MARKETING How to ENGAGE CUSTOMERS and returning with new By Cassie Flynn With meaningful engagement, every customer interaction becomes an opportunity to create connections that transcend transactions. E ngaging with new and old customers is a challenging prospect for business owners in all industries. This age of constant media consumption and the ability for consumers to remove ads from their lives causes friction among marketers. The word " marketing " inherently means to connect and sell to an audience, but what we need to do as marketers and business owners is shift the way we think about marketing in general. Leverage Your Brand Persona Every business has a personality that creates the brand persona; this personality is what draws consumers to you. A brand's persona means the personification of a company to a near-human entity. Brands have feelings, values and emotions defined during their creation that evolve and assist with brand recognition among audiences. Values and ethics play a huge role in the personification of a brand. In a study funded by Google Cloud, a Harris poll found that 82% of consumers want to buy from brands with values that align with their own. So what does it look like to use your brand to engage with customers? In general, it means adapting to bridge the gap between the need to sell and emotionally connect with customers. This can mean many things, from changing how you craft your copy on social media to training how your employees speak with customers in store. 14 | LAWN & GARDEN RETAILER | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2023 Ashcombe Farm and Greenhouses' Fern mobile plant bus became one of the garden center's most successful marketing tools. Photos courtesy of Cassie Flynn.