Kitchen Marketing

I have been preparing for my upcoming talks on social marketing and doing some online research to see what’s new.  As you might have guessed, online communities are growing and Facebook is aging –according to InsideFacebook.com, the fastest growing demographic  is Women 55+.  When my 2^nd grade teacher “friended” me, and my aunt put up a profile (and I’m no spring chicken, myself) I knew Facebook was graying – of course my college-age kids had the same feeling when dad put up his profile. 

I have been talking about a communication paradigm shift for the last several years.  As it relates to marketing, consumers are no longer unwitting recipients of a monologue – they are true partners and participants in a dialog.  The internet introduced us to the concept… social media is taking it to a new level.

As a participant, the consumer now has the power to respond to your marketing messages and critique your livelihood – today there must truly be “truth in advertising”.   Consider the client whose cabinetry finish is not quite what they had expected.  How will you make them happy?  What would happen to your business if you ignored the complaint and your client posted his/her feelings on their blog, their Facebook page, to their Twitter account – thousands, if not millions of potential customers would know your name and would likely avoid you like the plague.  But, what if you went the extra mile to make the client happy – those same thousands, if not millions of potential customers would know your name and likely try to get you to do their renovation.   I am not just talking to showroom owners; manufacturers, wouldn’t you like to be known world-wide for taking excellent care of your customers?

Never forget that your clients are online and talking to their friends.  If you have a Facebook page for your showroom, ask your clients to become fans and add a testimonial.  Market to your fans by offering incentives, seminars, specials and other “fan only” benefits on a regular basis, there is a payoff.  Social Media is not a kids’ toy…  use it to stay in touch, to listen, to learn, and to bond with your customer base.

Post your thoughts and experiences.  Become a Fan and Z promotion & design!

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 13th, 2010 at 1:50 pm and is filed under Integrated Marketing, kitchen and bath dealer, kitchen and bath integrated marketing, Kitchen and Bath Professionals, Kitchen and Bath Web Marketing, kitchen design marketing, Social Media for the Kitchen & Bath Industry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.