Businesses need to keep a clear focus on the needs and expectations of their customers, a group that’s diverse and fragmented, with high expectations and little patience for anyone who can’t keep up. To stay competitive you need to be visible, and that’s no easy feat.
Embrace the Customer Experience Model. It’s been a slow grind for some, but marketing departments are moving from a silo of advertising and non-interactive communication toward becoming a natural part of the sales cycle and an extension of customer service. Marketers, using integrated tools, can engage with customers online, track the buyer’s journey, measure sentiment and loyalty, and match behavior with outreach tailored to meet their audience’s needs and interests. But for customers already bombarded with information, a great customer experience is becoming baseline. The year 2016 will see brand ambassadors given a higher priority, more effective customer engagement and tighter collaboration with sales and support to directly affect conversion rates.
*Article contributed by Daniel Newman @ Forbes.com
