Customer-centric marketing although until recently less espoused is the ideal marketing strategy for business-to-business marketing. It is essential to businesses whose goal is to achieve B.A.N.T.-quality B2B sales leads, and marketing success at the highest ROI and lowest budget spend.
In the tips below you will find answers to these questions.
These B2B marketing tips will introduce you to a whole new methodology of content marketing and sales lead generation that gets results and is affordable for every business.
1. Define Your Customers Problems.
If you don't know your customer's problems, then ask them. Remember to ask questions to get to the real issues. People will just give an answer they think you want. So probe your customer with implication questions like, if this happens or doesn't happen what does that mean for your business?
2. Focus On Your Customer NOT You!
Customer-centric marketing is as its name says, centers on the needs and wants of your customer, and not about what the person doing the selling wants them to buy. Customer-centric marketing focuses on understanding the problems, concerns, needs, and desires of your customer, not yours.
3. Build Customer Rapport First, Last & Always.
Customer Centric marketing recognizes the sale is the natural result of forging a stable relationship built on listening and problem-solving, not forcing someone to buy. It begins with establishing customer rapport and ends with a lasting business relationship.
4. It's the message NOT the Method.
People often confuse the method used to deliver a marketing message with a type of marketing. Many people equate telemarketing, direct mail, print advertising, radio, TV, PR, seminars, newsletters, email, and Web sites as marketing. These are not marketing approaches they are delivery methods used to distribute marketing messages, like a customer-centric marketing message.
5. Achieve Marketing Message Alignment.
The key to successful B2B small business marketing is not about how you deliver the marketing message, it is all about the marketing message you send, to the right audience, at the right time. We call providing the proper communication to the right audience at the right time achieving "marketing message alignment.
6. Marketing Approaches What You Should Know.
The marketing approach most companies employ in selling to consumers is capabilities and capacities. They say we have this capability or this capacity to _____________, fill in the blank. What does this mean? It means that most people can't wait to tell you what they can do for you. Even though they don't know what it is you need, they just want you to buy what they are selling.
Most business-to-business marketing and selling approaches are either capability/capacity or a derivative called information selling. This approach is let me educate on why you should buy from me. I am smart, and I know what you need, that's why I know best, and you should, therefore, buy from me. Unfortunately, neither of these approaches comes close to addressing why someone chooses to buy from one-person verses another, relationship.
7. The Wrong Marketing Approach Stifles Sales.
Potential customers do not respond to your marketing because it all sounds, looks and says the same thing. People avoid meeting with you because they do not want to "be sold" anything. Prospects lack trust because they are tired of salespeople who put themselves posture immediately first with their private agenda and will say or do anything to make a sale. Prospective clients take a defensive because they don't want to be "hustled" into purchasing unneeded or wanted products/services.
8. Forget All You Learned About Over Coming Objections.
Don't be concerned with overcoming sales objections; avoid creating any customer objections in the first place. Use probing implication type questions to avoid objections. Trying to overcome objections often leads to arguments & lost sales opportunities.
9. No Selling Required.
Customer-centric marketing makes selling effortless because there is no sales pitch. Just offer to help a person to become more successful, and by the act of assisting them to solve their problem, you will benefit too. The sale is the natural result of forging a stable relationship built on listening, caring and problem-solving. Prospects ask you to help them. You never have to ask for an order.
Bottom Line
Using these nine customer-centric marketing principals in building content marketing communications helps business-to-business firms sell more products and services at an affordable cost. Before spending any money on your next marketing campaign, apply these principles in all your marketing content to achieve amazing marketing success.
More Information
