The Importance of Customer Experience Today

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In today’s saturated market, traditional marketing methods are no longer enough to capture and retain customer attention. Modern consumers expect more than catchy slogans or one-size-fits-all campaigns—they crave personalized, seamless, and memorable experiences across every touchpoint. That’s why forward-thinking brands are shifting their focus from messaging to experience. In other words: customer experience (CX) has become the new marketing strategy.

Consumers today are more empowered than ever. With instant access to information, reviews, and competitive options, they expect brands to understand their needs and anticipate their preferences. A disconnected or generic interaction can quickly send them elsewhere. As a result, companies must think beyond individual campaigns and consider how every interaction contributes to the overall brand perception.

This shift requires a strategic mindset—one that integrates marketing, technology, service, and operations into a cohesive experience. At Stevens & Tate, this holistic approach is central to building marketing strategies that don’t just attract attention, but sustain engagement and loyalty over time.

From Product to Experience

Not long ago, marketing was primarily about showcasing product features and outshouting the competition. But as Oracle explains, customer experience encompasses every interaction a consumer has with a brand—before, during, and after a purchase. It’s not just about making a sale; it’s about creating value at every step of the journey. (Oracle, What is CX?)

customer visual

Today, that journey is rarely linear. Customers may discover a brand through social media, research on a mobile device, compare options online, and complete a purchase in-store—or vice versa. Each touchpoint shapes expectations and influences decision-making. Brands that focus solely on product messaging risk overlooking the broader journey that ultimately determines loyalty.

This shift is especially critical in industries where competitors offer similar products or services. In such cases, CX becomes a key differentiator. A faster checkout process, a helpful chatbot, or a personalized follow-up email can be the reason a customer returns—or walks away.

Beyond convenience, emotional resonance plays a powerful role. Customers remember how easy an experience felt, how quickly their concerns were addressed, and whether a brand demonstrated genuine understanding. Stevens & Tate works with brands to align creative storytelling with operational excellence—ensuring that the promise made in marketing is consistently delivered in practice.

When experience becomes the priority, marketing evolves from a promotional function into a relationship-building engine.

Why CX Drives Growth

Customer experience isn’t just about delight—it’s about driving measurable business results. According to the Forbes Communications Council, brands that embed CX into their marketing strategies see improved customer loyalty, increased retention, and stronger word-of-mouth. With customer acquisition costs rising, those outcomes are more important than ever.

A seamless experience reduces friction, shortens sales cycles, and increases conversion rates. It encourages repeat purchases and strengthens brand trust. Over time, these improvements compound—resulting in stronger lifetime value and more predictable revenue streams.

In fact, satisfied customers are 5x more likely to repurchase and 4x more likely to refer a friend. A well-crafted experience not only retains customers but also turns them into advocates, amplifying your marketing efforts organically.

Retention has become one of the most valuable growth drivers in modern marketing. Acquiring new customers requires significant investment, but nurturing existing relationships delivers sustained returns. By embedding CX into strategy and execution, agencies like Stevens & Tate help brands connect performance metrics directly to customer satisfaction and loyalty outcomes.

Strong CX also builds resilience. In competitive markets or uncertain economic conditions, brands that consistently deliver value and reliability maintain customer trust—an asset that cannot be easily replicated by competitors.

Integrating CX Into Your Marketing Strategy

To effectively make CX the backbone of your marketing, consider the following steps:

  • Map the Customer Journey: Understand your audience’s experience from the first touchpoint to post-purchase interactions. For example, identify pain points and opportunities to improve.
  • Use Data to Personalize: Leverage customer data to tailor messages, content, and offers. Consequently, relevance builds deeper consumer trust and drives higher engagement.
  • Break Down Silos: Align marketing with customer service, sales, and operations. To achieve this, hold regular cross-departmental meetings. A seamless experience requires total internal collaboration.
  • Listen and Continuously Adapt: Use real customer feedback to refine messaging and improve products or services. Understandably, consumer expectations change quickly. CX is not static—it evolves with expectations-so your strategy must evolve constantly.

By combining strategy, creativity, and data-driven insights, Stevens & Tate helps organizations transform CX from an abstract concept into a measurable, scalable growth framework.

Read More: How to Create Cohesive Customer Jouneys 

Deep Dive: How to Map Your Customer Journey

Mapping the journey is the foundational step of any successful customer experience marketing strategy. You cannot fix an experience until you see it from the buyer’s perspective. This process requires looking at three distinct phases:

  • The Awareness Phase: How do prospects first discover your brand? Whether it is through a Google search, a social media post, or a referral, this initial touchpoint sets the tone. Ensure your messaging is clear, helpful, and free of aggressive sales pitches.

  • The Consideration Phase: Once a buyer knows who you are, how do they evaluate you? They might read your blog posts, download a whitepaper, or look at online reviews. During this stage, your content needs to answer their specific questions and build deep trust.

  • The Decision Phase: This is the final step where a prospect becomes a customer. Look closely at your checkout process, form lengths, or sales call scheduling. Any friction here can cause a buyer to abandon their journey at the last second.

By mapping these phases, you can identify exact pain points and hidden opportunities. Once you clearly visualize this path, you can use data to personalize content, break down internal departmental silos, and continuously adapt to changing consumer expectations.

CX Is the Future of Marketing

Customer experience isn’t a buzzword or a trend—it’s a strategic imperative. As brands strive to stay relevant and competitive, those that prioritize CX will be the ones that thrive. In a world where consumers have endless choices, the experience you deliver might just be your most powerful marketing asset.

As expectations continue to rise, the brands that succeed will be those that treat every interaction as an opportunity to build trust. Experience-led marketing fosters deeper relationships, stronger advocacy, and sustainable growth.

Ultimately, marketing is no longer just about communicating value—it’s about consistently delivering it. When CX becomes central to strategy, organizations move beyond transactional thinking and toward long-term relationship building. With the right expertise and integrated approach, brands can turn customer experience into their most meaningful competitive advantage.

Read More: How to Create A Seamless, Omnichannel CX 

Next Steps: Implementing Your Customer Experience Marketing Strategy

Shifting to an experience-led model doesn’t happen overnight. It requires a deliberate, phased approach to align your team and your technology. If you are ready to turn these insights into a measurable growth framework, here is how to begin:

1. Audit Your Current Customer Touchpoints

Before you can improve the journey, you must understand where it currently stands. Look at your website analytics, email open rates, and social media engagement. Identify where customers are dropping off or experiencing friction.

2. Gather Direct Customer Feedback

Stop guessing what your audience wants. Run brief surveys, conduct interviews, or analyze customer service tickets. Hearing directly from your buyers reveals the exact gaps between your brand promise and their actual experience.

3. Establish Shared Cross-Department KPIs

A seamless customer experience marketing strategy requires breaking down internal silos. Bring your marketing, sales, and customer service leaders into the same room. Establish shared key performance indicators (KPIs) so everyone is incentivized to prioritize the customer journey.

Frequently Asked Questions About CX Marketing

What is the difference between customer service and customer experience?

Customer service is reactive. It happens when a customer encounters a problem and reaches out to your team for help. Customer experience (CX) is proactive. It encompasses every single touchpoint, impression, and interaction a buyer has with your brand, from discovering your first blog post to post-purchase support.

How do you measure the success of a CX marketing strategy?

You can measure success by tracking specific customer satisfaction and retention metrics. Key indicators include your Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), customer retention rates, and repeat purchase frequencies. When your experience improves, these metrics rise while customer acquisition costs drop.

Why is personalization important in customer experience?

Modern consumers expect brands to understand their unique needs. Personalization uses data to deliver relevant content, tailored product recommendations, and timely communication. This relevance builds deeper consumer trust, eliminates friction, and makes the buyer feel valued rather than treated like a transaction.

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Want to Get Valuable Buyers? The Key is the “Ideal” Buyer Persona

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As marketers, we all know that Buyer Persona provides valuable insights into our target audiences’ behaviors, motivations, and pain points. They help us shape messaging, refine our strategies, and create more personalized marketing campaigns. However, does that mean you should serve every buyer who fits your general profile?

The answer is NO! Not all buyers are equally valuable to your business. Some may engage with your brand but never convert. Others may make a one-time purchase without long-term commitment. This is why identifying your ideal buyer persona is crucial.

Rather than marketing to everyone, shift your focus to the RIGHT customers — those who are more likely to buy, stay loyal, and generate higher lifetime value. By prioritizing these high-value buyers, you can optimize your efforts, maximize ROI, and drive sustainable growth.

Buyer Persona vs. Ideal Buyer Persona:
Ideal Buyer Persona Win

ideal customer profile

Whenever we start to consider who our buyers are, we begin by giving them a name. We define their job, lifestyle, and buying behavior. These semi-fictional representations of a typical customer help guide our marketing strategies. They shape messaging, targeting, and outreach efforts. But general buyer personas don’t necessarily represent the most valuable customers.

An Ideal Buyer Persona, on the other hand, is a refined, data-driven version. It is based on high-value, high-converting customers. These individuals engage deeply, purchase repeatedly, and contribute to long-term profitability. By prioritizing the right buyers, you ensure smarter marketing investments. And further help you achieve stronger retention rates and higher ROI.

Buyer Persona IDEAL Buyer Persona
Focus Covers a broad audience, including low-value customers Targets customers with the highest lifetime value
Application
  • General marketing 
  • Messaging personalization
  • Optimized targeting
  • Sales efficiency
  • Business growth
Business Impact Lead to generic marketing strategies Strategically focuses efforts on the most profitable customer segments

How to Find Your Ideal Customer Persona

Identifying your ideal customer persona goes beyond surface-level demographics — it requires a strategic, data-driven approach to understanding your highest-value customers. By leveraging real insights from sales data, CRM analytics, and customer behavior, you can accurately pinpoint the audience segments most likely to engage, convert, and drive long-term business growth.

If the process feels overwhelming, don’t worry. This step-by-step guide will break it down, making it easier to get started.

  1. Dive Into the Data and Analyze Your Best Existing Customers

    Your ideal customer already exists within your current customer base. Start by identifying your highest-value customers based on:

    • RFM Analysis – This measures how recently a customer purchased, how often they buy, and how much they spend on your company’s products or services. Customers with high RFM scores are not only highly engaged but also among your most profitable buyers.
    • Revenue Contribution – Understanding who drives the most revenue or makes repeat purchases is key. Are they high-ticket buyers or frequent shoppers? Identifying these customers helps you refine your acquisition strategy and attract more of the right buyers.
    • Other KPIs – Beyond RFM and revenue, what additional metrics matter to your company? Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)? Engagement metrics? Churn rate? Any data-driven insights that indicate customer retention, brand loyalty, or long-term profitability can help pinpoint your most valuable buyers.
      Learn More About: How to Calculate Customer Lifetime Value

  2. Identify the key

    customer insights

    After distilling your most valuable buyers, the next step is to uncover the common attributes that define them. Start by examining both demographic and behavioral patterns to gain a clearer understanding of who they are. To go beyond surface-level insights, delve into their motivations, pain points, buying journey, and preferred communication channels. Think about what drives them to buy, which marketing messages resonate most, and how they interact with your brand across different touch points.
    Learn More About: Consumer Buying Journey

    In the next section, We’ll explore the key attributes you should consider when building your ideal buyer persona in the next section.

  3. Validate and Continuously Update Your Ideal Buyer Persona

    You can shape your communication message and marketing strategy around the key characteristics of your high-value buyers. However, defining your ideal buyer persona isn’t a one-time task—it’s an ongoing process that requires constant validation and refinement to remain relevant.

    As market trends shift, customer behaviors evolve, and new data becomes available, your ideal persona must also adapt to reflect these changes. To stay ahead, make it a priority to regularly revisit your CRM data, sales reports, and customer insights. By doing so, you can identify emerging patterns and shifts in buyer behavior, allowing you to fine-tune your strategy accordingly.

Important Characteristics Should be Included in an Ideal Buyer Persona

Everyone has a different background and unique characteristics. However, certain commonalities drive them to purchase the same product or service. These shared traits help define an ideal buyer persona. Take a look at the following Ideal Buyer Persona template, which outlines the key characteristics that should be considered when defining your ideal customers.

Demographics Geographics Psychographics Buying Behavior Communication Habit
  • Age range
  • Gender
  • Income level
  • Education level
  • Job title and industry
    (for B2B businesses)
  • Location
  • Urban vs. rural preferences
  • Cultural influences
  • Interests
  • Hobbies
  • Values
  • Beliefs
  • Goals
  • Buying frequency
  • Research habits
  • Decision influencers
    (Price, Quality, Social proof)
  • Platforms
  • Content formats
  • Messaging tone
  • Messaging style

In short, identifying your ideal buyer persona is not just about understanding your customers—it’s about refining your marketing efforts to target the right audience. Instead of casting a wide net and hoping for conversions, focusing on high-value, high-converting customers allows you to optimize your budget, increase engagement, and drive long-term profitability.

What’s Next?

Ready to define and implement your ideal buyer persona?

Let’s connect and see how we can help you optimize your marketing strategy for better results today!

 

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What’s Trending in Marketing of April 2024

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Step right into our April 2024 edition of “What’s Trending in Marketing,” your portal to the freshest marketing trends and insights. Stay ahead of the curve with our collection of marketing trends and reports for the 2024 year.

Additions in AI Advertisements

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is making it easier for brands to reach consumers with AI-powered tools. They’re introducing new features to personalize advertising campaigns, like creating multiple versions of ads tailored to individual users. Additionally, they’re offering personalized product recommendations based on what users have browsed and liked. These tools are available on both Facebook and Instagram, aiming to make shopping experiences more seamless and impactful. Read more here. 

people on arrow pointing to target

Brands Values and Their Customers

To keep your customers happy, it’s important for your brand to reflect their values. Most shoppers want brands to share their beliefs. Many have stopped buying from companies whose values clash with their own. To stay connected with customers, brands will focus on showing what they stand for. A survey found that nearly half of marketers plan to invest more in creating content that highlights their brand’s values. Only a small minority will decrease their investment. This shows the increasing importance of authenticity and alignment in fostering lasting relationships with customers. Read more here. 

The Rise of Podcasts

Given the surging popularity of podcasts and online audio, marketers are increasingly recognizing the value and potential of these platforms for reaching and engaging with audiences. In a survey conducted on marketing trends for 2024, 82% of marketers expressed their intentions to either increase or maintain their investment in podcasts and audio content. This signifies a strategic shift in marketing strategies. More emphasis is placed on leveraging the power of audio to connect with consumers in meaningful ways. Overall, the continued growth of podcasts and audio content presents an opportunity for marketers to expand their reach and build brand awareness. It also allows them to foster deeper connections with their target audience in the evolving digital landscape. Read more here.

Learning Marketing Trends and Ideas

Interactive Email Marketing Trends

In today’s competitive online marketing scene, you have to stand out. To do this, businesses are turning to interactive email strategies. These interactive emails go beyond traditional text and attachments. They offer engaging features like animated GIFs, navigational menus, integrated forms, rotational banners, and sliders. Not only do these elements add visual appeal, but they also improve the overall user experience. This encourages active engagement and interaction with the brand’s message. Google’s enhanced compatibility ensures seamless viewing across devices, while emerging trends like key frame animation and cinema-graphs add even more excitement. Interactive emails not only catch customers’ attention but also streamline user experience, making them a vital tool in modern marketing strategies. Read more here.

Innovative Video Strategies to Transform Your Senior Living Marketing

Digital technology has revolutionized marketing for senior living communities, offering unprecedented opportunities to engage potential residents and their families. Video content, in particular, is a powerful tool for showcasing the amenities, values, and lifestyle senior living communities offer. As seniors increasingly embrace digital platforms, mastering video marketing is crucial. Videos can tell authentic stories, educate viewers, and provide virtual tours, all of which are essential for attracting and informing prospective residents. Leveraging digital strategies like SEO optimization and YouTube presence enhances the reach and impact of video marketing efforts, allowing communities to connect meaningfully with their audience and foster trust in the decision-making process. Read more here.

How Brands Market To the Different Generations

Generational marketing targets different age groups in order to better meet their unique needs and preferences. Each generation has distinct characteristics that influence their consumer behavior and how they interact with marketing efforts. Baby boomers, for instance, value quality and respond well to email and TV ads, while Generation X prioritizes convenience and brand loyalty, engaging with social media and video content. Millennials seek authenticity and personal connection, favoring social media and influencer marketing, while Generation Z, the youngest segment of consumers, prefers an omnichannel approach and values brand ethics and authenticity. Understanding each generation’s characteristics is crucial for creating marketing strategies tailored to their behaviors and preferences, which allows you to effectively reach and engage with them. Read more here.

30 Lead Generation Tips & Tricks  Download our FREE guide to attract those leads!  

Nano- or Micro-Influencer Marketing

More brands are leaning towards collaborating with nano- and micro-influencers instead of celebrities or big social media stars because they charge lower rates and still generate high engagement. Reports show that marketers prefer working with small-scale influencers, with nano-influencers charging between $5 to $25 for a TikTok post and micro-influencers asking for $25 to $125. These smaller influencers also boast higher engagement rates, meaning their followers are more likely to take action based on their recommendations. To ensure a positive return on investment, it’s crucial to collaborate with influencers whose followers match your target audience. Read more here.

woman using social media

Companies in Partnership Marketing

More brands are teaming up with others in their industry because it helps both parties achieve their goals. This collaboration can involve co-producing webinars, appearing on each other’s podcasts, or sharing each other’s social media content. For instance, Videowise partnered with other brands to promote their ebook. Partnership marketing allows brands to reach more potential customers by tapping into each other’s audience, connect with industry leaders for insights and assistance, and gain access to valuable resources like customer insights and industry data to enhance marketing campaigns. Read more here.

User-Generated Video Content

We’re likely to see more user-generated video content because potential customers trust it more than highly-produced brand videos. These videos, created by real customers who have used the product or service, carry authenticity that resonates with audiences and increases the likelihood of conversion. To encourage customers to share their experiences, brands can ask for honest reviews, host giveaway contests for video testimonials, or collaborate with creators who can provide genuine opinions in exchange for a fee. This approach saves time, money, and effort compared to creating highly-produced videos from scratch. By leveraging user-generated content, brands capitalize on the credibility and relatability that real customer experiences offer. This fosters stronger connections with their audience and drives engagement across digital platforms. Read more here.

FREE DOWNLOAD 25 Website Must Haves  Check out our guide for driving traffic in leads and sales!   
holiday digital marketing

What’s Trending in Marketing For November 2023

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Welcome to our November 2023 edition of “What’s Trending,” where we bring you the most relevant marketing trends and insights. Stay informed and ahead of the game with our curated collection of marketing trends and reports in winter 2023.

Noteworthy Marketing Trends and News

The Guardian view on festive marketing: stop spending like there’s no tomorrow

In 1998, a British newspaper introduced “Black Friday” as a post-Thanksgiving shopping phenomenon in the US. Today, global spending on advertising during the festive season is predicted to reach a record £9.5bn. However, the environmental impact of promoting overconsumption is a growing concern. The Guardian explores the idea of banning or regulating ads to address misleading environmental claims. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is criticized for its lax approach, with only a small fraction of environmental ad complaints investigated. Tightening regulations is proposed as a step toward aligning advertising with the urgent need for climate-conscious practices.

Microsoft Advertising Shares Holiday Season Marketing Playbook

Elf A SelfieMicrosoft Advertising provides insights in its Festive Holiday Marketing Playbook to help businesses enhance holiday sales. Key points include understanding the timing of revenue peaks around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, leveraging deal-seeking behaviors among consumers, and capitalizing on search for online and in-store purchases. The National Retail Federation predicts a 3-4% increase in US holiday spending. Advertisers are encouraged to align strategies with the ‘Cyber-5’ period and utilize search for targeted advertising. 

Popular cereal gets Bud Light treatment after sneaky marketing campaign

Kid Rock’s anti-Bud Light campaign, sparked by the beer brand’s association with a transgender model, has now shifted to target Kellogg’s-owned Froot Loops in Canada. The cereal faces a boycott after promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion on its boxes, urging kids to practice pronouns. Social media users criticized the move, with some accusing it of “woke indoctrination.” Froot Loops’ digital library, tied to the promotion, offers diverse topics for families. The backlash reflects an ongoing trend of brands facing criticism for perceived political messaging, following controversies like Bud Light’s partnership with a transgender model and Target’s transgender branding frenzy.

Find these articles interesting? You may like: Creating Successful Holiday Marketing Campaigns

Learning Marketing Trends and Ideas

Micro Moments: A New Consumer Behavior in Marketing

Successful businesses understand that consumer behavior in marketing does not stay the same. Consumer behavior changes based on a variety of factors, including new tools and ways of using those tools. The smartphone drastically changed consumer behavior in marketing. This happened somewhat recently, yet people already spend roughly 3.5 hours a day on their phones. The way that a person interacts with their phone is much different than how they interact with TV, magazine ads, or their computer. As a result, marketers must expand the ways in which they engage with consumers in order to continue capturing their attention. Continue to read here. 

Essential Website Updates for Senior Living Communities

According to a study by the Pew Research Center, as of 2021, 73% of adults over the age of 65 in the United States use the internet. This number has been steadily increasing over the years, highlighting the importance of a strong online presence for senior-focused businesses. This article will explore key website updates that senior living communities should consider. The goal is to stay relevant and provide the best possible experience for their audience. Continue to read here. 

The Brand Loyalty Of Generation X

Consumers like certain brands. They develop a trust that the brand’s products are of the right quality and a good value. That trust, along with other positive emotions, causes consumers to develop brand loyalty, where they tend to buy certain products from particular brands now and into the future. How brand loyalty works depends on many factors, age and status in life being two. It is critical to understand how a particular generation develops brand loyalty. The insights gained by this understanding make marketing to the generation in question much easier. Let’s look at Generation X for example. Continue to read here.

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Recent Marketing Trends, Reports, and Updates

2024 B2B Tech Marketing Trends: The Year Of Authenticity 

As 2024 approaches, marketing trends point to a shift from traditional content to richer experiences, a return to genuine human interactions amid automation, and a move beyond numerical dominance in analytics. AI’s role may bring humorous hiccups, emphasizing the value of human intuition. Niche specialists are expected to dominate the influencer landscape. Return on investment will extend beyond financial metrics, and marketing strategies will shift away from linear funnels to dynamic customer journeys. Hyper-personalization is seen as a double-edged sword, requiring a balance between relevance and privacy. Success in 2024 involves revisiting core values and creating meaningful connections.

Ogilvy reveals key influencer marketing trends for 2024

The report cites how live streaming across social platforms will continue to be a critical medium. Sixty six percent of brands already report that creator-led content delivers more ROI than traditional ads. Influencers could see revenue opportunities through live streaming over traditional subscription models as more platforms integrate payment schemes. 

Predicting the top 5 digital marketing trends for 2024 

Over the past year, significant changes occurred in the digital marketing space: the DOJ’s antitrust lawsuit against Google finally going to trial, Apple’s iOS 17 introducing more privacy-centric features that upended the tracking status quo, the EU issuing multi-million-dollar fines against Criteo for GDPR violations, streaming TV overtaking linear TV in viewership, the collapse of MediaMath, Amazon’s impending launch of ads on Prime Video, and—finally—Disney and Spectrum agreeing to a revolutionary new model for linear TV programming and the ways that content providers and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) work together. See the top 5 digital marketing predictions.

Read Article: What We Can Learn from Viral Video Marketing & Examples of How It’s been Successful

Keys Successful Price Reduction Strategy

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There are many reasons why you might be thinking about reducing the prices of a product or service. There are usually two main reasons: the product or service isn’t selling as well as you had hoped, or you’re looking to increase your customer base. A price reduction can help interest potential customers who may not have been interested before. However, if you plan on cutting prices, you need to implement effective price reduction strategy marketing.

Why is Price Reduction Strategy Marketing Important?

There are two critical reasons why you can’t just slash prices without a price reduction marketing strategy in place. First of all, nobody will know about the price change. Secondly, you don’t want those who do know to make the wrong assumptions about why you are changing the price.

Generating Awareness Of Your Price Reduction

If you don’t market the fact that you’re reducing your prices, nobody will know about it. This then defeats the purpose of lowering your prices in the first place. For example, if you are reducing the cost of a product because it isn’t selling well, then it’s still not going to sell well if nobody is aware of the price cut.

Informing Customers Why You Are Reducing Prices

If people don’t know why you cut prices, they will make assumptions. This can hurt your brand image. For instance, some customers might think that you’re discontinuing a product and are trying to get rid of the last of what you have left. Customers don’t want to buy a product if a newer version is coming out soon after.

What Are The Keys To Effective Price Reduction Strategy Marketing?

When you cut the price of a product or service, you should have a goal in mind. After all, why else would you reduce prices? Whatever your goal might be, you’ll want to keep it in mind as you develop your marketing strategy. A good price reduction marketing strategy should include the following:

  • Provide A Reason

If you don’t justify your price cut, your target audience may become skeptical about why you’re doing it. You need to have a good reason. For example, maybe you’re just having a sale to reward your customers. Or maybe it’s an ethical reason (such as temporarily lowering prices during the COVID-19 pandemic). If you’re permanently reducing the price, you should provide an explanation as well.

  • Research Your Competition

If you’re trying to price your product more competitively, then you should do some competitive research. How much are your competitors charging for similar products or services? If you’re temporarily reducing prices, then you might want to make them even lower than your competition. Doing so can help you steal customers who are willing to try your product or service due to the low price.

  • Establish A Timeline

Is your price cut going to be permanent or temporary? If it’s temporary, you should market it as such. You’ll want to note exactly when you plan on reducing the price. You should also mention how long it will remain at that price point. This way, customers who want to take advantage of your price reduction won’t miss out. The last thing you want is for customers to not make the purchase because they didn’t know that your price cut was temporary.

  • Consider Your Buyer Personas

Consider how a price change will affect your buyer personas. You might not realize it, but reducing the price isn’t always the best way to increase sales. This is especially true if your buyer personas are on the wealthier side. These personas are likely looking for a premium product or service. If you lower the cost of your product significantly, it may lose the perception of luxury.

Why Are Buyer Personas So Important?

  • Focus On Features

One of the biggest mistakes that companies make is to focus solely on the price cut. While the price reduction will attract many customers, it’s not the main reason why they will make the purchase. It’s the features of your product or service. Focus on the features that make your product or service worthwhile. The features are what provide the real value, after all.

Implement A Successful Price Reduction Marketing Strategy Today

Reducing the price of your product or service can help you increase sales and your customer base. If you take the time to develop an effective price reduction marketing strategy, it will result in both a short-term impact and a long-term impact (even if you’re only reducing prices temporarily).

buyer persona guide for business
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Soft Sell Advertising: What it is, Why it works, and How to Execute

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When it comes to advertising, businesses as a whole tend to be aggressive. They let you know exactly who they are, what they do, and why you should buy from them. Even in inbound marketing, companies will try to tie the topic of conversation in with their products or services in some way. However, this isn’t the only course of action. You can also reach your target audience and successfully engage them by advertising in a more subtle manner. Such a strategy is known as soft-sell advertising.

What Is Soft-Sell Advertising?

Soft-sell advertising is a more subtle form of advertising. The goal behind soft-sell advertising is to evoke a positive emotional response. The idea is that the customer will then subconsciously connect the response they had to the brand that invoked it. Businesses that implement soft-selling marketing will often create ads that are warm or humorous, as these tend to be the ads that invoke the most positive feelings.

The History of Soft-Selling

The idea of soft-selling first emerged in 1914, when Theodore MacManus published an ad that would become the model for the soft-sell. The ad was essentially an essay on the burden of being the best in one’s field. The ad was for Cadillac, yet Cadillac wasn’t mentioned a single time. Nor was there an illustration that ran with the ad. Yet the ad was incredibly successful.

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The Benefits Of Soft-Sell Advertising

The following are some of the reasons why you should incorporate soft-selling advertising into your marketing strategy:

  • Less pressure on customers – Because soft-sell ads don’t push products or services, customers will feel less pressure to buy. The pressure is apparent in hard-sell ads, and it’s often off-putting. Using soft-selling ads, you give your audience the ability to discover your brand and make a purchasing decision on their own time.
  • Increase brand awareness – Even though you’re not pushing your brand into their faces, audiences will be more likely to share your content. The reason? People don’t share ads, they share content. When you create a soft-sell ad, you have to focus on the quality of the content and not on the sale. If you are able to create high-quality content that invokes a positive emotion, your audience will share that content. People will share content that elicits a positive reaction to their friends, thereby increasing your brand awareness.
  • Build more trust – Another result of having to focus on content quality is that you’ll build more trust. You’re basically offering your audience something of quality without asking for something in return. This shows them that you care about more than just sales. As a result, they’ll be more likely to explore your brand further. Not to mention that building trust is essential to building long-lasting relationships.

Examples of Soft Sell Advertising

Soft sell advertising has grown in popularity, both in regards to inbound marketing and outbound marketing. The following are a few examples of effective soft-selling ads:

  • Yeti – Yeti is a company that sells coolers and outdoor accessories. They filmed an entire series of videos called Hungry Life showing a well-known chef spending time in nature, where he picks plants, goes fishing, and prepares his meals outdoors. Although Yeti’s coolers do make an appearance, they are never showcased or talked about. Yeti is obviously targeting a specific audience by showcasing a specific lifestyle. That audience will then make an emotional connection between that lifestyle and the Yeti brand.
  • Burt’s Bees – Burt’s Bees uses their founder as the spokesperson. This is perfect because he essentially represents their main buyer persona. The Nature of Burt video introduces Burt, who explains who he is. He’s likable and funny, and their target audience can relate to him. What makes the video so effective is that it builds an emotional connection between the viewer and Burt, all without ever promoting the brand or its products.

Implement a Soft-Sell Advertising Strategy Today

Because many companies focus many of their marketing efforts on generating brand awareness, they tend to be overly aggressive. However, soft-sell marketing can be incredibly effective in terms of engaging your audience and building trust. As such, you should be sure to include soft-sell marketing tactics in your inbound marketing strategy.

social media marketing

6 Behavioral Market Segmentation Examples

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When it comes to marketing automation, few techniques are as beneficial as segmentation, which allows you to categorize your leads based on data that you’ve collected on them. This, in turn, allows you to personalize their experience more, thereby making your nurturing efforts more effective. However, normal segmentation is based on who the user says they are; often provided by the information they fill out in your opt-in forms.

Another effective form of segmentation you should look into is behavioral market. Behavioral market segmentation segments your leads based on how they behave. This behavioral data comes from analytics. The following are six examples of behavioral market segmentation that you can benefit from:

1. User Purchasing Behavior

Basic purchasing behavior can be broken down into four categories:

Complex– When the user is highly involved in both the purchase and decision-making process between two very different brands.

Variety-Seeking- In which the user isn’t that involved in the purchasing process. However, they may choose a different brand just to try it out.

Dissonance-Reducing– Where the customer is happy with their brand, but they know other options that could be better. This also happens, when the customer needs to make a major purchase, but there’s not much difference between the products they’re considering.

Habitual– When little involvement is needed and the product doesn’t vary much from brand to brand. It’s mainly just personal preference that matters. 

These behavioral market segmentation categories make it easier to identify what users are more likely to make a purchase and how you can make your product and brand stand out from the competition.

2. Occasion-Based Behavior

User behavior is sometimes identifiable by special occasions. For example, consumers often make more purchases around the holiday season or for special events in their own lives, such as birthdays and anniversaries. Occasion-based behaviors can be split up into universal occasions, regular personal occasions, and rare personal occasions. This will allow you to tailor content to all of these different occasions in a more personal manner.

Using Customer Segmentation To Improve Engagement

3. Usage Rate

Usage rate divides your users into heavy, mid-level, and light users based on how often they purchase your products or services. When segmenting your audience based on their usage behavior, you’ll be able to focus on turning light users into mid-level users and mid-level users into heavy users while keeping heavy users happy.

30 Greatest Lead Generation Tips

4. Purchase Reasoning

Different users have different reasons for purchasing your product or service. Knowing what those motivations  will make it easier to meet their needs. For example, if you are selling business software, it may have many benefits, including ease-of-use, affordability, scalability, and integration capabilities. If you have an article about the affordability of your solutions to a user that purchased your software due to its scalability isn’t going to be an effective way to engage with them.

5. Customer Loyalty

Keep in mind that just because a customer keeps buying your product or service doesn’t mean that they are a loyal customer. Customers that are continually in need of the product or service that you offer are habitual customers. Whereas loyal customers only purchase your products and services, ignoring your competition.

They are important because they end up generating most of your revenue and aren’t that expensive to cater to. As a result, it’s important to be able to identify who your loyal customers are from your regular customers. That way  you can focus on building your relationship with them.

6. Consumer Status

Determining a user’s status will help you figure out how to best approach them. For example, non-users need to be aware of what their problem or pain point is before you can offer your product or service as a solution. Other types of consumer statuses include prospects (who are learning about your product or service), first-time buyers (who may need to learn how to get the most out of your product), regular users (who may benefit from supplemental products), and defectors (who are ex-customers that have chosen a product from a competitor whose trust you need to try to regain).

These are six types of behavioral market segmentation examples that can help you to more effectively–and efficiently–engage with your users and to continue building relationships with them over the course of their buyer’s journey.

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b2b marketing trends 2020

Guide to B2B Marketing During Covid-19

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Companies around the country are affected by the current COVID-19 pandemic. However, even if business is slower than normal, it does not mean that you should stop your marketing efforts. While you may not see short-term results during this pandemic, your marketing strategy can put you in the position to see results over the long-term. This is especially true once things get back to normal. With that in mind, the following are the steps you should take to improve your B2B digital marketing efforts during COVID-19.

1. Use The Time You Have To Your Advantage

One of the everyday challenges in business is to reach potential clients at the right time. During the pandemic, prospects and clients alike are going to have more free time on their hands. They may have had to shut up shop temporarily and are just waiting to open back up. Others may be working from home, which means that they may be working sporadically throughout the day. You can take advantage of the time your audience has by hosting webinars or producing more long-form content.

2. Re-Evaluate Your Audience’s Perception Of Value

As you know, the pandemic has changed the way we look at a lot of things. Many companies are re-evaluating what is important to them. They are also re-evaluating their budgets and their perception of value. You need to make sure that you stay on the same page as your prospects and clients. This means that you should re-evaluate what your audience’s perception of value is.

Identifying your customers’ current needs

Understanding that customers may not be purchasing products or services from you in the short-term doesn’t mean that you can’t offer value. Put yourself in their shoes. What kind of content will they find helpful during this time? How can you help them? Of course, not all of your clients’ companies may be suffering. Some may be thriving at the moment. Identifying these businesses is essential as you may be able to target them more effectively.

3. Engage Your Audience In A More Personal Way

Most businesses aren’t doing exceptionally well at the moment. Not to mention that people are, in general, somewhat on edge. There are countless reasons for this. People are worried about their companies. They are worried about their health. They are stuck at home under stay-at-home orders. With that in mind, generic sales pitches aren’t exactly going to win them over. Instead, you should focus on hyper-personalization across all channels.

Using hyper-personalization

Hyper-personalization is the use of behavioral and real-time data across multiple channels to personalize the prospect’s or customer’s experience. It’s different than traditional personalization in that you also use purchasing, browsing, and other real-time data. The result? First of all, you’ll get to know what your audience’s current needs are better. Secondly, you’ll create a unique experience tailored to those needs. Such an experience helps you build longer-lasting relationships.

4. Have A Plan For The Future

If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it’s that you can’t predict the future. Anything can happen, which is why you should make sure that you’re prepared. This means that you should have a plan in place in the event that it lasts longer than you expect. On the other hand, you should also plan for the end of the pandemic. When it does end, you will likely need to make more adjustments to your marketing strategy. Just keep in mind that an effective marketing strategy is one that can adapt to various situations. Using this guide should help you do just that.

Follow these steps to make sure that your digital marketing strategy is effective during the pandemic. It might not be apparent right away, but there are still marketing opportunities that you can take advantage of despite COVID-19.

 

Marketing Trends 2

What’s Trending in Marketing for August 2020

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Staying current on marketing trends is especially important to assess whether your marketing efforts are harmonious with today’s evolving world. We know the difficulty of keeping up with these trends given the abundance of information thrown at us every day. The following articles highlight current August 2020 marketing trends that we think are worth paying attention to:

Noteworthy Marketing News

Hulu Launches Beta for Self-Serve Advertising Platform

In effort to combat the negative economic backlash of Covid-19, Hulu has created an opportunity for small businesses to use its platform. Hulu has recently launched a self-service advertisement program eligible for any company with a minimum ad budget as low as $500. The process is simple: a company creates and submits a 15-30 second creative video along with details on budget, date range, and an area to upload the ad to Hulu Ad Manager. Hulu approves or denies within 3 days. Brands also have the option to specify their target market by age, gender, genre and location. Hulu provides approved brands with a simple walk-through of set-up and launch. For this program, Hulu permits a maximum of one version of a creative video per campaign.

As part of its recent Enabling Dishonest Behavior Policy, Google Ads is banning any advertising for “spyware and surveillance technology” in both search and shopping starting August 11. Examples of services include fake passports, fake degrees or diplomas, drug test aids, exam or paper writing services, invalid reviews and clicks, and fake social media endorsements. Examples of unauthorized access includes hacking, cable-stealing, radar jamming technology, traffic signal changers, and phone/wiretapping. Google explains that its list is not exhaustive and only mentioned for example. Google exemplifies spyware as GPS trackers, cameras/recorders marketed for spying purposes, and software that monitors someone else’s texts and phone calls, with the exception of parents tracking underage children. Violators on Google Ads will receive a 7-day warning.

Social Short: Twitter Ad Engagement Drops, Snap Minis Launch, more brands pause Facebook Ads

Twitter’s ad revenues have fallen in the past years though daily active user rates have increased. However, Twitter’s CFO Ned Segal is confident in the rebuilding process of Twitter’s ad server. He expresses optimism for the future of advertisements on Twitter through the advantage the platform has for live events.  Snapchat reports a 17% increase in revenues. Though its audience is largely younger, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel found that the average number of users on the Discover page are in their thirties. Additionally, the platform has benefited from the increasing Facebook ad withdrawals. Twitter has also taken action against QAnon content, suspending thousands of accounts for sharing or associating with any “conspiracy theory-ridden content”.

Improving your Marketing Program

Lessons Learned: Buyer Persona Gone Wrong

Before a company can establish a solid marketing plan, it must be aware of the specific target markets or customer profiles it has the best chance to attract to its product or service. Creating a buyer persona is essential to effective attraction marketing. In order to perfect your approach in buyer persona launch, here are some common mistakes to avoid.

30 Ways to Boost Instagram Engagement & Following

Looking for ways to boost your social media brand presence? Knowing how to increase brand engagement on Instagram, the latest and hippest social media platform app, is a great start. People are online all day due to working from home. Virtual shopping has risen due to restrictions and pandemic fears. As we have geared toward a more online world, your brand’s presence on the web is more important now than ever. According to Forbes, 80% of Instagram users follow at least one business or brand, and 200 million users on Instagram visit business profiles daily. 70% of users turn to Instagram to look up a brand, and 60% learn about new products using Instagram. Now is the time to catch up with the competition that is already using these trends to their advantage.

Istanbul, Turkey – December 15, 2018: Person holding a brand new Apple iPhone X with Instagram profile on the screen. Instagram is an online mobile social networking service, launched in October 2010.

5 Ways to Improve Your B2B Marketing Strategy

B2B marketing can be a challenging endeavor, especially if you don’t have a clear cut marketing strategy in place. To have any hope of running a successful B2B marketing campaign, you’ll need to establish what your goals are. Once you’ve done so, you should implement marketing strategies that will support those goals and help you achieve them. The following are five B2B marketing tips that you should use to help improve your marketing efforts.

Free Digital Marketing Tools To Cope With COVID-19

Recent Marketing Reports, Updates, and Trends

No in-person events until 2nd half of 2021, marketers say

According to a recent Marketing Land survey of 300 people, 3 out of 10 people responded that they anticipate attending in-person events in the first half of 2021. In another survey, 70% of respondents plan to attend solely online events until a Covid-19 vaccine emerges.

U.S. Mobile Ad Spending Update

In March, E Marketer’s Mobile Ad Spending Report forecasted that the pandemic would cause a 20% increase in mobile ad spending, but they have now updated this expectancy and reduced it to 4.8% growth. Among mobile advertising results, location-based advertising has suffered, and gaming and streaming video apps have done well. This year’s lost growth in mobile ad spending will affect overall spending through at least 2024.

COVID-19 Is the Asteroid That Struck American Small Business

Positive news regarding the virus is 78% of small businesses report being able to survive 7 to 12 months or more with existing cash on hand, and 57% could last over a year. Restaurants suffered primarily, as there were over 133,000 business closures total and of the 26,000 Yelp restaurants that have been closed since March, 60% were now permanently closed. A majority of 92% of businesses report pivoting strategy in at least one way form the pandemic. The most common change was a creation of delivery channel, and 96% of businesses reported planning to keep some new services and channels post-pandemic, while 43% will maintain all changes. Find out more on Search Engine Land.

 

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buyer persona

Lessons Learned: Buyer Persona Gone Wrong

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Before a company can establish a solid marketing plan, it must be aware of the specific target markets or customer profiles it has the best chance to attract to its product or service. Creating a buyer persona is essential to effective attraction marketing.

Market Segmentation

In order to perfect your approach in buyer persona launch, these are some common mistakes to avoid:

  1. Don’t Forget to Focus on the Buyer Decision

The most common mistake marketers make is solely defining a buyer persona by the buyer profile, rather than putting detailed consideration in what is most useful: the buyer decision.

How to fix this:

Aside from using previous data, we recommend using the research questions provided by 5 Rings of Buying Insight™, which incorporates every aspect you need to know about your buyer persona’s decision making process:

  1. Priority initiatives – What causes certain buyers to invest in solutions like yours? What is different about buyers who are satisfied with the status quo?
  2. Success factors – What operational or personal results do your buyers expect to achieve by purchasing this solution?
  3. Perceived barriers – What concerns cause your buyers to believe that your solution or company is not their best option?
  4. Buyer’s journey – Who and what impacts your buyers as they evaluate their options and make a selection?
  5. Decision criteria – Which aspects of competing products, services, solutions, or companies do your buyers perceive as most critical? What do your buyers expect for each?

Ultimate Guide to the Buyer’s Journey- Find out What Each Stage of the Buyer’s Journey Entails

  1. Keep Your Research Questions Simple and Sweet

Marketers often stray from insightful target market findings if they use too much detail in their research questions. When conducting research about your buyer persona through surveys or focus groups, avoid questions that are overly personal or technical. This may deviate your campaign away from any productive findings that would help you truly get to know your ideal customer niche.

How to fix this:

When developing questions, it is best to start by establishing what the key problems or questions are that you ultimately want answers for.  You may start with a larger, broader list of questions… however, do not make the mistake of forgetting to shave it down. In the end, all questions should lead to answers that are simple, sweet, and directly related to the problem trying to be solved at hand.

 

  1. Assuming About the Buyer Persona Leads Campaigns Astray

It is important to remember that the most helpful information comes directly from the customers. When researching a potential buyer persona, it is crucial to avoid filling in the blanks, skipping the interview, or assuming anything about the client. A campaign could go in the complete wrong direction if this occurs.

How to fix this:

Rather than making an incorrect assumption based on survey results, in-depth conversations with people can provide the answers you need to bring your brand to the next level. Additionally, a small sample size may lead to incorrect assumptions. Since quality > quantity, and many agencies fixate too much into demographic or other obvious information rather than actually helpful insights, in-depth interviews are again a solution to avoiding this mistake. In order to avoid an over-reliance on anecdotes, always ensure they are backed up by data. You know what they say about assuming… it definitely does not make an accurate buyer persona!

 

  1. Less is More: Master One Buyer Persona First!

It is important to focus on mastering one target market rather than taking on too many to handle. Trying to tackle too many buyer personas at once can overwhelm. This results in a lower quality of target profile insights and vague understanding of individual buyer personas.  Before deciding to take on another buyer persona, it is important to know that this new initiative will bring about sufficient revenue and that your company has the resources necessary to execute.

How to fix this:  

Instead of pondering how many buyer personas to generate, it is important to first focus on establishing how many ways your company needs to market its product or service as the solution for a given buyer persona. Once these are established, it is much easier to gauge if another buyer persona should emerge.

 

  1. One Stock Photo Cannot Fit All

Though stock photos incorporate a creative, personable, and emotion-driven touch to a targeted campaign. However, marketers often forget that one stock photo cannot fit all customers within a buyer persona. Do not make the common mistake of overthinking a stock photo to the point it (mis)leads your campaign into the (wrong) direction.

How to fix this:

In order to solidify your campaign, be sure to start the buyer persona creation process with fleshed out, concrete ideas about who exactly your target market is. Only then should you allow yourself to do the fun part of depicting this persona; stock photos should embellish your envisioned buyer persona- not create it.

More on Buyer Personas:

buyer persona guide for business