By Nicholas L. Holland, VP of Product, HubSpot
Let’s go back in time to 2019. Most of us were working in an office, traveling a daily commute to a day full of in-person meetings. It’s safe to say things aren’t how they used to be. Although we’ve found new ways to meet, connecting with colleagues in-person regularly is a thing of the past.
Just as we’ve had to adapt to only seeing our co-workers on Zoom, businesses are also grappling with that feeling of disconnection. Today’s marketers are battling the trend of digital anonymity, both in identity privacy online and physical work location, hours, and preferences. I’m not saying that privacy is a bad thing — as a consumer myself, I’ve welcomed the decrease in spam emails and calls. But unfortunately, well-intentioned growth teams have also been impacted by these shifts. The outdated methods marketers used to use to spark conversations with potential new customers are no longer effective. We’re experiencing firsthand the chaos of disconnection, and for most, it means throwing your pre-pandemic playbook out the window for good.
Adapting during times of uncertainty can be painful. But with record inflation threatening the bottom line for businesses, agnostic of audience, vertical, or sector, the time to act is now. By rethinking organizational use of technology, growth teams can stay one step ahead of the curve and establish connections — and grow revenue — in a disconnected world.
Disconnected technology leads to disconnected experiences
The majority of disconnection today is driven by your tech stack. Disconnected technology operates independently, creating silos between important data and tools that can’t communicate with each other. That lack of communication creates inefficiencies, slowing teams down and forcing them to work in silos. Just as your systems aren’t communicating with each other, neither are your teams, which can trickle down to their interactions with customers. During a time when communication is more important than ever, this is a major problem. Disjointed customer relationships threaten your company’s reputation and your bottom line. In today’s economy, the old adage “If you don’t give your customers a good experience, a competitor will” are words to live by.
As I mentioned before, today’s customers are more privy to exactly how much data is being taken from them on the internet. This new understanding has further widened the disconnection as consumers have become more skeptical of the companies with which they interact. Rather than seeking resources and help from the companies themselves, buyers are sourcing that information from peers and other third-parties instead. This makes it even more difficult to establish new relationships with customers and foster trust.
The playbook for creating connection
Creating connections must start with equipping your internal teams with the technology they need to better understand and engage with your customers.
With a connected platform, you can collect actionable first-party data that your teams can use to create experiences that are tailored to the needs of each customer.
Once you have your tech stack in place, here are the guiding principles you can follow to make the most of your systems and create better connections with your customers :
- Understand and respect your customers: In order to engage with customers, you have to understand them. By measuring customer behavior — like how your customers engage with you — you can start to develop an understanding of their habits and preferences to reach them on their terms. It’s also important to align your priorities with those of your customers. In this case, that means respecting their privacy and putting policies in place to make sure all of your teams understand that that’s a priority.
- Align the back-end tools with front-end goals: Developing a well-crafted connected customer journey means that your data and systems are working seamlessly in the back-end to deliver a solid front-end experience to your customers. Platform solutions can give your teams visibility into all of the interactions a customer has with your company — such as page views, email opens, and ad engagement — to create a more holistic view of their activity. That connected data gives you valuable insight into how your customers are interacting with your brand to help you identify what’s keeping them engaged. Tapping into that data will help you better understand their habits so you can deliver a stronger experience.
- Empathize with the customer journey: It’s no secret that marketing has a reputation for engaging in one-sided conversations, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Marketing is truly impactful when companies focus on creating authentic interactions with their customers, rather than talking at them and telling them what they need. To create a truly remarkable experience, you have to empathize with your customers at every phase of their journey — from awareness to advocacy.
Following these principles will help strengthen both your internal processes and the interactions that customers have with your business. By aligning your internal teams on the same platform of tools with access to the same data, you’ll create deeper alignment. This alignment translates into a stronger, more connected experience for your customers.
In times of uncertainty, it’s always helpful to go back to the basics. Forming strong connections has always been at the heart of all great marketing, even if we’ve gotten off course in the last couple of years. Marketers are the architects of the customer journey. With that comes an unparalleled opportunity to end the crisis of disconnection and spark a connected flame over time, ultimately gaining trust, rather than losing it.
