7 Focus Points for for Meeting Client Expectations
Hi. It is Ben from my digital CMO. I help marketing leaders deliver their marketing vision. At My Digital CMO, we create a fit for purpose digital marketing strategy application that helps you streamline and standardize your strategic work plan, marketing plan and related activities, and facilitates communication and collaboration with your clients, customers, and stakeholders. This strategy spotlight series, we are gonna try and shed some light from our, my digital CMO perspective on some customer, first thinking.
Ben:And I hope you enjoy listening, and it prompts some ideas and thoughts in your head or your operations. And if we can cover something better or we missed something out, let us know. In this series, we wanna have a look at just the customer point of view, maybe what the customer is looking for, what they're thinking about. There's so much to think about when creating a comprehensive strategic plan, especially as businesses get bigger and more complex. It's always good to think of these topics.
Ben:So what we're going to cover today is what are clients looking for? What are their expectations when launching on this journey of a new or revised or revived digital strategy. And what are those expectations and how we can start thinking about that. That's going to be the focus. 1st and foremost, clients have expectations around, objectives and growth and business goals.
Ben:So we're going to have to, before we even get to strategy, define the business. What's the business purpose? Why are we, why are we at this moment? What are our goals? What are our short term and mid term goals?
Ben:Maybe there's a long term goal that's relevant too. How are we gonna start aligning ourselves with, a client or a stakeholder's business objectives? At the end of the day, the earlier we can align, with a business objective, the earlier we can, align with another business partner, that's gonna help all of our discussions from that point on and, ensure we're building that really strong collaborative partner framework. So generally, our customer expectations are gonna fall into one of a few categories. We wanna drive growth.
Ben:Maybe we're flatlined. Maybe we want more sales. Maybe we're not as profitable, but we need to drive growth. It's gonna be very hard to do that without understanding some of those business fundamentals. We are going to wanna increase brand awareness to drive inquiry, to drive the need.
Ben:You know, first, we have to get out there and make sure, the end user of the product or service knows where we are and, that that's gonna be some brand building awareness. Maybe there's a new part of the product. Whatever it is, we also need to drive brand growth and brand awareness as part of that story. We're going to need to enhance customer engagement. It seems constant these days that we're talking about digital transformation.
Ben:Every few years, the tools change, the customer insights change, the customer journey changes along with, advances in technology, customer awareness, other competitors, and what have you. So keeping across those things are gonna be top of mind when launching, and trying to adapt and find the ideal, new digital strategy that's gonna help transform the business. Hand in hand with those, things is gonna be technology that helps that journey. Digital marketing is marketing. Every marketing campaign has got digital marketing in it.
Ben:Some more than others. And any offline campaign has to have a digital component, even if it's a website and an email, the most basic business now has a digital marketing function. So as we go through those initiatives, laying out what our strategy is, we're gonna need an appropriate tool, something that enables our interactions with our stakeholders, our business partners and clients to help us progressively quickly define that strategy and create blocks that we can work through. We need technologies that help do it, do that. If it's around growth, we're gonna need some tracking.
Ben:We're gonna need to be able to visualize what our results are. You know, we wanna have a platform that facilitates clear communication, facilitates, some collaboration, and that's becoming, table stakes these days with, applications and digital marketing interactions between businesses. We've got to easily be able to communicate, and maintain that line of sight for the business objective. Something that facilitates and enhances our discussion on maintaining those business goals will be crucial. The next key focus point is going to be, what's happening out there in the marketplace.
Ben:Have we got customer research? Do we know what our competitors are? Can we analyze that marketing landscape efficiently enough to make decisions? It doesn't always have to be too complicated. We might know our product.
Ben:We might know our product positioning. We might have a good idea of our brand positioning. Is that known throughout the business? Is that solidified enough to start talking about campaigns and how are our competitor insights, our target audience behaviors, going to help develop that digital digital strategy in a meaningful way? It's not, it's not always easy, but we can find the niche approach, the niche communications that speak to our brand and product, but also satisfy this immense, you know, body of work around customer expectations.
Ben:And then we that just helps create a strategy that's innovative and competitive when we look at, what technology customers are using, what technology we have to reach them, and, cross that with our customer expectations. You know, we wanna we wanna be able to have an approach where our market analysis and customer information, provides a clear way forward and, a pathway for us to differentiate ourselves in that competitive marketplace. So from a client and stakeholder perspective, for a new digital marketing strategy, there's gonna be a healthy acknowledgment of technology, even if it's technology that sets sets customer expectations, like one click buying off of some, retail website or, easy communication, easy customer support, or whatever it may be. A lot of those things are technology driven, and we're gonna need to know what, drives our ability to interact in that way with our customers. In the same way, our stakeholders are going to need technology solutions that allow them to, use technology to get ahead quicker.
Ben:I mean, we're not going to go into AI today, but a lot of the AI functionality is based around the ability to ramp up your marketing capability. Take some shortcuts that used to be time consuming, increase your price, ability to process through problems, customer support, whatever it may be. Technology is gonna start coming into all aspects of business and developing a digital strategy is no different. How what tools are available to communicate easily, to activate a strategy, clearly to visualize what you need to do. That's gonna be a growing customer expectation that you're not just flicking a spreadsheet to tell me what your business fundamentals are, something visual, collaborative that makes sense and can be referred back to and iterated against over time.
Ben:It's gonna be really important. And so the next logical step of that is, well, how does this technology, enable us to craft a digital strategy that's unique? Google AdWords is a technology platform on its own, but we need some ways of digesting that and approaching, our technology enablers so that we have them nuanced and working for us. A one size solution, one size fits all, no longer really works. Clients are sick of just paying for ads.
Ben:They get some awareness, but they can't really join the dots. They don't know where the value is that isn't working anymore. So there's a much higher expectation that a digital strategy will create insights, but it's also driven by insights and is iterative. So, many, many agencies, many marketing leaders are trying to refine their services to use the tools, but often you can't guarantee the result. And it's the iterative approach until you find that niche.
Ben:That's going to be really important, But those things all ladder together. Have we got the right market, information, the right customer information? Are we linking in with the business structure to make sure that digital strategy, is relevant linked in and resonates over and again. And are we using our technology at hand, whether it be CRM system, content management systems, planning tools? Are they all linking together and working hard for us step by step as we move forward?
Ben:And as we move forward, there is an expectation that modern digital strategies link in with CRM systems, email systems, SEO, content marketing. There's a higher pressure than ever to link those pieces together. And there's some great innovative solutions across the board that, piece those things, piece the aspects together, and you can really have a custom solution. It doesn't have to be one platform can be many different point solutions that create that niche, digital marketing focus, you know, for you, for your brand and, and products, that really is, is customized. It might be a combination of email and paid advertising, content marketing, SEO.
Ben:What is, gonna get the maximum impact might be reviewing your customer journey every year or 2 and finding there's new, opportunities. So, you know, the digital marketing framework can be consistent, but that framework has to allow for customization and flexibility, to manage and move with the business as you grow, as pressures change, as competitors change, new products come and go, and so on. So, again, the expectation from our clients and marketing partners is that we have an approach that adapts to that. Doesn't just pay lip service to it, but adapts and moves and and finds the the new, niche to help push into and when those things develop. I think social media is a fantastic example.
Ben:Used to be, the wild west, but now it is pay to play and the, the products are very mature. And as they become less and less, capable of an innovative innovative, point solution, and it's still necessary in some cases. What what other channels are going to pop up that are huge opportunity and great value for money, especially if you're looking to, minimize your marketing spend and maximize value? Part of that pressure is going to be of course, a a focus on measurable outcomes and KPIs. So you you've worked out the business, you've worked out the package, but how are you going to systematically find and develop those KPIs that make a lot of sense?
Ben:There there has to be over time the development of metrics, and a plan for that. And, again, often there's a nicely integrated technical solution that makes this easy. And, there will be an expectation once all the joys, of partnership has been realized, it comes down to results. Are we being more innovative? Are we getting, good value for money?
Ben:Can we report on what's there? Can we see how our campaigns and programs are going? What real time data do we have? So that's gonna be another focus of clients as the strategy is laid out and they're comfortable with it while the accountability is gonna come back and how we plan that out, approach it systematically, have something to refer back to that's an agreed KPI metric, obviously the tools become even more important than how do we control that anxiety if the results aren't what we expect? How do we, use those tools to our advantage to systematically check, how we're doing along the way and not leave it open ended, and create our own, relationship issues by not being able to, look at our campaigns.
Ben:We wanna be able to agree ahead of time what objectives and measurements, KPIs, and so forth are relevant to the business. What awareness, part of the funnel means in terms of metrics and KPIs. Are we meeting those targets? Are they good enough? We wanna have a good idea of when we pull one lever, what's going to happen.
Ben:And, part of meeting client expectations is being able to report back over time what was agreed, what the milestones are, and having an easy way to set those milestones, and reporting structures is gonna get us a long way to maintaining those client expectations. And as we branch out on the digital strategy, it's much easier to accept some areas that don't work as well as others when we have the data to show it. We can show our actions that were taken as agreed, and it doesn't work every time, and we're gonna be able to have a positive conversation around that. So your clients also, when everything's established, they're gonna wanna know that, the program is adaptable and flexible. Things are gonna have to change over time.
Ben:Time is money. We don't wanna have to recut the strategy from scratch every time we make a change. Wanna be able to have a nice approach that allows us to grow in one area and remove an activity if it doesn't work. At the same time, visibly, we need to agree on, you know, a small number of activities that can grow and scale and flexibility is a huge part of that. So, the the flip side is, well, how do we track those?
Ben:How do we decide, what we what we're going to focus on and decide what's what's the focus? But the expectation, you know, going into this digital strategy, framework, is that we're not starting from scratch every time. There will be an expectation once all the groundwork is laid and we have our KPIs, so we can act on those. Can we change our activities? Can we change our focus clearly?
Ben:Can we scale one area up when it's more effective and another down when it's less effective? Do we have a way of, judging content, testing, and so forth? And so as a customer, I'm gonna want to know that, the systems we're using are flexible, not just gonna cost more and more and more. They're more effective over time, or they're adaptable over time. If our needs change, we have a new campaign.
Ben:We have a new, new channel to go into. Can we leverage everything we did in the past? So we're not always feeling like we're starting from scratch. And I think one of the key pain points becomes cost of setup. So if we're set up well and we're flexible and we can iterate quickly, that saves us time and money and process.
Ben:And, you know, if we can demonstrate that we're gonna help meet client expectations much more easily. And again, it's all about the systematic structure. So if we set that up from the beginning, we have our business fundamentals understood. We have our KPIs in place. We know our channels.
Ben:We know that how we're going to measure is integrated with the business functions and processes. Upstream and downstream is easy to get our business partners to work through. It's easy to report so that we know how we're going to, communicate out. Those things are all going to help. And as a management tool, we wanna make sure we've got something that, helps us do that, that enhances that and choose tools that promote communication, promote reporting, promote ease of use, and don't add a burden, but improve a process, improve some time.
Ben:So we can be more strategic. We don't want to get bogged down, using our resources in just doing that, the block and tackle work repeatable, same and same and same again. We want to leverage what we have. And so part of, some of that success really needs to be, strong communication. And the most important part of communication is collaboration.
Ben:And, it's not difficult to achieve, but it gets harder and harder if our communication is poor. And of course the only way to bring all those things together is great communication, which marketing leaders are very well known for, of course, but it's the structure of those communications that matter. We having regular check ins. Do we take the time not to say, yeah, everything's going alright, but actually have the check-in go through the metrics that matter, maintain line of sight for the performance, have the open discussion points, make sure that we're reiterating and connecting them back to the business purpose and ensuring that, you know, the way we do that facilitates communication. Part of that communication is active collaboration, getting constant feedback and checking and sign off of any strategy elements, monitoring and updating of, KPI.
Ben:All those things are gonna make sure our client expectations are met and they might even be unknown. Nothing better than being led down the garden path. If you're a business professional and you've got someone who's gonna join those dots for you, you know, a lot of marketing concepts are business concepts and are well known, but the familiarity with it and getting that right really isn't always commonplace. So having a checklist and a game plan that, really helps facilitate that communication. And then, of course, the technology to do that simply that hasn't got its own technical burden to use, format, for sharing your plans, a format for staying aligned, something that can help you, move move back to a previous decision or keep a file repository for future reference is gonna be invaluable in that process.
Ben:We we all have a 100 things going on. We can't remember every conversation, but as long as our tools and techs technology facilitate the original intent of having that great collaborative spirit and open communication, we're gonna build a great partnership and manage client expectations. At the end of the day, money is one thing, but that spending that money valuably and wisely and with an agreed strategy is gonna, just keep bringing back benefits over time and, will be highly valued in a partnership. So I've taken you through my top seven focal points of, meeting client expectations, have a clear understanding of objectives, have some marketing analytics or market analytics that work, make sure that tailored strategy is there, integrate with other business processes, have measurable outcomes and KPIs that make sense and not overwhelming, but you can work on, a digital strategy that's scalable and flexible, especially for areas that are going well or the converse and have that strong, communication and collaborative spirit. That they're all gonna be the foundation.
Ben:You might also, depending on, the maturity of the business and where you're at, focus on user experience design for your, digital experiences, have a content strategy and a content framework that that's part of that, brand, voice. Have brand consistency. You're gonna need to look at data and compliance. It's very important these days. CICD mentality, continuous improvement, continuous development.
Ben:How do you map your features to what's wanted, from your customers? Do you understand your customer journey, the changes in your customer journey over time? Changes in your customer base might, might change some of your needs there. Is there enough training and support for your clients, for your for your wider stakeholders to ensure they can actually use the tools, and and get the most out of it? And is there an agreed process for when things don't go wrong?
Ben:How are you gonna handle communication breakdown, program failure, or, you know, anything along that where, maybe there's a social media reputation problem. How are you gonna manage those things? Have you got the right point person identified in the business for any of that, day to day management? How are you gonna address emerging technologies? I've always found it frustrating when there's too much of a focus on, oh, we gotta be in the next platform, then you have to manage that and maintain it for no good reason other than we wanna be there.
Ben:It's not a good business process. So how will you handle emerging technologies? And then cross channel marketing. Everyone loves to talk about omnichannel, but can you support it? Is it meaningful?
Ben:And there are gonna be some other things you can check off. Use this as a checklist to go through your own customer approach, meet, meet your customer's expectations, impress your stakeholders, drive home your great digital strategy. If you like this, subscribe for more, and we'll have more thoughts on customer, expectations, digital strategy soon. Until then, happy strategizing.
