Walter Pike makes two very good points in his 2010 Bizcommunity.com trend report about the two assumptions that traditional marketing is built on:

1. Most marketers think their customers are ignorant
2. That these ignorant customers believe what they are told

It’s a point well made. As a consumer you know you’re not ignorant, you don’t believe what you are told. But as marketers we forget this and believe we need to build customer loyalty by trying to control the conversation. We believe that our marketing research defined marketing strategy is spot-on. Hogwash — and customer loyalty pays the price.

Here’s the truth about today’s marketing:

1. What other people are saying about your brand is more important than what you say about it
2. Most marketing research is hogwash. Most purchasing decisions are impulsive acts and are based on sub-conscious desires.

I can only wonder how much advertising money has been flushed down the toilet as these marketers attempt to push past the clatter to try and develop brand awareness as opposed to customer loyalty.

I know when I was at university I was taught this product driven approach to marketing. This system belief was supported by the large multinational companies are work for is the brand manager. The truth is the product driven marketing strategies are no longer relevant. Today’s marketing strategies have to be…

Customer Powered Marketing Strategies

One my favourite marketing authors is Seth Godin. Like most people I love his books. His ideas are expressed simply and clearly. If there are two things that I have learned from these books it is this

• To be different you have to be remarkable. Good enough doesn’t cut it anymore and being mediocre doesn’t build customer loyalty.
• You can no longer broadcast to customers. It is time to really talk to each other with out the window dressing, fluff and string of broken promises.

So what are the implications of this change? I see…

Five Key Marketing Changes

1. Customer Loyalty needs to be the strategic benchmark for your marketing activities. Just cos I know about you does not mean I will buy from you. There needs to be something more solid that tells you how well you’re doing and customer loyalty – when stripped of fluff and satisfaction indexes – is the way to go.
2. Change Management is built around developing customer loyalty. Why? Two reasons:
   • Because that’s the point your business. If you’re not building customer value and getting a return on your investment, what the point?
   • The customer experience is gaining ground as a valuable marketing tool and your entire organisation has to focus on creating this experience.
3. Customer Line of Sight. Ever action has a reaction and is something your staff what reaction their actions cause. They need to know how they are impacting the customer experience.
4. Start Listening – Really Listening.  A loyal customer wants to talk to you. They want you to succeed and they will give you real feed back when you are open, honest and sincere. The days of broadcasting to your customer are over.
5. Front Line Empowerment. Your customer engages with your frontline staff and this defines the experience they have. Execs have always been loath to give too much away but with the proper tools in place this front line empowerment is easily managed.

I think the point that I’m making here is that it’s time to turn your business into a marketing department. It’s easy for your customer to see through the bull and they are looking for value for themselves — not you.

After if all you have is a product and no customers, you don’t have a business. And if you do have customer’s that are not stick around and buying more from you, you are far less profitable than you could be.

This year make your marketing goal to create a real customer experience and build customer loyalty.

Picture Credit: httpf://www.flickr.com/photos/torley/ / CC BY-SA 2.0