Not all customers are the same.
Of course, we know this!
So, why are marketers still ignoring the immense impact that consumer marketing strategies have on sales?
This could boil down to a number of reasons, such as:
A lack of understanding of the definitions of consumer marketing and retention strategies
A disconnect between marketing and buyer success or support teams
An unwillingness to invest in automation and tools to enable and measure these strategies
A general lack of awareness and inspiration
Budget constraints
We’re here to demystify this as we explore bulletproof consumer engagement marketing strategies to grow your brand.
Our favorite definition of customer marketing, by Marketo.com, is:
Customer marketing, or consumer base marketing, is marketing that extends beyond acquiring consumers and aims to identify and market additional products or services to existing consumers, retain them as consumers, and develop them into advocates.
And here’s how other top sources define customer marketing or customer engagement marketing:
Basically, customer marketing strategies are focused on the following:
Marketing to your existing buyer base instead of targeting strangers
Turning leads into consumers and consumers into advocates
Nurturing brand loyalty by building relationships with consumers to drive retention
Identifying and building a stream of potential consumers for advocate marketing
Providing personalized recommendations based on consumer purchase history and browsing behavior to up sell/cross sell
Providing after-sales support to improve satisfaction to drive retention
The role, responsibilities, and metrics – State of Customer Marketing Report 2023/2024
This is an important marketing strategy for new consumers. As soon as a shopper signs on or purchases your product, give them a personalized, thoughtful welcome. This can be in the form of a “getting started” email, a sign-up voucher, or by simply welcoming them to your community and offering a few tips on how to make the most of your product or service.
The first contact is all about creating a positive first impression and demonstrating the standard of service your shoppers can expect from your brand during and after the on-boarding process.
Lush
Lush does this very simply with a welcome email, including a few popular picks to get started with. This is a good way to inspire new members to make their first purchase.
Airbnb
Airbnb creates a strong connection moment from the very first email by welcoming new users to their global community of travelers.
Asana
Like Airbnb, Asana welcomes new teams into their community. The welcome email gives the new client 3 easy steps to get started on creating a task, thereby driving usage of the product and ensuring buyer success on the platform.
You’ve nailed that beautiful welcome email, and your shoppers are feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. Now what?
Start building up a pipeline of shoppers who are actively giving you feedback from the get-go. These types of consumers are your advocates and they’re extremely valuable as both returning buyers, and as brand ambassadors.
Identify them and start gathering their stories for a steady stream of fresh content!
Word-of-mouth marketing, using existing buyers, is one of the most powerful consumer retention strategies you can employ.
Publish buyer testimonials on your website
Blog about newsworthy buyer success stories
Distribute stories through newsletters and social media
Re-share positive and constructive feedback on social channels (leveraging user-generated-content)
Interview brand ambassadors for fresh video content
Invite top-level ambassadors to participate in consumer-only podcasts
Create an Ambassador Board – a sort of “brain trust” to represent and speak for your buyers at decision-making levels in your organization
Zapier
Zapier has done a great job of using client stories and testimonials in their consumer marketing strategy. The Zapier blog has a deep and detailed list of guides, tips, and content dedicated to common challenges facing consumers, industry insights and expert advice.
Image via Zapier Blog
Airbnb
Airbnb regularly re-posts stunning pics from their clients and super-hosts (who are essentially their biggest ambassadors). This is a smart way of encouraging brand mentions on social media, and leveraging word-of-mouth marketing.
Tip: If you are just getting started with customer marketing and engagement strategies, re-posting user generated content on social media (with permission) is one of the most cost-effective activities out there – it’s basically free!
PS: looking to get started on your brand ambassador marketing strategy while you’re at it? We have just the thing, check out our course on Ambassador Marketing.
The work is not done once you’ve converted a sale. The importance of customer satisfaction in marketing cannot be stressed enough – this is your low-hanging fruit, and a start in reducing churn.
Now here’s the kicker.
What if we told you that customer marketing can improve customer satisfaction, and that you could be at the forefront of customer marketing by aligning customer success and support with marketing teams? It makes perfect sense when you see the relationship between revenue impact and customer satisfaction.
“This correlation is strong. Companies with moderate and high revenue from customer marketing efforts report that their customers are satisfied or very satisfied. On the other hand, companies whose customer marketing efforts have poor, limited or no results also show neutral or dissatisfied customers. There are many facets to customer marketing and the responsibility of generating revenue cannot all be tied to customer satisfaction. However, it is a significant and clear factor. Satisfied customers buy more.” ~ State of Customer Marketing 2017 (Influtive)
Customer Marketing: How Much Should Customer Success Own? – Lauren Denault
Listen to your customers, thank them for compliments, incorporate their feedback into product improvements. Remember: their success is your success. #CustomerMarketing #CustomerSatisfaction Share on X“When we say “talk to your customers,” or “listen to your customers,” … It can also mean sending surveys that include long-form response fields, or building quicker in-app surveys into your roadmap to uncover moments of friction.” ~ Nichole Elizabeth DeMeré B2B SaaS Consultant, Growth Marketer, and Copywriter.
Uber
Uber occasionally sends out emails to regular users to participate in surveys. These surveys help the brand to gain insights into how they can continue improving the everyday experience of their service, while identifying their own brand advocates in the process.
“The core tension between marketing and customer success is that there actually isn’t tension. Marketing is responsible for generating new leads before the point of sale, and customer success is responsible for everything that happens after.” ~ Hubspot.com
Tip: You don’t have to figure it out all by yourself. Get in the fast lane using this excellent guide on How to Align Your Marketing and Customer Success Teams
In a nutshell, you simply cannot do without it any longer if you are running an eCommerce business. It can cost up to 5 times more to attract a new customer vs retaining one. In addition, marketing budgets are slowly being eaten up by media giants like Facebook and Google, why not invest a portion of that budget into targeting your own database? Among many others, some of the biggest benefits of customer marketing strategies include:
Customer centric marketing is a business marketing strategy in which the customer is placed at the heart or centre of the business. In this strategy, the customer is prioritized over growing sales. The primary objective is to grow long-term customer-business relationships, through: customer-focused leadership; using metrics for acquiring relevant customer data; and by empowering the front-line.
Customer centric marketing can lead to benefiting a company in many different ways. Firstly, customer centric marketing goes beyond the sales process and rather implements marketing strategies in order to engage with and improve the overall brand experience for the customer. This involves follow-up or feedback, gathering data and proactive communication. By tracking and recording customer related behavior, businesses are able to understand the holistic experience of the customer and are equipped to improve their experience each step of the way. This approach equips marketers with a means of continually growing the pool of loyal customers and boosting repeat sales.
Customer-driven marketing includes the following four major steps:
1. Market Segmentation- dividing the total market into measurable, discrete groups according to different characteristics, behaviors or needs. This step assesses all the people the business can/could sell its product or service to, according to the following segment examples: geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral.
2. Target Marketing- evaluating the marketing segments and determining which type of marketing strategies will suit each segment the best.
3. Differentiation- determining the correct competitive advantage of the product or service. This looks at the type and number of product attributes you wish to promote. These include five types of differentiation attributes: product, services, channels, people and image.
4. Positioning- a product’s position- this is the way in which the product is defined by customers based on important characteristics.
It will be beneficial to your brand if you look at the following topics and questions:
• Website: Is your website user friendly for your customers? Find a way to discover if customers enjoy their online experience with your brand or is it difficult for them to follow, leaving them frustrated. For example, Hotjar is a wonderful tool to help brands understand their online users.
• Content marketing: focus your efforts on developing engaging and relevant online content that serves to improve or uplift your customers. Avoid using cliché or irrelevant information. Research shows that the majority of customers are drawn to quality content, such as through blogs, vlogs or podcasts. Finding ways to share real stories, inspiring testimonials and experiences will draw your customers in even more.
• Customer support: providing strong, quality customer support, through a wide range of channels, is very important in retaining and attracting customers.
References:
Customer Marketing – Marketo: https://blog.marketo.com/category/customer-marketing
Proven strategies for customer marketing: https://www.copper.com/blog/customer-marketing
Benchmark Report: 2022 State of Customer Marketing: https://influitive.com/resources/2022-state-of-customer-marketing/
Five Times Customers Asked For Change and Brands Actually Delivered it: https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/5-times-customer-change/
21 Best Welcome Email Examples to Engage Customers in 2019: https://www.getvero.com/resources/welcome-emails/
12 Stats That Prove Why Personalization is So Important: https://econsultancy.com/12-stats-that-prove-why-personalisation-is-so-important/
How to Write an Effective Welcome Email: https://www.shopify.com/blog/welcome-email
Here’s What Customer Marketing Will Look Like in the Very Near Future: https://www.cmswire.com/digital-marketing/heres-what-customer-marketing-will-look-like-in-the-very-near-future/
Why Customer Success Should Own Customer Marketing: https://www.gainsight.com/blog/customer-success-customer-marketing/