FACT
Only 10% of customers engaged enough to be on a database or leaving digital footprints are visiting/transacting more than 2x a year.
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
The 90’s was the era of brand loyalty. Brands controlled the narrative, largely through print and PR. If a brand told you its pizzas were the best tasting and the best value, you believed them. After all, brands don’t lie, right?
The 00’s were much like now – a perfect storm of new technology, societal change and economic instability. For consumers, they could use your new website to check they were getting the best deal. If Pizza A was offering 20% off, Pizza B had to make it 25%. Taste was important but price ruled. The discount economy was born and it put true (and easy) choice into the hands of consumers for the first time.
The 10’s were a visual marketers dream. Instagram drove the ‘experience’ economy, with the consumer curating their feed with brands which said something about THEM. Taste and price were nudged down by social currency. The brands were right to have had a wobble, this was not the way this was supposed to be!
AND NOW?
A brand is whatever social says it is, has to scream for attention on channels galore and every transaction has become a hard earned hustle. Got that visit or transaction in the bag? Good! Now, start again for the next one.
But there is a way back to genuine, sustainable, brand love and loyalty.
AND IT STARTS WITH YOUR DATA
Firstly, tear up your ‘broadcast’ marketing plan. The one where you shout loudly to as many humans as possible about all the brilliant stuff you are doing. New menu! Xmas! Valentine’s! etc etc etc. Because not only do most people not care, but most of it is actively driving people away.
Dig deep into your data, to identify and profile your key customer groups. Their demo traits, their behaviours, their mindsets and motivations – the ‘why’ behind that behaviour.
Now decide which messaging goes to which person and make it resonate, and resonate good.
In time, your customers will come to trust you, and respond to that messaging, because they believe you have THEM in mind.
CUSTOMER FIRST > CUSTOMER CONNECTION > CUSTOMER LOYALTY
Making your marketing customer first is not easy. It takes commitment, investment and ambition.
But my god, the results will be worth it. To your customers, to your brand and to your bottom line. That NI increase you’re dreading could be paid for with the untapped £££ in your database alone.
And if you run a retail or hospitality brand (or any other customer facing sector), frankly, it’s part of the job.
If your marketing isn’t driving serious, trackable incremental revenue, you’re doing it wrong. Drop me a line if you’d like to chat about making it right.
