For small business owners and marketers, it is becoming increasingly harder to capture potential client’s attention, not just because of the saturated advertiser market but also the changing media environment.

Radio

In years gone by, if we wanted to target someone in a town, we would simply reach out to the local radio station, however now the radio station is competing with Spotify, YouTube Music or, podcasts that stream directly to the potential client’s phone.

Television

If you had big bucks to spend you could simply reach out to the local television station, you could be into most homes as they watched their evening shows. Marketers with enough clout could target all four channels at once. Now imagine the dilemma we face trying to reach that same market. Think about your own evening viewing habits do you watch 7, 9, 10, or Netflix?

News

Maybe you think we can return to advertising in the local newspaper or Yellow Pages, however, “The Herald Sun” that has the highest circulation of any Newspaper in Australia has seen its circulation half since 2005, the regions have fared much worse.

Roy Morgan reports that now 15.4 million people check the news on their phones or computers. That’s nearly 20 times the number who pay for the printed paper. Add to this, when did you last click on an ad while reading an article on Facebook?

All is not lost with news though, the most subscribed to YouTube news channel in Australia is the ABC News Channel, at last, a marketer’s victory, we couldn’t advertise on this channel previously (shame it only has 234.7K Australian viewers)

So where does this leave us?

There is no doubt that digital experiences are becoming more immersive, personal, and in our hands, I’m talking about reaching potential clients on their phone (albeit through their browsers or apps), this actually means that marketers can become closer and know more about their behavior, as long as the digital providers keep their personal details private, this should improve their experiences.

There’s probably still a little bit of work to be done in this area. If you’ve ever bought a coffin on Amazon you’re probably not that keen to buy more, even though they display the latest versions of your most recent purchase.

The Future

Armed with this information, we now must design marketing communications that make it worth it for the potential client to start on a journey with you.

Customer Experience (CX)

What is customer experience and why is it so important to us? Perhaps it’s worth thinking about the last time you had spectacular service from a company you deal with. If you can create a positive CX, that generally reflects by boosting your revenue and improving your word-of-mouth marketing. It’s not limited to the first-time potential clients are involved in your business, it can be at any touch-point with the business, that may be a phone call an email or even a face-to-face visit.

Officially HubSpot describe CX as:

“Customer experience is the impression your customers have of your brand as a whole throughout all aspects of the buyer’s journey. It results in their view of your brand and impacts factors related to your bottom line including revenue.”

You don’t have to be a brand, to put CX at the center of your strategy, however, it’s vital that you put CX at the front of your thinking when dealing with customers.

Simply ask yourself, if you were the customer how would you describe the experience of dealing with your business?

Customer Journeys

What is a customer journey?

Once again, we borrow the definition from our Friends at HubSpot –

“A customer journey map is a visual representation of the process a customer or prospect goes through to achieve a goal with your company. With the help of a customer journey map, you can get a sense of your customers’ motivations — their needs and pain points.”

But what does this mean for your business?  

There are 4 steps to a client journey with your business.