Retention Marketing at the Center of Attention

Many companies invest a lot of money in attracting customers. It's equally important to keep these customers happy.

Actually, organizations are realizing that it's more crucial to concentrate their efforts on retention marketing.

This is a common mistake I see from companies time after time. Amazing deals are made available to “new customers” without any consideration for customers who already have committed their loyalty and money.

Customers who feel ignored and let down by the company will eventually leave.

Human beings and marketers naturally want to be more interested in what's new than what they're familiar with. Research shows that focusing on customers you already know is a better strategy for long-term success and can result in a higher return on investment.

Quick Takeaways

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  Research indicates that customers who are already customers have a higher lifetime value than customers who are new to the market.
  
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  Content marketing is a way to reach customers at all stages of the sales funnel, including the decision-making stage. It can also be used post-purchase to build relationships with customers.
  
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  Consider how you can provide value to your customers by providing informational content, as well as how to make them trustworthy.
  

Attracting a new customer can be 5x more expensive than keeping an existing customer. Increasing your customer retention rate by 5% can lead to a profit increase of 25%.

Customers who are happy with their brand will be more inclined to recommend it to others. This can bring in new customers without any cost to you.

How content marketing can improve your customer retention rate

Many companies see content marketing as a way of attracting prospects at the top of the marketing funnel, the awareness stage.

Publishing content can help you increase brand awareness and drive more traffic to your site.

However, if you only create content for the end of the funnel you are missing the entire potential of content marketing.

Marketers often go beyond this to create content that meets the needs of prospects who are about to make a purchase decision. Informational content can also be a powerful way to drive sales or convert customers.

What about customers who just bought and customers who have been with you for a long time? How can you communicate with them? Remind them of your existence and keep them coming back for more.

Customers who interact with your content regularly build a relationship with you brand. This increases customer loyalty. This builds customer loyalty.

Your customer retention strategy will likely include email marketing and asking customers for their support on social media. Email and social marketing are two types of content that can help you increase customer retention.

It's worth looking beyond the Facebook post and email newsletter. You might also consider other ways to delight and engage your customers through your content.

How to keep your customers happy with content marketing

Borussia Dortmund is a well-known soccer team. Despite a poor 2014/2015 season, 54.907 season ticket holders have renewed their season tickets for the next season.

You read correctly, only 93 of 55,000 people opted to not renew, which is a 99.83% renewal rate.

This is the kind of loyalty and customer retention that every company dreams of. So how did Borussia Dortmund do it?

It would be great to tell you that it was all due to content marketing strategy. However, I don't speak German so can't tell you what's going on on their Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter feeds. What I can share is how NewsCred proved content marketing ROI and customer retention.

Subscribe to the NewsCred blog by clients:

• A renewal rate 41% higher than the overall client base
• Are 33% more likely that they will be upsold
• You will pay 24% more per month in recurring revenue than an average client

When I meet with prospects who are looking for strong content marketing strategies, I am always interested in their feedback. Whenever I ask them how they measure the success of their content marketing efforts, it always boils down back to four things: thought leadership and demand generation. SEO and brand awareness.

These are all very important but customer retention can also be a powerful metric content marketers can use to show the ROI of their efforts.

Demand generation is almost all about new leads acquisition. However, a Bain and Co study found that increasing customer retention rates by 5% can increase profits by between 25-95% and 25%.

Marketing leaders have heard it countless times: Getting new clients can be six to seven times more expensive than maintaining existing clients. So while new leads are important, retention is an effective way to increase your bottom line and prove the effectiveness of your content marketing efforts.

What percentage of your clients are engaged with your blog? How many of your clients follow you on social media or receive your newsletter every week? No matter what number it is, keep it in mind and work towards increasing it.

NewsCred is one of our long-standing partners. Salespeople share blog content regularly with new clients during their onboarding process and encourage them to follow our various social channels, as it allows us be more than a software platform.

Sales representatives will even call prospects to ask if they can sign them up on our newsletter. Your content can help them launch or optimize their content marketing strategy. A newsletter sent to your sales team a few times per week can be a great reminder for them to keep in touch.

Keep customers happy by providing content that is relevant to their industry, pain points, and training. You can also focus on special events, webinars and mailings that are customer-centric. Your content marketing strategy should be about making your brand more useful than just your product.

Because our mission is make clients and prospects better marketers, we regularly publish content on marketing best practices. We don't just want to provide you with a marketing platform. We want to help marketers be more effective at their jobs, and this is done primarily through our content.

Red Bull is often viewed as a king of content. However, it's a media company who also sells energy drinks. Red Bull is a brand I love. Their ability to be helpful to me in learning about new artists and music has made it a favorite of mine. Marketing is all about storytelling. By focusing on your brand's mission, you can create a mutually beneficial relationship with your clients.

Inbound marketing's core concept is to provide valuable, relevant content that your audience cares about. This will help you attract more inbound traffic, which you can convert into paying customers. But this steady stream of relevant content can play a huge role in customer retention. Your content marketing efforts can make a huge impact on your bottom line by increasing sales, reducing churn and creating brand advocates.

Ideas for using content to improve the long-term customer experience

How can content marketing be used to engage customers and build long-lasting relationships?

How to Content

It is a great way to increase the customer experience by providing content that explains how you can use the products or services you offer.

Ahrefs offers website owners and marketers a range of SEO tools. It offers a 5-hour video training course that teaches you how to use the tools, such as keyword research, competitor analysis and link building.

This free course has the same content as premium SEO courses that cost thousands of dollars.

Ahrefs shows its appreciation for its customers by helping them get the most out of their product. It's not about just selling and leaving them to it.

This strategy can be applied to physical products as well. Take a look at REI's Expert Advice library for outdoor gear retailers.

REI's content covers everything, from how to use the compass to how clean a tent. It is equally effective in engaging existing customers as it are at attracting new customers.

Share Success Stories from Customers

Involving your customers in the content production process is one of the best ways to build a relationship with them, especially in B2B marketing.

Everyone wins when they share customer success stories and case studies. Your customers can see how amazing your products and services really are and your customers will get more exposure for the business. New customers also get a glimpse into what they can expect from you when they buy your product or choose to work with you.

It is also very cost-effective to use your customers for content ideas and inspiration. This type of content doesn't require you to hire a writer. You can interview your customers or clients and publish the interview in a written article or podcast.

When I was working with Healthy Kids Running Series a few years back, we were able drive growth by harnessing passion from volunteers and members to create content.

This approach often leads to more authentic and engaging content. This makes content contributors feel more connected to your brand and loyal.

Another way to leverage the power of user-generated material is to ask your customers to become “brand ambassadors” by sharing photos of them using your product on social networks. This strategy is so successful that many brands pay five-figure salaries to their brand ambassadors to help them promote their products.

Provide Problem-Solving Content to Your Customers

It's much easier to decide what content you should create for existing customers. Because you know them. You already know some of these people if they have purchased from you at least once before.

This contrasts with your potential customers, who you may not know anything about. While you may be able to make an educated guess as to what information they are looking for, the only way to truly solve someone's problems is to actually ask them.

Get in touch with your customers. You can email them or ask them questions via social media. Ask them what obstacles they are facing and what help they need. Create content that addresses these needs.

With their series of webinars, digital marketing intelligence tool SEMrush (competitor to Ahrefs) has perfected the process. Recent webinar, “5 Hours of Content Marketing”, was a part of which I addressed the needs and questions of their core audience and their largest customers.

This type of content is successful in two ways. Your customers will be more loyal to you if they feel that you are helping them. simply asking your customers what content they need to succeed shows you care and listen.

Create personalized content with your CRM

Consumers expect more personal experiences in 2020 and beyond. Personalizing content will make it more relevant to your audience, and thus provide a better experience.

Personalizing content for new audiences can be difficult, but it is easier to personalize content that's targeted at existing customers.

Because you already have significant data about them in your CRM. This data should include their name and address. If you are savvy about data collection, and train your customer service and sales team to collect data whenever possible, you can gather a lot of valuable information that can be used later to personalize content.

You can suggest content that is relevant to customers based upon their interactions and purchases. Smart content can be created that changes dynamically using data from your CRM. This will create a more personalized experience.

Create Content That Reinforces Your Shared Values

A survey of more than 7,000 customers across Australia, the UK and the US revealed that 64% of respondents said they were loyal because of their shared values.

These values are likely to have attracted your customers to you in first place. Over 80% of millennials believe it is important for brands to share their values.

If you don't focus on retention marketing, and your values are not displayed on your website's “about me” page, customers may forget why they shopped with you. A flashy marketing campaign may be enough to lure them away from your company.

Every piece of content that you create should reflect your values. These content opportunities will allow you to place these values at the center of your marketing strategy.

Starbucks, for example, has highlighted its values of inclusion and accountability with its “Stories” blog. It recently published articles celebrating Latinx Heritage Month as well as stories about Starbucks partners with disabilities who have achieved success in their careers.

How to ensure your customers see your content

If your customers don't see the content, it is pointless spending money and resources on creating it. You must ensure that your retention marketing plan includes a strategy to promote and distribute content.

You should not promote content to existing customers using the same strategy as you would for customer acquisition. SEO is not a way to reach existing customers. However, they may be more inclined to click on your site if it appears in their search results. Although ad-retargeting can be successful, it is not a good idea to pay for clicks when there are other methods of reaching customers.

How can you ensure that your customers are able to see the content you create? The first step is to find out where they are. You should collect information about how you can contact them and what social media platforms they are most active on when you acquire a customer.

Your mailing list is one way to ensure your customers are seeing content. While the content in your emails is valuable, make sure to send your customers back to content on your blog or social media channels.

Multiple content types can help you reach all your customers. While some may prefer to read blogs, others might subscribe to your YouTube channel or podcast. Cross-promote content across channels to increase your views.

You can only create high-quality, valuable content that will keep customers coming back to your blog.

Plan Your Retention Marketing Strategy Today

Although content is only one aspect of a successful retention strategy, it is an essential part.

Our Content Builder Service can help you get more visitors to your website by publishing quality content consistently.

I would love to meet with you to discuss my methods for getting traffic and leads from local agents, tech startups, and enterprise giants.