SEO BLOG

You should be obsessed with your customers.

Nowadays, marketing is less about a cold sales pitch and more about building lasting relationships with your customers.  While you can have an amazing marketing plan full of key content and targeted channels, the road to success starts before you even begin.  It’s all in how you structure your company and mold your policies.  To truly connect with consumers, your company needs to focus on creating a seamless and valuable user experience.

Customer service should be your primary focus of evolution for your business.  Your customer service reps are the first impression a consumer will have with your company.  Whether it is product questions or complaints, your staff should put the customer first.  Instead of instituting call time tracking, let your reps spend a little extra time with each consumer.  This extra step, this increased personalization, is what consumers seek in today’s marketplace.  The more they feel valued, the more loyal they will be to your brand.

Restructure your business model to focus on how to better serve your client.  It doesn’t matter if your customer brings in $1 or a million times more than that.  By building a solid customer experience, you are solidifying your company’s longevity.  Remember, consumers dictate your success.  Shun them and you might as well close up shop.

Make your brand more approachable and more humanized.  A customer wants to feel that you understand what they need and that they can relate to you.  All of your content – articles, white papers, infographics, videos – should have a voice that resonates with your audience so create a personality for your brand before you even begin marketing.  Your digital marketing agency can help with this aspect as well but it’s always best to have some idea of where you want your company to go, how it sounds and how it makes a customer feel.

All of your communications with the customer should be personalized.  Throw out generic phone scripts or template emails.  Have your reps trained to address each customer and their needs without trying to sort them into a neat little box.  Never spam your customers but it is okay to offer recommendations as long as your message is tailored to their likes and needs.

Another great way to connect with consumers and strengthen your customer service program is to actually listen to what they say.  They will let you know on social media, your website or through your chat/phone/email services.  Take the time to find out what issues they have and go the extra step to help resolve it.  Even if there are 50 people looking to track their order, offer to do it for them.  A few small gestures add up in the long run.

Before you ever focus on how, where and when to market, make sure your company is dedicated to the consumer and able to address and resolve all sorts of needs.  Taking the time to train staff and consistently improve customer service is the key to connecting and creating successful marketing campaigns.