Building a sticky business using memorable moments.

I’ve always tried to build a brand. Not just a business.

There's something powerful about brands that makes them hard to catch by others in the market.

But I never had the cash to do it properly when we were a small business. 

One of the first steps I took back then was to find ways to get my business to stick in peoples' minds.

We began creating Memorable Moments.

Doing something special that positively interrupted their normal behaviours so we stuck in their mind.

Even better, doing something so remarkable that it caused them to instantly want to tell another person.

Today I wanted to share two ways we did this that got extraordinary results.

Let's dive in... 

Being Generous. 

Yep, giving something away without an ask.

Everyone’s so tuned into ‘What’s the catch' these days that not asking is now remarkable. 

In fact, it’s almost hard to give something away these days because people are sceptical that you’re probably going to ask for a body part in return… 

One day we tried giving away free baguettes.

People were so confused at first.

There was this awkward moment when they were waiting for ‘the ask’.

But we just smiled and carried on.

We didn’t ask for their email.

And it didn’t have a sneaky QR code on there saying to “like, share and comment with 3 friends” to unlock a lame future benefit.

Just some delicious bread to enjoy.

We interrupted their normal pattern using surprise and delight. 

And in our case, some people went on to post about their experience on social media without us forcing it.

Obviously a hugely positive experience that deepened the connection with our brand.

Here's what this might look like in other ways:

Physical/Product Business:

Every business has core products that offer better margins than others.

This is what I'd give away to an audience who's dying for it the moment you gift it.

For example: There's a local brewery that hands out cold beers to volunteers helping to maintain mountain biking trails. 

Imagine their delight at the end of a hot day on the shovel.

(Also imagine what beer they choose to buy later)

Digital/Service Business:

You're a graphic designer who fixes business landing pages.

Screenshot websites of businesses in your niche that are dying for help. 

Mock up suggestions of how you'd improve it and email it to them with a note saying you love their business and hope it helps.

Remember… No ask. Be patient.

This is also brilliant content and social proof to push to X and LinkedIn.

The next thing we focused on was:

Doing Things That Don’t Scale.

Everyone is always looking to access more customers at scale. 

But when you think that way you miss the opportunity to connect in a meaningful way and encourage that person to share their experience. 

During Covid lockdowns we had to switch from creating wonderful face-to-face experiences in our stores, to creating them digitally and through deliveries.

But building rich connections at a distance is hard. 

One way we did this was by creating amazing unboxing experiences.

I remember a story of our team noting who had kids by the products they ordered.

They started hand-drawing elaborate characters on the outside of the boxes for those clients.

This tiny gesture blew customers away.

We got all sorts of emails, return pictures of kids, thank you calls and social media engagement.

And this type of thing almost never happens when you shoot for mass-produced things.

Here's what this might look like in other ways:

B2B Wholesale Business:

You regularly send digital correspondence to your client base but this time you write a handwritten personal note.

It could be on the inside flap of the box, a piece of paper or even a posted hand-addressed letter.

People rarely get them so it stands out immediately. 

Digital Services Business:

I recently got a voice memo sent to me from a guy online.

It was just him speaking instead of writing back to me.

It completely stopped me.

And I replayed it a few times thinking it was so freaken clever, personal and memorable.

Send voice notes and short videos to humanise the digital space you operate in.

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At the end of the day, we're all in the people business.

The people who win in this game are the people who can connect with others and build sticky businesses.

Creating memorable moments is one way to do this.

 I hope this helps.