We think of marketing as the process of finding and winning new customers. But what if we said there’s an entirely different approach to marketing that speaks directly to the customers you already have? Enter what is customer marketing, a growing trend that nevertheless often flies under the radar, meant to foster customer loyalty, retention, and turn buyers into brand advocates.
If you’re looking to understand what is customer marketing, how it works, and why it’s essential for your success, don’t worry, we have you covered.
What Is Customer Marketing Explained
What is customer marketing describes marketing efforts aimed at your current customer base, not potential ones. While acquisition marketing invests time and resources into capturing new leads, customer marketing concentrates on nurturing those customers you already have conquered.
The goal? Drive Repeat Adoption of your customer relationships to convert repeat purchases and to drive growth-generating behaviors, such as word-of-mouth referral and advocacy.
But don’t mistake what is customer marketing for customer support or customer success. And while those roles are concentrated on problem solving and satisfaction, customer marketing is getting the word out about ongoing engagement, building brand trust and helping remove blockers to move things forward together.
Why Is It Important?
If you treat your business’s sole priority as acquiring new customers, you’re only doing half the work of building for sustainable growth. Here’s why what is customer marketing is critical to any marketing strategy:
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It Costs Less to Keep a Customer Than Find a New One: Research has found that attracting a new customer can cost 5x as much as keeping an existing one.
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Loyal Customers Spend More: Research from Bain & Company found that repeat customers spend 67% more than new ones.
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There’s No Better Advertising than Word-of-Mouth Referrals: Happy clients are your best marketers. By opening up about their journey, they build trust and organic growth.
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A Competitive Edge: Create a loyal customer base in today’s competitive market to gain an edge over competitors who focus exclusively on acquisition.
Fundamental Advantages of Customer Marketing
Higher Customer Retention
Your customer marketing strategies thing they will remind them that you work to keep your current customers them! Imagine tools such as loyalty programs and personalized emails nudging customers to remember what they have already bought. These touchpoints create trust and significantly reduce the chances of your customers changing to a competitor.
Understanding what is customer marketing helps explain why retention initiatives work so well.
Increased Revenue
Interacting with existing customers means creating opportunities for upselling and cross-selling. Offering products or services based on what your buyers have already done generates additional streams of revenue and increases customer loyalty.
Amplified Brand Advocacy
“Other people do it” is amongst the most persuasive arguments for prospective users. What is customer marketing if not a tool to get your satisfied customers involved and active, posting reviews, testimonials and spreading the word about your brand?
Improved Customer Relations
Successful customer marketing is all about building long-lasting, meaningful relationships with your audience. As a result, customer satisfaction and customer lifetime value (CLV) improve.
Key Components of a Customer Marketing Strategy
To begin with, what is customer marketing? You have to take a tactical approach to your campaigns. Here’s how to do it well.
Segment Your Customers
No two customers are the same, so personalized marketing is essential. Leverage your customer data to create segments of your audience, targeting individuals according to demographics, past buying habits, frequency of interaction with your brand, preferences, among others. This allows you to tailor strategies for each subset.
Create a Connection Going Both Ways
“Stir the pot.” Cultivate relationships by engaging with your customers. Foster dialogue with the public through feedback surveys, social media posts or forums. Through hearing and replying to customers, you also increase a brand’s overall trust.
Build a Loyalty Program
Customer marketing is one of the most powerful tools for user acquisition. By incentivizing share-worthy actions such as repeat purchases, referrals, and social sharing, not only do you reward a customer’s long-term loyalty, you also encourage deeper brand attachment.
This is where what is customer marketing becomes practical, rewarding loyalty and action.
Utilize Email Marketing
Email is one of the least expensive ways to develop your customers. Personalize offers, updates,a nd content based on their preference. Don’t make it a “one size fits all” approach — your email should be timely and relevant.
Create Advocacy Campaigns
The happiest customers are your greatest asset. Build advocacy programs that enable them to share through reviews, social shares, or testimonials. You can also encourage referrals by offering special bonuses or discounts.
Offer Value Beyond Sales
Give them something valuable, whether it’s educational, entertaining, or solves a problem they may have. Providing value beyond the transaction can help customers feel valued and lead to their long-term loyalty.
Great Customer Marketing Examples
If you’re asking what is customer marketing, look at these successful brands:
Starbucks Rewards
What Works: The Starbucks Rewards program has long encouraged regular customers by offering personalized promotions, free drink rewards and exclusive access to such perks as product giveaways. In addition to the convenience of shopping in-store, the app is fully integrated, boosting use and frequency.
Dropbox Referral Program
What Works: Dropbox grew exponentially through its referral program that provided both its current customers and their referrals with extra storage space. It was the very promotion that likely drove sign-ups, even as it convinced existing users to stick around.
Sephora’s Beauty Insider
What Works: Sephora’s Beauty Insider program delivers points back to customers, in addition to gifts on their birthdays and exclusive experiences. Layered rewards deepen committed purchasing and other activities.
Measuring Your Customer Marketing Success
To find out if your customer marketing efforts are effective, monitor these critical metrics:
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Customer Retention Rate: A ratio of the number of customers that you retain over a defined period.
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Customer Loyalty Value (CLV): The total value a customer brings to your company over the course of their lifetime.
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Net Promoter Score (NPS): Results in a number indicating your customer’s satisfaction and their likelihood of referring your business.
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Upsell and Cross-sell: Revenue from additional products sold to current customers.
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Rate of Referral: Volume of new customers introduced via referral.
Customer Marketing Is The Future – Here’s Why
The business environment is shifting, focusing more on long-term relationships and building a community. What is customer marketing if not a means to create not only revenue, but a sense of value for your clients, who then are more loyal to you in the long run?
No matter if you’re a small business or a colossal enterprise, what is customer marketing represents a way to grow your business by not just getting new customers but by significantly increasing the value of the ones you already have.
Ready to begin establishing stronger customer connections right away? Be consistent in how you market, focus on adding value and the rest will follow – then explore the tools you need to shoot your customer marketing efforts into the stratosphere.
