Being well-connected can mean different things. For some, it means having influential and powerful friends. For others, it might mean having a large number of casual contacts. As independent retailers, our focus should be on finding our tribe and doing what we can to connect with them authentically.
However you choose to connect with others, when you can create and nurture your community, you will build more loyal personal and professional connections. This is the fundamental value of customer relationship management (CRM), which is focused on automation and software tools for enterprise businesses. Unfortunately, those tools are cost prohibitive for many small businesses.
So, in the absence of a robust CRM system, how do small businesses create community, loyalty, and repeat customers?
However you choose to connect with others, when you can create and nurture your community, you will build more loyal personal and professional connections. This is the fundamental value of customer relationship management (CRM), which is focused on automation and software tools for enterprise businesses. Unfortunately, those tools are cost prohibitive for many small businesses.
So, in the absence of a robust CRM system, how do small businesses create community, loyalty, and repeat customers?
Start by creating a brand aligned space—either in real life or virtually—that will allow you to cultivate a community that takes action in harmony with your brand and vice versa. We have created a guide about the “five rights of retail”, which can help brainstorm your perfect message for this space, and you can download the free guide below.
As a recent example of this work in action, Shopify’s recent blog post Creating Community: How Retailers Can Build an Engaged Customer Base featured our Merchant Method community event series, which I host in Seattle brick-and-mortar shops. I’ve also created community virtually through a mix of group conference calls, one-to-one calls, and digital workspaces.
Shopify shares realistic strategies that retailers, makers, and small-batch manufacturers can implement now in preparation for future growth.
Shopify shares realistic strategies that retailers, makers, and small-batch manufacturers can implement now in preparation for future growth.
Read It:
You can read Creating Community: How Retailers Can Build an Engaged Customer Base, written by Alexandra Sheehan here.
