As sales cycles lengthen and new logo acquisitions become more challenging, more organizations are now shifting back to their existing customer base for revenue growth. SBI surveys show that nearly 70% of CEOs see customer marketing as crucial to their 2023 revenue targets, with higher conversion rates and lower costs being just a few of the potential benefits.
However, not all companies are ready for this shift in Go-to-Market (GTM) strategy. Many face unforeseen challenges in trying to incorporate customer marketing into their GTM strategy effectively—not fully understanding its scope and what is required to make it work.
Based on SBI’s observations, there are five common challenges that hinder organizations from achieving the full potential of customer marketing:
The 5 Core Challenges to Unlocking the Full Potential of Customer Marketing
1. Your customer marketing is treated as an afterthought.
For many organizations, the role of customer marketing is relegated to a minor function, such as a weekly newsletter. Effective customer marketing is much more than that: it is an integrated set of activities strategically designed to drive customer engagement and improve relationships, creating opportunities to keep them engaged to reduce churn and possibly convert them to advocates.
2. Your customer data is siloed and fragmented.
Customer data has great potential, but companies often struggle to synthesize it into actionable intelligence. This lack of visibility into the customer’s journey can lead to weaker messaging, poor customer experiences, and even missed sales opportunities. Having a clear owner of the customer’s journey is the first step to achieving end-to-end visibility, allowing revenue teams to tailor experiences accordingly and capture potential cross-sell/upsell motions.
3. Your customer segmentation and modeling lack consistency and rigor.
Many organizations fail to update their customer segmentation regularly, which wastes their marketing budget and gains suboptimal results. High-value opportunities are identified thanks to a combination of routine segmentation and customer data analysis, creating granular customer segments that allow for precise marketing initiatives to be made.
4. Your revenue teams are unsure of their roles and responsibilities.
You have a target customer, but who’s in charge of engaging them? To succeed, it is crucial that revenue teams know who does what and when. A clearly defined customer marketing model is an ideal start, but the best organizations adapt their models based on their evolving growth needs, maximizing the potential of high-impact plays with the right team.
5. Your marketing programs are frequently reactive rather than planned.
Many organizations operate reactively on customer marketing trends, often allocating resources to low-impact segments for minimal gain. A carefully considered customer marketing strategy keeps organizations focused on their goals and continues to deliver curated customer experiences while helping revenue teams avoid the pitfalls of pursuing less desirable short-term payoffs.
Empowering Your Revenue Engine with Effective Customer Marketing Strategies
In the haste to capture the immense potential that effective customer marketing can bring, many companies fail to plan adequately and miss the mark. From unclear roles to fragmented data, revenue leaders should approach customer marketing strategically, thoughtfully considering each component that goes into a winning customer marketing plan.
To help you succeed, SBI has compiled a report detailing summary perspectives, challenges, opportunities, and data on how organizations approach customer marketing.
Read the report here to gain valuable insights on customer marketing best practices and what you can do to make your customer marketing strategy more effective.
