Connecting with your customers can be done in many ways, with businesses investing a lot of time and money into it. In fact, £29.6 billion was spent on digital advertising in 2023 alone. With this amount of money going towards advertising, making sure you’ve got the right customer experience strategy is essential for all advertising and marketing efforts.
Jon Beasley, Technical Director at Washington Direct Mail, says: “When marketing, it can be easy to focus on the products and services you want to promote. But this means that businesses are missing the crucial part – the customers. Building a customer experience strategy can help you better understand and connect with your audience.”
Know your audience
Knowing your audience is the most important part of creating a customer experience strategy for your marketing. Misunderstanding or mistargeting your audience can mean wasting time, energy, and resources on customers who aren’t in the place to buy your products or services.
Doing in-depth customer research can better help you understand your customers, their motivations, and create messaging which is meaningful and engaging for them.
Personalisation
Personalisation is another approach which can benefit your marketing by appealing to the customer experience. In fact, 71% of customers expect businesses to deliver personalised communications – this can include your marketing approach.
Adapting your messaging to your target audience can better ensure that it aligns with their wants and needs, encouraging them to buy from or interact with your business better. Direct marketing can also give your customers personalised promotions, making them more likely to purchase from your company, using discount codes based on their buying history.
Define your brand promise
Another important aspect of any customer experience-focused marketing is defining your brand promise. If your brand promises are aligned with the wants and needs of your customers, you’ll be more likely to connect with them. Some promises that are becoming more prevalent are environmental, social and governance (ESG) promises.
In fact, 65% of customers claim they would rather buy from a brand that advocates sustainability. Ensuring your messaging, business goals, and marketing are aligned is essential.
Beasley says: “Again, this is the importance of finding the right customers and audience for you. Your customers should be able to invest in your brand identity and communicating this is as important as communicating your products and services. Customer-based brand awareness targeting can help your business gain visibility and become the first port of call when customers come to buy.”
Reach customers where they are
Not only is getting the messaging and audiences right important, but knowing where to target them is crucial. Offering integrated, omnichannel approaches to your marketing can ensure that your efforts aren’t being missed. Whether your customers are on specific social media platforms or you want to reach them during their daily commute, strategising the right place to focus your marketing efforts is a key aspect of developing a better customer experience.
Beasley says: “It is important not only to have the right messaging but also to ensure you’re reaching your customers through the right platforms. While social media is a strongly used marketing tool, more traditional methods such as direct mail services can reach your customers where they are, at home.
“Offering multiple touchpoints of connection can help you gain better brand visibility and ensure that you’re not missed by your customers, including those in a digital deficit.”
When creating your marketing strategy, you need to consider the customers and their journey. Not only can understanding your customers’ motivations and habits help you better plan where to put your marketing, but it can also ensure that you’re getting a better return on investment for your budget.
