Wednesday Wisdom: Marketing Surprise

Inspiration, Wednesday Wisdom for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners, Small Businesses

A brown box arrived in my roadside mailbox with only my name on it. There was no mention of a sender. My birthday was a couple weeks away so I assumed one of my sons or friends mailed me something from Amazon where sender’s information is typically missing. I brought the box inside, sure it wasn’t Anthrax, and opened it up.

“Surprise!” was on top of the Kate Spade letterhead accompanied by bright pink earrings and pink earring pouch. Still thinking someone who knows I wear pink to represent women sent it to me, I kept reading the letter which said, “Thank you for shopping with us. xoxo Your Kate Spade New York Team.” I thought silently to myself, did the company actually send me this beautiful gift?

When my husband came home, I asked him if he sent it as an early gift. He has always been the one to purchase me pink Kate Spade purses. “No,” he said. As I re-looked at the letterhead I saw something else that said, “Please visit the customer care pages of surprise.katespade.com to review our complete return policy.” I typed the website address into my computer and sure enough it was a Kate Spade website to order other items. Cool, I thought to myself knowing the promotional pink earrings and pouch were a true customer service gift – one I loved.

This unique selling and marketing strategy was something too original to not share with other women entrepreneurs. We might not have the money Kate Spade has as a company, but the gift wasn’t anything expensive just really endearing and fun to receive on a random Monday. Surprises are that – unexpected or astonishing things that usually lighten the heart of the receiver.

Today’s Wednesday Wisdom might have you pondering what you can do to surprise a few of your big customers in the same “fashion.” It doesn’t have to be a big ticket item, but rather a nice, small reminder, hooked into a website page or new social media account to direct favorite buyers back into your favors. We often forget that repeat customers are the best customers we have. Why not put together a plan to surprise them before or at this holiday season with something unique that helps them remember you.

I’m off to wear my bright pink earrings feeling pretty darn happy about Kate Spade – a woman entrepreneur whose company lives on without her in meaningful ways.