fascinates me as a marketing and customer strategist.?

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It started with a lyric from "You're On Your Own, Kid" a track on her album, Midnights.?

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"So make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it."?

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From there, fans took the cue and started making a LOT of friendship bracelets.?

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This creates three wins for Taylor Swift:

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Fans MAKE the bracelets, so they feel part of it all. Then, they TRADE the bracelets, triggering a community effect. And finally, they go home with bracelets as an ongoing, tactile reminder of how awesome the whole was.

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This third piece - tactile reminders that transcend the transaction - is something I've studied for many years.?

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It's increasingly difficult to differentiate with your core product or service. Instead, smart organizations (and pop stars) differentiate with experiences.?

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Maya Angelou famously wrote: I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

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This very much applies to business (and to fans).

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Yes, by all accounts the Eras Tour is an extraordinary show. But it's 3.5 hours of magic, and then...it's gone. But the bracelets are an ongoing, tangible reminder that persist after the memories fade.?

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This strategy of giving customers something to take away works in just about every industry.?

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Right here in Bloomington, Indiana we are blessed to have a fantastically successful pizza delivery company. Founded by Indiana University students Jeff Mease and Lennie Busch 42 years ago, Pizza X now has six locations and a multi-generational fan base. Not just a customer base, but a fan base.?

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How? Isn't pizza just pizza? Mostly, yes. But Pizza X (like Taylor Swift) transcends the transaction by giving customers something extra that lasts after the last pepperoni disappears: Pizza X cups.

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Bloomington is a drinking town with a college problem, so 22 ounce cups for beers, cocktails, and the like are, shall we say, in demand.?

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Pizza X scratches that itch because every soda sold comes in souvenir cups suitable for saving. I've got at least a dozen, as does every person I know in the county.?

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Pizza X buys 400,000 cups PER YEAR, and their reusability saves a lot of landfill waste, as well.?

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My own efforts to provide a tactile experience go way back. Starting in 2008, my business card was a metal bottle opener!?

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For many, many years people would come up to me and say "I met you at a conference in 2011, and you gave me your business card. And I keep it in my golf bag. And every time I open a beer on the course, I think of you!"

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You simply cannot buy that kind of ongoing awareness.

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Literally yesterday, I was thinking about what to write about in this edition of The Baer Facts, and my pal Joey Coleman (an excellent author and speaker, whose books I have recommended to you), texted me a picture of the bottle opener business card.

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"I was cleaning out my office, and look what I found! Memory lane!"

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How many other business cards have you kept for a decade or more??

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I stopped the bottle opener business cards about three years ago. People don't do business cards as much now, given the prevalance of digital contact info. And, even craft beer has largely shifted from bottles to cans, so the use case is weak these days.

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So, it's time for me to take my own advice and come up with something new. Something tactile. Something tangible. Something customers and audiences can take away that will help turn them into fans.?

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I'd love your idea, if you have one. But even more so, I hope you have an idea for YOU. It works for Taylor. It works for Pizza X. It worked for me. It'll work for you also.?