You know things have changed. The Internet and the social web, IoT, Industry 4.0, big data, and now AI and machine learning - they are all impacting the way we sell, buy, build and deliver our products and services. No one is immune, every business is having to re-evaluate and re-engineer the way they build and run their operations.
Now we need to find new ways to stand out to the people who matter; to be found by the people who really need what we do. We need to provide meaningful experiences for the people who choose to engage with us. And we need to continually add value throughout the lifecycle of every customer.
We all need to be publishers, broadcasters and technologists; and build our own audience. We can’t simply buy that access anymore. Privacy, permission, and legislation all require that we earn the right to communicate. And that we continue to do so.
A strategic methodology for communication that puts your customer at the centre of your world - not your products, services, features or benefits, is a good place to start.
With the shift in power from seller to buyer, we have to respond to a buyer's interests, needs and aspirations on their terms, and in their own good time.
An inbound approach to imagining your brand and developing your proposition in a way that supports the customer experience, that informs and educates, assures and inspires them, is a good next step. And a plan for how you support a good-fit prospect from click to close is another.
You need marketing that responds to behaviour and context. You need sales that support the lifecycle stages of a buyer’s journey. And you need customer services that treat those individuals differently, that recognises and values them, that puts them first.
