Client Acquisition Is Not The End Goal
Client acquisition has always been seen as the end goal of any company’s marketing effort. For someone who’s looking from the outside, a company that consistently attracts new clients is one geared for success. After all, when consumers gravitate to a brand’s product or service it either means the company has employed a good marketing strategy or their offer is genuinely competitive.
But what people tend to overlook is a company’s ability to retain the clients it secured. And it’s not as simple as maintaining a high number of followers on its social media page. The questions companies should be asking are: do these followers regularly consume the product? How often do they renew their subscription? Do they even come back after their initial purchase?
When the answers to these inquiries prove satisfying from the company’s standpoint, it is assured of a competent marketing strategy. That said, customer retention and customer loyalty are objectives companies should focus on to drive further growth. To serve the cause, we must look to Customer Success Marketing
What Is Customer Success Marketing?
Building relationships after a sale should be considered a priority among companies hoping to see their brand gain traction. The goal is to make customers stay and grow with your company.
Also called Customer Marketing or Retention Marketing, Customer Success Marketing is aimed at retaining customers through the creation of content and advancing communication with existing clients. Some marketing tactics used in customer acquisition are the same techniques used in Customer Marketing. The tactics may involve posting content on social media and sending regular newsletters or promotional emails.
Companies should think more about customer journeys than how they would profit from their clients’ continued patronage. For this, marketers should be concerned with the following:
1. Getting The Company’s Value Proposition Across
A product’s Value Proposition is what hooks clients into buying it. This should be consistent throughout the customer’s journey with the brand.
The time spent on product patronage should be guided by the value proposition. As this is the case, Customer Success Marketers should communicate the message clearly and consistently.
No matter the focal point, the marketers should be able to guide and keep the discussions around the product going. For instance, if the company offers coffee, it should be able to educate its customers on the key benefits of drinking coffee. They can highlight how coffee drinkers can take advantage of coffee’s antioxidant properties.
2. Creating Relevant Content
Regardless of what stage the customers are in their journey with the company, the old principle applies: Content is king.
Customer Success Marketers should work closely with Account managers to help them create valuable content to keep customers engaged. The content they should publish must also contain leadership, management, and product updates.
Account Managers must have a deep understanding of how to use content to start and foster conversations with clients. They must engage clients at a level that is significant to their lived experiences.
For example, if the company has sold energy-efficient light bulbs to its clients, it could post about how it could save further on other lighting sources. They can create a blog segment for their site and write some articles on how people can transform their houses into eco-friendly homes.
The marketers can post a link to their blog on their social media accounts to also drive traffic to their site. As the blog post is tied to the value the product offers, it would espouse interest in those who bought the product.
Knowledge is still a viable commodity and this is something companies can provide their clients.
3. Establish Strong Connections Before Renewals
Renewals or price increases should be viewed as a nurture track. Before the renewal, the product’s value to the customers, stakeholders, and the company itself must be highlighted.
Marketers should be adept at delivering the brand’s story and message to clients. This expertise builds sturdy and bulletproof relationships with customers.
Customer Success Marketers should also work hand-in-hand with Account Managers in creating Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs). QBRs provide clients with facts and figures that will imbue in them an understanding of the product’s value to their lived experiences. This encourages continued usage despite an increase in the product’s price.
To solidify the message, marketers can also work closely with the finance team. Together, they can craft emails that appeal to a personal relationship with the clients rather than just some proposition for further transactions.
The marketer’s knowledge of the customer’s profile should be in-depth. They should study them to know their preferences, their transaction histories, and even their purchasing nuances. Any disconnect between the marketer and the client will reflect on the communication and will factor into further patronage.
In this regard, determining a client’s Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is essential. Well-rounded Customer Success Marketers use the CLV to deepen every customer relationship they establish. This allows them to enrich customer experiences that motivate them to stay with the brand longer.
4. Drive Growth By Growing Your Base
Companies that give their existing clients premium services stand the chance of growing their revenue through upselling and cross-selling. Not only will this welcome greater profit but this will also foster client loyalty.
The company’s marketers could do this by developing a dedicated nurture track that keeps customers updated regarding new and additional products and services.
Marketers can also leverage user groups by conducting virtual engagement activities. These activities would allow the company to respond to questions and propose topics to engage members. These activities ground the company with its customers. This allows them to support their customer base by segment, region, or its entirety.
The marketers can create content aligned with the product’s value proposition for their virtual channels. These venues can also serve as platforms wherein the company can share its milestones and roadmap to inform customers of the other opportunities that may lie ahead.
Ask Me Anythings (AMAs) are good examples of this. Through AMAs in platforms such as Telegram and Discord, crypto and NFT projects can answer questions from their investors, stakeholders, and buyers concerning the future of their endeavors.
What It Takes To Be A Customer Success Marketer
Being a customer success marketer requires a set of characteristics that equip the professional to provide robust and standout customer experiences. At the heart of these characteristics is the love for customer interaction that provides the professional with an irresistible rapport.
1. A Creative Storyteller
An effective Customer Success Marketer is an adept storyteller. From the buying phase to the customer phase, the professional must hook the company’s clients in a narrative that articulates the brand’s value proposition and how it genuinely relates to them.
2. A Customer-First Agent
The Customer Success Marketer must always place the client at the center of every move they will make and every solution they will implement.
3. An Empath
Understanding customers’ needs, nuances, preferences, and challenges is integral to achieving higher retention rates.
4. A Team Player
Customer success marketers are part of a larger picture. They must know how to interact and work with other teams to create seamless strategies that all parties involved should be invested in.
Robust Customer Success Marketing Strategies Drives Growth In All Directions
When a company implements a Customer Success Marketing strategy, it illustrates how it values its customers. It is a testament to the company’s professionalism and its willing assumption of the duty to create competent industry practices worthy of being emulated in the long run.
