Maker’s Mark bourbon elicits some very passionate responses from its fans. While the company isn’t known for its social media marketing per se, you’d be hard pressed to name a company that does a better job of creating a sense of community with its fans. If you can do that much, you know 85% of everything you need to know about using social media for marketing.
The company’s fan initiative is called the Maker’s Mark Ambassador program. The idea is to get fans to agree to represent the company wherever they go and encourage others to embrace the drink whenever possible. Doe-Anderson’s Todd Spencer recently spoke at Gaspedal’s Word of Mouth Supergenius conference about the program, getting a little help along the way from Maker’s Mark President Bill Samuels Jr. Together, they explained that the program only works because it’s a two-way street. Members get their name on a cask of bourbon, and then get updates about their batch over a period of six years. They get little gifts from the company. They get insider information and invites to special events. The company’s marketing materials all look conversational, not at all like a sales pitch. Spencer said that buddy-buddy vibe is no accident. The trick to getting your customers to talk about you is to treat them like friends instead.
Spencer offered up six tips for injecting a little humanity into your customer relations:
- Give them ownership. Maker’s Mark doesn’t talk about “their” bourbon when talking to Ambassadors. They let the ambassador know what’s going on with his or her batch — the one that’s even got their name on the cask. Little word choices matter when you’re talking to fans. Use language that gives them a sense of ownership over the brand. Don’t shut them out.
- Be fearless about asking for help, then give fans the tools for the job. Spreading the love about your company should never be any harder than absolutely it has to be. Convincing someone to do your marketing for you is tricky enough — nevermind asking them to do all the leg work, too. Are you creating content people would actually want to share? Are you giving them tools that make it easy to share that content ? How about suggesting template messages they can easily personalize? If there’s a way you can make it easier for your fans to say “yes” to helping you out, do it. And be upfront about what you’re asking them to do. Don’t be pushy about it — but don’t be shy either.
- Make it company wide. You cannot do this alone — unless you’re the only employee your company has. Everyone — from the CEO down to the guys in the warehouse — is a customer service representative, all of the time. Your fans are special. Make sure everyone at the company knows that and treats them accordingly.
- “Surprise and delight” your fans. Don’t tell them you’ll send them a cake on their birthday. Just do it. If your fan outreach is scripted, it isn’t worth talking about. No one ever tweets about a company doing the things they promised to do. When you do something unexpectedly wonderful for a fan, that’s when you earn their love.
- Use special information to keep them talking. Everybody likes to feel smart. When people have a hot little nugget of information that no one else has, they’re much more likely to mention it to a friend. If you’ve got big news, don’t call the media. Call your fans. If you’ve got little news, don’t keep it to yourself or just file it away on the company blog and forget about it. Tell you fans first. And then use that information to start a conversation. The special feeling your fans get from that heads up is what makes your news worth sharing.
- Keep it simple. Nobody remembers boilerplate communications with anonymous flacks. But they will remember you, if you talk to them like a person and don’t try to hide behind the corporate veil. Your communications should be as simple and straightforward as possible. “Your friend doesn’t embed flash in their e-mails,” Spencer said.
Image credit, chang via iStock
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I especially like the reminder to make it easy for fans to share content. If brands would also include an easy link to update their social stream when they make a purchase it would go a long way.
For example, why not add the ability to post to Facebook/Twitter when I purchased something online from Nike, Apple or even Threadless to update my social stream. If it was easy, we would share items we like with our friends and followers.
Take that a step further and add the ability to share your wishlist items as well.
@mikedmerrill
This is a great concept and one that our company seems to adopt subconsciously. Any thoughts on how I, as the Communications Manager, can help us do this more strategically as a whole company?
Great post!
It’s amazing (and true) that the majority of people are willing to help when asked. Problem is that many companies simply don’t ask… or, don’t make it obvious that they’re asking! Or, as you state, make it too much work (or complicated) for people to help.
Asking for help is a powerful tool for spreading the word about a company or a cause.
Todd Spencer is a hack! The Makers Mark Ambassador program was the brain child, developed and fostered by someone else. Now he’s trying to go around taking credit for an outstanding marketing program.
Hi there BG — as I recall, during that session at Supergenius, Todd never claimed have created the program. He was at the conference with company CEO Bill Samuels to explain how the program works and illustrate ways other companies could replicate those results, not to take credit for the idea.
[...] Smartblog on Social Media posted an article today by Jesse Stanchak about Makers Mark—the well known bourbon brand—and how they have successfully utilized their brand ambassadors. The reason I chose to share this post was because of the innovative offer they provided to their ambassadors. [...]
[...] 6 Tips for Treating Your Customers Like Friends (SmartBlog on Social Media). Some great tips for activating your customers, using the famed Maker’s Mark Brand Ambassador program as an example. [...]
[...] 6 Tips for Treating Your Customers Like Friends (SmartBlog on Social Media). Some great tips for activating your customers, using the famed Maker’s Mark Brand Ambassador program as an example. [...]
[...] How to make a mark on your fans Companies could learn a lot from Maker’s Mark when it comes to building their fan base, branding consultant Todd Spencer said at a recent conference. Members of the bourbon manufacturer’s Ambassador program are treated like friends, he noted, and receive perks that make them feel like a part of the team. Giving customers ownership, directly asking them for help and surprising them with unexpected gifts is the best way to cultivate that kind of connection, Spencer says. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Social Media [...]
[...] 6 tips for treating your customers like friends (smartblogs.com) Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)No TitleThe Content Economy: Interesting Enterprise 2.0 Readings – Week 4 2010 51.542209 -0.317528 [...]
[...] 6 tips for treating your customers like friends (smartblogs.com) Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)No TitleThe Content Economy: Interesting Enterprise 2.0 Readings – Week 4 2010 51.542209 -0.317528 [...]
Good stuff. Customers want something to interact with, so you must act like a human and get them involved
Making people feel comfortable is the best way to gain their trust and ultimately their wallet. Who would want to do business with someone who makes them feel like trash? I know I wouldn’t.
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