Category: Digital Marketing

Little Nestlings Early Learning Center to Be Featured on KOIN

What do you do when a good friend tells you they will be on TV? You get excited for them and save the date of their appearance on your calendar, of course.

Well, that’s what the Sacred Fire Creative team feels right now. We’re so thrilled to announce that our client, Little Nestlings Early Learning Center, will be featured on the KOIN network soon.

The details are still being worked out, but we can’t wait to see Colleen Cleary and the Little Nestlings team on TV. Stay tuned!

At Little Nestlings, the environment plays an essential role in learning.

Little Nestlings Early Learning Center is a new preschool that opened in Fall 2024 in West Linn, Oregon. Headed by veteran educator Colleen Cleary, the school offers a curriculum inspired by the Reggio Emilia philosophy.

In the Reggio Emilia philosophy, children are seen as capable of directing their learning, and the environment acts as a teacher. The little ones are encouraged to be curious, explore their surroundings, observe their senses, and ask questions. Much of the study time takes place outdoors.

Through this model, children get to develop a sense of discovery and a deep love for learning. They get to build a solid foundation that will serve them throughout their school years and later in life.

Little Nestlings’ TV appearance is part of an ongoing branding campaign.

We’re happy to say that Little Nestlings’ upcoming TV appearance results from Sacred Fire Creative’s ongoing campaign to bring awareness to the school’s brand.

Since early 2024, we’ve been on a multi-tier marketing campaign for the school. This campaign included designing and search-optimizing their website and populating their social media channels. We’ve also been conducting mainstream media and community outreach.

We believe in the impact that Little Nestlings Early Learning Center will bring to early education and the community as a whole in West Linn. It’s an honor for us to be part of their journey.

Your brand is your legacy. At Sacred Fire Creative, we can help you build a legacy that will leave a lasting and positive impact on your community. Contact us today and discover how we can collaborate.

Little Nestlings Early Learning Center kids

Little Nestlings Early Learning Center: A Shining Light in Oregon’s Childcare Landscape

We are excited to share that our client, Little Nestlings Early Learning Center, has been prominently featured in Cascade Hasson – Sotheby’s International Realty’s “Living in Lake Oswego,” celebrating their significant role in addressing West Linn childcare desert. This recognition highlights their dedication to providing exceptional early education and their innovative approach to nurturing young minds.

Addressing the Childcare Desert

Little Nestlings Preschool has stepped up to fill this critical gap, offering a nurturing environment where children can thrive. Their commitment to solving this issue is more than just a service—it’s a mission to support families and empower the next generation.

Introducing the Reggio Emilia Approach

One of the standout aspects of Little Nestlings Early Learning Center is its implementation of the Reggio Emilia approach. Originating in Italy, this educational philosophy emphasizes child-led learning, creativity, and exploration. It recognizes that children are active participants in their learning journey, and it values the role of educators as facilitators of this process.

At Little Nestlings, children are encouraged to express themselves through various forms of communication—whether it’s art, language, or play. The environment is designed to be a dynamic and interactive space where children can engage with their surroundings and explore their interests.

Making a Difference

The feature in Cascade Hasson – Sotheby’s International Realty is a testament to the impact that Little Nestlings Early Learning Center is making in the community. By addressing the need for quality childcare and embracing a forward-thinking educational approach, they are not only supporting families but also setting a new standard for early education.

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Little Nestlings Early Learning Center for this well-deserved recognition. Their dedication to improving childcare accessibility and implementing the Reggio Emilia approach is truly inspiring. As they continue to make waves in the education sector, we look forward to seeing the positive impact they will have on countless young lives.

Designing Digital Sanctuaries: Essential Web Design Tips for Spiritual Retreats

Spiritual and wellness retreats have grown enormously in popularity in recent years. As more people seek escape from their busy lives, these retreats provide the perfect opportunity to relax, reflect, and reconnect with oneself.

Having an effective website is crucial for retreat centers looking to attract visitors and bookings in this competitive market. Your website is the first impression potential guests will have of your retreat, so it needs to reflect the tranquil atmosphere and transformational experiences you provide.

In this blog post, we’ll explore some of the top web design tips specifically for spiritual and wellness retreats. From choosing the right visuals to simplifying online booking, we’ll cover key elements that can help your retreat’s website appeal to your target audience and convert visitors into paying guests. By implementing the strategies outlined here, you can craft a website that speaks to the soul and draws people into your peaceful sanctuary.

1. Use Soothing, Nature-Inspired Visuals

When designing websites for spiritual and wellness retreats, it’s important to create a soothing, calming environment through your visual elements. Focus on using high-quality nature photography and videos to immerse visitors in the natural settings of your retreat.

Sunrises over mountain peaks, birds-eye views of forests, and clips of waterfalls can transport people to your retreat space. Stick to natural color palettes like earthy greens, sky blues, and warm wood tones. Stay away from loud, artificial colors.

Clean, minimalist web design layouts work perfectly for retreat websites. Avoid clutter and let your natural imagery shine through. White space and simple fonts make the perfect backdrop for transportive natural views.

Visitors will feel the relaxing, meditative vibe of your retreat as soon as they land on a home page filled with serene woods and tranquil lakes. The visuals should reflect the inner peace and wellness your retreat aims to provide. Let nature do the talking.

2. Emphasize Community

Visitors seek connection and a sense of belonging when attending a spiritual retreat. Showcasing your retreat’s community is a great way to attract new visitors seeking that experience.

Have plenty of photos and videos on your homepage and other key pages showing groups participating in retreat activities like yoga, meditation, art therapy, nature hikes, etc. Seeing the communal spirit of your retreat will resonate with potential visitors.

Include prominent testimonials from past retreat attendees raving about the connections they made. Quotes about finding lifelong friends, feeling understood and supported, and gaining an extended family through the retreat work well here.

Offer a blog, forum, or Facebook group where past and future retreat visitors can interact. This fosters community before, during, and after the retreat. You want people to feel they are joining an inclusive group by attending.

Making the community a focal point of your retreat website design will appeal to visitors craving meaning, belonging, and camaraderie from their experience. Satisfied visitors become repeat customers and often bring friends or family to future retreats.

3. Make Online Booking Simple

An intuitive online booking system is crucial for retreat centers looking to attract visitors and streamline operations. The booking process should be quick, easy, and mobile-friendly.

Implement a user-friendly booking platform that allows visitors to view pricing, check availability, select package options, and securely pay online. Offer multiple pre-designed retreat packages for simplicity and the ability to customize reservations.

Display pricing clearly for all retreat offerings. Allow visitors to view calendar availability before booking to choose suitable dates easily. Send booking confirmations and pre-arrival information automatically via email.

Integrate your booking system with business software to sync reservations, run reports, and track revenue. Select a platform that works seamlessly across devices. Optimize the booking flow for mobile to accommodate the large share of users on the go.

A seamless online booking experience provides convenience for visitors and saves retreat staff time. Investing in the right platform and optimizing the booking process can boost bookings and bolster your bottom line.

4. Provide Retreat Details

Your website is the first impression many people will have of your retreat center, so make sure to provide all the key details attendees need to know. This includes:

Sample Daily Schedules

Give visitors a sense of what a typical day at your retreat will be like. Outline the schedule of yoga classes, meditations, meals, free time, and other activities. This allows potential guests to see if the daily rhythm aligns with their needs and preferences.

Info on Lodging, Food, Amenities

Describe lodging options at your center, whether private rooms, shared bunks, or camping. List amenities like wifi, air conditioning, private bathrooms, etc. Provide sample menus to showcase the healthy, nourishing meals attendees can expect. This transparency helps visitors determine if your facilities and services fit their needs.

FAQs Section

Have a prominent FAQ section that addresses common questions and concerns. Cover topics like payment, cancellation policies, packing lists, arrival/departure logistics, etc. Thoroughly answering pre-retreat questions builds trust and confidence with visitors.

By providing this detailed retreat information upfront on your website, you enable visitors to make informed decisions and avoid unnecessary questions. The right details get visitors excited for the transformative experience your retreat will provide.

5. Focus on Transformation

Spiritual retreats aim to provide attendees with inner healing, growth, and change. Your website should clearly communicate the types of transformation visitors can expect from your retreat.

Describe the specific emotional, psychological, and spiritual outcomes attendees will experience. For example, you may promise attendees a renewed sense of purpose, decreased anxiety, or a feeling of spiritual awakening. Use inspirational language to paint a picture of the self-improvement your retreat facilitates.

Share brief bios for your retreat leaders, healers, and teachers. Outline their philosophies, spiritual gifts, and areas of expertise. This gives visitors confidence they will have caring, skilled guides on their journey.

Provide details on activities visitors will engage in. Will there be meditation, yoga, creative arts, group sharing sessions, nature immersion experiences, or counseling? Give a high-level overview to pique interest without revealing all the details. Make sure visitors understand the blend of solo introspection and group activities.

By focusing on transformation, you build excitement for the profound shifts ahead. You assure visitors you’ll competently facilitate their healing and awakening. Your website copy should reflect expertise in enlightening people’s lives.

6. Optimize for Mobile

More and more people are accessing the web primarily through mobile devices. For retreat centers, having a mobile-friendly website is especially important so people can easily find information and book retreats on the go.

Here are some tips for optimizing your retreat website for mobile:

Make sure your website is responsive, so it automatically adapts to different screen sizes. This will ensure it is easy to navigate and read on smartphones and tablets. Use a mobile-first approach to web design.
Consider developing a mobile app for your retreat. This makes it very convenient for people to book retreats, get directions, view schedules, and access other info. Include push notifications to remind people of upcoming events.
Menus and navigation should be simple, with large, tap-friendly buttons. Ensure the key pages like “Book a Retreat” are easily accessible from the mobile menu.
Forms and booking pages should be minimalist and easy to fill out on mobile. Auto-fill and auto-complete can streamline the process.
Use large font sizes and adequate spacing between elements so it’s easy to read on smaller screens.
Optimize images to load fast on mobile connections. Also, ensure text and buttons are legible on featured images.

With a mobile-optimized website, retreat centers can provide an intuitive booking and informational resource in visitors’ pockets. This empowers people to learn about and sign up for retreats anywhere, anytime.

7. Include Wellness Resources

A retreat center website should provide visitors with valuable resources related to spiritual and physical well-being that they can take with them after their stay. This engages visitors and helps promote the retreat’s holistic approach.

Some wellness resources to include:

Links to related books and podcasts

Offer a curated list of recommended books on topics like meditation, self-help, nature writing, etc. This gives retreat guests ideas for further learning. Include links to consciousness-expanding podcasts that align with the retreat center’s values.

Downloadable meditations

Allow visitors to download meditations, either as audio files or PDF transcripts, to continue their practices at home. This could include meditations led by the retreat teachers.

Healthy recipes

Share plant-based, nourishing recipes that use ingredients connected with the land where the retreat center is located. This promotes the retreat’s back-to-nature ethos. Let visitors download an e-cookbook to make retreat-inspired meals in their kitchens.

By providing these kinds of wellness resources, a retreat website can nurture visitors beyond their stay. The downloads can serve as lasting reminders of the insights and healthy living practices they learned at the retreat center.

8. Promote on Social Media

Social media can be a powerful way to get the word out about your retreat and attract new attendees. Here are some promotion tips:

Run Facebook and Instagram ads targeted to your ideal audience. Spiritual seekers, yoga enthusiasts, wellness fans—target ads to users with those interests and locations.
Make use of relevant hashtags like #yoga, #meditation, #wellnessretreat, #spiritualretreat, etc. Encourage attendees to share photos and experiences from your retreat using your hashtags.
Share abundant visual content—photos and videos that capture the essence of your retreat. Showcase the natural beauty, activities, transformation, and community. Videos can be especially powerful.
Engage with followers by liking, commenting, and sharing user-generated content about your retreat. This helps further spread the word.
Use your social channels to tell the story of your retreat and its offerings. Share testimonials, spiritual teachings, retreat schedules, and programming.
Run contests and giveaways to spur engagement. Free retreat stays, and merchandise can incentivize shares and follows.

By leveraging social media best practices, retreat centers can amplify their reach, build engagement, and attract new visitors through their websites.

Conclusion

Designing an effective website for a spiritual or wellness retreat requires care and intention to create an experience that resonates with visitors.

By focusing on soothing visuals, emphasizing community, simplifying booking, detailing the retreat offerings, highlighting transformation, optimizing for mobile, providing wellness resources, and leveraging social media, retreat centers can craft captivating sites that attract and inspire their ideal guests.

After reading this overview of key web design tips for retreat websites, hopefully, you feel equipped to either improve your current site or launch a new one optimized for growth and bookings. Don’t miss out on potential attendees because of a lackluster web presence.

Follow these best practices and create a beautiful, user-friendly site that clearly communicates your retreat’s transformative experiences. Visitors will feel your intention just by interacting with your thoughtful design.

The time is now—update your retreat website and watch registrations and inquiries flow in. People are searching for places like yours to relax, reflect, heal, and grow. Meet them where they are looking with a site that speaks to the soul and makes booking simple.

Boost Your Post-Pandemic Online Presence with These 5 Digital Brand Management Trends

How strong is your brand’s online presence? Is your brand reaching your intended post-pandemic audience?

The online marketplace has always been crowded and fast-paced. It takes focused digital brand management to stand out among the crowd and stay ahead of the competition.

But the 2020 lockdowns have permanently changed digital audience behavior. Users are now more particular with how they want their online experiences to be, especially when interacting with brands.

How then can you improve your online presence when the audience you’re connecting with has become more exacting post-pandemic? We suggest that you consider riding these five digital brand management trends.

1. Omnichannel presence

Multi-channel marketing is not a new thing. Seasoned digital marketers know that a brand needs to be where its audience is, whether they’re on Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, LinkedIn, or YouTube. And they have to have a website that works well on desktop and mobile.

But a multi-channel presence is no longer enough for the post-pandemic digital audience. Your audience now wants a seamless experience when interacting with you, whether through your website or social media.

You can provide your audience with their desired seamless experience by cultivating an omnichannel presence. This means optimizing your content across all channels instead of using different strategies or campaigns for each channel. Also, don’t forget to integrate paid advertising in your omnichannel campaigns.

2. Personalization

No sound is sweeter to a person’s ear than the sound of their own name. Hearing your name spoken makes you feel seen as an individual and not just a face in the crowd.

That’s what your audience wants to experience whenever they interact with your brand. They want to feel that you see and understand them and don’t look at them simply as a potential sale.

This makes personalization a crucial element in digital marketing. Customers are more likely to positively perceive and buy from a brand that knows and gets them. So take the time to get to know your target audience more intimately by creating buyer avatars and smart content.

3. Visual content

Your digital audience is becoming more visual. Even before 2020, research already indicated that users are swerving toward visual content more than other forms. For instance, in 2018, a survey found that Millennial and Gen-Z consumers prefer visual search, Google Images owned 22.6% of online searches, and Pinterest users did 600 million visual searches monthly.

What kind of visual content works for the post-pandemic digital audience? It depends on how well you know yours. You can start with accompanying your blog posts with high-quality images and infographics rich in optimized alt text. Short-form videos work best for engagement.

4. Emphasis on values

What values does your brand embrace? Where do you stand on social issues like diversity, inclusivity, sustainability, and mental health?

Your digital audience, especially Millennials and Gen-Zs, seriously want to know. They now buy according to their values and from brands whose values align with theirs. More than that, they’re no longer afraid to call out companies for being inauthentic or hypocritical or even cancel them out altogether.

Connecting with your audience now requires your digital brand management to communicate your values consistently. More importantly, you must show that your brand walks the talk. For example, if you say that your company values inclusivity, then don’t just post Maya Angelou or Audre Lorde quotes on Instagram. Make it meaningful through actions like implementing inclusive and equitable HR policies in your company.

5. Authentic storytelling

Brand storytelling is another tried-and-tested strategy long used by traditional and digital marketers. Stories fire up the audience’s imagination and creativity. They can show the audience what’s possible and inspire them to achieve it (by using the brand).

The post-pandemic digital audience, however, is no longer easily swept by fantasy. They’re no longer interested in hearing how good your brand is or what benefits they’ll get from buying your product. They now want real stories – stories from people like them who have used your product to address a specific problem. Customer reviews and testimonials are the best examples, especially if in video format.

What digital brand management strategies do you use to boost your online presence and connect with your post-pandemic audience? Let us know in the comments.

Sacred Fire Creative specializes in digital brand management strategies that can help you connect meaningfully with your audience. Get in touch with us today to find out more.

The “White Bear Problem”: How to Control Your Thoughts, According to Science

Imagine this scenario. Your boss chose you to make a vital presentation at a very important client meeting on Zoom. You’ve prepared for this meeting – did your research, created your slides, wrote your notes, and ensured the stability of your internet connection.

But as the time for the meeting approaches, you become so nervous that the sound of your rapid heartbeat drowns your thoughts. You tell yourself not to be nervous in an effort to calm yourself.

What do you think happens next?

More likely than not, you’ve been in similar situations before. You’d know that no matter how hard you suppress your nervousness, the feeling remains. In fact, the more you tamp it down, the more anxious you get.

Why is that? Why is it hard to get a thought out of your head once it’s made its way in?

This dilemma is called the “white bear problem.”

Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky once wrote in 1863: “Try to pose for yourself this task: not to think of a polar bear, and you will see that the cursed thing will come to mind every minute.”

This quote became the basis of the ironic process theory, also known as the “white bear problem.” It states that the harder you clamp down a thought, the more frequently and the more intensely this thought will come up in your mind. Social psychologist and Harvard professor Daniel Wegner developed this theory.

According to Dr. Wegner, when you tell yourself to avoid thinking of something, a part of your mind does comply. But, at the same time, another part of your mind checks that you’re not thinking of this forbidden thought and will do so continually.

This constant checking ironically forces you to think the thought you wanted to drive away in the first place.

You can overcome your “white bear” with these strategies.

Having white bears pop up in your head every now and then can be frustrating and irritating. It can also lead you to make decisions you may come to regret.

So, how do you get rid of these white bears once and for all? Dr. Wegner offered a few strategies:

Focus on something else.

You can get rid of your white bears by distracting yourself with a more entertaining or gratifying thought. In the example above, instead of zeroing in on how nervous you are, you can focus on how grateful you are that your boss chose you to make the presentation.

Relax.

You’re more likely to have unwanted thoughts drifting in your mind when you’re mentally bogged down. So, try to relax whenever you can. Watch TV, read a book, work on your hobbies, have fun. Better yet, seek help or delegate a task when you’re feeling overwhelmed.

Put it off.

Sometimes, an unwanted thought simply won’t go away. In that case, schedule a time for thinking this thought as much as your mind wants to. Make sure you set a time limit for it, say, 15 or 30 minutes. Then your white bear won’t pop up as much throughout the day.

Practice mindfulness.

Mindfulness practices like meditation can strengthen your mind and give you better control over your thoughts.

Unwanted thoughts can float into your brain whether you like it or not. But no matter how big or intense your white bear problem is, you can always make it go away.

Sacred Fire Creative is a digital marketing agency that positions itself as a force for good. Work with us and create a positive and lasting impact on your digital tribe.

7 Digital Marketing Trends Your Business Needs to Adopt Today

Digital marketing is constantly changing and evolving. Marketing practices that you found effective a couple of years ago may not work so well for your business today. That’s why you need to keep a close watch on the latest digital marketing trends and see how you can apply them to your business.

And speaking of the latest digital marketing trends, here are seven that you may find helpful in growing your enterprise.

1. Mobile-first web design

Thanks to the proliferation of smartphones, mobile search has already overtaken desktop search. So you can reach and engage your customers more readily, you need to make your website’s design more mobile-friendly.

Having a mobile-first website design has many other advantages. One such benefit is they load more quickly. Faster loading times can boost search engine rankings. Another is they’re cheaper to develop than apps. Plus, you can readily integrate smartphone features like camera and voice detection with a mobile-optimized website.

2. Hyper-local optimization

While it’s nice to have customers from other states or even other countries, you’re likely to find your most reliable clients locally. People always search for the best services nearest them. So, you don’t need to cast your net far and wide to catch new customers – just hyper-localize.

Optimizing your website for hyper-local search means making sure your potential clients within your area can find you. The easiest way to do this is by creating a Google My Business profile. Or you can come up with a marketing campaign targeting your own neighborhood.

3. Automation tools

Who has the time to manually send personalized newsletters, chase after abandoned shopping carts, answer DMs, or post on social media? Not you, if you’re a business owner. The time you allot for these marketing tasks is best spent elsewhere.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you have to set aside these tasks. They’re still vital to your business, after all. Instead of attending to them yourself, you can use automation tools, such as social media schedulers, chatbots, and email services. These tools can save you a lot of time and give you more space for other tasks that require your attention.

4. Interactive content

User engagement is a vital digital marketing metric you need to pay attention to. The more engaged your visitors are, the more likely you’ll excite them and get them to buy your product. Interactive content is one way to boost your user engagement.

Examples of interactive content are surveys and quizzes. Mini-games are another. These are great for educating your potential clients on your products, reducing your website’s bounce rate, and leading your customers to the next step in the buying process. They also provide your visitors with a reason to return to your website. You can also use them to learn more about your visitors.

5. Voice search

Have you ever used Siri, Alexa, Cortana, or Google Assistant to search for things online? You’re not alone. Voice search is becoming one of the more powerful digital marketing trends out there. And it won’t go away any time soon.

Highly optimized web copy with the right keywords is essential to voice search. Imagine your content as a response to questions people throw at their voice assistants – for example, “Hey Siri, where’s the nearest hardware store?”

6. Video marketing

Showing is always more effective than telling. And when it comes to showing what your products and services are all about, video marketing is highly effective. Videos are more engaging visually and emotionally, thus leading to more conversions.

There are many ways you can use video marketing. You can do a live video on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. You can produce stylized videos for social media. Or you can integrate personalized videos with your emails.

7. Authentic brand ambassadors

The idea of using influencers to promote products has been around for ages. And it’s still an effective marketing tactic. But you don’t need to hire a big-name influencer to talk about you anymore. That’s because people want authenticity these days, and they’re more likely to listen to brand ambassadors who are actual users of your product and whom they can relate with.

Where do you find these authentic brand ambassadors? You don’t have to look far – you can simply tap your existing loyal clients and employees. Ask them for testimonials that you both can share on social media.

Adopting these digital marketing trends can help you move your business more quickly and give it an edge over your competitors. Try these tactics today and see where they take you.

Sacred Fire Creative helps entrepreneurs grow their business and become a force for good using customized digital marketing strategies. Work with us today.

4 Proven Ways Your Personal Brand Can Dominate 2022

The business world is changing. Human connection is becoming an increasingly essential element of business success, and as a further result, the role of personal brands in the world of business is evolving. And make no mistake about it, personal branding is no longer just for CEOs. Instead, it’s for every individual who wants to build their brand, grow their social presence and have a profound impact on their community.

Personal branding is the process of building a unique image that recognizes your talents, credibility, skills, and goals—looking to start building your personal brand in 2022? Here are four tips to help you dominate 2022!

1. Establish your value

When you build a personal brand, the value you can deliver to people through your work shapes the content you create and the type of audience you engage. When it comes to marketing, value is king. To help establish trust with your audience, focus on delivering excellent content around your audience’s pain points.

2. Be crystal clear

Before investing heavily into your personal brand, make sure you’re crystal clear on what you want to be known for, who your audience is, and where you’re going. Your true calling will help you determine your niche, create a cohesive message around it, and then build an audience cheering for you.

3. Don’t be boring

Everyone is trying to get the same message across. That dull, generic content doesn’t cut it anymore. Surprise your audience with something new and different, and give them a reason to stick around. You’ll get the reward, attention, and success you deserve if you do.

4. Keep it real

Social media is supposed to be a place where people can connect, but all too often, it’s filled with false attempts at self-promotion. Remember that trust between you and your audience is so much more valuable. Every time you put yourself out there, you build trust and connection. Leaders tell their true stories transparently and authentically, and at the end of the day, people only care about one thing: The real you and your message!

With a little preparation and strategy, you can build your personal brand the right way. Start by understanding these four elements and get ready to change the world!

Customer Experience in the New Reality

We’re now living in a so-called “new normal” for more than a year because of the Covid-19 global pandemic. Each one of us experiences this new normal in different ways.

As business owners, we have to adapt how we serve our customers depending on how they live through their new normal. We are now called to shift from simply providing customer service to creating customer experience.

In this article, we answer three main questions:

What is customer experience?
How does a profound customer experience look like?
How can small businesses offer an innovative and exceptional new-normal customer experience?

What is customer experience?

Customer experience is not the same as customer service or customer care.

Customer service is the advice or assistance a company gives its clients. On the other hand, customer care relates to how well clients are taken care of when interacting with the brand, whether through social media or other channels.

It’s important to note that individuals may not even be customers during the brand interaction.

What about customer experience? Customer experience involves every interaction between the customer and the brand at every point of contact or touchpoint.

Brands have many different touchpoints with individuals, and these cover the entire customer journey. This journey begins when someone makes their first inquiry. Moreover, it extends even after they use the product or service.

Consciously or not, customers evaluate each touchpoint with the brand. It’s how they decide whether they will continue doing business with the brand or not. This underscores the importance of customer service.

If a person has a profound customer experience with your brand, they may decide to continue doing business with you. Therefore, our ultimate goal is to create a profound customer experience for each of our clients and prospects.

Why is customer experience important?

Here’s a quote by Maya Angelou:

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Why is this quote relevant to our discussion of customer experience?

You see, we can’t just tell people what our brand is and expect them to believe that. That’s not how it works.

Instead, how you make your customers feel is what makes the strongest impact.

Why?

People’s memories of an experience often involve emotions—how they felt at moments in time. The customer experience involves how you make your clients feel. And that’s what they will walk away with.

What you’re doing at every single touchpoint with your client is you’re creating a mini-customer experience. These mini-experiences add up. And then, all together, all of those different experiences that involve deep emotion create brand loyalty.

What are the dimensions of a customer experience?

According to Gentile, Spiller, and Noci (2007), there are six dimensions of the customer experience.

1. Sensorial dimension

The sensorial dimension addresses sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell to arouse aesthetic pleasure, excitement, satisfaction, and a sense of beauty.

One example is that some handbag brands add a specific scent to their products. So, when they deliver any gift to their customers, the gift comes infused with their branded scent. The customer then subconsciously comes to associate the fragrance with the brand.

2. Emotional dimension

The emotional dimension generates moods, feelings, and emotions that hopefully positively influence the customer’s image and attitude toward the brand or company.

You generate this emotion. When you create a touchpoint with your customer, how do you want them to feel afterward? Do you want them to feel relieved? Enlightened? Entertained?

You’ll want to consider this question before deciding what kind of customer experience you’re creating.

3. Cognitive dimension

The cognitive dimension relates to experiences requiring thinking. It engages a customer’s creativity.

It is similar to the emotional dimension. The emotional one activates the heart, while the cognitive one stimulates the brain.

When you interact with your clients, are you activating their minds? Are they thinking, being creative, and running through their head the different scenarios and memories they have relating to this experience?

4. Pragmatic dimension

The pragmatic dimension comes from the practical art of doing something or using a product. It is the art of doing, and it involves action steps. It’s the physical part of doing something while using the product.

Any kind of unboxing belongs to the pragmatic dimension. Let’s look at unboxing an Apple product as an example.

When you open an Apple product, everything lines up just so. When you pull the box apart, you’ll see that there’s just enough space. This creates the feeling that they had taken care of every single step along the way when they made their product.

5. Lifestyle dimension

The lifestyle dimension affirms the beliefs and values shared between the brand and the customer.

When you create a brand, what happens is you’re making a set of shared beliefs and values for your brand and the customer.

For example, Apple’s “Think Different” slogan, part of Steve Jobs’ early marketing campaigns, means they want you to think beyond the ordinary. It implies that people who use Apple are out-of-the-box thinkers. They’re extraordinary; they’re “rebels.”

Disney is another example. The House of Mouse is a brand that relates to the family—its shared belief is the importance of taking care of and spending quality time with your family.

The lifestyle dimension is about confirming the values a brand shares with its customers. It’s about making people raise their hands and say, “That’s me. I identify with that.”

So, when you create customer experience, you’ll want to think about what beliefs and core values are going into your brand. Your implied values will make people who believe the same things come to you.

6. Relational dimension

The relational dimension encourages experiencing the product or service together with other people.

This is how we observe, live through, anticipate, and participate in a customer experience in a community. Some products and services are meant to be used independently and alone. And then, there are others where this relational dimension becomes extremely important.

For example, let’s say you’re going to a Disney park. The experience will vary depending on who you’re with, but you probably wouldn’t go for it on your own. People go there with their families or friends. This means the relational dimension will be crucial here.

What is a profound customer experience, then?

We mentioned earlier that our ultimate goal is to create a profound customer experience for our clients and prospects. But what exactly is a profound customer experience?

Any experience that involves ALL SIX DIMENSIONS is considered a profound experience. So, a profound customer experience engages all of the emotions and senses.

It brings you to the point of creativity, firing up your imagination. And it’s pragmatic—you’re immersed in it, you can feel and touch it, and you can use it.

It has a lifestyle component, where you feel its impact on your core values. You believe in it. And it’s relational, one that you experience in your community.

How does a profound customer experience look like?

Disney provides what is considered a great example of a profound customer experience.

The Disney guest experience

Disney is in the business of creating magic for guests to experience and remember. Walt Disney’s vision is driven by a common purpose that every member of the Disney organization is taught:

“We create happiness by providing the finest in entertainment for all ages, everywhere.”

How do they do this? Disney attracts guests of all ages, from all walks of life, and from all countries. It’s a tourist attraction for the parks’ host countries: the United States, Japan, France, China, and Hong Kong. Seven out of 10 Disney guests are likely to return to the park a second time.

When you go to one of the Disney parks, here’s what people really love and experience:

The parades and the castle fireworks shows
The character meet-and-greet
All the different characters at live shows in the park, like Lion King and Moana.
The interactive themed attractions, such as creating your own lightsaber in Savi’s Workshop, the new attraction at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge

Disney’s guest experience is a range of various experiences within one bigger experience. It definitely hits all of the different dimensions of a customer experience.

Moreover, Disney does it multiple times in different ways so that people can experience any part of it as much or as little as they want. This creates a deeper level of loyalty.

How does the new-normal Disney guest experience look like?

Disney closed down parks at the height of the pandemic, with some slowly reopening depending on the health crisis status in their respective countries.

As they couldn’t open in full capacity, they offered alternatives—they shifted from in-person, dynamic experiences in the park and took it all online.

#DisneyMagicMoments

Disney took advantage of their digital assets: their blogs and social media. They launched the #DisneyMagicMoments campaign and released virtual tours of the Disney parks. It was a brilliant way to be immersed and experience the parks in a digital environment.

This campaign also encouraged guests to share photos and videos they took during their Disney vacations. It got a lot of people sharing their memories. They got into reminiscing and sharing the last time they went on a Disney vacation. That way, people could still relate as a community and share their experiences.

#AdventuresatHome

Disney also launched #AdventuresatHome, a DIY at-home adventure pack that allows fans to experience Disney travel adventures at home. They produced six adventure packs featuring Montana, South Africa, the Rhone River, Iceland, Greece, and Alaska. They published those in the Disney parks blog.

Each adventure pack includes:

The Disney shows to catch related to each area
A recipe developed by Disney chefs that you could cook at home
A simple board game with downloadable printables
A high-resolution photo of beautiful scenery or landscape from the area

The Disney new-normal guest experience is genius. The company shifted quickly during the pandemic by offering something new that people could share with their families while in lockdown at home. People aren’t just reliving things they had already seen, and they weren’t just looking at their own photos from before.

The Disney online experiences are interactive and highly engaged. Moreover, they bring some relatable elements to the Disney brand. The recipe touches on different senses, and the board game touches on different dimensions. The core values are brought in—that Disney is a fun brand that you experience with your family. It has all six dimensions of the customer experience melded into one.

What about small businesses?

Obviously, Disney is a giant entity with a considerable capacity for delivering profound customer experiences. But what can small businesses offer as innovative and exceptional new-normal customer experiences?

First, as a small business owner, you should keep in mind:

What do your customers need and want from you?
What pain points can you solve? How can you delight?
How do you bring the customer experience to your clients safely and conveniently?

These are notable examples of how some Sacred Fire Creative small business clients shifted during the pandemic:

Asian Mint

Asian Mint is a restaurant business that serves Thai cuisine in Dallas, Texas. They were shut down right away by the pandemic, though eventually, they got to do takeout and delivery.

One of the most significant shifts they did to cope with the pandemic was offering ChefMint kits. People were at home, but they still wanted to spend quality time with their families in a restaurant setting.

The ChefMint kits made it easy to cook Thai food at home and replicate the experience of dining at Asian Mint. The ingredients were pre-packaged, the recipes were included and worded in an easy-to-follow language. The dishes can be cooked in 20 minutes or less. Anybody within the Dallas area could get these kits delivered in cooler bags. Anybody throughout the US could also order these kits with dry ingredients and recipes.

ChefMint became a way for Asian Mint to increase its outreach. It brought the Asian Mint restaurant experience into the home kitchen.

Nikky Feeding Souls

Nikky Feeding Souls is another brand from the owner of Asian Mint, Nikky Phinyawatana. Before the pandemic, she took small groups on tours of Thailand to experience the culture and cook the food. When the pandemic hit, she created her “Escape to Thailand” series, a virtual Thai cooking, culture, and travel experience. She had ChefMint kits mailed out, along with different kinds of small gifts and little notes about Thai culture. Then she wrapped up the whole experience with live webinars in group settings so that people could experience it together.

Cindy Briggs Workshops

Cindy Briggs is an internationally renowned watercolor artist. She’s been teaching art for 20 years through plein air or live, open-air workshops in places like Italy and France. She had workshops scheduled up to 2022.

With the pandemic, Cindy canceled her plein air workshops and took these workshops online. Cindy had been doing online classes before and simply expanded the workshops.

Through these online workshops, people experienced Cindy through videos, live webinars, and exclusive Facebook groups. Her students got PDF lists of everything they needed for the class and detailed video instructions they could watch on their own time from the comfort of their homes. The advantage of these videos is Cindy’s students can rewind them, speed them up, or go back to a section if they want to. And they can watch one section over and over.

In live webinars, Cindy starts a painting from scratch, and her students can paint along with her. She also gives specific feedback on work submitted through her Facebook group.s.

OMEGA Gymnastics

Gymnastics is a sport that people need to do in a gym. However, with the pandemic requiring gyms to be closed, OMEGA Gymnastics transitioned online. They did Zoom classes where their kids trained from home.

One of the things they did differently was their distance learning program. Following all Covid cleaning and distancing protocols, OMEGA opened a section of the gym for a small number of students. They could come in during the day, do their online classes, get help with homework, and get some time doing movement in the gym. Through this distance learning program, OMEGA provided students technical assistance, helped them stay focused during classes, and got them active during breaks.

The new normal is upon us. Our customers expect, and even demand, customer experiences that fit their perception of the new normal. It’s up to us business owners to adapt and create the experiences they’re looking for.

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What is Loss Aversion?

Let’s talk about loss aversion, why the pain of loss results in irrational decisions, and how marketers are taking advantage of this.

Loss aversion is perfectly summed up by FOMO or the Fear of Missing Out.

It’s the irrational fear of loss. In psychology, loss aversion explains why people, too often, focus on setbacks instead of gains—it explains why the pain of losing is seen to be more powerful than the pleasure of gaining something. In their Prospect Theory study, Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky said, “losses loom larger than gains.”

About twice as large!

What makes loss aversion so influential?

Simply put, we hate loss. Receiving something is great, sure—but we don’t love it as much as we hate losing.

If you received a $200 jacket for your birthday, you’d be happy. However, if your dog chewed a giant hole in it the next day, the unhappiness you’d feel would be twice as powerful.

Losing something or downgrading is psychologically distressing, so we do what we can to avoid it (even if it makes absolutely no sense).

It’s not completely our fault, though. There are intense cultural, socioeconomic, and neurological factors at play when it comes to the power of loss aversion.

Loss triggers a reaction from the same part of the brain that processes fear and risk. Our brains also associate loss with prediction errors and disgust. We’re trained to detest loss.

We’re extremely vulnerable to loss aversion when it comes to making decisions because as soon as we imagine a choice, we’re emotionally invested and attached.

People will go to incredible lengths to avoid a perceived loss.

Example: waiting in absurdly long lines to get something for free.

In December of last year, Starbucks created a holiday-themed travel mug that you would get for free if you ordered a Grande holiday beverage. They claimed they would keep the promo going until they ran out of mugs. Nobody knew how many they had on hand, so there were lines around blocks at Starbucks stores across the country. It didn’t matter that the travel mug was valued at less than $5 and made from thin plastic. They had already latched on to the idea of getting a free holiday treat, so not receiving that mug would be considered a significant loss.

People are also likely to make purchases they weren’t necessarily planning on making if you provide them with a free shipping coupon. They’ll recognize that this opportunity doesn’t come along all time, and the thought of losing out on it will persuade them to make a purchase.

Businesses use loss aversion marketing strategies all the time.

A perfectly executed “flash deal” is a big moneymaker. When a product is deeply discounted for a very limited time, the consumer’s brain focuses on the ticking timer and the amount of savings rather than on the product itself. You probably don’t need another sweater or another cordless vacuum cleaner—but at 70% off, that’s a GREAT deal, right? I can’t miss out on that!

It’s also why pre-orders, coupons, and VIP exclusives work. With pre-orders, it’s an early bird discount—the discount is the prize for ordering early. With coupons, it’s a lot like being given free money. Why would anyone throw free money away, right? With VIP exclusives, all you needed to get VIP status was probably to sign up for a newsletter, and voila! It’s too easy. Why risk missing out on the action?

Free trial periods show people exactly what their life would look like with the product or service, making it exponentially harder for them to end it when the trial is over. They’ve experienced the benefits and identified with that life, so they don’t want to lose it.

Insurance companies usually have a mile-long list of extremely unfortunate things that could happen to you and how you’ll be negatively affected if you don’t have the proper coverage. No matter how unlikely these events are, they’ve successfully set you up to view them as losses, and you’re more likely to focus on those than the regular payments required to avoid them.

If your business needs to avoid giving people more than necessary, loss aversion tactics can help you sidestep that waste. Studies have shown that when options are presented as addable rather than retractable, people will only take what they want (toppings on a salad, ingredients in a sandwich, etc.).

You can maximize the effects of loss aversion marketing in your small business, too.

The success of your offer entirely depends on your messaging.

Understanding your target audience and their fears is crucial to connecting with them. You need to clearly explain what their life would be like if they don’t purchase your product or service, and they won’t care unless you speak directly to their pain points and experiences. It’s about showing them what they’ll miss out on if they don’t participate soon and painting a picture they can’t ignore.

People must believe there’s something to lose for loss aversion to work properly. If you post an offer for 20% off and claim that it’s only available for the next two days and then post a 25% off coupon the following week, you’ve given people a reason put off making their decision. Even worse, they’ll notice that you contradicted yourself, and any trust they had in you and your brand will start to fade.

You’re working hard to convert all the “I’ll just buy it tomorrow” shoppers into “I feel good about committing to this now” shoppers. Keep that goal in mind, and you’ll notice a positive trend in your conversion rates.

How about you? How do you leverage on loss aversion? Got a question? Don’t forget to COMMENT below and SHARE your thoughts.

Sources:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/science-choice/201803/what-is-loss-aversion

https://www.activecampaign.com/blog/loss-aversion-marketing

https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/loss-aversion/