This post is based off a podcast with Jeffrey Rohrs of Yext. If you’d like to read the summary, you’re on the right page. If you’d like to listen to the full episode, you can check it out here and below!
The customer’s journey is comprised of thousands of moments.
But these moments have a purpose.
Or at least they’re supposed to.
How do we make these moments matter when it comes to your sales?
How do we translate these moments into actual revenue?
We had the opportunity to sit with Jeffrey Rohrs, CMO of Yext, to hear about how to make those interactions between customers, future customers and your brand, those moments, matter to the point of sale.
Engaging with the Customer
Companies should not be focused on brand centricity, but rather the customer’s journey. Rohrs states that customer centricity can be driven by changes in technology. For instance, Heinz’s ketchup bottle had the classic glass bottle look with the classic branding of smacking the bottom of the bottle to push out the ketchup; however, technology evolved allowing for plastic bottles to get ketchup out easier.
As marketers, we are in a period of time where we have to try and match the customer journey with the technology and data to empower those customers.
The customer’s journey is comprised of thousands of moments and the funnel starts with:
- Awareness
- Consideration
- Purchase
- Retention
- Advocacy
It’s not enough to have the most creative campaign, but there needs to be some science behind it. There are so many wonderfully done campaigns that try to win Cannes Lions, but if there is no purpose behind it, then the “moment” did not matter. There has to be some science and technology behind marketing ploys to help with the customer’s journey to make the moments imperative.
Marketing as Asset Development
According to Jeffrey, there are three reasons for marketing: to make the sale, to increase brand loyalty, and to build an audience.
When marketing is done right, the products will sell themselves. When the customer goes on the journey, there needs to be a brand identity that is relatable, known or both.
For instance, look at Apple – everyone always looks at Apple. They’re a pretty well-known brand. When they released the Apple Watch the customers didn’t “need” it, but they bought it because it came from a reputable name.
Marketing is also needed to build an audience. In Rohrs’s book Audience: Marketing in the Age of Subscribers, Fans and Followers, he discusses that audiences are assets and that they are earned, not owned.
[Tweet “”…audiences are assets… they are earned, not owned.” @jkrohrs #FlipMyFunnel”]
He claims that we suffer from “Audience Assumption Disorder” where marketers believe that if we build it, they will come; but the reality is that if you don’t put in great content or product, the audience will leave. If “it” doesn’t get results, the audience will leave. Use your paid, owned and earned media not only to sell in the short term but also to increase the size, engagement, and value of your proprietary audiences over the long term.
The Three Keys
Rohrs describes three keys that are necessary to make moments matter with the customer: Optimize the Known Moments, Uncover the Hidden Moments and Create the New Moments.
[Tweet “Optimize the known moments, uncover the hidden moments and create the new moments. @jkrohrs #FlipMyFunnel”]
Here’s an example when it comes to optimizing the known moments. Nordstrom put a product on display to get people to come in and shop, but they also placed a tag on the product that claimed “popular on Pinterest”. The sales rose even higher when they tapped into the desire of people to be popular.
Rohrs discusses that when marketing looks for new ways to attract their audience, there are plenty of creative ways to gather their customers using technology. For instance, a clothing line in Australia used online shopping carts and had the customer come pick it up at the store, this allowed for the sales associates to offer some articles of clothing to complement the purchase, which increased sales revenue. Another great example is a small sneaker store in Guatemala that used their app to pull customers out of their competition’s store, to get discounts at their store.
Make the Moment Matter
The moment makers that help join the customer with marketing technology would be: Mobile, Connectivity, Social, and Data. These are all resources that most of the population have, might as well use them to your advantage.
Find a moment. Give it value. Make it matter.
If you want to hear more from Jeffrey Rohrs, check out his full talk on the #FlipMyFunnel Podcast.
