I hear it all the time.
“We don’t know what to blog or write emails about.”
“Our customers won’t read anything we send them.”
“Our customers stay with us because we have a great customer experience. They don’t care about all that other stuff.”
That’s fine and dandy, but if you want to keep customers for the long haul–if you want to future-proof your customers from your competitors–it takes a lot more than just great products and services. It takes a lot more than simply meeting their expectations, and it certainly takes a lot more than merely providing adequate service.
Your marketing content will influence customer loyalty and will help you build customers for life (a term highly overused, and one I rarely try and use), but only if you do it right.
Your marketing content used to attract customers and your marketing content used to retain customers are entirely different animals.
When you create your marketing material to attract, you’re doing so in a way to reach your ideal customers. More so than not, it’s about reaching the right customers. It rarely has anything to do with quantity.
Effective attraction marketing is all about quality and precision targeting.
If you want your existing customers to engage and interact with you then you need to rethink how you’re marketing to them.
More importantly, if you want that content to have an impact and create results, then you need to reconsider what you’re doing.
Your objectives have changed. You’re no longer selling. Now, you’re nurturing. Now you’re becoming Evergreen. Here are a few tips on how to do that.
Create Connection
Customers crave a connection to a real human being. In a Forbes article I was interviewed for last year, the author said, “we want to do business with people we like. And even when we’re talking about a huge company, we still want a human element.”
Your customers need to believe they’re dealing with people who genuinely care about them.
They need to be fascinated with you, and they need to share common values with you. You need to have a big strong vision of the future and one that customers can attach themselves to.
A great example of this is Tesla, Inc. New and existing customers believe deeply in the company’s vision of the future. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has created a legion of loyal followers who believe as deeply as he does in the future of his product.
Use Stories
Don’t just publish a salesly newsletter. Don’t just push out another email blast promoting the latest offer.
Tell your customers a compelling story!
A friend recently showed me a great example where Apple used a subtle language shift on their iTunes page. Instead of saying, “Watch the Ad,” the caption says, “Watch the Film.”
Which you rather watch?
Use stories to tell how a new products or service came to be. Use stories to showcase customer success stories and case studies. Don’t forget to create new content in various formats. No longer is text based marketing enough.
Make Them Belong
Companies that build and create a sense of community for their customers have a much easier time keeping customers engaged. You need to make your customers feel like they’re a part of something bigger – a part of something more.
How can you create a “place” for your customers?
How can you make them feel like they’re part of something that others aren’t.
In addition, communication to your existing customers must be frequent, extensive, and different from what everyone else receives.
These are just a few short tips, but represent some big distinctions for you to think about.
When the prospect becomes a customer everything changes.
How do your marketing efforts change once that happens?
Best,
Noah
P.S. We’re already 13 days into the New Year! Is this going to be your best year ever? I’d love to be a part of your company’s success story and share with you some successes my current clients have experienced over the past few months. Email me, or call me and we’ll set up a time to discuss how I can help your company experience it’s best year ever.
