Boutique Branding

Boutique branding is appealing to the customers who are going to give you the best returns on services offered. The big question is how do you attract those customers? Create the club within the club because they love to be part of the status by being an insider.

Airlines have designations such as Platinum member, or Diamond status for their most frequent users. Specialty retailers have private shows for their best customers. Rental car services have preferred services for their insiders. Nothing creates status for the elite members like when you belong to the club within the club. This creates loyalty and attracts more people like them.

Brand your company for the type of customers you want to attract. If you are a restaurant that wants to attract young families, you have to appeal to their interests with reasonably-priced kids' menus, servers who cheerfully mop up and collect dropped toys, and an atmosphere that allows kids to make a little noise without driving the diners at the next table batty. Or for another example, a Pontiac is a piece of transportation. A Porsche is an experience of transportation. Both will get you from Point A to Point B. Which is a more profitable car to sell? How do the dealerships differ? How does the show room floor staff differ? Which vehicle owner feels more part of a special club? One sells to the masses and one sells to a boutique niche. One has status and one surely does not. What do your preferred customers drive? Are they getting the same level of attention at your place?

Setting a strategy to attract a special type of customer requires a focus, a niche approach and an atmosphere that has a "Wow" factor to it.

What "Wow" factors are you currently branded for? What services do you offer that would attract the elite customer who wants to be treated special? Strategically, companies need to embrace the proper branding to attract the customers they desire.

Measuring your success by the number of your customers and total sales is commodity thinking. No longer is a new customer something to rejoice over; in fact, some customers can actually cost more in staff time and energy than they contribute to the bottom line. It's more important to have better quality customers than to simply have lots of customers.

Long-term customer loyalty is no longer yours just because "I've always shopped here." Define the niche of the customer you want to serve, give them the feeling of being part of a special club, and hold onto them for generations.