Our job as a digital marketer is to drive meaningful and stronger connections between the customers and the brands. We need to flip the coin. Everything we do should begin with the customer into consideration. Earlier we were focusing more on the brand’s profitability. But, when we put our customer-first approach, we would have more happy and loyal customers. Because, now in the digital age, relevance is the key to marketing success. Customers now want to have only relevant customer experience.
Why Relevance is so Important?
Let’s see how relevance is the key.
Today’s customers live digital lives. They’re engaging with brands through various devices and touchpoints. They want to have a seamless brand experience wherever they go on the web or off-line. That’s why global giants like Disney, Apple, Starbucks, Amazon, etc., are focusing on omnichannel marketing.
The customers expect their questions answered as quickly as possible. They want to interact with real human beings and not machines. They don’t want to be lost in email abyss.
Customers want to talk to a real person who can solve their issues, who can answer their questions, who can help them in making their buying decisions.
Customers are more connected and empowered than ever before. And brands and have to meet their expectations to remain relevant to them.
Be Relevant
With the huge amount of data available we can now deeply understand our customer behavior and preferences. We exactly know the entire customer journey.
Understand what drives transactions. We even know our customers’ preferences. We have enough data available with us to create meaningful and relevant customer experiences for our customers.
With this much information at our fingertips, there is no point that we still create an irrelevant customer experience and kill our brand.
The Challenge
The challenge and opportunity both for the digital marketers are to interpret the data and effectively use it to create the relevant customer experience.
The digital marketer’s true success lies in combining data-driven consumer understanding with unbounded creativity and a smart distribution strategy.
If we can use the data insights to target individuals on a very personal level and focus on creating value for them, we can create meaningful digital experiences for them and build a loyal customer base.
How to Create Relevant Customer Experience?
Since creating the relevant customer experience is the most significant key in building a relationship with the customer, the marketers should be focusing on the following points to deliver the relevant customer experience.
Transparency
Relevance and transparency go hand-in-hand. And this is more significant when it comes to the relationship between the customer and brand.
Customers want to know how their personal data would be used by the brand. Hence, building transparency about the data usage would build a long-term relationship between the brand and the customer.
By letting our customers know beforehand would help us build more relevant ads, marketing communications, and other tools to show them relevant products, relevant messages, and give them relevant brand experience.
Personalization
Today’s customer wants to be in control and being taken care of by the brand. They want to see personalized communication, they want to interact with the brand in person through the digital touchpoints.
They want to be valued by the brands. And with so much data it is easy to create personalized communication, especially through email communications, newsletters, products, text messages, etc.
Value for Money
Customers want to get complete value for the money they spend on products or services. Hence, it is important for the brand to deliver the complete value for the money.
This can be done by being relevant for the customers and having an easy way for customers to communicate with the brand. Good customer service goes a long way in building customer relationships.
Summing Up
Though it is absolutely necessary for marketers to identify, select, and implement new technologies to support their marketing strategies. But they should always bear in mind that the customer is the king and the customer has the power.
And they want meaningful and relevant brand experience. The tools, channels, and technology marketers use are only meaningful if they can add value in fulfilling a higher purpose, and the higher purpose is relevance.
Marketers, therefore, need to cultivate an unwavering focus on what will make their brands meaningful. They should communicate with customers when it really matters, and not lose their focus by the noise.
Holding the keys to building rapport and relationships with customers is what marketers should be caring about.
By doing so, they will help brands evolve and transform themselves to better match their customer needs and aspirations.
The roles of the marketers are to make their brands more relevant for the customers, today and tomorrow.
