Customers are the life-line for any business. Customers buy your products or services and can be your greatest source of referrals to get additional clients. Customer-centric marketing is based on keeping the customer in mind with all of your marketing strategy to make more money for your business. Therefore, all of your marketing strategy must be similar to your product development and content creating, that is, placing the focus on customers. To understand this concept better, here are 8 vital concepts to learn to place the focus on the customer in marketing by understanding “why” this is important.
1. Customers Bring All the Money to the Table – It seems like an obvious statement but sometimes companies forget the fact that the only way to make money is to get customers to buy what your business offers. Customer-centric marketing always remembers this fact by deeply understanding as much about your customer as possible.
2. Customers Can Be Divided in Segments – To be customer-centric, learn about segmenting customers into different groups based on various criteria such as demographics and psychographics. Demographics provide information on the factual details of people such as gender, age groups, ethnicity, or other factors particular to your business that will attract your customers. Psychographics talk about the ways your customers think; what attracts them to your products, why they choose what you offer over someone else and so on. Knowing this information is a key factor to attract and retain customers to increase repeat sales.
3. Customers are Individuals not a Group – Thinking of each customer as an individual is important when it comes to customer-centric marketing. You do this by understanding individual aspects of customers by researching their purchasing behaviors, as well as what influences them to be attracted to your products or services. Create marketing personas that represent the customer so all marketing “speaks” the language of your primary customers. This lets the customer recognize themselves in your marketing materials.
4. Customer Satisfaction is Key – Customers that make a buying choice based on customer-centric marketing messages are found to be more satisfied after their purchases. When the customer feels their needs, wants, and desires are reflected through the marketing messages, they will relate to those messages and feel they have adequate information to make a sound buying choice.
5. Customer Centric Products are Needed – Focusing on your customers extends to creating products and services the specific customer wants, not just what the seller wants to market to them. That is, your programs, services, and more naturally sway the customer to be attracted to them because they address specific desires of the customer. For example, a weight-loss program is probably good, but a weight-loss program for women over 40 who suffer from diabetes is more customer-centric to a particular market. Knowing what your customers needs and want help drive the development of products and services that address those aspects, naturally developing long term economic viability of your programs compared to a generic program on the market.
6. Customers are Worth Respect – A company that uses customer-centric marketing uses communication tactics the customer recognizes which lets the person feel heard, valued, and served. When a vendor shows the customer is understood, that customer feels respected as their needs and wants seem important to the vendor. When you can let the customer “hear herself talking” by using words and phrases that customer commonly uses to express their needs, the person feels hear and respected. All marketing should reflect this understanding.
7. Customers Repeat Bringing Money to the Table – Customer-centric marketing understands that 80 percent of all purchases are made by the same customers. Keeping current customers in the buying look is vital for scaling up a business. Being able to re-market to current customers strengthens your brand, and can cost much less than having to create new marketing campaigns to attract new customers.
8. Customers Expect You to Keep Promises – Companies who participate in customer centric marketing don’t make promises to they can’t keep to their customers. In fact, they know it is always better to under promise and over deliver. When customers know that when you tell them something, you stand by it you build trust between you and your customers. This is a key factor in doing repeat business. Your prices might be higher than the competitor but knowing you will always deliver on what you promise will bring customers back and keep them from straying elsewhere just to end up potentially disappointed.
Customer-centric businesses have the goal of creating a culture that shows how they value the customer above all else. They have a a marketing strategy that let’s customers know for sure that they are important and come first. When customers feel appreciated, valued and respected, they end up very loyal to the brand. Does your marketing strategy have a customer-centric focus? If not, it’s time to revisit your marketing strategy to make adjustments as needed to move past the competition and create brand loyalty.