A lagniappe (pronounced lan-yap) is a creole word from Louisiana. It means “the gift.” It refers to the small token or unexpected service a store owner gives to a customer. The idea of a lagniappe has been embraced by the natives in Louisiana, but there’s no reason you can’t use it too.

Let me give you an example.

Recently a realtor friend of mine needed to attend a final closing on a residential property. After several weeks of hard negotiations, the buyer and the seller were angry at each other, the other realtor felt cheated, and the mortgage company where the closing was held wasn’t happy with anyone. On her way to the closing, she stopped at Panera Bread, picked up four hot loaves, wrapped them with some red Christmas ribbon, and walked into the closing with gifts for everyone.

All four of them are now her customers – even the other realtor recommends her to clients.

So what’s the recipe for creating a marketing lagniappe? It needs to be

1. Unexpected – a surprise
2. A benefit to the recipient – not just a generic gift
3. Unique – not something they could get anywhere else
4. Authentic – it comes from your heart

As a photographer, nothing could be easier than turning images into lagniappes. Here are some ideas:

• Baby/child photography – order a wallet of mom’s favorite pose and put it in a key chain, or pick up a cute little frame at the discount store.
• Senior photography – give a fridge magnet to mom, or give the senior a box of business cards that can be used when they apply for a job.
• Wedding photography – make a 4×5 album for the bride to carry in her purse. Give a single box of thank you or Christmas cards (will encourage them to call back later and order more).

The idea is not to spend a lot, but to wrap it and give it as a unique gift that they could not get anywhere else, and one that says that you’ve connected with them as a client.

Here’s another example: When we were designing the packaging for our photo books, the team wanted each book to be a gift that you could present to your clients. That’s why our books are wrapped in tissue, placed in a custom gift box, and tied with a golden band. It would look perfectly in place under a Christmas tree. Our goal was to make each photo book a lagniappe, from us to you, and more importantly, from you to your clients.

We hope you like it.

Tags: marketing

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 21st, 2010 at 3:14 am and is filed under marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.