The late founder of Wendy’s, Dave Thomas, was famous for appearing in his own television commercials and bringing a “personal touch” to the Wendy’s brand. When you visited a Wendy’s and dined on their characteristic square burgers, it almost felt as if Dave was right there with you. While the shape of their burgers was one way they tried to stand apart from the other fast food restaurants, Dave’s appearances were unique to the industry in an attempt to make that all-important connection with their customers.
Wendys letter Dave’s been gone for several years, long before the arrival of blogs, Facebook and Twitter, but that hasn’t stopped the company from forging ahead and using “web 2.0” techniques to continue making personal connections. Recently, I got a direct message from @MichWendysDeals via Twitter, reaching out to let me know they wanted to send me a $5 gift card if I sent them back my name and address. I responded with the information and sent along a note to the effect of “I’ll take my wife out for a Frosty”.
What makes this story interesting, is within three minutes I had a response (via Twitter directly to me at @EricCook) thanking me for the information and letting me know that my $5 gift card was on its way. But the best part is they picked up on the comment about taking my wife out for her Frosty and said I must be the best husband ever. This personalized response was vital to the “conversation” since I knew it was not simply and auto-responder thanking me for my name and address. There was someone on the “other end” actually reading (and responding) to my note and we carried the conversation on for a few more exchanges.
Wendys-gift-card So, why do I think Wendy’s founder, Dave Thomas, would be proud? Well, this is the “Internet age” version of making a personal connection with customers. Not only will we likely spend over the $5 @MichWendysDeals sent me when we visit for that “Frosty date”, but I’ve told this story to several folks as an example of how a business can make a connection – a personal connection – via the Internet.
Chances are, in your marketing plan making a personal connection with your customers is a priority and one of the many ways that you try to differentiate your institution from your competition. While you may not have the lure of a cold, creamy Frosty at your bank, do you have some other way to connect with your customers and do something out of the ordinary and get people talking? Sure, you could offer up gift cards (assuming your institution offers them), but what other things of “value” do you have at your disposal that you can provide? As financial experts and community leaders, we have a lot to offer, maybe we just need to do a better job of “how” we let the world know about it.