Customer-centric strategies: Five lessons for success

Building a marketing strategy without your customers in mind is like making a hamburger and not including a patty– it just doesn’t make sense. 

If the burger reference isn’t cutting it for you, maybe this will: Jeff Bezos famously used to place an empty chair in meetings to represent the customers who were not present in the room but still warranted representation. 

Whether burger patties or meeting chairs resonate more, my point is this - put the customer at the center of what you do. 

Why you may ask?

For starters, it’s better for your bottom line. Though that may seem a bit cut and dry, it’s the reality. Customer-centric companies are 60% more profitable than those who are not.

Secondly, customers trust brands that are backed by other brands, especially in the B2B space. In an A/B test conducted on a product landing page, the version that included logos in addition to testimonials saw an 84% increase in conversions compared with the version that only had logos, which saw only a 43% increase in conversions – that’s nearly double!

So, where to start? Here are five lessons learned and best practices from one customer marketer to another. 

1 – Poll to your audience

Don’t be shy to ask them what they want to hear. Reality check: Us marketers are not mind readers, and that’s okay. Sometimes you need to gut check things with your audience. 

Run that pilot. Poll your audience. Ask for feedback. 

Don’t be afraid to bring your audience along for the ride. You’ll build trust AND get your messaging closer to what they want to hear. 

Case in point.

I run a monthly town-hall-style webinar where we share thought leadership, corporate updates, and resources to help our customers succeed. One question I like to consistently ask in our follow-up survey is, ‘Is there anything you would like to learn more about during this webinar series?’

Asking the questions does two things:

1- It provides me with insight into what the audience wants to hear about 

2- It’s a gauge for whether the themes of our future webinars are on the mark 

B2B marketing is sometimes shrouded by the belief that we are marketing to companies, but really we are marketing to people. The sooner we start to craft strategies reminding ourselves that there is a person on the other side, we begin to humanize our content. 

Business decisions aren’t made by concrete buildings and cubicles. They are made by people with thoughts and feelings. 

Next time you are unsure of what your audience is craving to know more about, simply ask them. Get a group of customers together who are not shy to provide you with their opinions and ask them what they think. 

Dig deeper. Keep asking them ‘why’ until you get to the root of their feedback. You’ll be better equipped to make better marketing decisions, and you’ll leave a subset of your customers feeling seen and heard. 

2 – Think about what they perceive as valuable, not you

Apart from being open to feedback, every customer-obsessed marketer must lead with empathy. A big part of building a customer-centric strategy is putting yourself in their shoes. Try asking yourself:

Whether you are in the Friedman or Freeman camp of a company’s duty being to maximize shareholder vs. stakeholder value, one thing is clear: Customers can see through a brand that is acting solely out of self-interest versus one that is dedicated to its customers. 

Stay close to your customers and think about delivering value based on what is truly helpful for them. Craft with customers in mind. Whether that’s bubbling up a new feature to your product team, tailoring that upcoming event experience, or writing your next social post. 

You must always be able to answer the golden WIIFM question– If you were the audience, could you easily understand ‘What’s in it for me?’

If not, go back to the drawing board. If yes, keep on keeping on. 

3 – Have the audience reflected in your strategy 

In addition to focusing on the value exchange between brand and customer, your audience should be able to identify with your content. Going one level deeper than being ‘relatable’, you want your audience to connect with your marketing efforts because they feel seen. What does that look like?

Consider giving customers a forum to share their wins. Be it your next newsletter cover story, case study, spotlight video, or speaking at an upcoming event. Ideally, you want to elevate the stories that will inspire other customers to reach the same level of success by partnering with your brand. Who doesn’t love to be celebrated, plus you’ll get solid content out of it. 

More on that in section five below but it’s relevant here as well. In the B2B world, we have a bad habit of speaking in acronyms. My challenge to you, nix the acronyms and spell it out…For you and your customers’ sake. Use terms that are widely agreed upon in your industry. Avoid using jargon for the sake of sounding more sophisticated. I am guilty of it too and often have to check myself. Instead, frame content in a way your customers can easily digest. Keep it simple!

Tailor your next customer touchpoint to your audience’s interests. Whether it’s a large-scale event, webinar, or customer roundtable. Make sure the themes, messaging, and overall experience are aligned with the personas you are targeting. What do they do in their spare time? Can you organize an activity or provide them with a thank-you gift that complements that? In this attention economy, brands that deliver tailored, unique, and thoughtful experiences are the ones that prevail. 

4 – Connect the experience across customer touchpoints 

Apart from projecting the audience into your marketing efforts, think about your audience’s journey across the various touch points they may have with your company. Does it feel like they are interacting with the same brand throughout or are the experiences disjointed?

They can feel disjointed for a variety of reasons, namely:

What I have found is that the biggest disconnect comes from internal teams not communicating– Try and break those silos because they are real, and they won’t just be felt internally. Soon enough your audience will take note of when their experience feels fragmented. 

There is nothing worse than when a customer references an interaction they had with your company and you had no idea that it was even ‘a thing’. 

This is your sign to sync up with the different owners of customer touchpoints, even outside of marketing. Ask the question, find out what they are working on, and discuss how you can partner. It will make your marketing efforts stronger and ultimately, you will be crafting a smoother customer experience. 

Want to learn more about Vera? All our contributors are part of our ever-growing customer marketing slack community. Join here.

5 – Stay true to your brand

In your pursuit of centring your marketing efforts around the customer, remember to stay true to who your brand is. You want your customers to feel like you are being authentic with them, not trying to be them. It’s about more than just being relatable, it’s about having your customers identify with your content. 

That’s not to say that you can’t draw inspiration from your target audience, but remember to keep your brand identity as your true north. Plus, your brand team will thank you for it! 

A good gut check is whether you, your teammates, or customer base could associate your brand to the messaging in a blind test. Would your messaging be differentiated from your competitors? Or would you sound like every other brand competing for share of wallet in your market?

Enough with the don’ts – Here are some do’s in your pursuit of building an authentic, customer-forward brand:

• Keep your brand’s vision and mission at the center of what you do.
• Write with your company’s brand voice in mind while also using familiar terms your audience will understand.  
• Use your brand as the foundation to build customer stories, but let their experience be the focal point. 

A few closing remarks 

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading! Before you go, remember these three takeaways:

• Celebrate the fact that your brand is affiliated with this incredible base that are your customers while making both your brand and the customer shine. 
• Stay true to your brand and focus on your brand promise. Strong brands stand the test of time and build a loyal following because of the value they create for users. 
• Think of your customers as an extension of your brand. Focus your efforts on how you want to show up for them. They will thank you for it! 

Remember to test, ask for feedback, and iterate on your path to building a successful customer-centric marketing strategy. Keep your customers–people–at the center of your strategy. No one wants to feel marketed too, but we do want to feel like we are getting something in exchange for our most valuable resource: our time.