Customer engagement is very important for building brand loyalty and driving repeat business. Businesses today must be trying to constantly improve customer engagement.
Engaging your
customers is an important part of running a successful business no matter the size.
Simply selling products or services is not enough today to attract and retain
loyal customers. If you want to really connect with your audience and build
lasting business relationships, you'll have to make an ongoing effort. Customer
engagement marketing is not a one-and-done, set- it-and-forget-it process, nor
is it a one-size-fits-all approach. To create your own customer engagement
strategy, you need to follow a few of these tips.
What is customer engagement?
Customer engagement
involves improving the customer experience through positive customer
interactions. This can be achieved through various communication channels, from
social media platforms to your company blog, and extends beyond simply
attracting consumers to your brand. The idea is to maintain and continue to
strengthen an on-going relationship with your customers.
Your products and
services can’t be the only value you offer your customers. While they might be
the driving factor, especially in the beginning, you should ensure you're
creating quality content your customers can access for free – and only from
your business. This will improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Key takeaway: Customer engagement is about more than just
driving a sale. To keep customers engaged, you need to offer support and
meaningful communication.
Benefits of building a customer engagement
strategy
Customer engagement can
improve the customer experience by creating a deeper, more personal
relationship with your brand. Customers need to feel appreciated and valued for
more than just the money they spend with you. Brands who are dedicated to their
customers' needs will be rewarded with engaged and loyal customers.
1. Maintain the customer lifecycle.
A customer lifecycle
is the length and nature of a customer's relationship with a particular brand
or company. For marketers, the goal should be to make the customer's lifecycle
as long and prosperous as possible. You must not only acquire customers, you
must retain their interest in the brand and extending the relationship beyond a
single purchase.
2. Look past the purchases.
While purchase history
is the most likely insight beyond basic demographic data to influence
campaigns, it doesn't go far enough. It's also important to consider your
customers' communication preference, household composition and other metrics.
These often-overlooked pieces of information will yield results, both because
they're inherently valuable and because your competitors aren't likely to
consider the information.
3. Think like a big business.
Small businesses
should think like large businesses and then act using the tools available to
them.
Small and medium
businesses actually have an advantage when acting on insights and reacting to
market trends. For large businesses, it's often a challenge to present data and
propose ideas in a way that resonates with senior leaders. Similarly,
institutional habits can be difficult to overcome for businesses that have been
established for some time. Entrepreneurs don't face that challenge. Take
advantage of your flexibility, and experiment intelligently to find out what really
matters to your customers.
4. See what's right in front of you.
While it's important
to pay attention to data, don't ignore information that's right under your
nose. With Facebook and Google analytics and other free tools available,
there's no reason to overlook information about how consumers interact with
your brand. When searching for more insights, it never hurts to ask customers.
Most will give you valuable information if you just ask. Loyalty programs,
social media interaction and surveys can be great ways to obtain the insights
you need.
5. Challenge assumptions.
This is as much a
business philosophy as a marketing tactic. Don't assume that methods and
practices that have worked well for the past year will work in the future.
Consistently reframe your existing message, services and products in front of
new audiences using different media from time to time. Sometimes, changing
things up, really works well.
6. Build a brand voice.
Your brand's voice is
essentially your business's personality. You'll want to maintain it in every
post you share, blog you write and interaction you have.
7. Connect with consumers on social media.
Social media networks
such as Instagram and Facebook are must-have customer engagement platforms for
businesses. Using social media will help you both attract new customers and
reach repeat customers, especially on their mobile devices.
8. Invest in content marketing.
Content marketing can be
on your website, blog posts, videos, social media posts, e-mails, etc. Your
content should be valuable to your target customers and include information
they can't get from anyone else. In other words, you'll want to cater your
content to your audience's needs while injecting your brand voice into it.
If you're going to
choose one form of content marketing to pursue, our President Randy Mullikin
recommends video.
"Written content
is useful, but today, videos are outperforming written content. Video continues
to be one of the most frequently used content marketing strategies each year. Because
the human brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than text, it is far
simpler for people to remember visual information than the same information in
written form. That is why marketing videos are so important for increasing
traffic to your website. We even use video FAQ’s on our website
www.mullikinad.com."
Key takeaway: These 8 tips can help you create customer
engagement strategies that not only strengthen brand loyalty but also drive
sales in an organic way that keeps customers coming back for more. For help in
implementing any of ideas for your
company, contact us today at The Mullikin Agency.
