It's all about the c-word
You'll be pleased to hear that the c-word here is not Covid-19 - it's the customer. More than ever you must invest in your customers, understand what matters to them, reward them for their loyalty, and focus on helping them be more successful and prepared for the future
We're working with a number of businesses that have had to recast their physical go-to-market presence into enhanced online alternatives very quickly. The fastest wins have come for those prepared to keep things elegant and simple, and those measuring everything to understand where they are winning, where they are losing customers, and in continuously testing new audiences.
By designing for customers first, and improving each metric to increase performance and results, they are preparing their businesses for the future.
The results are encouraging: by investing in digital, many of them are reinventing themselves at a speed and in ways they hadn't imagined were possible two months ago. The brands that are doing well are those that have the customer experience and journey front and centre.
Key points:
- Your future markets will likely not be where they have been historically. In particular, if you can market and deliver into overseas markets, you can generate greater wins beyond sales. For example, you can win via currency exchange, or by de-risking any one force or factor by spreading your marketing and sales to take advantage of the economic growth across multiple countries. In our own case, over 50% of Digivizer revenue comes from outside Australia in US dollars, and continues to grow.
- In many developing countries, the addressable market and affluent base for your product or service may be considerably larger and affordable than in “developed” countries. The brand experience and loyalty in developing countries, and those enjoying faster growth, are built and owned as digital first, often without any reliance on a physical, in-person or bricks-and-mortar experience. When you consider your whole brand will be built through their digital experience with you, fast-track your efforts to provide ease, clarity, and a great experience to these customers, and simplify how they can buy from you.
- The majority of new customers anywhere are likely to be increasingly agile, young and digitally native, without legacy relationships to get in the way of new experiences or commitments. They look for fast gratification and personalisation. Design and plan to reward these digitally-savvy and digital-first customers.
We're starting to hear the early details of the plans to open up the Australian economy, as well as the moves from the rest of the world.
And we're also hearing the first sets of data showing the size of the challenge now facing businesses here in Australia.
There is an opportunity to not fall back into the trap of relying on a handful of traditional vertical markets in a handful of regions. Instead, push harder to seize the opportunities that digital provides in expanding who you serve, and how you serve customers beyond our shoreline, in more overseas markets.
Test and move now to find where new customers are, and to discover what your existing customers really want. Don't use this down-time to build the perfect digital marketing system or process: use digital marketing, and the ability to measure everything in digital, to engage with customers in new ways, testing what works best - and then keep building from there.
Consider, test and refine how your brand, products and marketing present to, and perform with, different audiences, markets and countries. Remember that everything they know about you and buy from you must be one they can easily do digitally. Once you know what converts the strongest, increase your digital marketing firepower in that direction.
Covid-19 might be the catalyst we needed to rethink how we market, where we market, and who we market to, but the most important focus now is how and where you serve your customer.
Here in Australia, consider how you can serve the 99.66% of the global population that exists beyond our shoreline.
Go where your customers are to be found. By increasing your digital presence, it's easier and quicker to measure the impact any communications or marketing programs have to your top and bottom line. Find new ways to create great propositions that easily help them be more-successful - and to see the value in your business, products and services.
