In this new article, our CEO Santiago Edo reflects on the new role of marketing in the era of customer experience . Today, customers choose businesses and products based on shared experiences, not just ads and brand pitches.
This is a key point that changes everything.
How can experiential marketing improve the customer experience, increase brand trust, and make it your primary customer acquisition strategy?
Happy reading!
Experiential Marketing: When consumers choose brands based on shared experiences with each other
Everyone knows that consumers have changed. They are now fully connected, much more demanding, and have an infinite number of offers available all the time .
But there's one point I consider to be the most important: the consumer is now in control of the conversation . What we, as consumers, say and share about brands is infinitely more relevant to us than what brands say about themselves.
Consumers now choose businesses and products based on shared experiences, not just ads from brands themselves. And this is a key point that changes everything. Brands used to hold the power of communication; now they don't. This power has shifted to consumers.
Brands have become supporting actors, they are at the mercy of consumers who can decide, very quickly and efficiently, whether a brand deserves their loyalty or not .
Research indicates that 75% of consumers don't trust what companies advertise. On the other hand, over 80% of consumers trust what other consumers say about brands.
I have over 30 years of experience as a marketing professional, 25 of which were spent as a marketing executive in agencies, retail, and media companies, before embarking on a career in technology. I say this only to emphasize that I experienced this transformation firsthand.
The curious thing is that, since the beginning of my career, I've always believed strongly in the power of customer service. I always challenged my clients, when I was an agency, about the importance of providing excellent customer service at the counter. It's pointless to invest thousands of dollars in advertising if the customer receives poor service, precisely when they're in the store, ready to buy.
But before the internet, customers didn't have much to do when they received poor service. At most, they would call customer service or the Ombudsman, who didn't resolve the issue, or they would tell a few people close to them about their bad experience.
Now, my dears, customers share their bad experiences online, publicly. Word of mouth is now digital and unlimited. Research indicates that a single negative review on Google My Business , for example, can drive up to 30 potential customers away from your store , whether physical or online.
However, there's another side to this coin. Customers are also actively sharing their positive experiences. In fact, despite what you might think, they prefer to share good experiences more than bad ones ( over 80% of online reviews are positive ). And that's the main point of this article.
How should your company's marketing work to encourage more customers to publicly recommend your brand?
My challenge is: how is your company's marketing performing? Are you investing more resources in actions where the brand promotes itself through ads, videos, posts, etc., or are you investing more in actions that encourage your customers to publicly recommend your brand ?
What are you doing to improve the customer experience, increase brand trust, and make this process your primary customer acquisition strategy ?
📌Hey! Have you seen our webinar? Experiential Marketing: How to Turn Feedback into a Customer Acquisition and Loyalty Strategy
Consumers are choosing to do business based on experience . Are you prepared for this new reality?
Marketing strategies need to keep up with this shift in the power of influence, which has definitively shifted from brands to consumers .
Now it is the role of marketing professionals to measure, control, create and promote great experiences, increasing brand trust to the point of encouraging customers to publicly recommend the brand.
Including involving the entire company in this challenge! After all, all areas of a company are in constant contact with its customers.
Marketing's New Fundamental Role in Customer Experience
experience marketing machine that actively listens to customers , interacts with them, analyzes metrics and data, and allows the company to act focused on customer desires throughout the entire journey.
"Marketing" has never been and will never be just advertising. Marketing is much more than that; it's a process of constantly creating value for the customer (Philip Kotler) that involves the entire company.
It's worth emphasizing that advertising will always have its value, as it awakens desire for the brand. But for a consumer to be loyal to a brand, the brand needs to invest in customer experience and relationships.
And today, with the customer holding the power to influence desire and trust in your brand , the machine will only really work if you put them at the center of decisions .
Invest more in the experience, create happier relationships with your customers and, you can be sure, they will promote your brand for you 🙂
So, did you like this article? Share the knowledge with your network! See you next time!😃
