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A Simple Solution for Building a Loyal Customer Base

- September 26, 2011 | by April -

{Personal Image}

I want every woman starting a creative business to feel empowered. I want her to take her excitement for her passion and turn it into something that makes her proud and makes her money. I want her to be able to spend the majority of her time on her art—not shuffling through resources and wasting time on stuff that doesn’t matter. That’s why I put together ARTrepreneur.

I enjoy taking the concepts from my background in therapy and helping women who feel overwhelmed, struggle with procrastination, and wrestle with multiple passions. I love to learn and experiment with business concepts and then teach them in a simple way so they’re easy to understand and easy to put into practice. That’s why I blog regularly.

I want to make big changes for women who have big dreams. I want to help women who struggle to get their unique, handmade products in front of the right people. That’s my why—the reason I do what I do.

Why do you do what you do?

This isn’t the easiest question to answer, but it’s incredibly important that you know the answer. It’s also important that your customers and target market know your answer. If they don’t, you’re in trouble. You’ll have a really hard time building a loyal customer base without sharing this information.

 When the right people understand why you do what you do, they connect with you and your brand. It’s easier to make purchasing decisions and price doesn’t matter as much.

Think about recent purchases that you made. Why did you buy?

When my husband and I bought a new sofa and love seat, we looked at all of the brown sets. Then we narrowed down our options by sitting on them and seeing which ones were the most comfortable. Then we looked at the prices. We found a sofa and love seat on major sale, it was comfortable, and it was chocolate-colored. Perfect. We bought them because of the price. We knew our dogs would be laying on them, so we didn’t want to pay too much for them. I have no idea what company made them. I won’t look for other sofas made by the same company. I’m not a loyal customer.

Contrast that with Liz Lovely, a company that makes vegan and gluten-free cookies. Their mission statement is clear. They bake cookies with a higher purpose. They don’t cut corners, and they don’t prioritize profits over people or the planet. That’s a business that I can get behind and enjoy purchasing from. I had never ordered food online before ordering a batch of cookies from Liz Lovely. When I landed on their website, I read about their business and my mouth watered looking at their products. I was hooked and ordered cookies right then and there. I’ll be a loyal customer, ordering more than my fair share of the gluten-free chocolate chip cookies. It costs $3.99 plus shipping for two cookies, but it doesn’t matter. I would even buy them if they cost more.

Your purchases either depend on something like price, promotions, or fear OR they depend on loyalty, trust, and connection with the company’s purpose.

Share your purpose. Let people know why you do what you do.

When someone new lands on your website, she should be able to figure out your “why” within seconds. It should be obvious in everything that you do. Put it in multiple places. Blog about it, include it on your about page, and make it clear in your shop announcement. Every blog post that you write and every product you put out there should somehow connect with your why. Otherwise, your purpose gets diluted, trust decreases, and your customers will be confused.

16 Comments · Filed Under: ARTrepreneur, Blogging Advice, Creative Business Development, Success

Comments

  1. Erin Giles says

    September 26, 2011 at 6:36 am

    Awesome post April, it’s easy to get caught up in your services or products and not share the why behind them. Thanks for the reminder, I will be making some edits to make sure this is clear!

    Reply
    • April says

      September 26, 2011 at 12:30 pm

      Thanks Erin! It’s definitely easy to think about the features of your products and how someone will benefit from them–and leave out the part about why you make them in the first place.

      Reply
  2. Erika says

    September 26, 2011 at 9:35 am

    Beautifully stated, April. I actually receive emails from people telling me what they think my why is and should be. It makes me feel like I am moving in the right direction but like Erin it is easy for me to get lost in all of the details and not making everything clear. This post is a reminder to work on it.

    I hope you are feeling better.

    Reply
    • April says

      September 26, 2011 at 12:32 pm

      Thanks Erika! That’s so interesting that you receive emails from people about your “why.”

      I’m feeling a lot better. Still really tired and needs lots of naps–but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

      Reply
  3. kara rane says

    September 26, 2011 at 9:58 am

    hi April~
    totally agree*!
    check it out >>
    http://www.etsy.com/people/kararane
    much kindness

    Reply
    • April says

      September 26, 2011 at 12:34 pm

      Love your story Kara! That’s definitely what I’m talking about 🙂

      Reply
  4. Kim Palmer says

    September 26, 2011 at 11:43 am

    I love this. And I think the hardest and most useful thing in some ways is just articulating this for myself, even before sharing it with others.

    Reply
    • April says

      September 26, 2011 at 12:34 pm

      Yep, it can be hard to put into words.

      Reply
  5. Katy Shaw says

    September 26, 2011 at 12:05 pm

    Isn’t it interesting how often we (OK, maybe it’s just me….) need to be reminded of the simplest things. We also have to constantly re-evaluate the WHY of what we do, so we know in our hearts and can communicate what we’re about. So thank you for this!

    Reply
    • April says

      September 26, 2011 at 12:37 pm

      You’re welcome! It’s easy to forget about the simple things when we’re caught up in the many details it takes to run a creative business.

      Reply
  6. simone says

    September 26, 2011 at 4:47 pm

    I have to say, I thought I’d read everything that there was to know about being authentically yourself, how to build something that aligns with your values, etc… but I’ve never encountered this question before! and I have to say, it totally removes a major…’blockage’, shall we say, that I was feeling in my artistic/design pursuits. I was obsessing over the ‘what what what’ and completely ignoring the ‘why.’ This extends not only to arty stuff, but everything else we do in life.

    Very thought provoking and inspiring. Thank you so much for sharing.

    Reply
    • April says

      September 27, 2011 at 7:28 am

      Hey Simone! I’m so glad that it removed a blockage 🙂 It definitely extends to everything we do in life. If you want to read more about this topic, you should check out the book, Start with Why by Simon Sinek. It’s a really good read.

      Reply
  7. Aneta says

    October 7, 2011 at 10:41 pm

    Great reads. Yes, sometimes the purpose of me having Etsy store is blurry, even to myself …but it is so important to stay focus on the goals, there is not much room for a blurry, foggy thoughts,impressions etc. Thank you for a great reminder !

    Reply
  8. Tehlia says

    December 9, 2011 at 5:49 pm

    Recently found your blog through Danielle of Merriweather Council and I am so glad I did. I have honestly spent the last two days devouring everything on your site. And was inspired to tackle the WHY question in a blog post. http://theforksfarm.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/finding-my-why/

    Thanks so much for sharing all that you do
    Tehlia

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Saturday Favorites | After Nine To Five says:
    October 1, 2011 at 12:05 am

    […] A Simple Solution for Building a Loyal Customer Base […]

    Reply
  2. One BIG Way Creative Entrepreneurs Waste Time + How to Stop | Blacksburg Belle says:
    April 10, 2013 at 1:24 pm

    […] The most important part of your branding is your message—your why. Every product that you make needs to be a product of your why. If it isn’t, building a loyal customer base is going to be extremely difficult—if not, impossible. If you chase trends, it’s easy to get away from your why. If the trend is a part of your why, then it’ll be easy for you to incorporate it into your business. If not, leave it alone. […]

    Reply

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