Written by: Alex Williams
Probably the biggest challenge in today’s world of business and marketing is developing the strategies for building and retaining customer’s loyalty. Every prosperous business has a clear and effective marketing strategy. It will help you identify your customers, understand their needs and wishes, and above all, your marketing strategy will help you increase sales by getting and keeping customers. Here are five marketing strategies to gain trust and win long-term customer commitment.
Connect with your customers
Knowing your customers gives you an insider perspective on the sort of marketing content you need, the media services you should be using, and the types of products and services you should be creating. There is a lot of different ways to connect with your customers. For example, by finding out their income, age, sex, location and occupation, hobbies and interests, and shopping patterns, you can target them with the right content and promotions. Most of all, by knowing the right information, you will know what is the best way to serve your customers.
The easiest way to uncover this information is by conducting market research or by studying their behavior on social media websites or forums.
Build Corporate Responsibility
Supporting communities unrelated to your business or brand is also a great way to build a positive working relationship and to gain customer’s trust. For example, by promoting specific values, donating to local charities, or by implementing “greener” business operations, your company can have a huge impact on society. On the other hand, social responsibility inspires innovations within your company and also inspires customers to do better in life.
Special offers, discounts, and free gifts
Another great marketing strategy that will put you and your company on the right track to success is promoting special offers and discounts. Maybe it seems obvious, but this type of marketing strategy holds a lot of clout among customers. They simply love when a company values their loyalty and this is certainly a great way to show that.
There are many types of discounts and offers, so let’s take a look at the most common ones.
One of the most popular ways to offer discounts is giving percentage based discounts. For example, this can include incentive percentages like 10% off, or an even larger percentage like 50% off. Or you can provide free shipping to your customers. Keep in mind that shipping costs are often cited as the top reason for shopping cart abandonment. Offering free shipping can be an effective way to boost up your company sales and get your store more online traffic.
One more way to provide additional value to your customer is by offering free gifts. You can drastically increase sales and social visibility of your company by offering free gifts such as t-shirts or high-quality ceramic custom mugs with your organization’s logo or message. Not only do these free gifts make them feel like they’re part of your team, but also they thank them for their years of loyalty and trust.
Host an Event
Hosting an online webinar, a local meetup or even an industry event is another great way for your clients and customers to meet you and learn from you. Furthermore, hosting an event is an excellent way to engage with your customers face-to-face, to understand their values and needs and to show them that they are a valuable part of your company.
Provide Superb Customer Service
The importance of superb and consistent customer service is huge. On the one hand, your existing customers want to be sure that your company will constantly deliver good products or services, and on the other, good customer service will also bring you a lot of new customers. And keep in mind that keeping existing customers is cheaper than finding new ones.
In order to help your customers have an easy and enjoyable experience with your company, make sure that your customer service become an integral part of your product. Your customer service team needs to have knowledge and right skills, like empathy, patience, and consistency, but also to establish clear communication with customers. Your customers want to feel like they communicate with real people, so consider offering more than automated email responses. Create a community around your product and treat your customers as its important members.
Whatever steps you choose to take, remember to live by your company’s principles and don’t be afraid to go beyond customer expectations. It will surely set your brand or service apart from others.
Alex Williams, was born and raised in Sydney Australia. She is a journalism graduate, rookie blogger, and a regular contributor at BizzMark Blog.