As I teach classes on Marketing, I sometimes get arguments from marketers that tell me marketing doesn’t have anything to do with customer service! Boy, are they wrong. One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a marketer is to overlook the importance of customer service. Sadly, we all do it at one point or another. This happens as we get “too focused” on the “important” aspects of marketing. Consumers have changed their purchasing habits. In B2B marketing, caring for customers is often referred to as “customer success” and operates tightly with marketing.
Here’s a partial list of factors that are improved by the two segments working together:
- Businesses Feel Connected In B2B Engagement
- Uses Instructive And Publicity Strategies
- Gives Clients An Intimate Look At The Company
- Creates A Parallel Brand And Message
- Helps Set Elevated Outlooks For The Brand
- Helps Shape A Brand’s Standing
- Gets Patrons Communicating About You
This is a partial list taken from a Forbes Magazine article.
The silos of traditional organizational department relationships are disintegrating. There has been a welcomed shift in strategic thinking by organizations highlighting shared work circles and otherwise related teams. It certainly makes sense from a strategic perspective, the teamwork between two key areas – marketing and customer service – is crucial.
Customer service and marketing have always had a reciprocal affiliation with collaborative benefits to each other. When customer service is used as a marketing strategy, it improves customer retention right along with acquiring new patrons. A customer driven marketing strategy with a greater focus on support holds great importance for businesses. The seven points listed above are just some of those benefits but should be taken seriously.
Customer service can go a long way for you, or against you. A reliably appropriate customer service encounter can lead to word-of-mouth recommendations and referrals. It can also lead to plentiful organic traffic, while a bad interaction can damage your reputation and drive clients to the competitor. Customer service is now being viewed as a marketing strategy for the ways it can impact your company’s reputation and bottom line. While you know you may not always be able to please everyone who comes your way, there are a number of actions you can take to make sure you are delivering the best customer experience possible and reaping marketing benefits from great customer service at the same time.
It’s 6 times more costly to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one. With that fact, the pairing of customer service, combined with your marketing objectives will accelerate business growth and achieve your goals quicker. Making excellent customer service a key part of your marketing strategy can make your customers bond and become your product or service missionaries. Customer service can be the new marketing if you’re ready to combine the two and leverage their potential.
It is not enough to simply create a strategy and let it run its course. A company must be constantly working to maintain and improve the customer experience for continued revenue growth. Just remember that you can’t please everyone, and there will be some dissenters, but that shouldn’t stop you from putting the two segments together to work closely as a team. Organizations who leverage customer service as a marketing tool understand that by sharing data and feedback, they’re able to offer an optimal customer experience.
Customers feel exasperated when each touchpoint of a business is siloed in its own department. This will almost surely lead to misunderstandings, and a feeling of not being valued. Ultimately, it’s going to generate a negative view of the brand and even the marketer themselves!
Author: Dick Wagner, Co-founder of The CREST Network and CRESTLibrary.com
By Dick Wagner, Co-Founder The CREST Network, LLC
Nationally recognized coach, consultant, trainer, and speaker
Creator of the renowned PREP™ pre-disaster program
Owner of AskDickWagner.com BLOG
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