How well do you know your customer? As a leader at a small company, or perhaps you’re the owner, the answer you’d like to have to that question is “I know my customers through and through, they love the fact that my product is easy to use and it’s reasonably priced.” But, even that answer isn’t what’s necessary to differentiate your brand, and ultimately win business. We’re in the age of the customer, and it’s no longer about your product alone.

Leveraging the information derived from using the right marketing tactics like paid search, content marketing, and email marketing will transform your customers’ experience. Capturing data surrounding who they are, what’s important to them, which messages resonate and make them feel connected to your brand is what will inform the evolution of your company as your customers grow and change.

It’s imperative that a company's marketing strategy focus on the behaviors, needs, and priorities of your customers. Below are five recommendations that marketing leaders should consider as we all find our seat and get comfortable in the age of the customer.

1. Build the Marketing Message Around Your Customer, Not Your Product

Thanks to the Internet, customers are smart, technology-emboldened information seekers who already know everything there is to know about your product. A marketing message surrounding your product is vulnerable to competitors’ imitation and customers’ boredom. Invest in a different direction with messaging that enhances the customer experience by attracting and keeping their attention. Focus your content on the human, not the product.

Let’s take Fitbit, for example. The message front and center on their homepage is:

“Fitbit motivates you to reach your health and fitness goals by tracking your activity, exercise, sleep, weight and more.”

This message doesn’t include any information detailing that the product is a swim-proof wearable wristband with interchangeable accessories and the ability to configure call and text notifications.

2. Re-Think Your Approach to Marketing Operations

Make business decisions based on the impact those decisions will have on your customer interaction. Try taking a systematic approach to developing metrics around customer engagement and retention and build your marketing management practices from there.

Action Item: Sit down and make a wish list of customers’ buying patterns and success metrics you wish you could track but aren’t able to or don’t know how with your current set up. Once that list is created, seek out solutions to uncover those pieces of information.

3. Shift the Focus From Just Customer Acquisition to Full Customer Engagement

Acquiring customers through your marketing efforts is difficult enough, but it’s now critical to engage the customer throughout the entire customer life cycle. This means placing equal prioritization on customer acquisition and customer retention. Infuse email marketing, blogging, and exclusive customer perks in to your marketing mix to ensure you're engaging with current customers and ultimately transforming them into brand champions.

If you're in eCommerce, here's a breakdown of useful starting points in developing a full omni-channel approach to customer engagement. (updated in June, 2020)

4. Understand Your Customers' Buying Process

Are your customers employing a mobile mindset? Are your customers’ needs different depending on their location? This is crucial information to know when communicating with your customers as choosing the optimal time and method of engagement can reduce costs and drive revenue.

5. Embrace New Marketing and Sales Technologies

Manage and monitor customer behavior through life cycle solutions and engagement platforms. Explore modern delivery methods for your marketing message. Technology is extremely helpful in today’s ever-evolving dynamic markets and changing business environments.

Insider Tip: One of my favorite, all-in-one solutions is Hubspot. Consolidating email marketing, social media, blogging, lead management, content creation, and more in one single lens provides a streamlined process to achieve all your marketing goals.