We live in era where our customers are always online and they expect an immediate response. A decade ago only around 1% of the world’s populations used smartphones. By 2020 that number is expected to be 80%. And nearly 80% of smartphone owners check their mobiles within 15 minutes of waking up.
Please have a look at a recent research from Adobe*:
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These numbers show how important is producing good content instead of producing something because everyone do this. Moreover, sloppy marketing will no longer get poor results, it will not get any. And experts like Daniel Rowles FCIM, a the Chartered Institute of Marketing course director and Dorota Iwankiewicz FCIM and Ralph Lightman, directors from DM2 Agency agree with this rough but true statement.
Times changes… Take to the account that traditionally, businesses have nurtured customers and cultivated employees who will advocate to their brands. Today, employees and customers are looking to brands to advocate on their behalf, for things that matter to them. Therefore, think in terms of the customer life-cycle, instead of only conversion.
Communications need to be accurate, relevant, timely and highly personalised
Hand in hand with rapid technological development is the amount of data to which businesses and their marketers have access, offering a level of customer insight and personalisation that could only be dreamed of in previous decades. This includes knowing what products and services they want and when. It is not only right time and right place – it is what will they need tomorrow? And GDPR can help in some way😊
GDPR presents organisations with an opportunity to show their customers that they are fully committed to looking after the data. If brands can show they are taking the new regulation seriously, customers are more likely to trust them with their continuing engaging.
GDPR should be considered a driver for innovation. Remember that half of the brand’s sale now come from millennials. Brands have the opportunity to re-imagine what their customers’ engagements should feel like. Following Robin Collyer’s, a specialist at CRM, opinion:
Using innovative technology should never come at the expense of the human touch – that is something that customers value deeply.
If you are even more interested in a topic: how “to domesticate” GDPR in your business, reserve your time 24 of May for live with Dorota Iwankiewicz FCIM, who works with the international group of solicitors and IT specialists helping the entrepreneurs minimise the risk regarding to new regulations. This time live with Dorota only in Polish language: link
Experience before sales
Marketing is uniquely placed to understand consumers and champion the customers experience!
We always train in DM2 Agency our new employees and co-workers with this mantra: “Fall in love with clients and their problems!” And we strongly recommend this to you. When we speak about technology… Buying technology does not solve business problems, because other factors do not work and suffer.
Ivan Mazour, founder of customer platform for retailers, predicts:
Brands of the future are going to be lumped into 1 of 2 buckets. Bucket no 1 is for organisations who care about the customer over and above everything else; it will be about making sure that every single customer walks away from an interaction feeling more engaged, happy and excited. Bucket no 2 will be full of brands that customers want to block. There is no gradient there. (In the world where consumers have a little brand loyalty and many options) people do not sit in the middle.
Moreover. More and more customers now expect a seamless post-purchase experience! And it is crucial to long-term brand reputation. Why? Because future consumers will not tolerate a poor or difficult experience. Short-term goals (sales conversion) will need to be balanced by long-term strategy. And based on DM2’s experience, it is a difficult part to negotiating with company directors. However, (we repeat it again) nowadays we have to look at customer lifetime value, rather than one-off purchases. Hence, we must invest much more up front, as you are expecting to see repetitive purchases.
If you are even more interested in a topic: why reviews and influencing marketing are ROI driven, reserve your time 7 of June in London or 28 of June in Leeds for an event with Ralph Lightman, Senior Sales & Marketing Strategy Professional, who currently supervises SEO for 182 domains and Google campaigns for 124 domains.
London, 7th of June: https://www.pblink.co.uk/event/business-mixer-ecommerce-june-2018/
Leeds, 28th of June: https://www.pblink.co.uk/event/business-mixer-leeds-june2018/
*Sources: Adobe research 2018; Global Digital Report by S. Kemp; Reports Fast Company Magazine; CIM published April 2018