From Nice To Kind: Building Loyal Customers Through Ethical Marketing

Stoney Creek Social Media founder Dawn Renshaw explores how kindness moves from a personal value to a practical marketing system that builds loyalty, saves clients money, and earns long-term trust. Real stories show why integrity, responsiveness, and the 80–20 content mix outperform flashy, hard-sell tactics.

Episode Resources

Stoney Creek Social Media

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Transcript

Values At The Heart Of Marketing

Richard Piet 0:07

I'm Richard Pyatt. Welcome back to the Kindness Marketing Podcast. We're here with Dawn Renshaw, founder of Stony Creek Social Media, someone from whom you'll hear a lot in the coming episodes here on the Kindness Marketing Podcast. Hi, Dawn. Hello, Richard. Welcome back. So, you know, it's interesting because I asked Dawn to tell me what the core values are in her business. Here they are kindness going above and beyond, integrity, collaboration, passion. Kindness, when I asked you for these, Dawn, you put kindness as number one. Yes. The others seem to flow from that. Why is that important?

Dawn Renshaw 0:53

One of the things that uh, you know, I talk about is with owning a business over, you know, over 35 years of my life has been as a business owner. And you wear a lot of hats and you have a lot going on. And, you know, with employees and the IRS and payroll and clients, and, you know, there's just a lot of moving pieces. And, you know, if that business owner calls and they've already dealt with 25 other things and they need a graphic created, you know, just give them a little extra kindness because I think sometimes it just takes them off guard, you know, because it's like, you know, like, hey, how's your day going? Those types of things. And that's just something that, you know, was really important to me. Um, is that there's that kindness factor. And something I've always said too is you can be nice and you can be kind, but they're not the same.

Richard Piet 1:44

What's the difference?

Nice Versus Kind In Practice

Dawn Renshaw 1:45

Everybody, I feel like everybody in the whole world can be nice. Yeah. But there's just that next level of being kind.

Richard Piet 1:52

Okay. So that's the difference. Nice is is a foundation. Kind is is the next level. Right. Make a distinction. How do you distinguish between nice and kind in your business?

Dawn Renshaw 2:07

Well, it's it's interesting because I have two examples I like to use. One is we were working with a client, and then they brought their their social media marketing in-house and started doing it in-house. Well, I was on my way somewhere and I look, and one of their ads had popped up, and like the text in the ad was something irrelevant to what was in the actual graphic. And then the the tagline below and the call to action was something, and they were all three. It looks like they had changed like the middle graphic, but they had not updated, you know, the other stuff. And so I immediately took a screenshot of it and I sent it to the owner. And, you know, sometimes people would be like, Why did you do that? Basically, they fired you, and yet you're still going to let them know. And I'm like, to me, that is kindness. I didn't have to, even, you know, just not the fact that we had used to do business together. We're not doing business together, just the fact, you know, and so that's that's something that, you know, that I talk about quite often.

Richard Piet 3:06

Just an example. Yeah.

Dawn Renshaw 3:08

Right. Yep. You know, and you know, then there's things where, you know, sometimes actually it happened to me today. I was, we have a client that we work with, and they have someone in their office that are trying to do some of the lower budget ads themselves. And I had seen a comment came through our software that somebody had commented on this post. Well, it wasn't a post that we had done, it

Going Above And Beyond For Clients

Dawn Renshaw 3:30

was this ad that this they had created. And it was like the top part of it talked about their event in 2025, which was in July. And then the graphic talked about an event that was in November. And then the the call to action underneath was an event that's coming up in 2026. And it came through our software as an ad. And so I didn't want that out there making the, and so I, of course, took my screenshots and sent it to my contact there. And he's like, Oh, I'm sure that that ad has, you know, that was for an event we had in November. I'm sure it's over. And then sure enough, like two seconds later, an email pops up and he goes, Oh, Dawn, you were right. We have been paying for that ad since the end of November. Oh my. And again, it's something that I didn't have to do it. I could have thought, well, you know, if they don't want to use our expertise and they want to do it on their own, then I'm just gonna let them, you know, let the cards fall where they may. But instead, I took time out of my day to screenshot that and sense to me, that is kindness. I don't know what your definition of it is, Richard, but to me, that's kindness. And again, that's also you know, feeds right into that. I think the kindness and the going above and beyond are are very, very similar. But, you know, I have an employee that sometimes he snickers and says, Don, I feel like sometimes they go above and beyond so much that they don't even realize that it's above and beyond.

Richard Piet 4:48

Is that true or is that just a feeling?

Dawn Renshaw 4:50

It's happened a couple times, I would say, where people have left and then they, you know, I've talked to them on the phone and they're like, We did not know what we had when we had it with you. Oh you know, and so you know, like sometimes I'll have a client who'll text me on Saturday and say, Hey, we've got this situation. Can you post this right away? Well, you know, the other agency is gonna say, we'll put it in the queue for Monday. But if you need it today, you know, with us, yeah, you know, we we get it done unless there's some unforeseen reason that we can't. And that's the going above and beyond. And to me, it's just what I do. It's to my core people that have known me for many years that that's just who I am. So it becomes it's just second nature to me.

Richard Piet 5:37

Let me ask you this is kindness marketing, quote unquote, kindness marketing, is it a thing? Is it a specific angle approach to marketing that is clearly defined?

Dawn Renshaw 5:52

What it is for us, and we talk about it, is um I've had a couple political candidates who have reached out to me and wanted me to help them. And then I look through their strategy, and their strategy is they just want to sling mud. They don't care who gets dirty. And to me, that's just not kind. And so I had to not take the job. Turned it down. Um, and you know, and sometimes there's, you know, there's like the bait and switch, and there's just different types of marketing where

Defining Kindness Marketing And Integrity

Dawn Renshaw 6:20

it just isn't transparent. And that's where we come back with our integrity. So we make sure that what we do, you know, is is very transparent. We, you know, we look at it and also we we market to people the way we want to be marketed to. You know, I don't like these, you know, the pop-ups on the computer where, you know, you're like searching, trying to hit that axe to get out of it. And it's, you know, you know, just things like that where, you know, we talk about it. I've talked about it for years, where, you know, it's the difference between walking in, you know, into, and I hate I say this hopefully I don't want to offend anybody, the art band, you know, and that salesperson is right on you, you know, just stuck like glue. And to me, I feel like sometimes their biggest concern is getting their commission. They want to sell you something to get their commission. Where you walk into a local furniture store and they want to get to know you. They want to know what your family needs, and they don't want to make that sale today. They want to make you a customer for life.

Richard Piet 7:16

And I would venture to say most of us in business now are working on a relationship-building kind of situation, which is what you're describing as the difference. People are interested in connecting and building trust. Right. And I think you're saying the kindness component helps do that.

Dawn Renshaw 7:41

Exactly. You know, and someone walks into a storefront, you know, and and the the owner or one of the employees is like, hi, you know, how was your day? What can I help you with? You know, what are you looking for? You know, I'm looking for a gift. Oh, is it for, you know, who is it for? How, you know, what are they like? I went into uh a store downtown Kalamazoo, um, colors and cocktails, and met with Lauren, and she helped me pick out a gift for, you know, a 12-year-old girl that's really into arts and crafts. And I've never been an arts and crafts type person. And so I was completely out of my element. Lauren didn't just try to sell me the highest price item, or she didn't, you know, try to sell me something she wanted to know about this young lady and what she likes and you know, what she has and what she doesn't have. And and that's what we look at with with marketing, with you know, especially with the online marketing, is there's so much bait and switch where we really like to build that relationship. And I talk about it, I want to build a relationship with a client and my clients build a relationship with their clients. I was in the insurance business. And so I wanted to build a relationship with my clients where they didn't switch for $50 a month, you know, because I the auto insurance, you know, they get, you know, it's like, oh, I'm gonna switch. And before I left that, I had a client that said that he wouldn't switch his insurance for $500 a month. And, you know, and I have another one who was a client all the way back when I did mortgage processing, and then he was an insurance client. And now the entire 16 years of my business, he has been a client of my marketing business. And that was build over a relationship.

Richard Piet 9:16

Yes, right. The the trust factor was built, and now he trusts you in any sector, which is quite the statement. So I suspect this could be true. You talk about bait and switch and the the tone and mudslinging and so on that tend to describe a vast amount of the culture we have right now. So, does that mean that kindness marketing stands out more because we're contrasting against some of the negative stuff

Relationship Building Beats Hard Selling

Richard Piet 9:50

that's out there?

Dawn Renshaw 9:51

Right, right. And I, you know, we all live in a world where um it's easy for someone to critique what you do. And I've I've had a little bit of criticism because um, you know, we don't put out a lot of, you know, big flashy things. We, you know, we build that that that relationship. And, you know, we don't, you know, there's some days that we might just post, you know, welcome to Monday. And it's like, well, what is that gonna sell? And it's like nothing. It's going to build a relationship with that person and you know, have them, it's like, wow, that, you know, that company cares about me. Um, and it, you know, we we often will have a client that, you know, I had someone who was reaching out to one of the med spas that we work with and they wanted a gift certificate. And, you know, they were like, How do I get it? And so I was out, you know, through the, you know, and a lot of times people are at work, they've got kids, they they're not able just to pick up the phone or they're not able to walk in. So they use social media as customer service. So she's like, I need a gift certificate. And I'm like, How much? When, you know, and all these things. So we were able to have that whole transaction happen right through Instagram.

Richard Piet 10:58

That's terrific. And you know, I relate to that. I encountered the potential to do business with someone recently, and I couldn't do that. I could not interact by email or a website message. I had to call. Okay. So I realized, boy, I've gotten away from that. I don't want to call. I just want to send them a message and get on with it. Then I called and there was an answering machine. Sorry, we can't take your call now. Leave a message, we'll call you back. No, boy, now this is stretching out into a back and forth. I'm gonna go someplace where I can schedule the appointment right now online and I don't have to think about it till it's time to go there. Right. Uh you make a great point. It's made to be simpler. I mean, sometimes it isn't, but the idea is we're trying to create the way to simplify it and engage faster.

Dawn Renshaw 11:56

Right. You know, and it's like you said, we live in a world where people are at work or they're in a situation where call just calling isn't convenient. And or, you know, one of my stories that's from years ago, but it still sticks with me is I was working with a garage, a service garage, and a guy sent in a message and said, you know, it was a Saturday morning at like eight o'clock. And he said, I was there yesterday.

Customer Care Through Social Channels

Dawn Renshaw 12:20

I had my driver's license out. I left my dry driver's license there. I am flying out Monday morning at 5 a.m. internationally, and I need my driver's license back. Please help me. You could see, you know, you can hear the desperation. So I was able to text the business owner and say, Hey, John Smith left his driver's license. And he goes, Oh, yeah, we have it in an envelope. We tried to call, but the number that we he had given us was disconnected.

Richard Piet 12:47

Oh my.

Dawn Renshaw 12:48

And so I was able to, you know, to get his number and connect the two of them. And he was able to come in Sunday morning and get his ID. So he was able, but like without social media, that would have, you know, that would have not happened.

Richard Piet 13:01

Yeah. And the whole talk about kindness. Well, come in on Sunday and get you your license back.

Dawn Renshaw 13:07

Right, right. And that's it's we over the years, I have I have learned that everyone is not our ideal client.

Richard Piet 13:15

So there are folks that might not want to do the kindness thing.

Dawn Renshaw 13:19

Right, right. They want, they want the sales, they don't care how they get them. Um, they don't want any, you know, a lot of people will call that, you know, that happy Monday or it's Monday. I hope you have a great week post. They'll call that fluff, and they're like, I don't want any of that fluff stuff. And it's like, unfortunately, we've learned, you know, over the years that sometimes people they don't want to be sold to all the time. They don't want, you know, we talk in social media world, there's an 80%, 20%, you know, 80% of your posts should be educational, inspirational, fluff, so to speak, you know, and 20% of them should be, you know, have a call to action. And, you know, again, it's like I would much rather walk into uh, you know, a family-owned furniture store than Art Van.

Richard Piet 14:04

Well, I don't think you're gonna walk into Art Van now, but uh I hear your point.

Dawn Renshaw 14:09

Yeah, yeah.

Richard Piet 14:10

Get your point, yeah. Wow. Uh there's a nugget right there. 8020, 80% educational or inspirational, 20% with a call to action. We could do a whole episode on what a call to action is, but yeah, and we will, I expect. But you start to get the point. This is the idea in our next set of episodes over the the next year. We're going to talk about things like this the kindness component. How should you be posting? How is this supposed to work? How can you take advantage of the knowledge that folks like Dawn and her colleagues have, this 80-20 thing, for example? Would you have known that just on your own, trying to make this work? These

Not Every Client Is A Fit

Richard Piet 15:00

are important things to talk about, and we're going to look forward to doing that over the course of the next several episodes on the Kindness Marketing podcast. By the way, we're going to link to the Stony Creek social media website in the show notes for this episode so you can connect with Dawn. If we've already inspired you to do that, you can. And we invite you to subscribe to the Kindness Marketing podcast where you get them. Just search for it and hit the subscribe button, and you'll get an alert when these episodes deploy. All right, Dawn. Looking forward to the next ones. Thank you.

Dawn Renshaw 15:37

Great. Thanks, Richard.