It’s About The Experience

How does your marketing affect the rest of your business? When you bring in new customers are they getting what they expected. Marketing strategy needs to be tied in with operational strategy and customer engagement programs.

Too often, companies look at marketing as something only the marketing team is responsible for. Similarly, companies think of customer service as how they solve the customer’s problems. Every time your company interacts with a customer, it is marketing. Every time your company interacts with your customer, it is customer service.

Which will make a customer happier, fixing a problem promptly or ensuring the problem doesn’t happen? Most people save their highest praise for the products and services they get that they never have a problem with. So how do you tie all these elements together?

1. Don’t oversell. You will have fewer problems and happier customers if you limit your sales to what you can deliver. There are exceptions. If you have the next iPad, people will wait for your product. If you’re not Apple, don’t try to be. Make sure that your marketing campaigns and sales people are promising what can realistically be delivered.
2. Interact with customers. The customer doesn’t vanish after the transaction only to reappear when their is a problem or they want to buy more. They are always there. Use social media to distribye information about how to best use your product or service. Give helpful tips and share ideas. Continue to educate consumers about new uses for their existing products. They’ll be more impressed by you giving them better ways to use their existing product then if you keep trying to upsell them on a new product. If you keep them happy with the existing one, they’ll come back when they’re ready for a new one.
3. Create an overall experience. If you are trying to portray your company as prestigious and elite, follow through with that. You must have that same feel with every interaction. More importantly, you must make your customer feel that they are elite for using you, not that you’re doing them a favor. The customer is the most important part of the company, not an afterthought.