Best Customers can beget more Best Customers. They are valuable not just by themselves, but also for who they can bring in. They can become amplifiers of good experiences – what has been called “word of mouth.” With social media, this gets magnified even more – each of us today can reach hundreds through our posts on Whatsapp, Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook and LinkedIn. Best Customers can thus have a multiplier effect via their advocacy on social media platforms – something that was much harder to do in the past when the direct reach each of us had was limited.
By becoming advocates of the brands they love (both for the product and their experience), Best Customers can thus get more lookalikes into the fold – each of whom has a higher probability of being a future Best Customer. As a result, it becomes possible to grow revenues substantially on account of the Best Customers.
As my Netcore colleague Chaitanya Chinta explains:
Some brands carry an emotional identity with users and when connected effectively creates “Brand Fans” … like Apple, Starbucks, Under Armour, etc. These brand fans are usually powerful. For any commercial brand, identification and activation of these brand fans is essential for its short-term and long-term success. This is even more important in the coming few months due to Covid.
In fact, fans of any brand are the most engaged and profitable customers – Best Customers in the VRM Model. They are usually about 15-20% of the user base that the brand has, but contribute a significant portion of revenue.
The beauty of VRM is that it identifies and activates (via martech) their fandom – making them more attentive towards brands content, more likely to transact, share positive experiences and ultimately, influence others. That’s the bliss point for any brand.
This is exactly what brands like Google, Apple or any brand with a cult-like culture does. They identify and activate fans …and pull in more people into “fan club” using activated fans.
If a brand aspires to have a cult-like following (and more revenues and profits), it needs VRM.
Best Customers thus become magnets and super-spreaders, attracting others like them. This is another big reason to deploy Velvet Rope Marketing for the top 20% customers.
Tomorrow: Velvet Rope Marketing (Part 6)
