Many companies spend a large amount of their marketing budget on obtaining new customers. While this is an intelligent way to advance your business, it is not the only way to direct its growth.
Instead of focusing on prospects and marketing to their needs, a better and more affordable way is to try customer marketing and focus on your relation and effective communication with your current list of customers. By communicating clearly and engaging with your existing customer base and improving various customer relationships, you will increase customer loyalty, retention, advocacy, and community participation.
A customer marketing strategy is essential, regardless of the size of your business or the industry. That is why we break down how to implement an impressive customer marketing strategy and ensure your current customers stay happy and keep coming back.
#1 Build a strong team
Customer experience is developed over a set of touchpoints along their customer journey. For that reason, it is of great importance that you have a synchronized and reliable team that implements your customer marketing strategy.
But how can companies cultivate dedicated teams and encourage teamwork, especially when they work online?
To motivate your employees to collaborate, improve their skills, and address their weaknesses, you should introduce regular virtual team building opportunities. These activities can be group games, challenges, and exercises conducted via Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet. Icebreaker questions or group fitness classes are good examples of this type of activity. The purpose is to build and strengthen relationships, improve communication, and boost employee morale.
#2 Collect customer data to build relevant messages
To shape marketing campaigns that resonate with your customers, you need to understand what your customers want. And the only way to discover their wants is by collecting customer data by directly asking customers, indirectly tracking them, and combining data from other sources with your own.
Since this is such a vital and complex task, you need sound customer relationship management. By utilizing analytics, you can see their customer journey, if their lead status has changed, and better understand how your customer may act in the future.
Once you extract the relevant data, you will make your customer marketing efforts feel more personal, focusing on specific customer needs. As a result, you will be able to create relevant marketing messages that resonate with your customers.
#3 Use brand advocates
All customers are valuable to your brand, but not all of them are the same. For example, the customers who love your products, those who use them daily and rave about you on social media, are important because they advocate for your brand. And your customer marketing strategy can help you pinpoint exactly who your advocates are.
Once you discover them, you can turn them into case studies, testimonials, video reviews, and referrals for other potential customers. Do not forget to reward your brand advocates by giving them a VIP treatment, provide access to exclusive content, discounts, or host events for them.
#4 Create loyalty programs
The loyalty of your customers is an essential part of your customer marketing strategy. To maintain solid customer relationships that benefit your customers and you, you must introduce a loyalty program.
To create a rewards program, first, you need to determine your budget and decide how your program will reward loyal customers once they take action. For example, a freebie, giveaway, or reward are excellent ways to renew interest in your product while showing that you are keeping the customer and their needs in mind. The same goes for referral codes or discounts to reward current customers while encouraging new ones to seek your service.
Then, consider personalizing your reward since doing so shows your customers that you understand their needs. Finally, give your audience an apparent reason to engage and spend with your business. Today’s buyers want to invest in brands that give back to different causes and the community.
#5 Be consistent when delivering your content
When it comes to successful customer marketing, half the action is showing up. That means producing unique content, coming up with new offers and deals, and sending engaging email newsletters.
Checking in regularly with your existing customers is an integral part of keeping them involved. By consistently delivering value to them, you will always stay fresh in their minds. After all, their attention is valuable, and there are not so many brands they can support at once.
Remember that nowadays, your customers need comforting and reassuring communication that provides specific information about what your brand is doing to respond to the pandemic. By keeping your customers informed about safely gaining access to your products and services during the crisis, you show that you care.
Bottom line
While it may seem that focusing on existing customers is a no-brainer, sometimes it is easy to overlook them as you pursue new ones. However, ignoring your current customer base may result in you losing valuable revenue, or worse — handing it over to your competitors.
Because of that, creating and implementing a sound customer marketing strategy should be a priority for every business, large or small. With that in mind, apply these strategies to help you make a big difference in boosting client and customer satisfaction with your brand and its services.
Founder Dinis Guarda
IntelligentHQ Your New Business Network.
IntelligentHQ is a Business network and an expert source for finance, capital markets and intelligence for thousands of global business professionals, startups, and companies.
We exist at the point of intersection between technology, social media, finance and innovation.
IntelligentHQ leverages innovation and scale of social digital technology, analytics, news, and distribution to create an unparalleled, full digital medium and social business networks spectrum.
IntelligentHQ is working hard, to become a trusted, and indispensable source of business news and analytics, within financial services and its associated supply chains and ecosystems