A Marketing Crusade
Yes, I am on a crusade. I know crusaders are an overwhelming lot, but I cannot help myself.
I’ve worked in marketing for a long time now. And i’ve heard a lot of companies say they are customer focused. In fact, a customer affinity study, conducted by the CMO Council, found that 56% of companies say they are extremely customer-centric. When customers of those companies were asked the same question, only a tenth of them said the companies were extremely customer centric.
So why the gap?
The answer is, on some level, obvious. The companies are too inward focused. With all the research that is fielded, all the data that is collected and analyzed and reported on, all the meetings to where strategies are discussed, when you look at a company’s underlying value propositions and business pillars, what you tend to see is a a statement about how and why a company’s products and services are the best. It’s important to know that, of course. But do I care about it? What I care about is how I feel after interacting with the company’s products and services. Do I feel successful? Smart? Like I’ve been treated like an individual? Part of a team? Like I’ve learned something?
What if companies turned around the value equation and placed how people want to feel at the top of the chain. Let those feelings drive the value proposition.
It is, in our experience, transformational.
