Jackie Huba

Customer loyalty – how to attract and retain it – is a topic that interests me, as does the connection Huba makes with customer loyalty and Lady Gaga’s fan base. Huba’s experience as a social marketing expert for businesses, where she focuses on the customer experience, shows as she walks the reader through what Huba defines as being the following lessons of loyalty that any business can learn from Lady Gaga:

Seven lessons of loyalty:

1. Focus on your One Percenters - the die-hard fanatic customers/promoters of your brand


2. Lead with values - make sure that you communicate that your business is about something bigger


3. Build community - make sure the customer experience is meaningful and memorable


4. Give fans a name - create or let your customers create an identity they can connect with and relate to


5. Embrace shared symbols - shared symbols give special meaning to "the IN group" and expands on the special personal connection customers want with a brand


6. Make them feel like rock stars - place the spotlight on your customers


7. Generate something to talk about - Don't play it safe when it comes to your business/product because no one talks about something that is just average

Each “lesson” has its own chapter where Huba breaks down what Lady Gaga does and provides one or two business case studies where the lesson has been used successfully by the business community. Huba admits that she never interviewed Lady Gaga or any of her team for the book. All information has been derived from public sources. The book does a great job summarizing the lessons but one will need to search further if they really want to get into the nitty-gritty details of how to design a customer loyalty program that works best with a given business model. Not all businesses can invest in creating and maintaining an online community for its customers like Lady Gaga’s littlemonsters.com or hire people to act like paparazzi to give a customer a “rock star for a day” experience, but Huba does balance her business case studies to range from the global businesses like Nike and eBay to smaller companies.

Overall, this book not only gave me some great ideas for designing a customer loyalty program, but it also gave me a new found appreciation for the brilliant business mind of Lady Gaga and her team.… (altro)

Lady Gaga is one of the most popular pop stars in the world. Her strategy for getting, and keeping, extremely loyal fans is incredibly successful (with 33 million followers on Twitter, she must be doing something right). This book shows how businesses of any size can copy her strategy.

First of all, who are your passionate fans, those whose world revolves around your brand? Are blogs or Facebook pages dedicated to your brand? Do people call your toll-free number, or send emails, with suggestions on how to improve your website? Those are your One Percenters. Find them, and don't let go. It's easier and cheaper to keep a present customer than to create a new one. (How is your customer service? What do review sites like Yelp say about you? It's pretty hard to get, or keep, passionate fans if your customer service stinks.)

What are your company's values? Making money is what you do, how and why you do it is what is important. Find a way to bring those passionate fans together, whether online or in person. Add an online forum to your website, or solicit testimonials and spread them throughout your marketing materials.

This group of fans is going to need a name. If they haven't decided on a name, ask their input in coming up with one. When it comes to deciding on a symbol for this group, watch how your customers use (or don't use) them; some symbols just won't work. Be open to adopting fan-created symbols.

Find a way to make your customers feel special, to put them in the spotlight. Invite them to special VIP events, or put them on your products. Give those passionate fans something to talk about, but don't be outrageous just for the sake of being outrageous. It could be something really simple, like one new design feature.

This book is highly recommended for businesses of all sizes. It won't be fast or easy, but if Lady Gaga can create legions of loyal fans, why can't you? It is also highly recommended for those, like yours truly, whose only exposure to Lady Gaga has been through the media. It was very surprising to learn that she is much more than just a pop star.… (altro)