Back in the day, companies were mostly focused on creating marketing campaigns aimed at a wide audience. And it worked, but not for long. With the arrival of digital revolution, people started to become more and demanding. Today, customers have plethora of options: if they don’t find something they want from you, they will find it elsewhere. How can you keep them engaged? How do you find out what they really want? What makes them trust a company? How can you build a deep emotional connection with your target audience? Questions like these will help you focus on what really makes a company grow: the customer.

With so many emergent technologies in the market, it is hard to resist the temptation of tinkering with the latest piece of technology, even when you know  it won’t help you grow in the long-term. What you really need is a laser-like focus on what is really important: the customer. While many companies claim their number one goal is customer satisfaction and loyalty, the reality is that few companies build genuine and personal relationships with their customers. Why is that? Well, in trying to get the best out of their marketing efforts, marketers seem to forget what keeps their companies in the game: the customer. They may say they focus on the customer, but how often do they really reach out to a customer? How often do they talk to them?  Not talk with them, but talk to them. How often do they appeal to their emotions, fears and hopes?

Today, more than ever, personalized and customer-centric content is what sets apart successful companies from those who lag behind. Getting to know your customers is key to sustainable growth. The customer journey doesn’t end with a purchase; it is a long process and it requires your full attention and efforts. Turning a one-time customer into a lifetime customer is like running a marathon: you should focus on one thing only, the race. Really focusing on your customer needs and preferences will make the difference in the long-term. Offering relevant and customer-centric content is just one part of the equation: you have to implement a proactive approach if you want to increase customer engagement. When devising your content marketing strategy, you should be asking yourself “how does the content we’re producing help improve the lives of our target audience?” This should be your primary concern. Think about it: if a product doesn’t make your live better in any way, would you still buy it?

Today’s customer are more demanding, more informed and less patient. They want quick answers from you. Your content not only has to be fresh and relevant, but it should also appeal to their emotions. Remember, no one trusts a brand simply because it has a catchy slogan or because it offers fancy products. People trust brands that live up to their motto, brands that walk the talk. Be the company that listens to what the customers have to say. Once you really understand your customer, only then can you produce content that resonates with your customer’s feelings and emotions. You can’t produce fresh, personalized and customer-centric content if you don’t know you audience to begin with.

You content has to be easily accessible to your audience, from every device. Personalized content that is not optimized for mobile devices, for example, may not be that much of help- regardless of its quality and relevance. This may be taken for granted, but you’d be amazed at the number of companies whose content is not properly optimized for mobile devices. When it comes to producing personalized and customer-centric content that sticks, no detail should be overlooked. As the saying goes, “the devil is in the detail.”

As the digital landscape evolves rapidly, so does customer behavior. That’s why you have to be always on the lookout for sudden changes in customer behavior. Today, you have the right technologies to track customer behavior. A Customer Relationship Management(CRM) offers you all the tools necessary for tracking customer behavior. In Flexie CRM, for example, you can track customer behavior through the whole sales cycle. Did the lead open the email? Did it visit the page? If yes, how many times and for how long? Did the lead submit a form? And so on. These are all vital pieces of information that help you refine your marketing strategy.

Producing personalized content isn’t just putting the most brilliant ideas out there. It is, above all, a constant effort at coming up with fresh and relevant content, information  that answers your customers’ questions. Customers may become more and more demanding in the future, and this is something to be cherished by companies who thrive on challenges. The market may become more competitive but if you keep producing relevant, personalized and customer-centric content, if you pay close attention to what your customers have to say and if you connect with them on a deep emotional level, the future of your company can’t be anything else but bright.

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