The ‘Two ears, one mouth’ marketing plan
Sometimes it’s hard to listen when you’ve just got so much to say.
There you are with a big list of marketing objectives to tick off and a bigger pile of products to ply to your customers; really there isn’t time to stop and ask difficult questions like: ‘Does any of this matter to you?’ Let alone listen to the answer.
But recently you’ve noticed your email open rates are dropping, visits to your sites just aren’t what they used to be and you pretty much pop a champagne cork if someone actually clicks on your banners. What happened? Where did they go? How can you make your customers love you again?
Easy. You need to start listening; oh and learn more about
Relationship Marketing.
Now although the term ‘Relationship Marketing’ is popping up in just about every tweet, status update and magazine commentary you read these days the concept isn’t new. In fact it’s been around since the 1980s when Theodore Levitt compared the difference in relationship marketing and a sale to the difference between a marriage and a one night stand.
“The sale”, he said in his Harvard Business Review Article ‘After the Sale is Over’; “merely consummates the courtship, at which point the marriage begins. The quality of the marriage determines whether there will be continued or expanded business, or troubles and divorce.”
So if your customers are starting to metaphorically divide up your CD collection and head for the hills, this is the time to stop, relax and breathe in the fragrant scent of Relationship Marketing, <link to flash> the perfect salve to any ailing marketing plan.
Now let’s get something straight: Relationship Marketing isn’t about getting all lovely dovey with your customers, offering them endless freebies and special offers for no reason at all. It’s about
LISTENING. Did I say that loud enough?
It’s about understanding your customer’s lifestyle and where they’re at on your marketing journey. It’s about setting up key touch points in your communications plan and then observing every customers interaction with your brand. Over time you’ll build a profile for each and every user and can create customised, targeted programs for individual consumer groups.
If that sounds like a lot of Marketing guff let me give you an example.
You get a lovely new customer; they buy something big and shiny from your website. So you immediately send them an email (or SMS) thanking them for their business and offering them a second (incentivised) product if they buy it within 20 days. If you haven’t heard from them after the 20 days are up trigger another email, reminding them and offering them just a little bit more.
If they do purchase, then take the time to thank them and perhaps send them out a nice ‘tell a friend’ incentive. Better still next time they visit your site and log in, pop up an exit survey or a site poll and get feedback direct from the customer’s fingers.
Simple huh? You just send targeted triggered communications based on the lifecycle of your customer rather than bombarding them with useless crap based on nothing at all.
Even inaction can be a trigger; that great customer who used to visit your site on a weekly basis suddenly stops. They’re either dead, trapped under something heavy or are turned off by something you’ve sent or shown them. Perhaps they’ve found an alternative service or they’re just not interested in what you’ve got to offer. Their lack of action is
still telling you something about how they think about your brand and service.
If this happens you should react, and react quickly, then look for feedback. If at first you don’t succeed try a different tactic and then observe the customer behaviour once more. After a time you’ll begin to see trends, you’ll even be able to predict behaviour and ultimately target your marketing efforts (and dollars) more intelligently.
In the words of the old Chinese proverb: ‘To listen well is as powerful a means of influence as to talk well, and is essential to all true conversation.’
So try the ‘two ears, one mouth’ marketing approach for a while and I guarantee you’ll soon see a difference in marketing success.
Kate Toon
Marketing Consultant - MassMedia Studios