Now, more than ever, it’s critical that businesses quit the pursuit of “silver bullet” marketing – only employing a single marketing tactic and assuming your business will soar. Effective marketing demands multiple touch points to convert a stranger into a buyer, and your strategy needs to reflect this.
In order to beat out competitors and rise to the top of your market you need to tie together your outbound marketing, inbound marketing and customer experience into a cohesive customer journey that guides users through each stage of your funnel. This is where industry-leading results are found.
Each of these stages represent key moments in your client’s journey:
- Outbound Marketing = Awareness
- Inbound Marketing = Researching & selecting a solution
- Customer Experience Marketing = Interactions with your team and becoming a loyal customer
The critical realization is that most clients will hit every stage in this process – their first impressions, then initial research and vetting, then the sales process and fulfillment cycle. If you leave them with a bad (or off-brand) experience at any one of these stages, you’ll be losing the momentum which all your other efforts have been building. When each stage flows seamlessly into the next, you’ll increase your revenues, but if you’re missing any elements you’ll be losing people and (with that) revenue for your business.
The Pitfall – Whenever we have businesses come to us and explain that they need a new website so they can get more leads, this customer journey discussion is often where we need to start first. A website without supporting tactics (running ads, trade show booths, mail outs, etc.) will mean you have a great website, but no one visiting it. The inverse is also problematic – running a wide range of advertising tactics, but without a really strong website will mean you attracted a lot of attention, but have lost their trust as soon as they “clicked” or looked you up. So as you look at your marketing strategy, ensure you’re addressing the full journey. Anything less will be introducing gaps in your funnel and feel like “another waste of money”.
So let’s take a deeper look at each of these stages:
- Read more about Outbound Marketing
- Read more about Inbound Marketing
- Read more about Customer Experience Marketing
What if This is a Little Overwhelming?
There’s a lot to cover. And no doubt it would cost too much time and money to do it all at once. This is the case for every business. Which is why you shouldn’t do it all at once.
After looking at your marketing we recommend two approaches to guide each year’s marketing goals:
- In which of the 3 stages do you feel your company is the weakest? (focus here first)
- If the business needs significant work in multiple stages, work from the bottom up – first improving your customer experience, then your inbound, then your outbound.
*The only exception to this would be if you are a brand new startup, in which case we’d recommend doing at least a little bit in all 3 areas.
Think of your marketing as the strategies and tactics that make your customer journey easy, exciting, and worth repeating. They increase your exposure, your leads, and your revenue as you make tweaks to the customer journey. When you put intentionality into reaching new audiences, converting interested shoppers and delighting the people you serve, you’ll notice a lot more of your business “just works.” You’ll still have busy seasons and slow seasons (marketing is a multiplier, not a steamroller), but your business will be a lot less dependent on luck, market conditions, or finding “the right sales person”.
Interested in Getting Help?
True Market is a branding and web development agency serving Calgary and other valued clients throughout Canada and the United States. Our work is built on down-to-earth, brass tacks solutions from a team of really talented people. We can help you build your strategy, equip your team, and introduce you to other great companies for ad management and other services. We love to educate, measure and focus on business outcomes for our clientele.
