{"id":4214,"date":"2012-08-07T03:17:43","date_gmt":"2012-08-07T03:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/?p=4214"},"modified":"2012-08-08T00:54:56","modified_gmt":"2012-08-08T00:54:56","slug":"learn-to-savor-the-moments-and-help-your-customers-do-the-same","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/2012\/08\/learn-to-savor-the-moments-and-help-your-customers-do-the-same\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn to Savor the Moments\u2014and Help Your Customers Do the Same"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"You\u2019ve heard the old adage \u201cStop tosmell the roses,\u201d right? Well, I\u2019ve come to learn that when life hands you those \u201cmoments,\u201d it\u2019s best to slow down, savor them and commit them\u00a0to memory. They only come around once! And when you make a conscious effort to put yourself in that moment and really experience it with all your senses, you can recall that memory in an instant, and \u201cre-savor\u201d it. How can this relate to your business? Let\u2019s try a little experiment. Close your eyes and think back to a particularly happy moment in your life. Picture where you were, what you were doing, and who was with you. What happens when you think hard about that moment? Are the details sharp and clear? I\u2019ll bet that for those really good memories, you can even recall smells and the sense of touch or taste\u2014things that trigger an emotional lift and make you smile. Now think about when you last had a fun experience while shopping. Perhaps you were at an event,or browsing a brick-and-mortar store\u2026 what products come to mind? What details do you remember about the experience? When you\u2019re thinking about \u201cbranding\u201d your business (and it doesn\u2019t matter if you sell cupcakes or care-giving services), think about providing your customers with the kind of experiences that they will want to savor, because that\u2019s a foot in the door to building a long-lasting relationship with them. What can you do that will make them want to stop and savor your \u201cmoments?\u201d<\/p>\n

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A friend of mine (I\u2019ll call her Sally) used to own a small gourmet gift shop in a tourist town, and she gave me a good example of how she built \u201cexperience\u201d into her retail shop. In addition to gourmet baking mixes and other packaged food items, Sally sold coffee beans and chocolate-covered berries by the pound, scented candles, hand-crafted pottery and wooden musical instruments. When you walked into her store, the first thing that hit you was a delicious combination of scents\u2014an open invitation to explore further. Sally brewed pots of gourmet coffee and gave away sample cups, displayed the bright-colored candies in old-fashioned glass jars, and played soft music throughout the store from the instruments she sold. \u201cWe designed the shop with fun cabinets and unusual shelves, so people could \u2018discover\u2019 things in nooks and crannies,\u201d she told me. She tried to make the whole shop a sensory experience, from designing unusual displays to offering tasting samples\u2014even demonstrating to people how to play the instruments.<\/div>\n
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\u201cIt worked like magic, because people enjoyed themselves,\u201d she said. \u201cWe built relationships with customers that lasted for years, and they brought in their friends and family members. Sometimes I wouldn\u2019t see a customer for a long time, but the next time they walked in the shop they had a friend in tow, and made a bee-line right for the candy section\u2014or the musical instrument case\u2014because that fun experience they had last time was still in their minds, and they wanted to share it. For me, that was the fun part of owning the shop\u2026 the relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

Think about how Sally built her \u201cbrand\u201d by offering her customers pleasant experiences that they turned into memories. How could you do the same thing for your business? Which senses could you involve, and how could you \u201ctrigger\u201d them?<\/p>\n

Even if you don\u2019t have a brick-and-mortar store like Sally, here are a few ideas to get you thinking about ways to build experience around your brand:<\/p>\n