There’s no doubt that the events of the past year have brought about pivotal changes. Businesses have needed to transform their digital operations to meet the needs of existing customers while acquiring new ones.
Having an actionable plan in place allows marketers to be nimble in their immediate response while optimizing long-term performance. The marketing funnel is a vital part of the plan, mapping the journey that turns prospects into customers. It empowers marketers by helping them understand the totality of the customer relationship and how they make decisions. Customers don’t make the leap from awareness to purchase without going through subtle yet important stages.
Establish and strengthen customer relationships with targeted, timely content.
Marketing at its best is about building a sustainable relationship with a prospective customer. The marketing funnel allows you to develop and prioritize specific content and tactics that are relevant for each stage and will resonate with the customer.
Mapping their journey helps you get to know your customer better
Developing customer personas allows you to build out marketing tactics that are personal and meaningful at each stage of the customer journey. Personas allow you to identify who your customers are, what’s important to them, what their needs are, and how your product or service can help meet them.
You can use A/B testing to systematically and steadily refine your customer persona, learning what motivates them as well as what kind of design and messaging they respond to best. It can also be used to identify shifts in consumer perceptions and priorities so that you can address them as they happen.
Technology and automation are supporting the “new normal”
One key takeaway for us during the past eight months has been noting how quickly companies were able to adjust their communications and tactics by adopting more agile and efficient processes.
B2C marketers replaced TV brand campaigns with quickly produced spots featuring employees as heroes and feel-good, reassuring messages speaking to the current consumer mindset and mood.
On the B2B front, live networking events became virtual webinars – with no geographic limitations – attracting larger audiences and feeding the prospect pipeline.
Automation can support the delivery of tailored and relevant content at each stage of the customer journey. Companies can track prospect activity, following up on leads to efficiently close sales and measure ROI. Automation also provides the data needed to evaluate strategies and tactics, enabling marketers to pivot as trends emerge. Actionable items could include deploying a brand campaign if awareness is low or creating a stronger customer appreciation to improve loyalty.
Do you have a plan for moving your prospective customers from awareness to making that first contact? From mapping your customer journey to identifying customer personas to creating targeted, timely content, BNO is here to help. Let’s talk.
