According to Dr. Peter Prevos, “A search in the American trademark register reveals more than three thousand entries that use the word magic. Using the word magic in the branding of goods and services taps directly into the almost universal human desire for a magical world where mundane activities can be undertaken virtually effortlessly.”
This sounds like marketing magic to me, how about you… “Using the word magic in the branding of goods and services taps directly into the almost universal human desire for a magical world where mundane activities can be undertaken virtually effortlessly.” The conversion of mundane activities to effortless completion is a promise marketers focus on repeatedly. It has been the basis of brand development for decades. Brands based on marketing magic continue today, even in our world of transparency and consumer suspicion and disbelief.
Yet consumers buy into this. Could it be that they want to believe the magic? Accepting the dangers of falsehood in brand claims, consumers seek refuge from mundane activities and want to believe what brands preach. Consumers want to believe in the magic claims. Unfortunately, the brands fail to produce the magic reactions promised, leaving the consumer dismayed, frustrated, and reluctant to believe any brand promise from here on out. The marketing magic is thus tarnished. Consumer spending is reduced. Marketers are positioned as charlatans who are not to be trusted.
Thus, truth-telling, honest marketers are taken down by the unfortunate deceptions of those who fail to deliver on the magic they promise. Consumers are left disheartened and increase their level of distrust. Solid, high-performing products from stoic brands are damaged if not lost in the turmoil.
Traditional loyalty strategies are actually very narcissistic. They are rooted in validating how wonderful the brand is. However, utilizing new techniques to discover why customers fail to enjoy the marketing magic will lead to great understanding and potential growth opportunities.
Broken trust one of the key reasons customers leave the roost, it is imperative that brands continue to find ways to build bonding relationships. Compare viewing the brand relationship with the relationship between you and a friend. While you can accept almost any mistake from a friend, it is hard to accept one who breaks trust. This means brands must always put the needs of customers before the needs of the corporation. When brands do that, they don’t just acquire customers, they build an army of evangelists. This is where the marketing magic lives.
While the premise sounds simple enough, providing your customers with what they want, when they want it, is not that easy. Magic marketers remain focused on this, creating and delivering unique, successful products to each client, every time. What makes capturing the marketing magic so difficult?
There are a variety of reasons why customers failed to experience the promised marketing magic and took their business elsewhere.
1. They no longer see the brand as a solution to their needs.
2. They lose confidence.
3. Their economic situation changed.
4. A competitor made a more compelling, better offer.
Marketers need to figure out what the customer needs. Make the customer feel good about purchasing from you. Make business decisions that show customers you value them—good packaging, good customer service, etc. Make good on what you promise your customers.
Sometimes that process is as easy as using the resources and intel right in front of you. Curating that intel is how you track customer loyalty and disloyalty. Are your customers placing repeat orders and generating more value for you over time? How is that number evolving? At what rate are you retaining customers? What type of engagement rate (things like subscription services, apps, etc.) is useful? Are you actively and aggressively monitoring social channels to see what your customers are saying about you?
The key is to provide interesting content that is of value to the consumer. It sounds simple, but so many companies fail at this. It is important to understand the context in which you are reaching your customers. Your communications should not be interruptions to their life, but instead be fun and engaging, something that a customer can look forward to or remember fondly. Reaching the customer via the media vehicle they choose, with information that is of value to them, without merely adding to the clutter, offering a solid brand offering, and making it easy for the customer to purchase. These are the key to success. This is the marketing magic, but it is easier said than done. It takes a marketing pro to find and communicate the marketing magic that will set your company, product, or service apart from all others.
Keeping your customers engaged to create meaningful content throughout the consumer journey is one of the most critical aspects in the whole process. Your customers give their hard-earned dollars, time, attention, and recommendations. In exchange, they expect more value at every touch point than they put into the relationship.
You create marketing magic by focusing on providing value at every stage of the consumer journey. Customer loyalty can be tracked most effectively through purchase data. Every company has unprecedented access to data right now. The key is to turn that data into actionable insights. Most brands get caught with information overload, which leads to paralysis by analysis. In the end, the most successful companies are those that can track a small handful of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and pay unwavering attention to the deltas in those KPIs. When loyalty dips, it tells a profound story about the overall performance of the brand. A story that the magic marketers do not want to try and write the end to.
The work on providing customer value keeps the brand ahead of the buying curve and secures a positive future for the brand, as well as a career for the magic marketer.
For more information on where the marketing magic lives and how you can access it, contact your Think Patented account executive or call 937.353.2299.