Could You Be Undermining Your Customers?

Could you be undermining your customers? No one deliberately sets out to do it but it happens all too often. And the opportunity cost can be significant.

Imagine a company with a successful product or service that markets to businesses. The company has a great website, they work hard to nurture a great brand, and they are diligent about following up on new business leads. The team is smart and motivated and the company’s product or service is effective at fulfilling its promise. The company is growing.
 
What could be missing?
 
Too often it is the customer who is missing from the marketing mix. The company may attract, convert and even retain their customers very effectively but they may be neglecting to “mine” the inherent marketing value that resides within their customers to help them grow smarter. This lack of focus on a customer base as a marketing asset can result in missing sales that can be closed faster and at less expense. 
 
So how do you avoid “undermining” your customers?
 
Start by asking yourself how well do you understand them. You may have already segmented your customer base by product/service, market geography and buyer persona. But beyond macro-level segmentation, how well do you understand the challenges and opportunities that your customers are facing and what led them to purchase from you to solve these? And how well do your customers understand the value that they have generated from your solution?

There is a wellspring of content waiting.
 
Once you can articulate what types of customer successes exist, you realize that each customer represents far more than the sum of their orders. They can be your next case study, press release, white paper, conference lecture, blog or podcast. They may also be your next testimonial, referral or endorsement. In today’s marketing world where content rules, there is a wellspring of content and insights ready to be accessed and shared by first connecting back with your customers to mine their experiences.
 
Achieve a win/win outcome.

And the end result does not serve just your brand. By celebrating the successes of your customers, you are burnishing their brand too.  And through the discovery process of exploring the impact of your solution on their business, together you can identify benefits that may have been previously overlooked by you both.
 
Engaging your customers in the process gives your company a more motivated and informed customer base to pursue endorsements, referral opportunities, and repeat orders. Truly this customer reconnect is an integral part of their buyer journey and your marketing strategy. It's time to start mining!  Customer marketing is one of many areas that The 360 Marketer provides strategic and tactical support for emerging and established brands.

The 360 Marketer is a marketing consultancy based on over 30 years of growing leading B2C and B2B brands in multiple verticals in Canada, the United States, and México. To learn more, please visit www.the360marketer.net or contact Stephen Armstrong at 714.878.5427 or sarmstrong@the360marketer.net