Customer-Centric Marketing Strategies
Customer centric marketing is marketing that aligns a corporation based on its customers, according to Forrester Research. The marketing approach is based on in-depth knowledge of customer preferences and behavior of a target audience of customers. A Merkle Study commissioned by Forrester Consulting shows many companies think they are customer focused when they are not. With the expanding number of choices consumers face, they easily have the option to do business with a supplier who is more focused on their individual needs. To become more customer centric, you must employ effective customer-focused marketing strategies.
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Customer Value
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Determine what a customer is worth to your organization and obtain agreement across all departments. Knowing customer value helps everyone focus on a customer segment's individual needs. Customer value is calculated based on the average value of a customer transaction times the number of individual customer transactions per year times the average life of a customer in years.
Measurement
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Establish a consistent approach for measuring customer value so that marketing strategies can be planned based on the value of customer segments, recommends Merkle. For example, if one type of customer generates twice as much profit as another segment, more marketing dollars would be allocated to that segment.
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Communications
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Make customer communications focused on them. When preparing communications, think of a customer as if he has a name and money to spend, recommends Richard Fouts, Gartner's research director. Instead of thinking of your products and services, assume the role of the customer and ask the question, "What's in this for me? Why should I pay attention to a message from this company and consider doing business with it?" Stop communicating about you and make it about the customer. Review all your marketing communications such as brochures and your website to make sure they are customer focused. Examine the activities of your customer service department and question if the communication is effective from a customer perspective. One example of a less-than-optimal customer interaction is when a customer has to navigate through six different choices when calling the company before being connected to a live person.
Customer Input
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Involve your customers in product priorities and design. For example, hold customer focus group meetings. Focus groups allow customers to provide feedback to the group sponsor to gain a better understanding of the customer. Survey customers at least once a year to assess the quality of your interactions with them. Ask about how well your products or services meet their individual needs.
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