Brand awareness is a significant goal in marketing and, in all probability, one of your primary objectives. But it’s effortless to get so focused on gaining new customers that you need to pay attention to the ones you already have. Here is where customer marketing strategies come in.
Understanding the Meaning of Customer Marketing
Customer marketing is a category centered on your current customer list instead of unknown prospects.
Customer marketing encompasses all marketing activities and initiatives that target existing customers. It can include campaigns to increase consumer retention, loyalty, advocacy, development, and community engagement.
From ads and emails to social media and promotions, it is crucial to grasp your existing audience’s everyday vocabulary, cadence, and attitudes. Not only do customers who gave you their hard-earned money merit your attention, but they also expect it.
Marketing to your present customer base may seem pretty clear and straightforward. However, enterprises need to pay more attention to their most passionate and loyal consumers, with all their focus squarely on acquiring new clients.
How Do Customer Marketing Strategies Work?
A customer marketing strategy is based on the segmentation and engagement of existing customers. It fosters brand advocacy and uses the testimonials of satisfied clients to improve retention and business growth.
Acquisition marketing focuses primarily on drawing the attention of new customers. You look at marketing intending to attract prospects. However, customer marketing strategies aim to retain customers over time by demonstrating the value of staying with your company.
In other words, customer marketing strategies generate and communicate value, whereas acquisition marketing creates demand.
5 Best Customer Marketing Strategies to Try
If you’re looking to shift the focus of your marketing budget and strategies to your existing customer base this year, here are the best strategies to consider:
1. A robust content marketing strategy
The first step in any customer marketing strategy is building your lists from CRM data.
The next step is to create attractive, shareable material. You should focus more than just building credibility and authority and offering information or content your existing customers will find valuable and worthwhile.
This can include industry data visualizations, research reports, e-book titles, AV presentations, and checklists. Conversations with specialists in the field or staff members can also be a compelling messaging alternative – something that prospects will brush over.
Therefore, the content you share must be beneficial for people who are yet to make a purchase and enlightening for the ones who already have.
Remember that marketing to customers continues even after the initial sale. To encourage ongoing purchases and customer advocacy, you must persist as an authoritative resource for your customers.
2. A bustling community that informs your Customer Advisory Board (CAB)
For a lot of businesses, communities start by offering customer support. Common KPIs for this include ticket deflection or ticket reduction. However, reducing your community to a solely supporting role is an opportunity to be well-spent.
You want to develop your consumer groups into a forum where your users can meet, learn, and interact with one another. Use the most influential and effective voices from this space as part of your CAB.
Customer advisory boards (CABs) offer C-level managers and executives with valuable feedback. So long as they subscribe to your organization’s mission and vision, you can establish CABs by enlisting external champions like influential customers and industry leaders.
CAB members can be valuable brand advocates, particularly if their views are emphasized, and their authority is highlighted at high-level meetings and events. An excellent example of this customer marketing strategy is Microsoft’s Most Valuable Professionals or MVP program, a global community of power users that aids acquisition.
3. User training and education programs
Customers might give up on a service as they are uninformed about the extent of a product’s beneficial attributes. Customer marketing strategies can assist users in grasping the actual value of your product.
It’s essential to meet customers where they’re at and inform them of what they need to include. Your brand’s progress and customer demand will, in turn, positively respond to this action.
Use live training or webcasts, self-guided study with documentation, and online communities as training tools. Product tours can also be modified for customer marketing strategies. They may take customers beyond the initial phase and into the product’s more advanced features.
Every component of the education pathway must be linked to a key performance indicator (KPI). Consider the extent of customer engagement and happiness with the training content you create. Are they fulfilling their educational requirements? What else do they want to know?
4. User-generating content (UGC) and social media influencing
UGC (user-generated content) depends on customers relating their experiences with your company’s products or services with no (apparent) coercion or encouragement. This kind of advertising is especially prevalent on social media platforms and in online forums.
The idea is to encourage consumers to post videos, pictures, tweets, and blog posts showcasing your product without explicitly requesting them to do so. UGC doesn’t require a direct request; brands need to create an exclusive experience that discreetly or indirectly encourages users to share their experience with everyone else.
For example, you could send a new customer-branded merchandise with a unique hashtag printed on it so they can easily share their experience on social media.
In addition to organic UGC, you can use industry influencers on social media platforms. Micro-influencers are particularly important for B2B customer marketing strategies. They offer legitimate advertising possibilities and a precise entry into an intended community while targeting a smaller, more specific audience.
Because of the newness of influencer marketing as a growth strategy, frame your expectations with consideration. Set measurable goals for engagement, obtain data from potential influencers about anticipated results, and employ tools to track the precise number of customers arriving through this channel.
5. A strategy for regular facetime
If your clients are high-value or “enterprise” level, a high-touch customer marketing strategy will probably be the most effective.
High-touch customer marketing demands regular and personal interactions to make your customers feel respected and appreciated so they continue purchasing from you over time. This communication method doesn’t involve self-service or live conversation services. You offer authentic interpersonal interactions that might grow into lasting business relationships.
This means:
- Arranging in-person training or orientation
- Offering specialized account management
- Carrying out customized product deployment or installation
- Holding executive business reviews on a routine basis
- Hosting consumer events and conferences
High-touch customer marketing, like organizing live, in-person sessions, is resource-intensive and costly. Alternatively, you could limit this approach to your most valuable clients, who will generate a much higher ROI.
Which Customer Marketing Strategy is Right for You?
While trying different customer marketing strategies, watch these key marketing metrics to figure out what works best:
- Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA) = Total revenue in a period ÷ number of customers
- Net Promoter Score (NPS) = % of promoters – % of detractors
- Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) = (No. of positive responses ÷ no. of total responses) x 100
- Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) = ARPA ÷ churn rate (both calculated monthly)
- Customer Churn Rate = (No. of customers lost within a period ÷ No. of customers at the start of the period) x 100
There’s no “universal solution” to marketing to customers, so you will have to experiment with and alter your strategies over time to ensure they are successful for you and your consumer base.
However, the premise underlying an effective customer marketing strategy is simple: sustainable, long-term growth can only be accomplished by acquisition.
Strengthen your customer marketing strategy by leveraging the power of hybrid events. Read Forrester’s whitepaper on how mixed events deepen customer relationships.
