Become customer-obsessed.
Have you welcomed the age of the customer? The proliferation of channels (e.g., print, web, mobile, smart TV) has shifted the already fragmented relationship between marketing and IT. Businesses wanting sustainable competitive advantages will have to understand how to use customer knowledge to build successful engagements.
So if you’re resting on the valued business model, powerful distribution channels, or your supplier relationships, you are fast learning that this won’t suffice.
At the center of the digital experience, across all industries – fueled by leaps in technology, a customer-led disruption marshals in the age of customer obsession. Customers’ expectations are high. Technologies such as mobile devices have conditioned customers into having their data how they want it when they want it, and where they want it.
Gone are the days when brands could broadcast their messages to the masses. The power brands that broadcast without first understanding the one-to-one relationships will encounter a minefield filled with consumer voices exploding bombs of discontent pinging their social networks.
The consumer sees you! And if they sense your brand is all about a single-minded, one-dimensional broadcast lacking genuine value, it won’t take much time until backlash circulates via word-of-mouth sentiment on the social web.
In the age of the customer, success depends on becoming customer-obsessed. Focus your strategic decisions on customer knowledge and retention. Reestablish your brand by putting your customers at the heart of everything.
What does it mean to be customer-obsessed?
A customer-obsessed company focuses its resources, energy, and financial plan on methods that foster customer knowledge that informs the engagement process rather than focusing on maintaining traditional competitive mindsets.
Not only is there a disruptive shift in how companies build their brand messaging, but there is also a shift in how they compete for brand share. As tools for the social web continue to evolve, brands are forced to compete in the web’s social arena.
Key Elements to Refocusing your Brand
Define NorthStar
Before you can reinforce the brand across a multitude of touchpoints, define your brand’s North Star. This is done in seven words or less. Understand your brand’s direction by answering yes to the following questions:
- Is it honest?
- Is it transparent?
- Is it inspirational?
- Is it strategic and concise?
Define a Brand Map
Start with actions that exemplify the brand experience while focusing the message to draw in the audience. Keep the customer at the center of the experience. Begin by understanding your brand from the consumer perspective. Chances are very good; you’ll uncover hidden opportunities.
Define the True Brand Compass
Focus on four building blocks for the TRUE brand compass. Successful brands embrace the empowered consumer by defining their voice and driving one if not all of the following: trust, relevance, unmistakable and essential.
The traditional competitive approach, inherently built from the survival of the fittest mentality – where competition naturally selects out the weak links, is now taking a back seat to a more cooperative mindset, with the consumer in the driver’s seat. Brands are learning that a cooperative mindset will effectively fuel the backbone of their social marketing approach.
Are you ready to see Coca-Cola complimenting Coke on their Facebook page? Buckle up!
