Sweet Tooth Blog

The first day I walked into Sweet Tooth, I was so nervous I could barely speak. For people who know me this is huge, I talk all the time. I wanted so badly to make a good first impression, and to reassure them that I was the best choice for the Marketing Coordinator Co-op position. At Sweet Tooth, I was to be the sole author of the Sweet Tooth Blog and was expected to undertake a variety of marketing initiatives. For the first couple of weeks I came into work wearing a suit jacket every day. It wasn’t until our CEO Jay came in wearing a bright pink t-shirt that I realized business-casual was more casual-business in the Sweet Tooth office. This was my first inclination that my co-op with Sweet Tooth would be like nothing I had ever experienced before.

In my first meeting with my supervisor Steve, I was given one single piece of advice that set the tone for my entire co-op term. This piece of advice was “become comfortable with being uncomfortable.” Many of the duties I would be performing were completely foreign to me.

The startup mentality and blogging was completely foreign to me. I wished not to be seen as “that co-op student”, or as a liability to the company. I wanted to make my impact felt and be viewed as a contributing member that improved Sweet Tooth, not held it back.

I watched and listened carefully for the first while so I could see what the office dynamic was and learn how I could become a part of it. Everyone seemed to be so bright and were knowledgeable in multiple subjects, not just for what their job required. I quickly found that if I were to make an impression I would have to be flexible and willing to go the extra mile.

Now that my co-op term is complete, I am left with fond memories and friendships that will stay with me for a lifetime. Here are 8 highlights of my co-op term with Sweet Tooth:

Continue Reading

StriVectin is the world’s largest independent prestige skin care company. Their award winning products are the result of constant innovation and use of the latest and greatest in skin care technology.

The team at StriVectin knows that when your skin looks and feels good you have restored confidence and increased self esteem. They have won countless awards, received mentions on numerous blogs and have been featured in prominent magazines such as Women’s Health and Allure. You can find StriVectin skin care products in department stores in Asia, Europe, North America, and the Middle East.

Continue Reading

Kevin Kruse, author of Employee Engagement 2.0 defines employee engagement as, “the emotional commitment an employee has to the organization and its goals, resulting in the use of discretionary effort.”

When an employee is engaged, they are very much your biggest brand advocates. They preach the benefits of your products and are enthusiastic in dealing with the public. These employees want the organization to be successful, not just themselves. Your customers first point of interaction with your organization is often through your employees. This first interaction is often make-or-break for first time customers, if you fail to make a good impression they may leave and never return.

High engagement among your employees improves morale, reduces turnover, and improves profitability. In fact, according to research from a Hay Group study, companies with highly engaged workers grew revenues two and a half times as much as those with low engagement levels. Contrasting this with disengaged employees, Gallup found that actively disengaged employees erode an organization’s bottom line, while breaking the spirits of colleagues in the process. Within the U.S. workforce, Gallup estimates this cost to the bottom line to be more than $300 billion in lost productivity alone.

Not only this, but it betters customer experience and leads to improved customer loyalty. Studies have found that companies with high employee engagement scores had twice the customer loyalty (repeat purchases, recommendations to friends) than companies with average employee engagement levels. (Source: Are They Really ‘On the Job’?, Pont)

Continue Reading

In order for your customer loyalty program to be successful, you need to differentiate it from your competition. With over two billion loyalty program memberships in the U.S. alone (Fast Company), consumers often have a hard time even remembering all the programs they belong too. Your program should stand out in the minds of your customers, and make your business an easy choice for them. Brands that offer creative, unique items that can be redeemed for points will earn the patronage of their customers.

Here are 3 real world examples of businesses that have creative loyalty programs that set them apart from their competitors.

Continue Reading

Kitchen Warehouse was founded on the belief that cooking is much more than just preparing food. They feel sharing meals with loved ones is a time to be cherished, not something that needs to be rushed. The roots of Kitchen Warehouse can be traced back to the 1920s and a small restaurant named The Tearooms at Kings Park. This restaurant was run by Nina love, Grandmother of owner Marilyn Macaulay and Great Grandmother of co-owner Justine Murphy.

Flash forward 90 years, add in two marriages and a talented chef and you have the founding team for Kitchen Warehouse. John and Marilyn Mccauley (see below) work alongside their daughter Justine and son-in-law Chris. So to this day, it is still to this day very much a family run operation. In fact, many important business decisions are often made right at the Murphy’s kitchen table! By always stocking the best name brands and a wide range, they ensure that they have something for every customer who walks through the door or visits their website. The team understands that everyone who purchases from them is not a seasoned (no pun intended) chef, so they make buying products easy and simple. No technical jargon, just simple, down-to-earth advice.

Continue Reading

What is Responsive Design?

Responsive web design (or RWD) is a website design technique that allows you to have one website that adapts to the device it is viewed on. It is no longer necessary for businesses to create multiple sites for differing devices or screen sizes.

Responsive web design makes it much easier for your customers to interact with your website. They can interact on their varying devices including: laptops, smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers.

Mashable has dubbed 2013 as “The Year of Responsive Design.” If responsive design is not a key priority for your business in the upcoming year, then you could fall behind your competition in terms of customer experience/engagement initiatives. Your customers need to be able to view your website regardless of mobile device or screen size. Responsive design increases conversions, sales, customer experience, and customer loyalty.

Continue Reading

Many organizations are increasing the amount of money that they devote to their varying social media campaigns. The reason for this increase is because it is an incredible way to connect with your customers, build relationships, and provide them with engaging information. Social customers are very valuable for your organization. In fact, according to a report by Bain & Company, people who engage with brands via social media demonstrate a deeper emotional commitment to those brands, and they spend between 20% and 40% more than other customers on the products and services offered by the brands.

An effective social media campaign can help to significantly improve your customers engagement, loyalty, and retention. It can also help to give you a competitive edge over similar organizations in your industry. On the flipside, poor social media campaigns can frustrate customers and cause them to leave your organization for a competitor.

Here are 6 reasons why your social media campaigns are ineffective.

Continue Reading

They’ve Grown a Fair Bit

The Fred Aldous story began in 1886 in Manchester with a man named, well Fred of course! In the cotton mill that Fred was employed, he noticed that the cotton produced there was moved from place to place in baskets. Then, an idea hit him - start importing the cane needed to make the baskets from abroad. Not only was Fred a budding entrepreneur, he also sported one of the most revered beards (see below) in all of Manchester.

Continue Reading

It is not enough to just have a loyalty program anymore. Research conducted by Fast Company found that in the U.S., there are roughly two billion loyalty program memberships. This is why organizations can no longer state a loyalty program as a competitive advantage, simply too many of their competitors also have them.

This being said, a loyalty program is still a very useful customer acquisition and retention tool. The reason that many customer loyalty programs fail, however, is because of poor implementation.

Here are 11 reasons why your loyalty program is not as effective as you had intended it to be. Continue Reading

Customer Loyalty Through User Experience

People generally love things that make their lives simpler, and good online user experience will do just that for your customers.If you run an eCommerce store, you might think you already have a leg up over your offline competition. After all, your customers can shop on their own time and leisure, without crowds of fellow shoppers or annoying salespeople. But when it comes to customer loyalty, that truism can easily become a crutch.

Many merchants make the mistake of letting the convenience of eCommerce become an excuse for thoughtless, standardized, “out-of-the-box” user experience design and development. The truth is, poor user experience on a site is usually a far worse experience for the consumer than physically going to a store would be.

The best online shopping experiences should deliver much more than just the ability to shop in your pajamas. Delivering a superior user experience is the fundamental key to turning your online store into a customer loyalty machine.

Here are some ways to begin thinking about how to deliver that optimal online shopping user experience:

Continue Reading