The Marketing Trend for 2019 = Business Critical

customer focused marketing

Happy New Year, looking forward to 2019?

 

I thought it might be helpful to share the marketing trend for this year. Hopefully this will inspire you whilst you’re full of beans and have a positive view on the year ahead.

 

CUSTOMER FOCUSED MARKETING

 

What is it? Nothing more than what it says. Customer focused marketing is a strategy that places the individual customer at the centre of all marketing initiatives.

 

2019 needs to be the year companies and brands stop talking about being customer focused, which 42.4% of marketers believe their organisation should be. This year it must be actually planned, delivered and executed to a high level. Analysis by Marketing Week at the end of 2018 showed only a shocking 5.8% of businesses are actually set up this way.

 

The majority of businesses’ marketing effort is product centred or based around strict marketing principles. It’s a case of… we’ve always done it that way. Which is literally closed minded and not results driven. Quoting Albert Einstein, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” And this year we want better results.

 

A lot of the time your product or service is seemingly the same as your competitors. Why would someone buy a Rolex watch from you for example? The price for this item is relatively standardised so it’s not a cost based purchase. Why would a person or company choose you? And that’s the whole point it should be because of you and your processes. Emotively selling with extra elements that your competitors aren’t looking at will enable better customer experience.

 

Happy customers are a lot more likely to tell their friends. On average, happy customers tell nine people about their experiences with a company. DID YOU KNOW? As a group, Millennials are willing to spend the most (an additional 21%) for great customer care. American Express 2017 Customer Service Barometer

 

High street stores are either not adapting and dying or listening to the customer. I was pleasantly surprised by a recent visit to Argos who have evidently been adapting to customers expectations. You’d be easily fooled into thinking it was a store created by Amazon with it’s modernisation and use of effective technological solutions to enhance customer experience. Let’s see how this translates into their profits and position. In the review of 2018 for Argos the figures show the retailer is outperforming a “very challenging market”. Sales jumped 1.7% in the quarter, much better than the 0.7% fall analysts had been forecasting.

 

So Customer Focused Marketing is going to:

  • Set you apart from your competition
  • Your profits will rise
  • And you will lower the cost of new customer acquisition due to your happy customers becoming a sounding board for how great you are through word of mouth referrals.

 

How do you even start looking at your business from a customer focus?

 

Why not start with creating a strong Customer Value Proposition (CVP)? If you’ve had one for years but your company has evolved it is well  worth reviewing to ensure it is still relevant. How about conducting a customer satisfaction survey and analysing the results to enhance your plans for 2019. Or take it back to the shop floor and review the entire customer journey and experience at every stage of working with you.

 

If you require any help turning your marketing efforts from dust to gold this year get in touch for a free consultation. Our service is creative, authentic and strategic and prices start from £295 depending on the support you need.

 

Great marketing is like GOLDDUST…

 

Difficult to find,

Hard to hold

But magic once you have it.

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