Small Business Marketing: Create a Loyalty Program

It’s time for another episode of Help! My Business Sucks!, and small business marketing expert Andrew Lock shares yet another classic example of crummy customer service by a car rental company. Since excellent customer service is the best free marketing going, you’d think companies would make a better effort. What can you learn from their mistakes?

Speaking of customer service, this week’s episode looks at creating VIP or loyalty programs to reward your best customers. Plus, an interview with Tim Kerber shows the value and business potential in creating member-only websites.




Why does it always happen to me? That’s what I keep asking myself. I have yet another customer service horror story for you from a well known car rental company. I’ll even show you the evidence in this episode. Let me know what you think they should have done to (a) avoid it, and (b) fix it.

Our question this week is all about how to create a loyalty program. Do you have any ideas on that one? I’m a big believer in not reinventing the wheel, so I provide a resource that practically hands it up on a silver platter.

I love membership websites where you charge people a monthly fee to gain access to specialized information. That’s what my site NiftyClicks is, as you may know. This week I interview one of the leading experts on the topic, Tim Kerber from Membergate, which is the premier membership website platform out there.

Finally, a big marketing lesson from Scotts Lawn Service. I’m not sure if its a national or a local company, but it certainly does a great job with marketing. I’ll show you an example of how it got me to take notice of an offer. It really stood out from the crowd, and you can apply the marketing principle in your small business, too.

As usual, let me know your opinion about the topics covered in the show this week — leave your comment below, it’s really easy to do.




You’ll find lots more marketing tips and resources from Andrew Lock in our Small Business Essentials series, Lock in Your Marketing Resources.

Andrew Lock is a self-described maverick marketer and the creator and host of Help! My Business Sucks, a free, weekly Web TV show full of practical marketing tips, advice and resources to help small businesses “get more done and have more fun.”





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