Things Are Clicking. Visitors Are Becoming Customers. Do You Stop There? Hint: Absolutely Not.
Inbound Marketing is a structured data and content-driven process where strangers become loyal customers. So why is it so important to always delight customers once they cross that threshold? It's simple really. When you delight the customers you have, they are happy to promote what you do. That brings new strangers that you can convert into leads and then customers. The process repeats and your business grows.
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Delight Customers So They Become Promoters
Think about that for a moment. When you share a product or service with a friend, what motivated you to do that? It was trust. If you have a good experience as a customer, you don't mind sharing with others.
You should focus on building trust during every interaction you have with visitors, leads, and customers. That means being authentic in your content and being helpful in your actions. If you're doing those things on a consistent basis, it's a step toward delighting customers.
There are some simple things you can do to help ensure customers are always delighted. You've likely heard them referred to as the three pillars of delight. The three pillars are:
- Innovation
- Communication
- Education
Innovation doesn’t have to be huge breakthroughs. Focus on improving the customer experience. Inspire and teach your team why it’s always their job to innovate, no matter what their role is. Everyone should be challenging their job’s status quo. If something isn't contributing to customer delight, even in some small way, what can be improved so that it is?
Communication is critical in helping you build trust and create delight. Think of yourself as a teacher, facilitator, and adviser. You play all those roles and more when trying to help someone understand why they should buy from you or not. That same mindset should remain when they do buy. After all, maintaining good communication through every project for clients is just good business right?
Education is a process that should never end. Use content as primary educational tools. Think about how you currently interact with customers. Do you provide enough education? Does it add value to their lives? Is everyone at your organization educating customers in some way? They turn to you for your expertise and help. If you are always educating, you are helping them reach their goals. That leads to happy customers.
Remember, it’s everyone’s job to delight customers. Every interaction forms a customer's experience impression in their minds. Helping them at every step can ensure their long-term success. If you do that, they won't mind sharing it with others that they realize you can help in the same way.
The Skinny? Inbound Marketing Takes Time, But It Works to Grow Your Business.
Inbound Marketing is a long-term plan. Organic traffic takes time to come to you. The evidence shows that the process works. The buying habits of consumers have changed. People research, then they buy. Inbound embraces that concept. Education and content drive traffic to you. Some of that traffic contains your next customers.
This outline is a very simple walk through of a process that has a lot of steps. The key components are still great content, firm commitment, cooperation, and a plan. The bottom line is that Inbound Marketing, when done well, works to help grow your business. Leads find you and some of them become customers. When you focus on helping them every step of the way, those same customers become your advocates. The process starts all over again. And who doesn't want that as a part of their business plan?
Missed the first parts of this series? You can catch up here:
How Inbound Marketing Can Help Grow Your Business: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3