Face it, marketing today revolves around the customer—literally. A customer-centric experience goes further than simply targeting the ideal client.
Individual preferences, not clusters, must be heard, honored and catered to. This will ensure customers become loyal lovers of your brand for life.
Why? Surely, you’ve noticed that happy customers generate buzz, as in, they rave about your services to their friends. Word-of-mouth promotion sets off positive ripples that bring in happy returns—that is, if your service is excellent and anticipates the needs of the customer.
Don’t worry, mobile optimization and apps integrating omnichannel marketing tactics are natural tools of the trade here.
Mobile Optimization And Mobile Apps
Mobile optimization is just a fancy phrase for designing or adapting your website for mobile browsing.
You’ve probably looked up a product or service on your phone and run into a clunky, slow-to-load and confusing web page. Who would stay on that web page? I’m betting not many people. And who’s going to remember to look it up later? Anyone?
By that time, most people have gone to a different company to meet their needs. You know, a company that optimized its site for mobile so people can even read the product descriptions and pricing.
How well-optimized your site is for mobile can help you increase sales and convert customers or drive them away. It just depends on your approach.
Many businesses are taking this a step further by creating an app just for mobile devices. This has a few distinct advantages over mobile optimization alone.
Mainly, when customers download an app it becomes sticky; it’s now on their phone, and they have regular access to it.
It’s also a terrific recipe for loyalty and a perfect opportunity for targeting offers, such as discounts for repeated shopping at an in-store location.
What is Omnichannel Marketing?
So far, we’re pretty familiar with a multichannel marketing approach: SEO, targeted offers, mobile optimization, engagement with followers on social media outlets.
All of these are tools to develop a relationship with the customer. That’s great and all, and up to now it’s worked smoothly. Some of these tactics, such as social media, engage followers by keeping a discussion going and generating buzz. Some, like coupons sent via a mobile app, personalize the relationship, making it more intimate.
However, imagine if all these methods were so smoothly tied together as to become one seamless, holistic organism.
As in, there’s no separation between the social media site, where they chat with their friends about your services, and your mobile app, where your relationship with them becomes more intimate and on-on-one.
Customers can receive offers tailored to them, generated from knowledge of the products from your catalog that they like best, and redeem them in stores. Of course in-store viewing is powerful, especially for retailing and previewing technology, because the customers can try before they buy.
You want them to try your product, buy from your company, remain loyal to you, and keep that loyalty intimate through continued offers. Easy as pie, if you do it smoothly.
Remembering to Revolve Around the Customer
While creating this holistic omnichannel marketing organism, the focus should never stray from the individual customer. It doesn’t matter how many customers you have; your marketing should never be generic, and it should never make the customers feel like you’re targeting their “demographic,” or not even targeting them for the right product at all.
Make them feel special. Take them on a date. Take them on two dates. Awe them.
To create that intimate relationship that revolves around the customers, do your research into what they like, target them with those offers, rinse and repeat.
Though every customer experience will be different, well, so is every customer.