Anyone who knows me to any level beyond text on the screen, knows that one of my trademarks is my Aussie boonie hat. I've finally worn out the old Panama Jack that I have been sporting for the past 3 years, and I thought it might be time to splurge on a newer lid for the melon.
So, I embarked on this quest to find me a new safari style hat, maybe in leather. I looked at a whole bunch of online retailers, but still didn't find anything that tripped my trigger.
A Google search of "leather safari hat" brought me to a search results page that had an Adwords PPC ad for http://www.adventurehat.com
I generally try not to burn advertiser's budgets by browsing on adwords clicks unless I am serious about spending some money, but I had my MasterCard out and ready to burn some coin on this deal, so I figured a little ad budget wouldn't hurt them if I ended buying.
When I hit the site, it was a basic e-commerce site, but I noticed that they had some guarantees at the top of the page... free returns in the USA - okay, that's cool.
Then I saw the little badge for their social consciousness campaign where they're donating 100% of the profit proceeds of a specific kind of hat to stamping out malaria as a disease. I checked it out just because I thought it was interesting - not my particular style of hat, so I passed on that deal, but I made a mental note of the campaign.
Now my curiosity is really piqued, so I browsed the about us section... a father and son deal, Bill & Will Conner... hatmakers from Australia... these guys are the real McCoy! They each have their own brand and are trying to target a little different segmented market. Will is a musician, and has a link to his music site where I did a little more reading. Then I linked to a YouTube video of one of his songs... pretty catchy actually!
So now I am really engaged in the story, starting to like these guys, and I see they have a Facebook fan page. I clicked on it and lo and behold, either it's really new or they don't promote themselves on FB very much. I became their first fan!
I had really decided to buy from these guys, but hadn't settled on a hat just yet. Their prices are extremely reasonable for what they're selling too! Most LEATHER hats in the $50 average range! Talking my language now.
Well, lo and behold, I get a thanks for becoming our fan post on Facebook directly from someone at the company (heck maybe Will for all I know). I responded on their FB page that I liked them but hadn't made up my mind on a hat yet. Well, the response blew me away, they offered to comp me with whatever I choose whenever I make up my mind, just for becoming their fan!
Uhhh... wow. I mean, I am seriously taken aback. It's hard to make money giving away product, but this is such a narrow niche, and I am obviously spending some time checking out their site and story. I could be worth something to them down the road.
Well, I STILL haven't decided which hat I wanted, and now the job is going to be even more difficult because I still intend to buy something from them to support their company. That means I have to pick two!
Not only that, but I was so intrigued with the entire process on both sides (my own buying psychology and their effort to convert me to not only a customer, but a raving fan), that I am writing about it in several places, here, my own blog, and a couple of other business sites that I frequent.
Whether they get anything from my goodwill & PR is irrelevant to me. I am already happy with the entire story AND I HAVEN'T EVEN BOUGHT ANYTHING YET (although that will be rectified in about 20 minutes).
Now there's a reason I am writing about this. Sure, I'd love it if everyone who reads this, and is also a fan of "Manly Man" hats, would go check out their site. But the real reason is to explore the entire online marketing process in a snapshot, how they used PPC to get my attention on the front, how they had some interesting things on their site, how their story roped me in, how they used social media to create a 2-way communication with a customer, and how the entire process has converted me to what Seth Godin would call, a member of their tribe.
Lessons for everyone here.