In today’s digital ecosystem, content remains king—but only when it wears the right crown.
The most effective content marketing isn’t about producing more; it’s about producing with purpose. As I’ve observed working with organizations from Fortune 500 companies to solopreneurs, successful content strategies begin with a fundamental question: Continue reading “Strategic Content Marketing: Where Value Meets Visibility”
Loyal fans are loyal fans. The more loyal they are the more they feel a sense of ownership over the brands they’re loyal to. Just ask Harley motorcycle owners. Because of their loyalty and sense of ownership, they can often be quite put off when brands make changes they don’t like. Like changes to the brand names they’ve become accustomed to.
Case in point: Continue reading “X, Hoofbeat, Whatever: Does It Really Matter What You Call Your Brand?”
I’ve been a rabid marketing practitioner for decades. I understand and believe in the power of marketing for companies of all types and sizes, across all industries.
And, I’ll admit, there have even been times when I’ve been too eager to turn to marketing when a go-slow approach might have served me better. Continue reading “Are You Being Too Engaged With Your New Customers?”
A while ago my husband went to the movie theatre to buy some tickets that we were going to give to some people who had helped us out with a project. He wanted 8 tickets. The theatre said “No, sorry – we only Continue reading “You’ve got it. I want it. But you won’t let me buy it?”
Too often when marketers think about increasing customer engagement, they tend to err on the side of selecting promotional options. That, though, is often premature and can result in a lot of money spent unnecessarily. Worse, in some cases, their efforts can also work against them. Continue reading “Top Strategies for Increasing Customer Engagement”
Sometimes I think the most simple thing that we can do as businesspeople and marketers is “put ourselves in the shoes” of our prospects and customers. Are we making it easy to buy? Or are we setting up unintentional barriers, however slight, that may interfere with—or obliterate—the purchasing process?
Continue reading “Are You Making Your Customers Work Too Hard? They May Just Give Up.”
Marketers often speak of the “customer journey.” It’s a concept that describes the various decisions customer make and the interactions they have with a company from the point where they’ve identified a need until the point when they make a purchase—and beyond. A customer journey map is important because it helps marketers visually depict the customer journey and identify areas that may represent barriers or risks of loss. It provides a documented, explicit vision of how customers will interact with your company and is a good tool for sharing with employees to help them understand the journey and the role that they play in engaging and retaining customers. Continue reading “Creating Customer Journey Maps”
Customer relations is a crucial aspect of any business strategy. And for good reason. Amy Gallo of Harvard Business Review writes, “Depending on which study you believe, and what industry you’re in, acquiring a new customer is anywhere from five to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one.” The importance of customer relations is especially true in the B2B context. Typically, B2B companies are working with a smaller pool of customers than B2C companies, and each customer, therefore, makes up a larger share of revenue.
McDonald’s doesn’t want to lose customers, but it’s a lot less painful for McDonald’s to lose a customer than for Boeing to lose one. Similarly, many businesses serve both consumers and businesses. Consider a rental car or hotel company. They obviously have many individual consumer customers, but they also serve large organizations, such as corporations with staff who travel regularly.
So how do you maintain those crucial strong relationships with B2B customers? Here are some tips. Continue reading “Taking a Long View of B2B Customer Relationship Management”
A frequently quoted “formula” in the field of customer relations tells us: “expectations – reality = disappointment.” While this may seem simplistic, don’t relegate it to the ranks of witty sayings or bumper sticker slogans. There is a great deal of truth in this straightforward equation. Most business owners, managers and customer-facing employees have dealt with unhappy customers. It’s part of the job. But all too often, that customer frustration or disappointment can be avoided by properly managing expectations. Continue reading “How Well Are You Realistically Managing Customer Expectations?”
In an article for the American Marketing Association (AMA) titled “How Effective Is Social Media Marketing at Driving Brand Loyalty?”, Lawrence Crosby discusses the numerous ways in which social media can be used as a great tool for increasing customer engagement and – hopefully, as a result – customer loyalty. Much of the article deals with customer engagement in terms of creating online communities and serving up useful content to keep customers coming back to your business through its various channels, online and otherwise. Continue reading “The “Five P’s” of Social Care: Monitoring and Managing Online Chatter”
