MONSTER LOYALTY

Marketing blogger Jackie Huba pinpoints the customer loyalty strategies behind Lady Gaga’s unique path to success.

It’s not just crazy outfits, over-the-top performances, and catchy tunes that have made Lady Gaga one of the most successful pop stars of all time. Marketers have also been awed by her unconventional customer loyalty strategy.

With 31 million Twitter followers and 53 million Facebook fans, she blows away her peers on social media. She has methodically built a grassroots base of what she calls her “Little Monsters”—passionate fans who look to her not just for music but also for joy and inspiration.

Now marketing expert Jackie Huba unpacks the method behind Lady Gaga’s success and isolates the strategies businesses can learn from her. They include:
· Focus on your “one percenters.” Gaga spends most of her effort on just 1% of her audience, the highly-engaged superfans who drive word of mouth. · Lead with values. Gaga is consistent in her message of being yourself and loving others for who they are. That display of values creates a deep emotional connection. · Give them something to talk about. Whether by wearing a meat dress or “dying” in a pool of blood onstage, Gaga knows what will get people talking. Not all businesses want to stand out the way Gaga does. But every business needs to tap into customer loyalty the way she has. Jackie Huba is the co-author of the Church of the Customer blog, one of the most popular business blogs with more than 105,000 daily readers. As an expert in social media, she is a frequent speaker and the co-author of two books, Creating Customer Evangelists and Citizen Marketers. Her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, BusinessWeek, and Advertising Age.