Welcome to the 10th episode of The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show! Today we are going to talk about a marketing problem that everyone knows exists, that not too many marketers seem to be doing anything about: Creating customer-centric messages and connecting with customers.
Show Notes:
0:50 – “What’s the Biggest Mistake That Marketers Make?”discussion from the Marketing Smarts podcast with Kerry O’Shea Gorgone. You can listen to that episode here.
2:20 – Why don’t marketers listen when industry leaders and experts say that they should do a better job of understanding and listening to their customers?
3:34 – Most companies aren’t build and structured to have direct and repeated interactions with their customers.
5:30 – Most companies don’t understand that most of the marketing messages around its brand aren’t coming from the brand.
6:50 – Social Media leads to Digital Word of Mouth. Ideas are spreading from customer to customer without direct input from marketers.
9:55 – My (very lofty) goals for this podcast and number of downloads for the year and why I need your help in reaching my goal.
I hope you enjoy this episode, you can download it directly here. And if you can, please subscribe to The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show on iTunes, and I would *love* it if you could review the podcast on iTunes as well.
Mack, great episode. This one really talked to me. My role has almost always been working as the conduit between the customer and management, both business ( marketing/sales and product) and I’ve witnessed some crazy things!
I’ve seen a bunch of different scenarios but what I have noticed when it comes to commitment to customers is that if a company is going to really listen and serve in order to grow, they need to already have the mindset that their customers are assets, not transactions. This is the key to unlocking all potential. If the company has a board and investors, then the talks begin there. The customer is already a part of the master plan.
If there is no talk of customer value in the beginning and customers aren’t viewed as assets, the buy in for a truly customer serving culture and business isn’t there. Some resources and revenue will be given towards going through the motions of beings “customer oriented” but it’s not in the company’s DNA.
So how do you know if your company is “truly vested” in building a future that includes the customer? Take a look at structure and resources. If your company places the emphasis on product and technical resources, and dedicates much fewer resources to customer facing positions, that is already a sign. If your leaders are not out shaking hands themselves with your customers and walking the talk, you’ll end up asking the question you and Kerry spoke about: “why don’t they listen to the customer”.
When this happens there is the possibility of making the case on “why” through education, case studies and social proof and so on. But depending on the size of the company you may have a lot of people to convince to get there. It’s going to require a pivot or in some cases, a reboot to align the organization.
It’s funny because when we interview for jobs we get all worked up about the details of the job and personal advancement. I never used to think about customer vs product centric companies and what that meant in terms of my work or role.
The future of a company today is directly tied to the happiness and loyalty of its customers over time. If a company’s business strategy isn’t aligned to that, how are employees, programs, services and products going to be?
Thanks again for the time you take weekly to make these podcasts. I think you should have a dial-in number and do these live — On-Air with Mack!
Thank you Kelly 😉 I think you perfectly nailed it, it all boils down to whether the company views its customers as assets or liabilities. The irony is the customer holds so much untapped value and potential for many businesses that is never realized because, like you said, they start out viewing the customer as a liability instead of an asset. So that potential remains trapped.