Creating Superfans

In this episode of the Creating Superfans podcast, I welcome back my partner-in-crime, Alix Steinberg. Alix and I break down one of my most recent newsletter topics: loyalty programs and pricing tiers. 

Whether your business has a tiered loyalty program or a tiered pricing structure, you’ve got to strike that perfect balance of creating a delightful ‘base’ experience that still encourages customers to spend more money with you and move up the ranks.

Inspired by my family vacation to Orlando, we discuss three tips for creating magic at every dollar amount, including free or low-tech examples of acknowledging your customers and some of the brands that do it best.

Show Notes:
2:55 - How Brittany’s recent family vacation to Orlando sparked the topic for this podcast episode

4:05 - Why loyalty programs and complex pricing structures are connected

5:40 - The delicate balance between creating a great standalone experience that still encourages customers to move up the ranks of your tiers

7:15 - Which experiences did Brittany decide to splurge on at the various theme parks?

9:00 - How segmenting your audience can help you define the offerings at the various tiers

11:00 - Takeaway #1: Define the objectives of your program

14:55 - There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for CX. How Brittany’s Sea World experience differed greatly from her experience at Disney

17:25 - Takeaway #2: Never make customer service a “perk”

19:45 - Alix shares examples of tech companies that provide great support at every level and how one company in particular provides special support for VIPs

21:05 - Brittany shares a story about the importance of your customers (or employees) being at the center of every decision. 

24:02 - Takeaway #3: Make it personal

24:55 - How employee reward programs are similar to customer reward programs

25:50 - Alix claims that sometimes doing something is worse than doing nothing

26:30 - Brittany points out that providing too many choices can come off as impersonal 

27:30 - How Sephora strikes the perfect balance of personalization 

29:00 - Brittany’s experience with hotels and how they acknowledge loyalty 

30:40 - How fast food restaurants create great loyalty programs

32:40 - You cannot buy superfans. It’s always the human things & the little things that truly cultivate loyal customers.

Read the full blog post here.

You can subscribe to Brittany’s newsletter here for biweekly messages straight to your inbox. Or, you can sign up for her newsletter on LinkedIn here.

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About Brittany 

Brittany Hodak is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, and customer experience speaker who helps businesses turn customers into superfans. She’s delivered keynotes to hundreds of organizations around the world, including American Express, Benihana, and Keller Williams. Her trademark SUPER Model™ framework has empowered teams in every industry to transform customer apathy into advocacy. 

Enjoying the show? Subscribe, leave a rating and review, and share this episode with someone who wants to create more superfans.

Subscribe to Brittany's biweekly newsletter
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Grab a copy of Creating Superfans on Amazon

Identifying your unique purpose and developing your personal brand are two of the most important, yet challenging, components of being an entrepreneur. Without a clear North Star, you’re doing a disservice to all of your potential customers that are in need of your message.

To help us distill our personal brand is Rory Vaden, a New York Times bestselling author, Half of Fame speaker, and co-founder of the Brand Builders Group. Rory helps mission-driven messengers become more well-known and make more impact. In fact, Rory and his team helped me develop my personal brand, including the SUPER Model framework that I've taught to thousands of entrepreneurs. 

In our conversation, Rory shares his best advice for entrepreneurs, including his Brand DNA Formula that will help you uncover and monetize your uniqueness. 

Show Notes:

3:05 - How Brittany and Rory worked together before becoming friends

5:04 - What is Brand Builders Group?

6:03 - What inspired Rory to become a speaker?

9:35 - How does Rory define personal branding?

13:04 - The best advice Rory has ever received 

18:42 - The Brand DNA formula that Rory and BBG has developed

20:55 - How Brittany answered the first 2 questions in the Brand DNA Formula  to develop her content

24:40 - Questions 3-4 of the Brand DNA formula

26:07 - “You are most powerfully positioned to serve the person you once were.”

28:10 - The problem that Brand Builders Group solves and how it connects to Rory’s origin story

33:05 - How to get a free call with Brand Guilders Group - freebrandcall.com/brittanyhodak

33:04 - The 5 ways to monetize a personal brand 

37:06 - The 6th and final question in the Brand DNA formula and the DARES acronym

37:55 - The difference between growth and scale

40:00 - There is no fear once the mission to serve is clear

www.freebrandcall.com/BrittanyHodak

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About Brittany 

Brittany Hodak is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, and customer experience speaker who helps businesses turn customers into superfans. She’s delivered keynotes to hundreds of organizations around the world, including American Express, Benihana, and Keller Williams. Her trademark SUPER Model™ framework has empowered teams in every industry to transform customer apathy into advocacy. 

Enjoying the show? Subscribe, leave a rating and review, and share this episode with someone who wants to create more superfans.

Subscribe to Brittany's biweekly newsletter
Follow Brittany on LinkedIn and Instagram
Grab a copy of Creating Superfans on Amazon

Dr. Aaron Ahuvia knows a thing or two about superfans. He co-authored the publication that popularized the term “brand love” and is the world’s most widely published and cited academic expert on non-interpersonal love. He’s the author of The Things We Love: How Our Passions Connect Us and Make Us Who We Are. 

Aaron is a professor of marketing at the University of Michigan Dearborn. Aaron researches, teaches, and consults for governments, non-profits, and corporations across the world, including Google, L’Oreal, Samsung, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Ford, and many more. 

In this episode, Aaron and I discuss the way our brains process love and how you can apply his scientific research to create superfans for your brand.

Show Notes

2:40 - How does Aaron define ‘brand love’?

3:30 - How is brand love different from interpersonal love?

7:08 - What are the steps to creating brand love?

7:39 - The difference between valuing something and loving it

9:30 - The human brain decides if something is a human or an object at two different times

10:05 - In order to love anything, your unconscious mind has to treat it as if it is a person

10:34 - The three different ways you can get your customers to think of your product or service as a person

12:55 - Brittany connects Aaron’s research on brand love to mascots

16:03 - Why it’s easier for some salespeople to cultivate ‘love’ than others

17:45 - In order to get people to love a brand at an unconscious level, you’ve got to get people to sort your brand into the social world

20:35 - The importance of cultivating brand love with your employees

24:30 - Why mission-driven companies are more likely to have brand love

27:13 - The correlation between religion and brand love

29:47 - How did Aaron coin the term ‘brand love’?

31:38 - What has changed over the last 30+ years since Aaron started studying brand love?

32:50 - What is Aaron a SUPERFAN of?

Get his book: The Things We Love

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About Brittany 

Brittany Hodak is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, and customer experience speaker who helps businesses turn customers into superfans. She’s delivered keynotes to hundreds of organizations around the world, including American Express, Benihana, and Keller Williams. Her trademark SUPER Model™ framework has empowered teams in every industry to transform customer apathy into advocacy. 

Enjoying the show? Subscribe, leave a rating and review, and share this episode with someone who wants to create more superfans.

Subscribe to Brittany's biweekly newsletter
Follow Brittany on LinkedIn and Instagram
Grab a copy of Creating Superfans on Amazon

If you’ve ever been to downtown Franklin, Tennessee or to one of Nashville’s trendiest neighborhoods in 12 South or the Gulch, chances are you’ve either walked by or shopped in Finnleys, a women’s clothing boutique.

I’ve been a superfan of Finnleys for the last several years. In fact, if you’ve read my book, Creating Superfans, you may recognize this week’s guest from my case study in chapter 17. Dawn Craig is the CEO and owner of Finnleys, a local brand that firmly checks every box of my SUPER Model. 

In this episode, she shares her journey of building a thriving small business that’s become a shining example of what’s possible when you create exceptional customer and employee experiences. 

Dawn and I chat about the origin story behind the boutique, the struggles of managing and scaling a business during and after Covid, and the intentional experience design she’s put into each of her three retail locations to make them their own.

Show Notes

4:04 - Dawn describes her background and the industry she was working in prior to opening Finnleys

5:20 - How Dawn went from Grocery retail to fashion retail

7:25 - Dawn chats about the Finnleys motto: “pretty things, great people, good vibes.” 

8:45 - How her motto sets the standard for Finnleys, both internally and externally

11:15 - Dawn’s struggles as she first started running Finnleys

12:30 - The Finnleys origin story and the store’s rebrand

14:35 - How Dawn got the second location of Finnleys in Nashville

17:35 - How Dawn has tailored the store experience from location to location to match what the customer is looking for

18:50 - Is Finnleys going to expand to other cities or locations?

21:00 - How Finnleys weathered the pandemic

22:22 - How does Dawn’s daughter Finnley feel about being the namesake of the brand?

24:08 - Brittany’s recent customer experiences with Tesla and Lowe’s

27:02 - The Finnleys online package that helped them survive during Covid

27:14 - How Dawn transformed the omnichannel experience for her website

30:30 - The “superfans project” that Finnleys has been working on

33:20 - How is Finnleys serving their customers for the Taylor Swift concert in Nashville? 

Shop Finnleys online store.

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About Brittany 

Brittany Hodak is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, and customer experience speaker who helps businesses turn customers into superfans. She’s delivered keynotes to hundreds of organizations around the world, including American Express, Benihana, and Keller Williams. Her trademark SUPER Model™ framework has empowered teams in every industry to transform customer apathy into advocacy. 

Enjoying the show? Subscribe, leave a rating and review, and share this episode with someone who wants to create more superfans.

Subscribe to Brittany's biweekly newsletter
Follow Brittany on LinkedIn and Instagram
Grab a copy of Creating Superfans on Amazon

Have you ever wondered what goes inside the iconic celebrity gift bags at A-list events like the GRAMMYs or the Oscars? 

Today’s guest of the Creating Superfans podcast is the pioneer of celebrity product placement and award show swag. He’s transformed it into a bona fide media obsession. 

Lash Fary, otherwise known as the “Gift Guru” or the “Sultan of Swag,” is the president and Founder of Distinctive Assets, a niche marketing agency. He’s worked with top award shows including the GRAMMY Awards, Latin GRAMMYs, Tony Awards, American Music Awards, BET Awards, Kids’ Choice Awards and Academy of Country Music Awards to create celebrity branding opportunities.

In this episode, Lash and I chat about the power of celebrity product placement, his biggest tips for gift-giving regardless of the industry you’re in, and of course, some of his favorite products that he’s become a SUPERFAN of.

Show Notes:

2:50 - What is Distinctive Assets all about?

3:17 - How Lash got into gifting

4:41 - Lash’s experience with the Oscars

5:58 - How many gift bags does Lash actually create each year?

6:24 - That time Samuel L. Jackson didn’t get one of Lash’s gift bags...

7:31 - Why are the gifts so highly coveted, even by celebrities who can afford anything on the planet?

9:26 - What Lash says to people who are angry that celebrities are getting free gifts

10:19 - The business behind the gifting partnerships

12:15 - The importance of wrapping and presentation when it comes to gift-giving 

14:30 - Sentimentality can double the value of a gift

15:48 - Don’t forget this important component of gift-giving

17:25 - Lash's opinion on Brittany’s gifting advice,  "if it has your logo on it, it’s an ad, not a gift."

19:22 - Should you spend less on each person to ensure everyone gets a gift, or spend much more money on just a select few people to make a greater impact?

19:58 - What was one of the best gifts Lash has ever received?

21:28 - Brittany’s most impactful gift she’s ever gotten

23:07 - Lash shares a low-cost gift he got that made a huge impression on him 

24:50 - What is Lash a superfan of?

27:58 - Lash’s advice for people who are trying to get better at gifting

34:10 - Lash’s tips for event planners to make a seamless guest experience 

Follow @SwagAssets on Instagram or visit DistinctiveAssets.com 

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About Brittany 

Brittany Hodak is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, and customer experience speaker who helps businesses turn customers into superfans. She’s delivered keynotes to hundreds of organizations around the world, including American Express, Benihana, and Keller Williams. Her trademark SUPER Model™ framework has empowered teams in every industry to transform customer apathy into advocacy. 

Enjoying the show? Subscribe, leave a rating and review, and share this episode with someone who wants to create more superfans.

Subscribe to Brittany's biweekly newsletter
Follow Brittany on LinkedIn and Instagram
Grab a copy of Creating Superfans on Amazon

What do ADP, JP Morgan Chase, Universal Resorts, and Visa all have in common? They’ve all worked with today’s guest, Howard Tiersky, to transform their digital customer experience. Howard is the CEO and Founder of FROM, a digital transformation agency that helps companies go from where they are, to where they need to be. 

He’s the author of Winning Digital Customers: The Antidote to Irrelevance, one of the Top 10 Digital Transformation Influencers by IDG Magazine, and one of the Top 100 Customer Success Strategists by Success Coaching.

In this episode, Howard and I discussed the importance of observing your customers in real-time, connecting your executive team with your frontline employees, and his five-step roadmap to thrive in a digital world. 

Show Notes

2:20 - Howard tells Brittany what he does at FROM

4:34 - Howard explains what “observational research” is and how companies can implement this practice to learn more about their customers 

6:43 - How a vacation package company might use observational research to learn more about its customers

8:08 - How Howard used observational research with Universal Theme Parks

10:47 - How do you extrapolate the important data from your research and what’s worth pursuing?

12:45 - How you can use surveys to complement observational research to better understand your customer journey

14:03 - Something surprising that Howard discovered when doing research for a major news platform

16:10 - Why there’s sometimes a disconnect between C-suite executives and their perception of their customers

20:46 - Howard walks us through his 5 step-roadmap

• Understand your customer
• Map the customer journey
• Build the future
• Optimize the short-term
• Lead the change

25:45 - Why identifying small improvements can have a compounded effect in the short term

30:35 - How to get customers on board with change

31:55 - Change versus extra effort

32:05 - Brittany observing customers’ expectations for transformation through the eyes of her young kids

36:30 - Brittany’s son’s experience at a doctor’s office leads Howard to question: would you rather have your customers think you’re clueless or that you don’t care?

40:04 - The emotional connection that customers have to a brand is one of the most valuable assets a brand can have

41:50 - Why Apple focuses so much on its packaging and the lesson you can take learn

Winningdigitalcustomers.com 

Follow Howard Tiersky on LinkedIn

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About Brittany 

Brittany Hodak is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, and customer experience speaker who helps businesses turn customers into superfans. She’s delivered keynotes to hundreds of organizations around the world, including American Express, Benihana, and Keller Williams. Her trademark SUPER Model™ framework has empowered teams in every industry to transform customer apathy into advocacy. 

Enjoying the show? Subscribe, leave a rating and review, and share this episode with someone who wants to create more superfans.

Subscribe to Brittany's biweekly newsletter
Follow Brittany on LinkedIn and Instagram
Grab a copy of Creating Superfans on Amazon

If you feel like your cold outreach is getting ignored in the digital clutter, or you’re struggling to make personal connections with your clients, this is the episode for you. This week, I had the pleasure of chatting with a dear friend of mine, Ethan Beute. Ethan is the Chief Evangelist at BombBomb, the host of my favorite podcast, The Customer Experience podcast, and the author of several amazing business books.

Ethan and I had an in-depth conversation about how we can use technology to rehumanize our communication with prospects and customers. More specifically, we dove into the power of video and how we can use a platform like BombBomb to build trust, alleviate confusion, and convey emotion when reaching out to clients. Ethan shares his tips for using video at impactful moments along your customer journey and how to implement these practices at scale.

Show Notes

3:25 - Ethan talks about his podcast, the Customer Experience podcast (my personal favorite!)

4:30 - How BombBomb uses technology to make us feel more human, not less human

5:45 - How video can help us better communicate with clients

8:04 - The video trends that Ethan foresees in the next five years

11:20 - The single biggest impediment to the adoption of video

17:16 - Ethan’s tips for balancing text and video in your emails

19:17 - The power of 1:1 video communication

20:50 - Time blocking versus triggered video communication processes

21:15 - How to use video at scale with evergreen content

23:32 - Acknowledging customers’ emotions at each step of their journey

24:05 - How Ethan challenged Brittany’s thoughts with data and human behavior

25:50 - The importance of focusing on the immeasurable components that drive the metrics

31:40 - What brand is using video really well?

Connect with Ethan on LinkedIn.

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About Brittany 

Brittany Hodak is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, and customer experience speaker who helps businesses turn customers into superfans. She’s delivered keynotes to hundreds of organizations around the world, including American Express, Benihana, and Keller Williams. Her trademark SUPER Model™ framework has empowered teams in every industry to transform customer apathy into advocacy. 

Enjoying the show? Subscribe, leave a rating and review, and share this episode with someone who wants to create more superfans.

Subscribe to Brittany's biweekly newsletter
Follow Brittany on LinkedIn and Instagram
Grab a copy of Creating Superfans on Amazon

If you’re a Customer Experience nerd like me, then today’s guest is going to leave you inspired. His name is Ron Holt and he’s the founder and CEO of Pink Zebra Moving. Ron is on a mission to disrupt the moving industry - but not with big data or advanced technology. Instead, taking inspiration from brands like the Savannah Bananas, he’s designed a magical experience for his customers that he’s working to replicate across the country. 

From the high-energy warm-up routines to the surprise closing gifts, Pink Zebra Moving proves that you can create a unique and unforgettable experience for your customers in any industry. 

In this episode, you’ll hear about Pink Zebra’s eye-opening payment system, Ron’s tips for exceeding customer expectations, and even a few hilarious mistakes that the company has made over the years.

Show Notes

3:04 - Ron shares his background as the founder of the cleaning company, Two Maids & A Mop

4:10 - The revelation Ron had that led him to implement CX changes in his cleaning business

7:30 - Why it’s so important to bake customer centricity into the DNA of your company

9:46 - What is Pink Zebra Moving all about?

11:53 - The worst idea that Ron had with Pink Zebra

14:37 - The new entry plan for Pink Zebra that successfully alleviates his customers’ anxiety 

17:20 - What is the Pay Enhancement Plan?

20:30 - How movers use the clues around the customers’ homes to connect with them

21:36 - How was Ron inspired by the Savannah Bananas when dreaming up the Pink Zebra Moving Company?

23:22 - The one question that Pink Zebra asks every prospective employee

25:39 - How does Ron attract and train the right service-minded staff for his company?

29:58 - What does the Pink Zebra magic look like after the move has been completed? 

33:33 - A Pink Zebra “surprise box” fail that will make you laugh

35:03 - All about Zeke, the new brand mascot

36:03 - That time Zeke crashed a birthday party

Check out Pink Zebra's website here.

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About Brittany 

Brittany Hodak is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, and customer experience speaker who helps businesses turn customers into superfans. She’s delivered keynotes to hundreds of organizations around the world, including American Express, Benihana, and Keller Williams. Her trademark SUPER Model™ framework has empowered teams in every industry to transform customer apathy into advocacy. 

Enjoying the show? Subscribe, leave a rating and review, and share this episode with someone who wants to create more superfans.

Subscribe to Brittany's biweekly newsletter
Follow Brittany on LinkedIn and Instagram
Grab a copy of Creating Superfans on Amazon

This episode of the Creating Superfans podcast welcomes a very special guest, Amy Porterfield.

Amy is an ex-corporate employee turned online marketing expert and CEO of her own multimillion-dollar business. She’s the creator of several best-selling marketing courses, the host of the top-rated Online Marketing Made Easy podcast, and the author of the brand new book, Two Weeks Notice: Find the Courage to Quit Your Job, Make More Money, Work Where You Want, and Change the World. 

In today’s episode, Amy and I chatted all about Two Weeks Notice - which is officially available today, everywhere books are sold!

Whether you’re working a corporate job or running your own business, Amy’s tried and true strategies, inspiring stories, and mindset shifts will help you create not just the type of business that you want, but the lifestyle you want. 

Show Notes

2:40 - Why did Amy decide to write Two Weeks Notice now? 

4:26 - Why it was important for Amy to share her vulnerable stories with her readers.

6:40 - What are Amy’s non-negotiables? Why is it so important for entrepreneurs to set their non-negotiables? 

9:20 - What is “tiger time?” Amy explains the concept that she developed years ago.

12:36 - The poignant distinction between courage and confidence, and why you don’t need confidence to start your business. 

13:40 - What does Amy mean by your “capacity for zero?” 

14:47 - What was it like for Amy when she made the leap and left her job with Tony Robbins?

16:20 - How did the intentionality of setting an exit date give Amy more courage?

18:30 - What does Amy mean by the “ten-percent edge”? 

21:25 - Why are superfans so important to entrepreneurs? 

22:56 - How Amy’s team incorporates “surprise and delight” into her customer journey.

25:15 - How Amy meets her audience where they’re at through strategic content creation.

26:37 - Amy tells us about a student of hers that launched her own business, but it’s not what you think it might be

29:40 - The “sweet spot test” and how it helps you identify your starter business.

30:56 - What are the ‘boss traps’ that Amy details in her book?

34:07 - Amy shares the most surprising part about writing a book.

You can order a copy of Two Weeks Notice: Find the Courage to Quit Your Job, Make More Money, Work Where You Want, and Change the World  here.

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About Brittany 

Brittany Hodak is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, and customer experience speaker who helps businesses turn customers into superfans. She’s delivered keynotes to hundreds of organizations around the world, including American Express, Benihana, and Keller Williams. Her trademark SUPER Model™ framework has empowered teams in every industry to transform customer apathy into advocacy. 

Enjoying the show? Subscribe, leave a rating and review, and share this episode with someone who wants to create more superfans.

Subscribe to Brittany's biweekly newsletter
Follow Brittany on LinkedIn and Instagram
Grab a copy of Creating Superfans on Amazon

In this week's episode of the Creating Superfans podcast, Alix and I are breaking down the best and worst TV commercials from Super Bowl 57. You'll hear our opinions on the brands that did the best job of overcoming apathy, and which ones fell totally flat.

Reach me on all socials @BrittanyHodak and let me know how you felt about the commercials!

Show Notes

2:56 - Farmer’s Dog simple brand play that resonated with Alix

3:30 - Tubi cutting through the noise and creating a moment

5:15 - Amazon's compelling storytelling

7:38 - Crown Royal and Bud Light used celebrities in their ads, but which did it better?

9:10 - Rakuten & Clueless nailing the nostalgia 

10:27 -  The M&M saga and the Maya Rudolph campaign

14:40 - How effective are the campaigns that have a back-story leading into their Super Bowl commercial? 

16:40 - DoorDash's approach to speak to several audience segments in one ad

17:40 - Work Day

19:25 - Does Dunkin' win the award for best celebrity cameo of the night?

20:10 - The worst celebrity cameo of the Super Bowl

21:10 - Avocados from Mexico's on-air and off-air Super Bowl campaign

23:47 - He Gets Us Jesus commercials

25:06 - Did Brittany or Alix scan any QR codes?

25:40 - Did QR codes fall flat this year?

26:15 - The Turbo Tax disappointment

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About Brittany 

Brittany Hodak is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, and customer experience speaker who helps businesses turn customers into superfans. She’s delivered keynotes to hundreds of organizations around the world, including American Express, Benihana, and Keller Williams. Her trademark SUPER Model™ framework has empowered teams in every industry to transform customer apathy into advocacy. 

Enjoying the show? Subscribe, leave a rating and review, and share this episode with someone who wants to create more superfans.

Subscribe to Brittany's biweekly newsletter
Follow Brittany on LinkedIn and Instagram
Grab a copy of Creating Superfans on Amazon