What’s in this article:
- The fact that DQ is bringing back popular flavors is great for the customers who love them
- Will it also be great for these customers – once they start receiving marketing communications from the brand post-purchase?
Recurring events and calendar tentpoles can be the center of some great marketing campaigns. Think seasonal or holiday campaigns, or perhaps major sporting events (relevant both for gaming operators and the brands that sponsor these tournaments).
One brand that totally gets it is DQ – some know it as Dairy Queen, as showcased by their Blizzard of the Month.
They don’t even need to come up with new flavors for it to work. This August, they “brought back by popular demand” the “DQ Reese’s Extreme Blizzard” – available for the month of August only.
And for September, they’re bringing back both the Pumpkin Pie Blizzard Treat and the Pumpkin Cookie Butter Shake (cause, of course) – and, again, for a limited time only.
If you start unpacking these initiatives, then obviously the recurring nature of the entire thing creates buzz and anticipation (which, and it’s critical to remember – can only work over time if your communication and product bring real value, beyond the buzz, which can only take you so far).
Secondly, they don’t let these things go without being noticed – and a combined effort of traditional advertising, social media content, PR, and organic coverage in local outlets bangs the messages from all over.
One message (some might say, “spin”) is focusing on the “back by popular demand” aspect. Who’s demand? No one really knows. But it doesn’t really matter. It’s a way of taking an existing product, and instead of saying, “Hey, we have no new flavors for you, sorry about that,” – they are celebrating its “comeback.” Among other things, it also creates the feeling that DQ is listening to its customers.
Become the best CRMer you can:
CRM Hack: Monitoring the User’s Heartbeat
What Does It Mean to Treat a Customer’s Email With Respect?
To Lock or Not to Lock Customers (into CRM Journeys)
What the Efforts to Promote Responsible Gaming Look Like Form the Inside
There’s more to it (for example, the creation of false scarcity). Still, in late 2021 – one question DQ (and any other brand that is doing any kind of these seasonal/reoccurring campaigns) must already not just be asking themselves, but also have an answer prepared is: how are you turning these campaigns into longer, more meaningful customer relationships? In other words, how are you increasing the customer lifetime value of customers who participated in (and bought with the brand during) the campaign?
And here, we go back to these holiday and sporting events campaigns. Companies that do it the smart way – either retail or gaming – know how to aggregate, analyze, and then leverage the data from these unique periods to create a more intelligent, micro-segmented approach towards CRM Marketing. You know, the thing that is meant to take all these customers who come in “for the event” and get them to come back for more.
Segmenting customers by when and why they first bought with you – with regards to a special events or promotions – getting to know them from data standpoint and treating them in a personalized way that differs from the treatments you use for your “regular new” customers, is very basic smart CRM Marketing. The kind that separates old-fashioned, behind the curve companies, from the ones that can increase their customer lifetime value by 33% or even more.
Remember that if and when you do decide to copy that page from DQs playbook.