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Mar 15
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7 Things Every Marketing Decision Maker Should Know About Their Best Customers

By | Customer Intelligence, Marketing Strategy | No Comments

If you’re responsible for any kind of business development efforts (i.e. business owners, marketing or sales), you know how tempting it can be to try and please all of your customers all of the time. That’s why it’s so critical for businesses and organizations to take the time to identify their very best customers. By doing this, you can laser-focus your marketing, advertising and sales efforts on this key group—receiving a much greater return on investment.

On average, about 20 percent of our customers produce 80 percent of our sales, says Perry Marshall, author of 80/20 Sales & Marketing. He says this same 80/20 principle applies to time management and even our digital marketing efforts. Rather than wasting time trying to reach everyone who might be willing to pay for our products or services, we should focus on those who are most lucrative: “Your goal should be to zero in on those 20 percent of customers who are essential for your business’ prosperity.”

Defining this “20 percent” allows you to cater to those who are most “pleasant and profitable to work with—those who drive our success and satisfaction,” according to Randy Myers, contributing editor for CFO magazine.

With this in mind, there are a few things every marketer (yes, and sales person) should know—or find out—about their best customers:

  1. What benefits are tSinclair Group 7 things to know about your best customerhey seeking (why did they pick your company)?
    What are some of your ideal customer’s most pressing needs? What problems are you solving for them? How does what you offer improve their life and/or work? And which specific benefits are most important to them? Your best customers know why they chose you, and they understand what sets your company apart. Using this insight will also help you hone your Unique Value Proposition (or UVP – which we’ll talk about in our next blog).
  2. Who exactly are they?
    Lack of clarity regarding who your best customers really are can hamper your long-term sales growth. So it’s essential to take a closer look at your customer lists (emails and social media followers, etc.). Marshall suggests the R-F-M rule: Look for customers who bought most Recently, more Frequently, and spent the most Money. Then, laser-focus your efforts on them.
  3. Where do they live?
    Find out where your best customers actually live and work. Where are they when they purchase your product? This will not only offer key insights, but also allow you to geo-target them in your marketing efforts.
  4. How did your relationship start?
    Drill down to discover where your ideal customer relationships originated. Try to identify which channel produced the initial sale. Was there a specific offer that activated their response? Were they more likely to buy at a certain time of the year/day? Did they buy online or in-person? Pinpointing the steps that led to a “yes” in their decision-making process can help you find out what’s worked in the past—and what’s likely to work in the future.
  5. Where can I find more people like this?
    The more you know about your current best customers, the better you understand prospective clients. Where do they go to find information or share it with others? Knowing this is helpful when it comes to making decisions about marketing messages and platforms to target.
  6. How am I engaging them?
    Are you using marketing tactics strategically to create ongoing dialog that’s highly personalized to your best customers? It’s essential to develop a clear plan for engaging this group that’s so important to your company’s success. Are there key ways to develop that relationship, keeping them a raving fan? This is where utilizing a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool can be key in helping ensure they know their value to you—and never have a reason to doubt choosing you.
  7. How can we help each other be successful?
    Creating a relationship with your best customers and spending time to help them be successful also means they’re likely willing to tell your story to others as well. Think about ways they can help you spread the word about your products via social media, testimonials or endorsements.

Taking the time to discover and define your company’s best customers can go a long way in setting yourself up for marketing success. We’d love to hear who you think your best customers are—and your ideas for cultivating that relationship. Let us know some of your thoughts and challenges!

Get started defining your best customer with our online 2-minute marketing assessment.

Feb 25
0

3 Steps to Taking Your Brand Beyond Local

By | Consumer Packaged Goods, Marketing Strategy, Organic | No Comments

Over the years we have had the pleasure and privilege of helping many CPG brands grow from an idea in a kitchen to a national household name. We love seeing the passion behind owners/investors when they are ready to let the rest of the country know about their product.

If you are a locally loved, owned and operated natural or organic brand with a desire to take your product to the rest of the country, how do you assess next steps, ensuring you’re ready to take the leap?

Investing a considerable amount of time, thought and resources in the following 3 steps could be the difference between success or failure:

1- Brand Positioning & Architecture

Category buyers are not simply looking for good-tasting products with superior ingredients. They’re looking for solid, scalable brands with a story to tell—and particularly one they know will be appealing to consumers and retailers alike.

With this in mind, there are some key questions owners and stakeholders should consider when developing a national brand:

How is your brand positioned in its category? Have you clearly defined its Unique Value Proposition (UVP)?
Do you have a local story that would compel a national retailer and/or consumer to try it for the first time? If so, is your brand architecture positioned for new product growth and line extensions that would make a national chain take a chance on you?
With current sales channels and potential growth opportunities, are you prepared to explain your position in the marketplace to retailers, distributors and /or investors?

2- Marketing Strategy

Your next critical step is to develop a national marketing strategy that will support national retailers and distributors. You’ll need to map out your monthly marketing spend on things like retail account promotions, digital media, content development, trade shows, event sponsorships, sampling and public relations. It’s important to measure this monthly in order to effectively drive sales and support the sales channels you want to pursue.

In addition, your marketing and sales team should be ready to (in 30 minutes or less) convince buyers and key accounts that the marketing plan you have will drive more consumers to their stores and/or websites. Be ready to explain why they should invest promotional money in your brand, product(s) and category. Marketing is a two-way street for national retailers: you need to give them a reason to invest in your brand.

3- Sales Channel Priorities & Opportunities

Once your brand positioning and marketing plan is complete, your next step is to develop sales channel priorities. Ask yourself:

What channels might offer early “wins” and provide momentum to meet or exceed sales goals?
Do I need to focus on a specific region? Retailer? Or distributor? What region, retailer or distributor caters best to consumers that will try and love my product(s)?
Is there a specific industry that could take my brand to the next level like food service, airlines, schools or hospitals?
Taking the time to address the above 3 steps will begin the process of taking your brand from local…to someday…global!

About Sinclair Group:

Sinclair Group is a strategic brand building and sales consulting firm focused on helping natural and organic brands go global. Our sweet spot lies in unearthing innovative products and developing them into nationally recognized brands using our marketing expertise and retail and distribution networks.

Contact us today!

Jan 11
0

5 questions to answer before you outsource your social media in 2016

By | Digital Marketing | No Comments

thumb_p205661.tf_5D45529F-0C89-EBC6-A0198A303EC53AC9.SG_-_social_media_blog_picSocial media isn’t everyone’s forte. And maintaining a successful social media presence takes a real investment of time and effort. As you look toward 2016 with the goal of maximizing your marketing efforts, you may realize you don’t have the necessary time, resources, or capacity to handle your social media accounts in-house.

So how do you find the perfect balance between keeping consistency in your brand through in-house talent and utilizing outside help to amplify your social media efforts?

As a marketing & sales agency, we understand your concerns about handing over the social media reins to a third party. That’s why it’s all the more important to ask the right questions when considering a social media partnership with an outside firm or contractor.

Here are our top five questions to answer:

Will they create a personalized strategy for you?

Does the agency create a social media strategy that is personalized to your company and/or brand that keeps your larger content marketing and sales goals in mind? Is it tailored to your unique value proposition (UVP) and target audience(s)?

Do they understand your brand and brand voice?

Does the marketing agency take the time to understand your brand, your target audience and your voice? Will they conduct social media research with the goal of understanding your industry and familiarizing themselves with current content and influencers in your field? Ask to see work they’ve done for other clients and examples of how they’ve approached learning the ins-and-outs of a brand and its leadership.

Do they have a social media philosophy?

When you are first interviewing a potential marketing agency, ask them about their social media philosophy. The goal is to understand how they view social media and make sure that it aligns with your strategy, budget and needs.

Do they have a content development process?

Managing social media is more than just posting pictures and sharing interesting articles. To make the most of your social media channels, you’ll need unique and relevant content to share with your audience. So make sure the agency you’re considering has the talent – and a clear process – for developing the kind of content you need. Ask them to articulate their process and platforms so you can see if it fits well with your needs and other digital platforms.

How do they measure success?

Does the agency help you establish social media goals? How do they measure the success or failure of those goals and tie it back to sales? What is their reporting process back to you so you can clearly understand what is and isn’t working?

The ideal social media partner is one you can trust to create a clear strategy and voice based on measurable business and marketing goals and to provide a talented team for generating and sharing unique content that gets your business the attention it deserves. So as you look into 2016, keep these five questions in mind as you consider your social media marketing needs.

If you’d like more info about how social media can increase sales and expand your community of brand warriors, contact Sinclair Group today for a consultation.

Dec 02
0

Demystifying the Meaning of Value Marketing

By | Customer Intelligence, Marketing Strategy | No Comments

Meaning of Value MarketingValue. We hear it all the time in sales speak. But what does it really mean in your product or services offering?

To start, let’s take a hard look at your sales process.

Delivering value: the customer-focused way

Being customer-focused is more than offering a customer service call center or team.

It’s really about listening to the needs of your customers in real time, understanding their challenges, and taking the time to thoughtfully consider which of your products or services solves their problems.

Bestselling author and sales expert Jill Konrath offered her insights in an interview with Inc.: “But if you really want to stand out, you need to know how customers are currently handling things today, how their status quo is impacting their ability to achieve their objectives, the value they’d get from changing and more. You also need to know about the buying journey, who’s involved and what’s important to each of them.

Knowing this customer information enables you to effectively position your offering, ask the provocative questions, share appropriate ideas/insights and to guide them through the decision process. Very few companies take the time to focus on customer knowledge, yet understanding it is the foundation for sales success.”

The reality of the current sales landscape

Consumers in today’s world expect more from brands and companies. They demand ongoing service after a purchase. This actually gives you an open door into their world.

Of course, your product or service must perform as expected to impress your customer. But in reality, if you back your products with superior service (read: value), the chances of their future purchases increase greatly.

If your product or service performs well, you have a grand opportunity in front of you to cross-sell other products or up-sell to more expensive services.

Laying the game plan for cross-selling or up-selling

The value you offer can also be in the form of understanding your customers’ industry, its volatility and unique demands.

Checking in with customers between issues allows the relationship to naturally evolve—and for you to speak knowledgeably about their market. Offering success stories from current clients allows you to cross-promote other products or services without the awkwardness of a direct sales pitch. If you position yourself as an expert, your name will float to the top when a different need arises. That makes an up-sell or a cross-sell much easier for your team.

Ideally your company is already using a CRM (customer relationship management) system that alerts your sales team to:

1) what customers have purchased and

2) what else may add value to them. (Side note: Read more about what CRM can do for you in one of our previous blogs.)

The sequence that the sales team uses for the new customer should not only be intentional but a value-first approach. Do something unique that makes a prospect remember you.

Driving the sales funnel

A systematic evaluation of the way you sell your product or service can truly help expand your sales in an organic way.

How do you match your products and services to your customers’ needs? Are you thinking strategically about the path you want to walk to help them in other areas?

Maximizing the length of your customer’s lifetime with you will be challenging; but the payoff with up-selling or cross-selling is immense.

How do you define value with your clients? Let us know!

 And if you need help developing your value sales strategy, take our free online marketing assessment and schedule a free consultation.

Sep 24
0

Capture your best customer with a customer experience blueprint

By | Customer Intelligence | No Comments

In an ideal scenario, each time a customer interacts with your business, they follow a specific and intentional path you have laid out for them.

It all starts with an initial attraction phase that intrigues the customer enough to move to an entry point (whether physically walking into your store, or initiating a phone call, email or viewing your web site). They then engage with your brand, and a purchase is made. This is followed by a smooth exit and positive experience that helps them further build their relationship with your company. (Note: Frederik Wiedemann from ReD Associates dives deep with more information about each phase. For more information, read his helpful post about improving the customer experience.)

Sounds easy, right?

You don’t ask someone to marry you on a first date…

What we’re seeing in today’s digital marketing world, is a paradigm shift. Companies have stiff global competition, and consumers are so savvy in their quest for information that grabbing their loyalty is a long process. Sometimes a long ‘dating’ process before they will consider your goods or services.

So how do we ensure that customers feel valued, respected and heard? And how do we show our employees their part in the customer service lifecycle? What about checking for fail points in the process?

One way you can make the customer experience intentional is with a customer experience blueprint.

Think of your customer experience blueprint as a simple line with points in which your customer interacts with your brand. Fill in your customer service interactions with your customer, followed by in-house services the customer doesn’t see (but that support their experience).

For an example, let’s use JOE’S BIKE SHOP.

Step one (Attract) will be the physical interactions of the customer with your service. In our case, points on it could include:Customer Experience Blueprint

  • Searching for nearby bike shops on a mobile device
  • Visiting your website and determining if your services fit his/her needs
  • Walking into the store
  • Reading the sales poster
  • Comparing the specs of a road bike to a mountain bike

Step two (Engage) will detail the customer service interactions your company has with a customer (the exterior services). Following our bike shop example, we could use points like:

  • Providing real-time Q&A online
  • Offering assistance to customers in-store
  • Ringing up sales
  • Explaining the service shop
  • Offering warranties and maintenance

Step three (Optimize) showcases the in-house services that support the exterior. Points like:

  • Back-end SEO work to show up in search results
  • Maintaining a relevant and updated website
  • Producing sales literature and in-store signage
  • Ordering parts for the service center
  • Maintaining stock systems

Then connect the points with a line of interaction that shows the process of a customer in the lifecycle.

Value of the customer experience blueprint
If you haven’t nailed it down already, developing your company’s Unique Value Proposition (UVP) will allow you to hone in on exactly who you are, who your customers are (hint: it’s not everyone) and where to focus your marketing efforts. Read more on our SG blog about 4 steps to building a UVP that sells.

Joe's Bike Shop - customer experience blueprint exampleTake the time to look at your business from your customer’s perspective. A sound blueprint can help you:

  1. reveal your customer’s pain points,
  2. give a common ground UVP for employees across departments, and
  3. answer where you differentiate in the marketplace.

If you say that the customer is number one—consider your own blueprint exercise. What better way to find out where the customer experiences value?

Not only can you improve service, but it offers you a chance to find ways to innovate.

What other benefits do you see in a customer experience blueprint? Add your ideas in the comments.

Want to develop your own customer experience blueprint, but can’t find the time? SG can facilitate a session for your team. Contact us today!

Aug 26
0

Can CRM benefit your business?

By | Digital Marketing, Lead Generation, Marketing Strategy | No Comments

CRM. Customer relationship marketing concept.Whether you’re a small business owner looking to become more efficient, or a large business needing to track the nitty gritty of data and sales, a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system is worth considering. CRM tools are specifically designed to help businesses organize, manage and improve their customer/client relationships.

If used correctly, a CRM system can be a game changing resource when it comes to understanding and engaging with your customers on a deeper level. It allows you to:

  • store and update customer data
  • track their response(s) to marketing and sales techniques
  • store all your business details in a single cloud-based system

This means access to vital information anywhere, anytime.

There are many reasons a CRM system offers businesses like yours an advantage. Here is a list of our top five:

  1. Increase efficiency – A CRM system works to keep your business running smoothly. With all of your data, contact information and accounts in one place, it makes it easier for you to monitor what’s happening with customers.

Because everything is stored together, you can cross-reference past data input to track sales and forecast information, making sure you don’t waste time on strategies that don’t work.

  1. Improve organization – With a CRM system in place, gone are the days of multiple email accounts, hand-written calendar dates, and drawers of old receipts. Because the system is all-inclusive (and cloud-based), all the data and contact information necessary to improve sales and build revenue is right at your fingertips. With this overarching view, you won’t have to play guessing games when it comes to your business’ future.
  1. Build relationships – Now that everything’s stored in one spot, building relationships with your current and potential customers is simplified. Since you’ve already stored their vital data in the CRM system, you can more easily evaluate it to understand their buying tendencies and preferences. This will enable you to target each individual customer or client in a personal and relational way. You can focus more on meeting their needs, while still building up new clientele.
  1. Refine strategy – So, your business is running smoothly. You’ve got the organization. You’ve built solid The next step? Strategy. With a CRM system, you can effectively monitor past customer trends, and then plan accordingly. This means no more wasted time and money on dead-end marketing tactics. Now you have the tools to implement a strategy that not only generates useful feedback, but also drives leads and sales.

The important thing to remember is that when you find a strategy that receives a positive response, stick to it; your CRM system will help you store, organize and manage the data for later analysis. And all that data means you can track target customers so you can pinpoint future clients.

  1. Stay connected – When you have all your key customer information in one place, current or potential clients won’t fall through the cracks. And by staying connected with them, you’ll naturally be more in tune with their demands, desires, complaints, reviews, etc.

But it doesn’t stop with your customers and clients. CRM systems also work to keep managers and sales teams on the same page, so teams can collaborate and strategize (always in real time) even from remote locations via the cloud. This will ultimately increase efficiency and improve sales.

If you’re looking to invest in a CRM system, make sure you purchase the right one for your type and size of business. Don’t know where to start, check out this year’s 10 best-rated systems.

If you’re on the fence, or want to know more about what a CRM can do for your business, take our FREE online marketing assessment and schedule a free consultation.