Creative ways to increase engagement

In today’s day and age, many companies find themselves as one among many others offering very similar goods or services. This crowded market can make it difficult to stand out. When everyone is trying to engage with and connect with people, how do you make your brand name shine? 

In this week’s blog feature, our Gifting Experts share creative ways to connect and engage with current and potential customers to get your wheels turning. 

Why is engagement meaningful?

Engagement is crucial for many reasons. According to consumer science research, engagement can help your company become visible to larger audiences, build stronger brand awareness, and increase revenue while eliminating costs associated with other traditional marketing campaigns. Engaged consumers buy your goods or services, support your business by word of mouth marketing, and provide feedback that allows for the continuous betterment of your business model.

Whether you’re engaging with an existing or prospective customer, your team’s rhetoric makes a big difference in the relationship being formed. For example, consider encouraging your team to shift their perspective on selling something to someone as an opportunity to educate and empower them instead. Creating positive, authentic, and memorable interactions will help your brand stand out from your competition. Plus, it solidifies a relationship that you can build off.

Creative ways to engage:

Social media isn’t the only way to leverage engagement to drive conversions and deepen relationships. Engaging your audience makes them feel important and appreciated. When you tailor your brand’s selling strategy or content in consideration of your target market, it makes them feel like you care about them and that their opinion matters (because they do!). Hence, they’re most likely to develop more interest in your brand and advocate for your success. Here are a few ways you can engage and leave a lasting impression:

• Industry events: One of the best ways to interact with customers directly is through industry events, trade shows, and networking opportunities. These types of events allow you to engage and connect with people on a personal note. Whether they are existing or potential customers, industry events are a great way to network and show off your products or services in real-time and boost brand awareness.

• Conversational marketing: This dialogue-driven approach to marketing puts customers at the core of your efforts. This marketing technique is well received because it encourages interaction, improves the customer journey, and has the potential to increase your revenue. One way you can incorporate conversational marketing into your strategy is by adding a chatbox to your website. This allows for an open dialogue with customers when needed and shows existing and prospective customers that you’re attentive to their needs and ready to help. 

• Thought leadership: Thought leadership is the process of developing and sharing unique ideas that allow you to show off your expertise in your industry. You can implement thought leadership via social media, blog posts, online discussion boards, or tactfully going through customer challenges and providing solutions. This type of online engagement allows you to position your brand as an expert in the field to a broad audience and allows for open dialogue with customers that will attract people to your business for advice early on.

• Appreciate people: One of the most effective ways to attract and maintain customers or brand advocates is through appreciation. There are many ways to deliver appreciation through corporate gifting, but many of them miss the mark because they don’t understand the “why” behind the action. However, a gifting program with Cultivate is driven by the “why.” Our Gifting Experts help you deliver a memorable gifting program that people will love and align with your goals. Whether you want to show appreciation to existing customers or say thanks to the person you met with last week, Cultivate is here to help. A gift people get to select is a tangible touch point that creates a meaningful connection between you and the person you’re appreciating. Do it right by partnering with Cultivate, leading with the “why,” and offering them a choice.

Many businesses attempt to create interesting engagement strategies to build their audience only to have very little return on investment. There are many brands that have several thousand followers on social media but generate little engagement when it comes to liking and sharing their content on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Instagram. Instead of focusing on the “why,” they failed on building an engaging community where people feel valued and appreciated.

Connect with a Gifting Expert to learn more about our variety of gifting solutions. Together we can make your company stand out for all of the right reasons, increase engagement, and foster connections people will remember.