Countless hours are invested in creating content for your audience. The scrolls, views, clicks, followers... your visitors aren’t really interested.
That even hurts saying it.
We’re being controversial; we know. But think about it: consumers have more power and control over the content they consume now than ever before. If they don’t want to watch adverts on TV, they can fast-forward or jump on to Netflix. If they don’t want to hear commercials on the radio, they can stream music instead. GDPR has made it easier than ever to opt out of email communications and web tracking that you don’t want, and let’s not forget the adblocker that’s most likely installed on your computer right now. If your customers want to avoid your marketing efforts, they can and probably will.
In this new world, it stands to reason that traditional marketing strategies will no longer work. So, what’s the answer? Well, it’s time to stop marketing – and start engaging.
In a world where data is king, it can be all-too-easy to view customers as faceless email addresses in a database, but no one wants to be treated as a number or piece of data. As human beings, we are all about building relationships, and a good customer-business relationship should be just that – a relationship.
Data is still important
To build a relationship, you need to know about the other person. The good news is that digital marketing has the power to get you all the information you need to succeed, but where businesses go wrong is in how they use this data. Data, analytics and time-saving CRM software should be used to create human connections, not as reasons to continue addressing customers using a one-size-fits-all approach.
Tell a story
Storytelling is still the best way to build customer relationships, and to bridge the gap between data and those who need to learn from it. But today’s customers need a personalised experience – a narrative tailored to their own needs and wants. Programmatic marketing directs the customer journey to a point where the customer and the business become an ideal match; not the only choice, but the preferred choice.
Focus on the experience
The days of channel-flooding and traditional advertising campaigns are gone. It’s time to focus on the experience your customers have with your brand, and to restructure your tools and processes to make this a priority. Positive customer experiences often create brand advocates so, consider how you can create personalised narrative experiences. The great thing about programmatic marketing is that it works, no matter your size, industry or budget.
Don’t forget to listen
Listening is important in any relationship, including a marketing one. The complication with customer-business relationships though, is that people don’t always mean what they say. Sometimes they don’t know what they want until you show it to them. So, the best way to find out what they want is through measuring their experience. Make use of those tools that help you find where your customers lose interest, fail to complete an expected action or simply disappear, and learn from what the data is telling you.
Make this the year you stop marketing and start building relationships, and you just might find it takes your business to the next level.
