[dennyis]

Local business owners are hounded by marketing companies everyday promising the moon. Marketing seems like the great Panacea, but no one is reminding them that going over the top with current customers could potentially create a higher return.

$250/mo on Yelp ads gets a few dozen eyeballs on the business.

$250 in free product every month to regular customers creates Fanatics who tell ever, and could possibly get just as many of their peers eyeballs with a FB/IG post about their experience.

A lot of people forget the basics because it's not being sold.

[Grustaf]

Sure, but still, I don't see why you would need to look at asymptotes and convergence. It's enough to look at individual customers and ask the baker if he thinks it's easier to attract a new client than to stop an existing one from leaving.

[alexchamberlain]

Marketing != Advertising

Marketing should be just as much about retention as it is about acquiring new customers (neither of which is advertising mind)