If there’s one thing I’ve learned by working for large, complex and heavily matrix corporations, no matter the level of sophisticated technology a company has, it does’t really mean anything without a simple yet intuitive marketing strategy that aims to continuously improve the journey and experience of the customer base.

When I began my career working for casinos in Atlantic City, I quickly learned the power behind strong segmentation and a disciplined focus on test & learn practices. With hundreds of thousands of customers to nurture, each at different points in their journey, the key was to meet them along their journey with the right offer to keep them loyal and coming back for more.

The customer is not always right and it’s not only beneficial to segment and reward your customers based on their value, but absolutely necessary to stay in business. While it’s important to nurture your customer base, it’s even more pivotal to spend the extra effort on keeping your highest spenders feeling appreciated.

Customer Centricity > Product Centricity

If you ever received a marketing message and thought “why the hell are they sending me this?”, chances are because that company had a poor marketing strategy that focused more on pushing products than building long term relationships and growing lifetime value. If you continue to receive daily emails from a company that offers products which come nowhere close to meeting your needs, they represent a product centric company that only cares about their bottom line.

In today’s modern age of machine learning algorithms and omni-channel messaging, customers expect companies to know where they’re at in their journey and be rewarded based on the value they provide. Customer Centricity is a business philosophy shift to first think of what your customers really need, and then build your business around those needs rather than trying to fit them within the products that you think they need.

Take them on a journey

The awesome responsibility that comes with running a business is ensuring that you’re properly guiding customers along their journey with your company. A critical mistake that most businesses make is treating all of their customers the same, and sending one-size fits all promotional messaging that ultimately fails to build relationships and hit the mark. In reality, your customers are unique individuals with varying needs at different points along their journey, and it’s your responsibility to meet those changing needs throughout their lifecycle.

Early lifecycle is critical to solidify your relationship and build trust by providing education on your products, services, and company policies. This is also a critical time to drive engagement with your products and brand, opening up the opportunity to upsell and cross-sell in the future. As customers progress through their lifecycle, their engagement may often decline, requiring the need for proper marketing intervention to get them back on the right path towards profitability.

All good things don’t have to but often come to an end, and when a customer reaches the end of their journey with your company, it’s important to recognize this and stop wasting your marketing efforts on them. This doesn’t mean throw in the towel immediately, as win-back campaigns are often very successful, but once you’ve attempted to re-engage the customer and still haven’t succeeded, it’s time to move on. Many companies often over-incentivize and deep discount to try and win back churned customers, but are ultimately diluting their brand and failing to re-ignite the customer relationship. Keep it simple, recognize that their journey has ended, and move on.

Omni-channel Marketing

In the old days, direct mail and newspaper classified ads were the only way small businesses could market themselves. Thanks to the digital age and the rise of smart phones, you now have the ability to communicate to your customers across a range of channels at an affordable rate.

By far the most cost effective and efficient channel is email. Some may say email is dead and full of nothing but spam, but in reality, strong brands with sophisticated marketing strategies are able to stand out and break through the clutter in your inbox. According to HubSpot, email generates $38 for every $1 spent, which is an astounding 3,800% ROI, making it one of the most effective options available.

While we recommend having email as your anchor channel, omni-channel marketing is all about maintaining a consistent message across all channels. This means ensuring your brand and offerings follow the same tone and pattern on Social Media, Paid Search, SEO, Direct Mail, SMS, Push and any other channel. This doesn’t mean to creepily follow customers around on the internet via cookies. Ultimately, the goal is to target customers along their journey across different channels with relevant messaging to drive resonance and engagement.

Focus on your VIPs

If you haven’t heard of the 80/20 rule, let’s review: 80% of your company’s revenue is driven by 20% of your overall audience. While it is critical to build and maintain your base to keep the lights on, the fact is that your high value customers are truly what drives growth.

Marketing can be expensive, and it’s nearly impossible to meet all of the different needs of your customers. That’s why it is critical to focus your efforts and investment on your VIPs to build loyalty and increase share of wallet. First identify these customers, then spend the time to segment and talk to them more directly to better understand and meet their needs.

There’s a reason casinos and night clubs have sectioned off areas and lines for VIPs; to make them feel entitled and appreciated. Your average customer will generally not increase their spend levels, where your VIPs have the money to do just that. Loyalty clubs are crucial at driving upward mobility in customer value, with a sense of pride that comes with being at the top. Foster and encourage this pride and don’t lose it.

Acquisition & Retention strategies are complimentary

Step one in your marketing strategy should be how to attract new business; this is where Paid Search and SEO come into play. Step two is converting new leads into active customers. Step three is nurturing these new customers to form a long-term relationship and build loyalty.

Often times companies fail to perform both strategies, resulting in a shrinking base as customers end their lifecycle. A steady stream of new customers is critical to overcome this inevitable churn, paired with dedicated retention strategies to steer customers away from unengagement in the first place.

The good news is, there’s value in data; use the data that you have on your high valued customers to attract and find new ones just like them. Avoid throwing a wide net to attract everyone; be specific on what customer attributes are best to drive long-term growth.

Always have a backup plan

While having a well organized marketing go-to-market plan is step one, step two should be planning a contingency in the event things don’t go as planned. This could be in the form of targeted offers or adjusting a promotion to be more attractive.

However, if you do focus on changing your marketing plan through deeper discounts, be wary as this could have a negative effect on behavior in the long run and dilute your brand. One way to avoid this is with a targeted and segmented approach to avoid creating negative expectations from the masses in the future.

The bottom line is you need to drive sales and meet your budget, but your current efforts are not working. Whatever it is, have a back up plan so your team can adjust in an organized fashion without scrambling in panic.

In conclusion

Don’t overthink it; keep your marketing strategy simple and consistent. Always put the customer at the center of all your business decisions, and avoid one-size-fits-all promotional marketing. Focus on your highest value customers, and invest in finding more just like them.

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