Converting Customers into Evangelists!

I ’ve never been evangelical or so I thought.

But you may change your mind, too. Check out Ben McConnell’s and Jackie Huba’s “Church of the Customer” blog site http://www.churchofthecustomer.com .

They offer some great tips to creating customer evangelists:
◆Customer plus-delta : Continuously gather customer feedback.
◆Napsterize knowledge: Make it a point to share knowledge freely.
◆Build the buzz: Expertly build word-of-mouth networks .
◆Create community: Encourage communities of customers to meet and share.
◆Make bite-size chunks: Devise specialized, smaller offerings to get customers to bite .
◆Create a cause: Focus on making the world, or your industry, better.

The new nirvana of marketing we all should strive for—not just loyal customers, but customer evangelists.

Who are these evangelists and how do you create them? Look around. They’re everywhere. Examples are the customers of:
Starbucks
Google
Virgin Atlantic Airways and Richard Branson
Black Berry users or
the woman who sent a check to Southwest Airlines after 9/11 because the airline needed the money more than her.

How do you transform your routine, everyday customers into evangelists?
Start by analytically asking yourself if your customers are atheists (people who simply don't believe in your products but use them out of habit), agnostics (those who would believe if you gave them a reason to) or the believers (a core group of righteous product users who deeply believe). Don’t be surprised if you have lots of atheists.

Seek out the "believers" and study them. See what makes them believers and then turn them loose. Empower and enable them. Create additional products and programs that recruit and attract more just like them.

This creative form of marketing isn't easy. But if you can crack the code, it's the most efficient and effective marketing effort you'll ever make.