Long before Nirvana was a band, it was simply a state of bliss or pure happiness – an idyllic place to take one’s mind. What would that look like for a marketing leader? Reaching a state of nirvana for a marketer today would require delivering such an awe-inspiring, engaging customer experience that it seems as if they are truly marketing to an audience of one. Unfortunately, reality is that the majority of marketers today are a long way from this state of bliss. A recent report from the CMO Council indicated that only 28% of marketers say they are capable of delivering a personalized customer experience today. And only 20% of companies have a comprehensive view of engagements and touch points across the stages of the customer lifecycle. While chanting “OMMMMM” is satisfying for many, it isn't likely to resolve these challenges for marketing organizations. So what will? The Customer Edge recently published an inspiring blog series, 7 Steps to Marketing Nirvana, offering valuable advice and tips for marketers to get started on their journey to reinvent the customer experience for their business with the individual customer at the center of everything. Below is an overview of the blog series featuring quotes from the thought leaders who contributors: Step 1: According to Laurie Hawkins, the first step on the journey to achieving marketing nirvana, upon which everything else hinges, is to unify your customer data so that your business can provide a single view of the customer to all the customer-facing teams. And this not only requires that systems are integrated but also that the IT and marketing teams partner to reach this goal. Step 2: Zeno of Citium was a Greek philosopher who famously observed, “We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say.” Bernard Chung wrote that this timeless advice applies to many business organizations today that would like real-time insights into their customers. Just like in any good interpersonal relationship, the key to understanding customer insights is to listen for and monitor customer signals that reveal customer intent and motivations. Step 3: Johann Wrede advises modern marketers to stop using the F word. “It’s about the journey, not the destination.” These words are more true than they have ever been. From the moment of first awareness, the buyer is beginning a process that will ultimately lead them to become a customer (or not) and share their experiences, both good and bad (or not), and remain loyal to your products or services (or not). Businesses today are digging into the convoluted journey that their customers take, from awareness to purchase and on through use to advocacy, and mapping out some of the myriad ways that this could go. This outside-in approach pays dividends because it quickly exposes gaps in channels, processes, and customer insight, which, once identified, can readily be fixed. Step 4: Liz Miller of CMO Council encourages organizations to develop a connected customer journey. As marketers, we have navigated the waters of digital campaigns and made our way forward channel by channel, taking a little more risk with every leap. E-mail? Done. Web experience? Please, that’s so last year. But then it happens. Our customers raise the bar, and now we have to combine all of our “random acts of marketing” into a connected journey. We need to step beyond mass personalization and actually engage with the ultimate micro-segment … the audience of one. Step 5: Brent Leary, CRM analyst, advises brands to embrace marketing-powered business models. He says that marketing has moved to a front-seat position and sits side by side with merchandise as the two big drivers of business – in terms of the levers that can be pulled to be relevant and successful when it comes to staying in front of current and prospective customers. The impact of digital content, in all of its many forms, and its ability to capture the attention of modern consumers has definitely raised marketing’s importance within the organization. Step 6: Customer insight is the holy grail of customer experience, according to Kaan Turnali. Businesses invest a lot of time and resources to better understand who their customers are, what they like, and what they don’t like. Data is a strategic asset and can help us gain better and deeper customer insight. It plays a critical role regardless of the business, industry, or size of an organization. Step 7: Dave Hutchison encourages businesses to earn customer advocacy via personalization and trust. He wrote that it is achieved at the moment we become the default, go-to solution for our audiences. It’s getting their vote without asking; being the vendor they think about first when they need an answer. It’s being a trusted advisor and a trusted source of information, and it doesn’t come easy.
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