A Marketing Love Story

This blog post is the first in a series of four on how customer lifecycle marketing works for marketers and organizations seeking to increase revenue and grow loyal customer relationships.

Marketer meets lead. It’s love at first click. The lead hangs on to the marketer’s every word. “The marketer knows how I really feel,” thinks the lead. Over time, their relationship progresses until the lead accepts the marketer’s offer of commitment and they make it official — the lead is now a customer.

For most, this is the end of the road. Marketing has done what it set out to do and now it’s time to get back out there to generate another new customer for the company. The relationship is, for all intents and purposes, over.

Unfortunately the customer isn’t quite ready to end the relationship. Suddenly, they’re left wondering why they haven’t heard from the marketer lately. “Was it something I did?” they ask themselves. They may even share with their friends how the marketer acts like they don’t exist anymore. “You deserve better,” they tell the customer. And they do.

Truth is, marketers can do a better job of keeping customers happy while increasing revenue at the same time. The example of the short-term relationship above may bring in some revenue, but these first time customers will be just that — first [and only] time customers. Let’s take a look at how a marketing love story based upon customer lifecycle marketing is different…

Marketer meets lead. It’s love at first click. The marketer engages with the lead via email, Twitter and Facebook. The lead can’t get enough of the marketer and even browses through their website when they’re not communicating back and forth to learn more about them. In time, the lead progresses through the lifecycle and accepts the marketer’s offer of commitment, becoming a customer.

The marketer now communicates differently with the customer. What resonated with the lead is no longer of interest. The marketer shares targeted, personalized content to keep the customer engaged and excited. The customer tells friends, “I’m so happy! I have to introduce you!” While the customer introduces the marketer to a new lead, or referral, they continue through their lifecycle and the marketer starts fresh with the new contact.

Of course, marketing is more complicated than this abbreviated love story, but you get my drift. Stay tuned for my next chapter in this “romance novel,” to learn more about how marketers can win new business with customer lifecycle marketing.