A 2017 “To-Do” List

Understanding the importance of customer retention is essential for marketers to be successful.  As we look ahead to 2017, I’ve thought about what my top three key actions for 2017 should be for success.

1. Create compelling content

Today more than ever, it’s easy to feel like we are drowning in information. With multiple sources across multiple channels, 24 hours a day, it's a constant stream. This is set to continue in 2017. The priority for marketers should be to create and deliver content that is easy to consume. Content that will cut through the noise.

Marketers need to figure out a way to turn big data into useful data. They can then use this information to deliver timely and valuable insights to customers. This is no longer difficult to execute, thank’s to predictive intelligence apps, you can now have your very own data scientist in your pocket. Therefore helping you make those important decisions around content.

2. Use social selling

I often hear from our customers that the direct sales approach falls on deaf ears these days. Times have changed and marketers are increasingly capitalising on the power of social selling.

To explain further, before a customer makes a purchase, they want to feel an emotional connection with the brand. They also want a great customer experience. This connection is facilitated by social selling – it doesn’t rely on a direct approach but on the trust that you find in any community or network.

Adding to this, new social networks are popping up all the time. Using AI and predictive intelligence, marketers can ensure they are delivering just the right message, within just the right context, on these sites.  There’s no question, social selling is going to become more potent.

3. Partnership between the CMO and CIO

In our connected, mobile age, customers’ expectations are shifting radically.  In fact, Salesforce’s latest Connected Customer report showed 72% of consumers and 89% of business buyers expect companies to understand their needs and expectations. For marketers, the need to make sure that each and every touch point is personal and feels 1-to-1 has never been more important.

As such, they need to achieve a single customer view, pulling from insights across all channels.  What’s  more, as orchestrators of the customer journey, they need the ability share customers insights in real time across all divisions.

What does this mean? Every successful marketing team needs a strong tech backbone – this makes close collaboration between the CIO and CMO absolutely essential.

You can read more about key marketing trends in this CNBC article

#bigdata #social selling #marketing