Loyal Brand Champions Create Constant Cash Flow

The world of Marketing and Branding shifted for me while I was a junior at the High School of Graphic Communication Arts in 1985. As a young aspiring marketer I watched the Coca Cola Company make a "mistake" that would become the case study for the power of consumer choice. When they made the "correction" and gave the customer what they wanted Coca Cola soared past Pepsi Cola and never looked back.

Small business owners should learn a lesson in history that can bring their companies a bright future of constant cash flow. The transactional business mindset has destroyed America's small businesses at an alarming rate. According to the Small Business Administration (SBA) most start up companies struggle to make it past the first three to five years. It is my desire to change that. In 2006, I created The Twelve Steps of Marketing, A Perfect Guide to Branding to combat the transactional business mindset of one customer at a time. Small businesses need to create Loyal Brand Champions to keep their companies growing because they address the needs, wants and desires of customers or their psychographics. Yes. You have to discover what Coca Cola did whether it was on purpose or by accident.

Besides my high school revelation, I was blessed to experience the best development of loyal customers from my former company, Station Casinos. The family owned business was started in 1976 by Frank Fertitta Jr., as Bingo Palace. Today, the chain of local casinos has amassed billions of dollars because it focused on loyal customers. I know. As a Marketing Director at Santa Fe and Texas Station I was part of the evolution of the brand through the most incredible loyalty program in the world. The Station Casinos Boarding Pass Rewards Program changed the game in the industry by putting an emphasis on empowering customers to control their own "comping" of food, beverages and amenities throughout the properties. They earn the comping power through points. In addition, members of the program receive monthly gifts that they value as a reward for playing and dining at a Stations property. Brilliant! Would you like your company to be around for 45 years? How about your legacy? The Fertitta family has prospered and given back to their community because they consistently focused on loyal local customers. My company, Sumnu Marketing has thrived for fifteen years through America's Great Recession and today's Covid-19 Pandemic because of our Loyal Brand Champions.

I learned from Coca Cola as a teenager, Station Casinos as a young adult and Sumnu Marketing that it's all about loyalty. Loyal Brand Champions create constant cash flow. Sumnu is in the next generation. I pray to have the success of the aforementioned brands beyond my lifetime. I know that the key is Loyal Brand Champions.

Shaundell Newsome is a two time SBA award winning businessman. He serves as a Trustee for the Vegas Chamber, Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Urban Chamber of Commerce Las Vegas and Co-Chair for Small Business for America's Future. He's a veteran of the United States Air Force and an author of The Twelve Steps of Marketing, A Perfect Guide to Branding. You can get Shaundell as a business or marketing mentor at www.sumnusolutionszone.com