Fred Abaroa

I heard this statement at an event recently. I love it. I had never really thought of it before. Loyalty is great. It keeps customers coming back. But Devotion, now there is something I think we all really want in our customers, employees and investors. Let's look at the definitions:

loy⋅al⋅ty

/ˈlɔɪəlti/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [loi-uhl-tee]

de⋅vo⋅tion

/dɪˈvoʊʃən/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [di-voh-shuhn]

A great example is Apple. According to many analyst Apple should have died by now. But devoted Apple users would never let that happen. As a matter of fact my just mentioning this will probably stir the pot as it did in 1995 when I surveyed computer users. My task was to find out what types of computers were in the homes. The survey came back they had Macs. Knowing this could not be correct I found where links to my survey were published on several Apple user groups. These devoted fans took the survey skewing the data in their favor. "They ride like thousands, but their are only 50" exclaimed an unnamed cowboy in an old western I saw. What power!

So how do you get from loyalty to devotion? Find your devoted customers. Ask them why. Ask them how. Ask them if they know other. get all your devoted customers talking to each other. You can do this by creating an online community or even just having events where they can meet each other. Then let them loose. Devotion can be contagious especially in bring loyal customers up to that level. Let your devoted customers have a say in product development and marketing. (Oh and let everyone know this)

Fred Abaroa aka “CostaVidaFred”
The Marketing Imagineer

Twitter: @CostaVidaFred
Blogs:
www.CostaVidaFred.com
Podcasts:
WordOnTheTweet.net
MakingMountainsOutOfMoleHills.com