Whilst I’m not one for saving resolutions up for New Year (if a resolution is worth making, it’s worth making at any time), the start of the year is as good a time as any for looking ahead. So what are smart marketers going to be doing in 2010? Here are my predictions…
1. Using social media more strategically and integrating it with a broader marketing plan.
Plenty of businesses have been tinkering with Twitter, faffing with Facebook and dabbling with Digg and, in doing so, have most probably increased their digital footprint. Fair enough. But it’s now time to start joining the marketing dots.
This is not just about getting clever and technically aggregating your business information and social media marketing messages, although this is a great way to optimise your digital presence without too much extra work. This year, smart marketers will be taking a truly joined up approach to integrating their online and offline promotional activities.
They’ll be developing their marketing mindset to look for the ways in which they can squeeze the best value out of everything they do. Businesses with a strong visual and/or experiential element are excellently placed to capture their products in pictures and on video. Those which are not traditionally or naturally brimming with such excitement may find that a creative approach to generating a memorable experience – one that also dds real value to their customers – could prove to be an effective way to differentiate themselves, and one that can create a bit of a social media buzz.
2. Getting excited about their businesses.
Smart marketers are increasingly recognising that a key benefit of using social media as part of their marketing plan is that they can now much more easily engage in conversations with their customers.
Promoting your business is no longer about talking at your customers but about listening to them, talking with them, and giving them plenty to talk to each other about. And if you want your customers to be excited about your business, you need to be excited about it too. And you need to understand what it is about your business that can get other people excited.
The first step is to stop taking what you do for granted. Exploring with a client some of the things about her business that we might use to start such conversations highlighted some very moving stories about the impact that business has had, not just on its own clients but on the people that those clients work with too. Stories that reflected the difference that her way of working and the values within that business can make to the quality of service they provide. Such stories can convey much deeper meaning than the typical bland statements that most of her competitors make, demonstrate the trust that her clients have in the business, and give people who engage in that conversation a more profound understanding of why they would choose that business to work with.
Think about the stories you have to tell that reflect the values of your business, that will entertain, inform and amuse your customers. Do they reflect their experiences as well as your own? Do you encourage their feedback and their contribution to developing your brand?
3. Growing a database and using it smartly.
All too often I see businesses following one of two trends with regard to their database of customers and prospects. Either they are pretty poor at developing and maintaining it, failing to collect useful contact information, neglecting to keep it in a manageable format, allowing it to get out of date. Or they put the name of every contact they’ve ever made on the same list and use it indiscriminately, usually on those mass e-mailings about things you’ve never expressed an interest in.
I see this online too with people either not maximising their opportunities to connect and keep in touch with their network or collecting “friends” and “followers” in quantity as though the massed ranks of Twitter’s spammy auto-follow fanatics are in the same league as their trusted associates and top clients.
Smart marketers will be taking a more targeted approach. They will identify their “A”, “B” and “C” customers* and contacts and work with appropriately, understanding their different needs and ways of interacting with the business. They will recognise the difference in quality of their customers, the relevance of their “followers”, and they will adapt their offering accordingly.
4. Focusing on superlative customer service.
OK, after a year chock full of being on the receiving end of truly lousy customer service, this might be more of a heart-felt wish than a prediction but the argument in favour of great customer service still stands.
The recession might have seen some of your competitors fall by the wayside but there are few areas of business where the customer has no choice but to deal with you and you alone. If you are in that happy position, of course, you can get away with grim customer service. If you sell on the cheapest price you can always argue that “you get what you pay for”. But for the rest of us, service counts.
Smart marketers will be joining the dots properly by now. If they are listening to their customers and engaging them in conversation they know what really matters to them. They are in a position to respond quickly to complaints and to turn the situation around for the individual complainant, and to ensure that problem doesn’t arise in future.
If they know who their “A”, “B” and “C” customers are and are using their database wisely, they can tailor their offering based on knowledge of individual preferences. Smart marketers will ensure they use technology to enable a more personal touch not to dictate a system that chiefly serves to frustrate the customer.
5. Building and maintaining their reputation.
Online and offline, smart marketers will be paying attention to their reputation and personal brand. Solo operators and business figureheads alike will be harnessing a wide range of tools to communicate their values, their professionalism and their excitement and enthusiasm for their area of expertise.
Based on their values and purpose, their personal brand will be expressed consistently, creatively and with great clarity through all their operational, marketing and promotional activities. They will use social media tools tactically to present their expertise and experience, paying attention to detail and ensuring their information is always current and their views at the forefront of their field.
The smart marketer knows that people’s perceptions of their ability can be as significant as, if not more than, their actual ability is in the judgements they make. Their reputation will be based on both substance and style but never spin.
In summary, 2010 will see smart marketers will be getting smarter still. Will you?
If you’d like to start taking a smarter approach to your marketing, some help from Clarity Marketing might be a good idea. To be super-smart, why not take advantage of one of the ways in which you can get some financial support for our marketing services?
*For more about identifying your “A”, “B” and “C” customers, why not join the Profitable Customers workshop from the Ingenuity Programme on 16th February in Nottingham