Why is it some businesses see Technology as a real barrier to growth in their business & other’s see it as the platform to push forward at a different trajectory & win market share?
Well if there was an easy answer everyone would be doing it, but here’s a few pointers we see day in day out from working with some of the fastest growing & most successful business in the market:
What are some of the things the Winners do differently
- Structure – Invest in shaping & structuring their Data in a way which enables them to use it proactively as a valuable asset.
- Enrichment – Actively enrich their data with relevant 3rd party Data to elevate their insight to the next level.
- Segmentation – Segment their Customer data to target & personalise any marketing, communication, or cross & upscales activity.
- Alignment – Match their data to relevant stages of their Customer Journey
- Analysis – Analyse & interrogate their data to identify relevant patterns & insight
- Elevate – Use Machine Learning & artificial Intelligence at appropriate stages of the Customer journey to optimise their proposition & success
- Intelligent & Relevant Cross & Up Sales – Use their Data Intelligently to cross & up sell relevant products & services to their clients at the most appropriate stage of the customer journey.
Getting the most out of your Technology, Data, Customer knowledge, & Insight is increasingly setting the Winners apart from the rest.
Talk to us if you are interested in knowing more about our approach to helping businesses enhance their use & understanding of Technology, MI, Data, & Customer Insight.
Author Derek Findlayson
Someone in the Insurance market asked me the other day, what does it take nowadays to deliver a “great customer experience”?
That got me thinking about a number of things:
- How do I want to interact with my Insurers(s) & service providers?
- What would really meaningful interactions & consumer engagement look & feel like?
- What would my children say?
It prompted me to consider what really matters to me, as a reasonably “tech savvy” consumer:
I want my Broker & insurer(s) to focus on understanding my preferences & behaviors whether that’s:
- Communicating with me through my preferred channel of communication (in my case digital)
- Using data that I choose to share as a consumer to understand what information might be relevant to me, or that I might be interested in … In other words, I’m happy to be engaged with if it’s relevant to me
- Time is important to me, so I want to access all of my insurance & protection needs in one easy to access place rather than having to go to a plethora of places to find/organize the products & services that are both important & relevant to me.
Doesn’t it feel “archaic” in today’s world that this is hard to achieve.
From speaking to a spectrum of colleagues in the industry it seems I’m not alone … indeed, the feedback from my children, took this even further. They expect to be able to interact with their insurers via their tablet or mobile, & will actively be influenced by social media activity & commentary when it comes to fulfilling their insurance needs. So if you haven’t already done so, move your thinking from:
- Product journeys to customer journeys
- Traditional marketing to Content marketing
I read an article recently , which stated that just 2 in 5 companies understand the customer journey and adapt their channel mix according. If 60% of businesses havent invested the time to map their current & potential customer’s journey to get a holistic view of the experience from the customer’s perspective and really understand what it’s like for them on a personal level is it any wonder that there remains significant room for improvement.
Done well the customer journey map is an illustration or diagram of all the places (or ‘touchpoints’) your customers (or prospects) come into contact with your company both online and off. The map can be used to improve the customer experience through identifying how customers are interacting with you now and help you to identify areas for improvement moving forward. The best customer journey maps are rooted in data-driven research, and visually represent the different phases your customers experience.
Done well, Customer Journey mapping:
- Will help you locate improvement opportunities, as well as identify the areas where there’s a risk of dissatisfying a customer
- Brings different teams together for a common goal: the customer experience
- Drives cross-functional change involving all elements of the organisation and is not just left in the hands of the marketing function
- Not only makes customers happy but also delivers quantifiable value to the business through driving customer loyalty whilst reducing cost to serve
Customers needs & expectations are changing & increasing, & the Insurance market need to rapidly evolve to keep pace.
Speak to us today about enhancing your Marketing strategy for a business that shows real growth and development.
Author Derek Findlayson
Great Customer Relationships begin with Great Data
In a world where customer expectations are spiralling upwards, Great Marketing & Great Data are increasingly becoming intertwined.
A rapidly growing percentage of marketeers are reliant on the insights from data to shape their marketing campaigns, but their challenge remains getting easy access to it.
And yet, the gap between the most successful marketeers & the rest, continues to widen … Why?
From what I can see, those that outperform the rest in their content marketing seem to have a few things in common:
- A clear Content Strategy
- Strong & easy to access in house data
- Insightful or educational content
- Targeted personalised content to different audiences such as demographics, personas, geos
- A real focus on Customer Centricity & Customer Experience not just within marketing but across the business
Getting all these parts of the jigsaw aligned seems to be really making a difference in the fastest growing & best performing businesses. Is it an integral part of your business?
Speak to us today about enhancing your Marketing strategy for a business that shows real growth and development.
Author Derek Findlayson
The Benefits of Business Blogs for Marketing
If the whole world of business blogging is a mystery to you, here’s a few thoughts to hopefully demystify what it is & make the case for why you should use blogging as a very cost effective marketing tactic.
What is business blogging?
Sounds complicated but it’s not. Put simply, business blogging involves creating short form content posted to your website about a particular subject, to help you increase your “online visibility” i.e. making it easier for you to be found on the internet.
Why should you use blogging as a marketing tactic?
- It helps drive traffic to your website
If your like me, you want to find cost effective ways to drive more visitors to your website. Yes, you could rely on people typing in your name right into their browser, but typically the people that do this already know you. You could pay for traffic through purchasing email lists but often this is illegal, or by placing paid ads, but both can be quite expensive. So, how can you cost effectively drive any traffic? In short: blogging, social media, and search engines.
Keeping your website fresh & relevant can be challenging. Think about it, when did you last change, add new, or refresh your website pages? If your like most businesses it’s not an every day occurrence! Every time you write a blog post, it’s one more indexed page on your website, which makes it easier for you to show up in search engines and drive traffic to your website in any organic search.
Blogging also helps you get discovered via social media. Every time you write a blog post, you’re creating content that people can share on social networks such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest — expanding your potential audience.
- It helps convert that traffic into leads
In the same way that every blog post you write is another indexed page, each post is a new opportunity to generate new leads by simply adding a lead-generating call-to-action to every blog post to things like free ebooks, free whitepapers, free fact sheets, free webinars, free trials …
- It helps establish authority & credibility
Customers are interested in content that answers their common questions. If you’re consistently creating content that’s helpful for your target customer, it’ll help establish you as an authority in their eyes.
If prospects find answers to their common questions via your blog posts they’re much more likely to:
- Come into the sales process trusting what you have to say because you’ve helped them in the past.
- Enter the sales process more educated on your place in the market, your industry, and what you have to offer.
So Blog posts also help move the sales process along more swiftly.
I hope these thoughts encourage you to either start a business blog or make this a larger part of your marketing strategy.
Author Derek Findlayson
With an ever-changing list of strategies, from digital to print coming in and out of favour, how can you be sure if your latest change is right for you?
Here are some high profile business changes we can all learn from.
- Aviva
Offering funding for local charities Funding from £1,000 up to £25,000 was offered to 362 small and large organisations as part of a customer driven strategy. Named the Aviva Community Fund this stepped away from a product message and worked to build on their already large brand reputation. Despite having multiple brands, Aviva had previously focused on product led and micro brand campaigns, so this was a fantastic strategy pull to draw the business together. Appointing Andrew Brem as head of digital was a bold strategy for an insurance firm. Brem said of the appointment to The Drum “We’ve all seen how technology has changed the way we live our lives; from buying groceries online to controlling our heating from anywhere with an app. Now is the time to bring the digital revolution to insurance; transforming the way people can buy and use our products every day.” What we can learn: Look away from your competitors and your typical industry strategies and think bigger. See your business as a whole rather than competing departments, services or products and pull together a plan that aligns common goals, even across a wide portfolio.
- ASOS
A quick move into digital From the live feed on the Fashion Finder page that shows community users in items sold by asps and with social media manned by staff who respond with personality to each tweet, DM and message, ASOS has focused on making a personal brand that reflects its core demographics’ online habits, integrating as one with them. The ASOS Facebook page is currently one of the most popular retail brands on Facebook, with over 3.5 million fans, in comparison with other online retailers such as Boohoo’s 2.2 million and Net-a-Porter’s 1.3 million. (Source: LinkHumans) What we can learn: Experimental strategies will always have a place. Some will fail – ASOS.com’s own investment in logistics and a China start-up business caused the decline of profits of 22% – but by trying new tactics overall they are thriving.
- Debenhams
Undertaking new trends Debenhams teamed up with Buyapowa last Christmas in a move that allowed customers to engage with the brand and to encourage fans to purchase gift cards. Using the power of co-buying, the more people who commit to a purchase, the higher the value. This move into gamification was a strong one, and was perfectly timed for Christmas. Following this, Debenhams showed that online sales had grown by 46 per cent, with mobile accounting for a growth of 72 per cent. (Source: The Drum) What we can learn: Look to all areas of your business for results. A focus on gifting and gamification and mobile is not the most clear move when Christmas is typically strongly product focused in the sector, but with post January online sales increased by 11.7 per cent overall, the strategy has paid off. Speak to all your stakeholders to gather varied ideas.
- ArgosDefying Falling Profits In 2012 Argos announced that 75 branches would close so it could fully embrace a new digital strategy to fly in the face of falling profits of around 37% pre-tax. By launching smartphone and tablet ads, online sales grew to represent 42 per cent of the retailer’s total sales, with 125 per cent coming through the new digital channels. (The Drum) What we can learn: Some changes won’t be popular with your new business strategy. They might involve a decreased work force in favour of investment in other areas. Don’t be afraid to grab the moment for a real shift when you can. Whatever the size of your business, if you want to make a strategic change you have a lot to consider! 1) Functional capabilities – what changes do I need to make to supply chain, marketing, staff levels, architecture and tools, technical abilities? 2) Budget and resource allocation – how much is available, to what ROI, and when can it be released? 3) R&D – do you understand what consumers really need, what they value, and how to deliver that to them? Speak to us today about changing your strategy for a business that shows real growth and development.
Author Derek Findlayson
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