Marketing- Delivered Milkman FRESH!

Really.

Love me. Make fun (insert joke HERE.) Be utterly, desperately jealous of me- it’s ok… you should be. It’s a pretty great service that has saved my bacon (an item which they deliver) quite a few times.

You're average every-day Milkman of yesteryear.

My milk service is a lesson in marketing best-practices. In this day and age of Super Markets, the image of the friendly milk-man delivering milk is often relegated to “Leave to Beaver” or “Happy Days.”

But they exist. My milk delivery service, Hornstra Farms, doesn’t just exist, they thrive. They take a Seth Godin approach, the littlest things, an every “touch” matters customer experience.

For example. They recently lowered prices. No biggie, but they made sure to tell me about it. Alongside my hormone-free locally-raised freshly bottled milk, was a nice little note explaining that “due to a small decrease in energy costs, both at the dairy and at the fuel pump, we are able to decrease the price of your milk as well as your delivery charge.”

Now in reality, they were offering a $0.10 off per half gallon, $.20 of a gallon, and perhaps $0.50 off delivery. No big whoop, but I had to check it. This was after I mentally shuttlecocked them into the “truly awesome” company bracket. Why? They were looking out for me. In one small customer letter , they had communicated that they CARED. ABOUT ME. Rather than just walking off with the extra 10 cents or so (again, I had to do the research on my actual savings), they decided to pass it on and write a letter singing it to high heaven.

So freakin’ smart.

They make this old-fashion “high-quality touch” customer experience flows right through to the cars they drive (1950′s looking milk vans retro paintjobs,) my sweet little milk box, and to the information they pass on to customers– say when someone’s favorite Oatmeal-molasses bread isn’t available.

Once my bread (umm a certain Oatmeal-Molasses) wasn’t delivered. Not only did I get an apology but information to the effect that no one received bread that day. I was told that upon delivery to Hornstra from the bakery, it was deemed stale. “The owner is a stickler for fresh, not fresh… not delivered” was my driver’s reply. Stop. You had me a fresh.

Every touch is about quality, honest value, customer-centric convenience. With every touch they pass on their brand, story and message consistently.

Got to run, need to fill out my order, the milkman comes tomorrow!

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