Full Podcast Transcript:
Greetings. This is Shanita Akintonde, your favorite Marketing Insights podcast host, also professor, author, marketing she-ro, and circling back to that moniker author, my latest book, The Front Porch Leader: Greg Grant's Recipe for Success just dropped December 2025 on Amazon. So go ahead and check it out and get your own copy today. And if you want to invite me to your campus or corporation so that I can sign it for you, just let me know.
I am tickled pink to talk to you all about something that I think is an important way to round out 2025 and prepare us as we enter 2026. And that is called The Business of Benevolence, How Brands Can Build Loyalty Through Gratitude. And this is my year-end global edition. Now, I know you're saying "Professor Akintonde, why are you calling this the Global Edition?" Well, here's why, Marketing Maestros, because I am recording this from Cabo San Lucas. I am in Mexico.
I am in Mexico because my family and I try to travel to either Mexico or the Caribbean or somewhere hot when it's cold back in our hometown of Chicago. So this time we're in Cabo and we're also celebrating something which I'll share with you momentarily. So welcome to this special edition. I'm happy to be here with you, and whether you're snuggled up under your favorite comforter, sitting next to a cup of hot cocoa, in your car, on your way to work, sitting in class, wherever you listen to this Marketing Insights podcast, I want to thank you for tuning in and for rocking with us, as I mentioned previously, for the last eight years and counting.
Now, as we approach the end of the year and enter the new year, as we're closing out one year, I should say, and entering another, I want to talk to you about something that goes a little bit deeper than discounts or doorbusters, and that is this idea of giving/ and the business of benevolence. At the end of the day, it's really about giving, because we live in a world where consumers are craving connection. All of us crave connection, and brands that give and not just sell are the ones that have the difference-making ability. They're leading with their hearts, their minds, and not just market share.
All right, so I thought, because you all know I love alliteration, that the idea of the business of benevolence would resonate with you all. It's going to resonate with you, dear listeners, because you know from listening to previous podcasts of minds such as Influencer Marketing, Selling the Sizzle, How Do Brands Spell Respect Among Others, I talk about things not being a one-size-fit-all model. I talk about the idea that personalization should be a prioritization, that when you look at a brand loyalty program or campaign, it's not a project, but it's a strategy.
And so the business of benevolence, as lofty as it may sound, or as grand as it may sound, at the end of the day, let's keep it real, it is about making dollars and cents, that C-E-N-T-S, but it has to make a lot of sense as well, S-E-N-S-E. Brands that understand this are tapping into what I'm going to call emotional equity. This is also if we want to really get jiggy with it, E-cubed. That would be emotional equity exchange, because when you are investing in your audience as a marketer, when you invest in them as well as their wellbeing, it comes right back to you. I think I'm going to call that boomerang branding.
So as research supports this, consumer data supports this, analytics support this, consumers who see a brand that is aligned with their personal values are up to four times, let me say that again, four times more likely to remain loyal. And as you know, in previous podcasts, I've talked about the product cycle, the four phases. You all know this, intro, growth, maturity and decline. You can remain at the maturity level for hundreds of years, and then the idea of loyalty ties into that phase. So if you want to have someone lock in with you and be loaded, be loaded, yes, loaded and loyal, here's the key, authenticity, which we've also spoken about previously.
Consumers can smell it. They know when you're being performative and when you're being real. They can smell it a mile away. So again, I'm here in Cabo San Lucas and the ocean is right outside my window. It's a great view. And if I got a whiff of the ocean right now and if this resort I'm on was being performative versus aligned with my family and our personal values, I would know. And speaking of which, let me give you an example of how this works from a personalization process or attitudinal approach more specifically.
So I mentioned we're here in Cabo, we come here a lot. This resort that we are on has bonded or co-branded, I should say, more recently with a hotel chain. The hotel chain is also at the maturity phase of the product life cycle. The two have co-branded and now they exist under one umbrella. We've been coming here a long time. Now, the celebration I alluded to earlier, I'll just tell you, my husband and I are celebrating 29 years of marriage. Yay for us. And we're here to enjoy this time, this very special time in our lives and to experience it here in Cabo. When we got to the resort, we were greeted right off the bat by the greeters in the hotel lobby that said happy anniversary to us. They called us by name.
We were then escorted via golf cart to our ocean view room, which is beautiful. And on the door when we got here is a sign that also says Happy Anniversary with our names on it. We enter into the suite, they have beautiful flowers. Well, my husband ordered those, but then they had a fruit plate with some chocolates and it had written on there, "Happy Anniversary," right? Beautiful. Then we turn on our television screen here, big beautiful Panasonic or whatever the brand is, and it has on the screen before you can see any programming, "Happy Anniversary." So those are just a few examples from a personalization standpoint, how they had me at hello. They had me at hello literally when they knew my name and said, "Happy Anniversary," all the way up to the suite, greeting me before I come into the suite. Once I'm in, greeting me with a beautiful arrangement of things personalized to us, and then again on the television.
That is a way a brand shows you that it's not just a PR spin when they say that they are understanding you or understanding your needs. It's about purpose and being purposeful. So the idea of being here in a different place taps into this idea also of where does your brand stand in the world? That's a rhetorical question, but it's something that I think everyone should think about. And even if you are personally listening to this podcast, ask yourself that as well, because in many cultures, including here in Mexico, community isn't a campaign. It's a way of life. And so the way giving shows up is through shared meals, which we've also been enjoying since I've been here. But there's a shared responsibility as well, and that comes in the form of a collective care and the attitude that goes along with it.
That's an important lesson for brands because when you honor a local culture, you're investing in that community as well and you respect the people. And not just because they're purchasing things from you, it's because you are wanting to be relevant in their lives. That's deeper than just wanting what's in their pocketbook. For global brands in particular, and even if it's a growing global brand or growing business in general, this is an opportunity. It's a chance to move beyond transactions and move from asking how can we show up, or how are we showing up, but how do we show up with integrity wherever we operate? So back to this resort, the idea of them having these golf carts might sound a little silly because I don't play golf, my husband does, but it's because this is a big place.
And so even something as simple as saying, "You know what? You can walk if you want to," and I've been doing a lot of walking here as well, "But we have an opportunity for you to just jump on this cart and we'll scoot you around." Now, many people are actually using the golf carts to play the game, but many, myself included, are using it just to get from one end to the other without having to walk 55,000 miles. That's something that they have probably gotten feedback on I'm thinking in the past, which goes back to this idea of what my company Shanita Speaks does. We listen, we listen deeply. We listen to things that may not always sound good to our ears because in order to get better, you have to listen to all feedback and not just the feedback that you want to hear. I advise clients on things that range from empathy to brand strategy like I do on this podcast as well as storytelling.
Regardless, my core focus remains the same, and that's to build my brand and help others build their brands by showing concern for the greater good of society, and again, not just taking the money. Although we like the money, money's good, but it's not the only thing that has to drive business. That's the benevolence of business. When you lead with purpose, you don't just gain customers, you gain a community. So celebrating here in Mexico, enjoying myself, Cabo San Lucas, but I'm also enjoying this podcast. After eight years of doing this and counting, I just want you all to know that I approach each and every one of these episodes with the same amount of enthusiasm, the same amount of energy, and the same amount of expertise that I give to each and every episode. This time, I didn't do an interview, partially because folks are traveling as well.
The people that I have lined up for you in the past episodes that you've been listening to this year with me are busy people as well. So I thought I'd put a little bow on it and give you this gift at the end of the year of it just being yours truly. But don't worry, coming back in 2026, I have a whole lineup of exciting guests that I'll be bringing back and we'll delve more into some of the topics that you've heard from me in the past, like B-to-B storytelling, which is business to business storytelling, which we just had my wonderful guest on to talk about. We talked about advertising ecosystems, we spoke about advertising to Gen Z and millennials. To rewind further, we explored career options a couple of different ways with guests who were experts in that area. So I've had a whole bunch of wonderful, talented voices on the podcast, and I have even more lined up for you in 2026.
But back to this idea of the business of benevolence, that's my benevolent way of sharing with you all, Marketing Maestros, the ways in which you can be seen, in my eyes anyway, as someone that I should be giving gifts to. It's a reciprocal process. As much as I enjoy being the host, I learned so much from you. Thank you for reaching out and sharing with me the way you have been. I encourage you to continue to do that in the upcoming year. As a reminder, I'm on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram. I'll give you all those handles at the end of this podcast, but keep letting me know what I can do to continue to be of support to you no matter where you are in the classroom or in career in terms of your trajectory.
So just a couple of more points before I wrap this one up so you can get back to your hot coca or your comforter or your car to give you some other ideas to keep in mind. So here's one last one, loyalty as hospitality and not a program. The idea, especially in global cultures, is that when you are thinking about it from a US perspective or global perspective, loyalty is about how you make people feel, not just how much you emailed them. And I'm not disrespecting email marketers. I know that's a very tangible and beneficiary way to reach consumers, but as you probably also know, the idea is to do it in a way that's strategic and is relevant to your audience. Here are three main takeaways that I will close this podcast out with before I give you the handles on how you can reach me.
Personalization beats automation, which is what I just alluded to when I was talking about the email marketing piece. Recognition beats rewards. So you hear rewards, reward programming and all of that jazz. Again, not disrespecting folks who have reward programs. Many brands have established them. I use them as well. But recognition is what we need to be tapping into and not just points or whatever it is for the reward program, a sticker that we slap on something or something like that. And presence beats promotion, and presence means physical presence or the presence of being felt, or the presence, I should say, that the consumer feels that they are being seen and heard.
Those are the main tenants that I hope that you're taking away from this idea of the business of benevolence. And again, going back to previous podcasts, I have one on mentoring, and you may say, "Well, Professor Shanita, what does mentoring have to do with Benevolence?" Or, "What does the business of benevolence have to do with mentoring?" I'm going to toss this one out to you. That's really a different way of thinking, but you know me, you know that's how my brain works. I'd like you to consider this. Consider brands like the ones I'm talking to you about in this podcast who understand empathy, who understand listening, who understand the benevolence aspect of business.
Think about adopting them to be your mentors, meaning brands that do it well, whether they realize it or not. Use them as your mentor unofficially. In other words, use them as a way to gauge or to test or to see how things are working out for them and see what you can adopt and or adapt to your own brand, whether this is a business or personal brand, and do that across the board. It doesn't even have to be brands that you consider to be benevolent. This can just be a brand that you consider that's doing anything well. I'm not suggesting that you just copy or cut and paste because you can't do that in case you don't know this.
There are nuances that every brand should have. If you as an individual or the brand that you work for represent does not have unique things that are specific to that brand, then something's wrong. Everything is unique, just like every individual is unique. Here's an example. You could have on a fly outfit and you wear it outside and it looks really good and you get a lot of compliments, and your best friend or someone you don't even like says, "I'm going to get that exact outfit." And you're saying to yourself, "Oh no, they didn't. I don't want them wearing the same outfit as me. They're copying my style."
Well, guess what? Don't worry about that. Let them go get the exact same outfit down to the shoes, because it's not going to look the same on them. Trust and believe. You understand what I'm saying? So the same thing applies to what I'm saying about the mentoring piece. Either you take some information that you get from someone or maybe someone takes some information that they get from you. It doesn't matter, because if they're smart, what they'll do is take that information but tailor it so that it is uniquely fitting for them, if it even is, because sometimes it may not be. And I'm really talking about the outfit now, y'all, if you're not following, versus the branding.
But back to the podcast, the business of benevolence is that when you give and give and give, you get so much more in return. It's no such thing as an empty well because the well will continue to overflow, just like I hope that each and every one of these podcasts does for you, dear listeners. Now, back to how you get in touch with me. You can find me on LinkedIn at Professor Shanita Akintonde, or on Twitter @_ShanitaSpeaks. I'm on Instagram now, guys. That's @shanitabaraka_mama. And I'm also on... Missing one. Well, oh, my website, www.shanitaspeaks.com. But most importantly, please sign up, subscribe, like, and share wherever your favorite podcasts are found, Marketing Insights. We are on iTunes, Audible, Google Play, Apple Play, blah, blah, blah, play. Find us, like us, share, subscribe. Thank you so much. I hope 2025 was everything you wanted it to be. And here's looking forward to 2026. Bye-bye.
