How to Create a Winning Customer-Centric Marketing Strategy

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Customer-centric marketing is the core of every modern businesses. Now more than ever, business owners strive to create growth through loyal customers with a positive experience. The best way to understand customers is to walk a mile in their shoes. Companies thrive once they place customers at the core of their strategy. 

🚀Read Customer Service: A Guide for Successful Business Growth🚀

Simply put, a customer-centric company offers more than just good service or a one-off positive experience. It encompasses brand awareness, sales, and after-sales care. This article will include a more in-depth analysis of customer-centric marketing strategies, so stick around till the end!

The Importance Of Being Customer-Centric

At first glance, a customer-centric marketing strategy appears difficult and somewhat costly. Customer-centricity requires empathy and long-term planning. Companies risk losing business if they don’t focus on their customers. Understanding your customers’ needs improves their satisfaction and increases the potential for growth. 

Creating unique experiences boosts customers’ loyalty and helps build rapport. As a result, a happy and satisfied customer will always return and increase your profit.

Customer-Centric Culture Within The Organization

First and foremost, employers and employees must understand and share the same values and vision. Empathy and customer satisfaction are a crucial part of the organizations’ core values. These must be clearly communicated and understood by everyone. More importantly, the vision becomes effective when put into practice. 

Create awareness, and provide employees and management with training regarding customer-centricity. Build a culture of empathy, focused on customer satisfaction. Empathy and customer-centricity bring long-term profit as well as an increased brand value.  

Read Building a Customer-Centric Company Strategy – Guide & Tips.

4 Best Examples of Customer-Centric Marketing Strategies for 2021

1. Communication

Clear and consistent communication with internal and external stakeholders is essential. Communicate the customer-centric marketing strategy to all staff members, including your leaders. They must practice these principles and set an example for other employees. 

Customer expectations have drastically increased, and technology must be integrated and used as a communication tool. Social media has become the golden standard, giving you the chance to effortlessly communicate with your clients. Collect and analyze customer data in order to achieve effective communication and a generally improved customer experience. Your team’s input will help adjust your product or service according to your customers’ requirements. 

Picture 1. Clear and consistent communication is crucial

2. After-Sales Care

This might sound obvious, but an after-sales follow-up call or email will make your customers more likely to return. Make sure to recognize and remember their names, build professional relationships with them and make them feel unique. Remember, rapport is at the core of a customer-centric marketing approach.

Return policies must be clearly communicated to customers. Commit to refunds, repairs, and warranties. Add all customers to an electronic newsletter.  Include existing customers into your marketing plan and keep them engaged. Add them to your Facebook page to keep them updated about news and specials. Let them comment, thank them for positive comments and reply to negative ones. Paying attention to their thoughts and experiences will make customers will feel valued and appreciated.

Picture 2. After-sales care

3. Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility is important for any business, as well as their clientele. It is aimed towards society as a whole, which makes it an integral part of a customer-centric marketing. Accountable organizations with corporate social responsibility have higher levels of brand loyalty.

Customers tend to trust companies they perceive as involved with more than just their bottom line; people like companies that are actively contributing to a better society and a healthier environment. 

Strong, healthy relationships between employees and employers built through corporate social responsibility programs can help boost morale. This, in turn, leads to increased efficiency and creates a positive connection with the outside world.

Read Customer Experience Management Guide: Design Customer-Centric CX.

Video 1. Corporate social responsibility 

4. Transparency

Transparency has an immense effect on customers’ experiences and trust, which can sometimes be quite hard to win and maintain. The more information you share, the better. Sharing information with your customers denotes how much you trust and value them.

Information sharing is not only about the quality of your product or service. It is also about the challenges you’ve faced along the way, and how you’ve learned from past mistakes. If customers can see the hard work that goes into your product or service, they will value it more. Keep them informed about future plans and they will continue to feel like a part of your story.

An amazing example of transparency as a customer-centric marketing stategy comes from Buffer. The company openly shares their profit and salaries with their customers, letting them know how their money is spent. 

Picture 3. Example of transparency from Buffer

Customer-Centric Marketing Strategy Wrap Up

Customer-centricity helps companies understand their customers’ needs. Implementing them with solid marketing strategies, helps companies achieve long-term benefits and increase brand value.

Which one of these strategies do you like the most? Have you already tried implementing them? Do you have any other strategies you can recommend? Let us know in the comments below.

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Grace Frenson is a freelance writer from Philadelphia. She recently graduated from Drexel University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. While studying for her degree she interned under a notable financial consultant in King of Prussia. PA. She has a passion for finance and writing.