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3 It boosts your retention and referrals. The economy is weird, but everyone agrees it’s slowing down. This is the time when customers start looking at their budgets, thinking about canceling services, or changing providers to save money. Having a mascot and getting personal can really help you out with retention. The deeper your relationship is with your clients, the harder it will be for them to check out and leave you. 4 It makes your mistakes forgivable. Say you had a bad experience at Disney World. Maybe they wouldn’t let you into the park because of the shirt you were wearing (yep, this is a real thing that happens). Would you hold a grudge against Mickey Mouse? Of course not. Disney has done a great job of building its brand based on beloved characters, and it easily brushes off bad press. If you humanize your brand, get personal, and have a strong relationship with your customers, then they’ll be more likely to forgive you for mistakes, too. One of the easiest ways to show off your personality and turn yourself into the “face” of your company is by telling personal stories in your newsletter. Come up with a list of topics related to your childhood, family, hobbies, and career you’re willing to talk about (and that you think your demographic would enjoy). Then, use those stories to get your personality across and cash in on the benefits I listed. You shouldn’t stop there. I recommend using your persona across all of your marketing channels to unify your message and make your brand universally recognizable. You can use the personal content in your newsletter as a springboard. Turn an anecdote into a short video for Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube; expand the article to create a unique blog post; or pull out quotes for Instagram posts and tweets. Your newsletter can be the framework you need to blast your personality across multiple channels. Hopefully, this is all old news for you. You should already be doing all these things; if you’re not, it’s time to get started. The best time would have been years ago. The second best is right now before this economic downturn
Your business’s character doesn’t have to be an animated animal. Most small companies don’t have the budget for that! But you should make someone (yourself, your spouse, someone on your team, etc.) the “face” of your business. That’s precisely what KFC did with Colonel Sanders. He was the founder of the company! He just leaned way into his persona as an eccentric Southern grandpa and used it to sell fried chicken. Today, we have entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Richard Branson who do the same thing. Musk is a master of building his personal brand. He IS Tesla, to the point that his tweets actually move the stock price. His personality and social media stunts have rapidly accelerated Tesla’s growth — and being himself on Twitter is free publicity. When I first started Newsletter Pro, I went the mascot route. Cartoon Shaun was the face and basically the logo of the company because I wanted to connect with people, and I knew that if they saw ME and not a faceless brand, I’d build my company bigger, better, and faster. Now that Newsletter Pro is more than a decade old, we’ve rebranded and changed the logo, but I’m still the face of the company and share my personality in our marketing.
Still not convinced you should get personal? These are the four reasons a mascot really works. 1 It creates an emotional connection. It’s hard to feel connected to a company, but it’s easy to build a relationship with a person. Having a “face” to your business will humanize
your brand and help your message resonate with more customers. Then, they’ll be more likely to open your emails, pick up the phone, and eventually buy from you. 2 It attracts new customers. Personal stories, social media stunts, and funny mascot skits are insanely shareable on social media. Again, think about Elon Musk — how many of his tweets have gone viral and made it onto actual news sites? When you get your personality out there, you’ll increase the shareability of your marketing, attract new customers, and grow your business.
really hits hard. –Shaun
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.” –Psalms 100:4 NIV
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