A few decades ago, businesses succeeded by creating high-quality products. Good products attracted customers and created demand. This logic no longer applies to marketing.
Digital Technology Controls the Marketplace
The culprit here is digital technology. Consumers have access to more products than ever before, thanks to smartphones and other digital devices. Therefore, consumers are more likely to be picky about what they buy, and also demand more from the products they want to be loyal to.
Unlike any time in history, the market is centered on the customer, and not the product. Therefore, businesses that want to boost sales and improve customer retention should revamp marketing strategy to put the customer at the center.
Here are several ways to go about designing a successful customer-centric business plan:
Have a Data-Backed Understanding of Your Customer Base
In general we can say modern customers are digitally savvy and expect personalized and need-based interactions from products or services. However, if you want your company’s marketing plan to succeed, you need to know what your specific customer base wants.
You can only understand the preferences of you particular customer base by using big data. Sample size-based market research can only provide you with narrow insights. Big data, on the other hand, is extremely useful in accurately mapping overall customer preferences, buying habits and future expectations.
Tracking big data may seem a daunting task suitable for agencies like the NASA. Not to worry, modern cloud technology makes gathering, accessing and analyzing big data a lot easier and faster for companies of all sizes.
Cloud-based big data analytics software makes it possible to crunch colossal datasets into understandable numbers that your business can then make available to advertisers, salespeople and marketing strategists. With big data in hand, you company can have a highly accurate understanding of your customer base, which the marketing team can use to create a customer-centric promotional strategy.
Know that Customer is God
Once you have your data-backed market research in hand, you should revamp your promotional strategy keeping the needs of the customer at its center. As the Japanese say, customer is God.
Obviously, the success of your company will depend on how you manage to gain, satisfy and retain a loyal customer base.
You can use the insights you gained with your big data analysis to tailor-make advertising befitting the preferences of each customer. You will have to categorize your target audience based on age, geographic location, previous spending habits and so on, and design your sales pitch accordingly.
Remember, targeted advertising has better returns than regular, generic advertising.
Design a Flexible Marketing Strategy Based on Big Data
Analyzing big data to understand your customer base to tailor-make a digital marketing plan is only the beginning. If big data tells you anything, it’s the fact that customer needs change all the time.
As new products keep flooding the marketplace, the preferences of your target audience will change with the flow. The savvy advertising plan you made in January is very likely to be outdated by May. Therefore, it’s important that your marketing plan is designed to be able to withstand rapidly changing trends.
It’s paramount that your digital marketing strategy can reach customers even if their initial preferences have changed. They key to achieving this goal is to invest in cloud-based analytic solutions that can quickly track changing trends in the marketplace and make that data immediately available to the company’s advertisers and marketers. Your long-term marketing plan should respond to changing trends swiftly and soberly.
Knowledge Equals Profits
Obviously, business intelligence has come a long way from door-to-door customer satisfaction surveys. The key to succeeding in the modern marketplace is to use the readily available big data sets to understand and map the trends affecting your customer base, and then design an agile marketing plan accordingly. K
now what your customer wants in advance, and position yourself to deliver when the customer comes knocking.
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