Can being warm-hearted work in marketing?
The sub-heading of the book The Power of Nice is How to Conquer the Business World with Kindness. Authors Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval first and foremost wrote a business book. But they also provide a blueprint to a happier life.
Writing a book about being nice sounds almost superfluous. Isn’t being kind an inherent human trait?
Unfortunately, the behavior we experience regularly from many business leaders suggests that showing kindness in business is akin to planning your own death. In some circles, the phrase ‘it’s a dog eat dog world’ is the mantra to getting ahead.
Yet, when we experience a person being nice to us, we notice.
When a leader demonstrates unreserved kindness, it makes an impact.
And when a business embraces the differentiating value of being warm-hearted, it sets itself apart from others. Demonstrating friendliness; kindness or affection; or being sympathetic and generous can prove to be a powerful catalyst in building a respected brand.
6 Principles
In The Power of Nice, authors Thaler and Koval outline 6 principles:
- Positive impressions are like seeds. They take root, expand and grow over time, until one day they just might produce fruit for you.
- You never know. Treat everyone you meet as if they are the most important person on the world. They might just be the one to change your world.
- People change. The person you invest in today might someday become one of your most important customers.
- Nice must be automatic. Make it a habit, or risk losing business someday for something small and even silly.
- Negative impressions are like germs. Similar to #1, rude gestures and remarks can silently infect you and everyone around you.
- You will know. When you treat someone badly, it negatively affects your view of yourself. But when you are nice to others, it becomes a powerful force within you.
These principles equally apply to marketing and brand building.
Warm-Hearted Ways to Build a Brand
Consider the many ways the value of being warm-hearted can help build and reinforce a strong brand:
- Choosing to be generous, giving away your products or services to a deserving individual or group who can’t afford it (and NOT turning it into a big PR deal).
- Being friendly by offering full refunds without question, and no time limits.
- Being sympathetic when catastrophe strikes one of your customers, choosing to help by supplying your services at no cost.
- Kindly recommending a competitor’s product or service when you know it’s a better solution for your customer.
- Rewarding an employee for going above and beyond helping a customer in need, regardless of size or future opportunity.
- Investing in leadership development programs, and doing it for the sake of your people, not the business.
- Rallying employees, customers, and suppliers to help raise money for a specific charity or cause, and celebrating everyone’s efforts.
- Ongoing employee training programs to teach the tools and reinforce the importance of being warm-hearted.
- Reprimanding employees who treat customers with disrespect, and firing employees who are repeatedly rude or show no sympathy for the needs of others.
- Encourage and support senior employees to invest in younger employees. Consider the formation of a formal mentorship program.
Will there be some that will take advantage of your warm-heartedness? Likely yes.
Will the actions of these few bankrupt you? Likely not. The benefits far away the costs.
As outlined in the book The Power of Nice, there is untapped potential in even the smallest good deed, creating a multiplier effect strong enough to change the world. But rather than relying on random acts of kindness, why not formally incorporate the value of warm-heartedness into your brand-building plans. The best marketing is one where others want to do business with you because of who you are and what you stand for.
Nice.
What businesses do you know that have successfully integrated warm-heartedness into their marketing? What are they doing that’s different?
Today’s value was selected from the “Appreciation-Kindness” category, based on the e-book Developing Your Differentiating Values.