McLellan: Remember current clients
DREW MCLELLAN Jan 16, 2019 | 3:21 pm
3 min read time
626 wordsBusiness Record Insider, Sales and Marketing“Dance with the one that brung ya.”
Ronald Reagan made that phrase a part of our vernacular during his presidency, quoting a song from his youth. It’s also smart marketing advice.
As you build out your marketing plan for 2019, you need to pay particular attention to the clients who have already proved they believe in what you do and are willing to pay for it.
This series of columns has been all about walking you through the critical elements of a marketing plan so you can build your own and take 2019 by storm.
We’ve covered: defining success/big-picture vision; creating personas to understand your target audiences better; differentiating your business, products and services; building a message hierarchy; and designing a media/channel mix that makes sense.
And this week, we are going to make sure your plan puts the proper amount of focus on your most important potential customer. Someone who already is a customer.
There is so much emphasis and pressure to drive leads, trials and new sales (all good things) that many companies forget to keep wooing the clients they already have. Even worse is when you offer something to earn a new customer — but if your current customer asks for it, they get a no. Have you ever received a promotional mailing from your cellphone or cable/satellite company with a fantastic offer? Have you ever called and asked for the same deal? Odds are you were told no. Did you feel like a valued customer that day?
We don’t mean to, but we often make our current clients feel like we’ve forgotten all about them. As you map out your marketing plan and subsequent budget, be sure you’ve allocated resources for making your clients feel loved and appreciated.
As you’re upping your game to provide value to your prospects, you need to evoke a sense of exclusivity and belonging for your loyal customers. Here are some valuable ways to pour a little extra love on your clients.
Client-only events: Many companies do a holiday party or a summer picnic or ballgame, and those are awesome. But from a marketing perspective, there’s not a lot of meat on the bone there. Hosting a special speaker or educational opportunity that adds long-lasting value for your clients is a smart marketing move. Whether you provide the educational elements yourself or you partner with a subject matter expert, as the host you get credit for making it happen.
Client-only communications: As we all share more of our smarts through social media, blogging, video content and other tactics, our clients watch us giving away all of our trade secrets and can’t help but wonder why we don’t save some of that just for them. After all, they give us money.
Many businesses have had massive success by creating a client-only newsletter or mailing. They hold back some of their smarts and only share that knowledge in the exclusive communication to their inner circle.
Client-only perks: Whether it’s better seats, better pricing, exclusive access or some other perk, figure out ways you can reward your customers for their loyalty. We tend to use those sorts of things as bribes to earn someone’s business. Instead, think of them as thank-you gifts and shower your best clients with your best bonuses.
Be sure you promote whatever client-centric marketing efforts you’re making. You want to make sure, whether they take advantage of it or not, that you get credit for the effort.
If you are looking to squeeze the value out of your marketing budget, remember that selling to an existing client is seven to 10 times less expensive. Between that and the value of a referral, it makes perfect sense to give your customers a little extra attention. n