I believe marketing can improve your company’s customer experience. Keep reading this blog post to learn why I believe this and how to do it.

I’m writing this post while on a plane returning to Toronto from New Orleans (I’ve spent the last three weeks here working with a premium auto manufacturer).

While working with this company I had the pleasure to meet their Dealer Principals (their franchise owners) and General Managers who would be responsible for bringing the brand and beautiful product back to North America.

I was hired to share customer experience and company culture strategies (the title of my engagement was How to Deliver an Experience Your Customers Have Never Seen Before) and I spent a considerable amount of time learning from these professionals. I was just as eager to learn from them to help my businesses as much as, I hope, they were eager to learn from me.

One thing I began to think about was how the industry (or any industry) markets their products and services. These thoughts came to me after someone in the audience asked me about marketing while in the hotel lobby bar,

“Do you have any marketing tips?”

Not being short on thoughts I shared three tactics that I would use to sell more product, generate greater brand awareness and earn customer loyalty.

Educational Marketing

Too often consumers are inundated with marketing messages that are crafted in a way that shouts, “Look at us!” that doesn’t convert as well as it may have use it (not to mention it’s very difficult to track the ROI of traditional media). While traditional methods of advertising still builds brand or product awareness it doesn’t provide value to the audience.

What provides value is content that shares education to current or prospective customers. By simply doing some keyword searches using Google’s Keyword Planner, a tool that tells you how many people are searching specific keywords or phrases every month, I could create high value education.

For example, I would be more inclined to click on a Facebook ad (one that was sponsored by the auto manufacturer or local car dealership and targeted to the right audience) that promoted a blog post titled,

“How to Fix a Flat Tire.”

You will notice in the search results that between 1k-10k people go to Google and search the phrase “how to fix a flat tire” with a low competition, meaning that not many other people have created ads or content around this phrase. By doing a small amount of research, you can target exactly what your current or prospective customers are researching and build content to serve them.

I believe that if you educate your customers on your industry it will make them smarter and provide a better customer experience. Not to mention, they won’t forget it which creates a stronger relationship.

I may not remember your ad on page 57 of that magazine I quickly skimmed but I will absolutely remember that blog post that prevented me from looking like a jerk when I was roadside with my girlfriend and a flat tire.

Tutorial Videos

Video. Video. Video.

Sometimes I like to read and other times I prefer to pull out my phone and watch videos. It really depends on my mood. If brands are able to recognize this it will put them in an advantageous position because we can’t market to a single denominator. Our marketing mix must scale a variety of different platforms to serve our audiences in the way they want to receive your message.

Let’s say I was a customer of a premium brand like Ferrari or Alfa Romeo or Maserati, would I click through to the ad that taught me how to fix a flat tire? Probably not. However, would I click through to an ad titled,

“The Best Shirt to Wear to Match Your Red Ferrari”?

Absolutely!

If I paid $250,000 for a car of course I would want to exhaust all opportunities to look my best in it. The brand or dealership could form a partnership with Hermes or Gucci and have one of their Product Specialists film a short video with the dealerships Product Advisor talking about the different colours that match the car.

Now this post wouldn’t be shared on a social network because, after all, how many people on Facebook (or other social platforms) would care about that topic? Probably not many. However, you could pull your customer list and segment them by the colour of the Ferrari they bought and send them a video tailored specifically to them i.e. The Best shirt to Wear to Match Your Black Ferrari etc.

Customer Testimonial Videos

Yes, video again. After all, YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world (this stuff matters…A LOT!).

When I buy something, especially something in the premium market, I need evidence that the product is what it is…but I don’t want to only hear it from you.

Customer testimonials (actual customers, not actors) can make a great short video that you can share on your website, social media and send by email to customers who are in your sales pipeline. This video can and will act as a sales tool.

Here are 11 examples of powerful customer testimonial videos from different industries that these companies used to increase sales and customer loyalty.

If you’ve delivered a story-worthy customer experience and your product is world-class then your customers will be willing to help your business.

The other day I bought a pair of Adidas Ultraboost. If Adidas asked me to be a part of their customer testimonial video I would emphatically say yes. Not only because I love the product and am a brand advocate but also because it’s flattering to be invited by a recognizable brand – I believe your customers will feel the same way too.

Conclusion

Another reason why these three marketing tactics work is because, not only does it enrich in the lives of your customers and help you sell, it’s very cost-friendly.

Traditional advertising isn’t going anywhere. In fact, it still works on me (I noticed an Alfa Romeo sponsored ad while watching NCAA basketball). As Gary Vaynerchuk, someone I greatly admire, says,

“Market in the year that you live in.”

What he means is that if eye balls and attention are on social channels like Facebook and YouTube and reading a book isn’t as common (my opinion only) as reading blog posts then we must pay attention to the shift in attention