With social distancing in place, I’ve been using some of my newly discovered alone time to learn the ropes of baking. Given the option of throwing away brown-spotted bananas or mashing them to create something delicious, I searched the internet for a good banana bread recipe.
While clicking through, it was immediately apparent that most recipes had the same foundation – flour, sugar, butter, baking powder, eggs – and many variations: walnuts, chocolate chips, sour cream.
That got me thinking: Isn’t baking oddly similar to how successful marketing operates?
The essential ingredients for marketing success
Much like a recipe, the base for marketing success also requires a solid foundation.
If you’ve used old baking powder, chances are your banana bread might turn out flat. What happens if you try to solve today’s challenges using yesterday’s baking powder?
The modern recipe for success includes a foundation that empowers marketers to:
- Listen: Monitor and capture the data your customers have provided to build a centralized view across-channels.
- Engage: Leverage the deep customer insights you’ve gained to deliver the memorable experiences they expect.
- Measure: Understand what’s worked and what hasn’t to optimize experiences and outcomes.
Like with any recipe, brands must be ready to mix in the additional ingredients they need to stand out in today’s environment – because every brand is competing for the same exact thing: customer attention.
In an evolving world, organizations must evolve, too
It’s a changed world. Banana bread isn’t enough.
As marketers traverse these difficult times, they must keep in mind that if content is king, context is the Supreme Overlord. To deliver context, however, brands must expand from their base to further intimately understand each customer’s unique needs.
In a recent article from Forbes, Jennifer Robison, Senior Editor at Gallup, was quoted as saying: “Just like you, your customers are enduring massive upheaval. They’re making difficult decisions too: who can be trusted, who will help make things better, who keeps their promises. And when this crisis is behind us, as it surely will be, customers will remember the brands that satisfied their rational needs — and those that genuinely met their emotional needs during a very tough time”
To go beyond the ordinary and deliver the memorable experiences that will keep you top of mind with your customers, marketing must have context.
Context from the customer’s interaction with the brand – their browsing history, interests, preferences, sentiment and purchases – and sometimes from third parties, such as intent.
How can context make the difference?
- Empathy: Understanding your customer and how their individual needs are changing dynamically enables brands to address each situation individually and place emotional understanding at the forefront.
- Personalization: Customers want to know you get them. This goes beyond simple email content. The deeper the context you have, the better the level of personalization you can deliver.
- Problem solving: Customers are looking for brands to help them. The deeper the understanding marketing has, the more involved they can be in the resolution process.
- Omni-channel: We don’t all engage on Twitter. Use the information you have to address each person on their preferred channel.
- The X-Factor: Email subject line personalization is no longer enough. You must find a way to be remembered. Whether that’s through exceptional service or offers, blast through all the noise customers receive on a daily basis to stand out.
Marketing must have immediate access to the context they need to be at the forefront of customer experience management.
Meanwhile, brands must live in the same world as their customers and ensure the context is authentic and aligned to brand values.
Consumers are looking for more than business-as-usual. With your base recipe perfected, marketing success should be a piece of…cake!
