Greetings, marketers and fellow enthusiasts of B2B adventures!
While on a family getaway, immersed in new sights and sounds, enveloped in the embrace of nature during a family in the comforting arms of the nature, I couldn't help but draw parallels to the landscapes we navigate in business. Today, albeit a day later than usual, welcome to Edition #9 of Vik’s M.I.X.
Join me as we delve into the transformative power of retention in our business journeys. From the enduring allure of familiar haunts to the strategic prowess of customer success marketing and the dynamic agility of buyer-led journeys, we uncover how cultivating lasting connections fuels not just loyalty, but exponential growth.
Almost every Sunday morning, my friends and I meet at the same restaurant for breakfast. It’s not that it serves the best breakfast in Pune, but there’s something about it that we all love.
Maybe it’s the same authentic taste, maybe the ambience, maybe the aroma, maybe we have created so many memories sitting there that it keeps attracting us over and over again.
And it’s not just me. I’ve seen dozens of groups of friends regularly visiting this place like we do.
This is one of the best, ideal situations any business can dream of.
Companies that enjoy the best customer retention are some of the most profitable companies in the world.
Customer acquisition without customer retention is a tough uphill battle and eventually any business is going to lose and give up.
This is why in edition #9 of Vik’s M.I.X I’m going to talk about tools and technologies that are taking customer retention to a whole other level.
Customer Success Marketing: The Retention Revolution
Winning the Buyer-Led Journey with Ardath Albee
5 Social Selling Strategies That Actually Work
Let’s roll in
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Customer Success Marketing: The Retention Revolution
If you're still pouring all your marketing mojo into acquiring new customers, you're missing the boat.
The real gold mine? It's in keeping the customers you've already got.
Welcome to the world of Customer Success Marketing – where retention is the new acquisition.
Think about it. In the subscription-based SaaS world we're living in, churn is the silent killer.
But here's the kicker – increasing customer retention rates by just 5% can boost profits by a whopping 25% to 95%. Now that's what I call a return on investment!
Take Gainsight, for example. They've built their entire brand around helping other companies nail customer success. And guess what? They use their own platform to keep their customers sticky.
Source: Gainsight
But it's not just about keeping customers – it's about turning them into raving fans. Intercom, the conversational relationship platform, takes this to heart. They've created a customer education program called Intercom Academy.
It's not just some boring user manual – it's a full-blown learning experience that helps customers become power users. The payoff? Higher product adoption rates and a 15% reduction in churn.
Now, let's talk about the ultimate goal of customer success marketing – expansion revenue.
Datadog, the monitoring and analytics platform, has this down to a science. They use in-app messaging and personalized email campaigns to nudge customers towards new features and upgraded plans.
The result? 75% of their new revenue comes from existing customers. Talk about farming your own backyard!
But here's the secret sauce – you've got to bake customer success into your entire organization. It's not just a department, it's a mindset.
Typeform, the online form builder, gets this. They've created a "customer success score" that's tracked across the entire company.
Everyone from product to marketing to sales is responsible for driving that score up. And boy, does it show – they've seen a significant increase in customer lifetime value since implementing this approach.
So, if you're still treating customer success as an afterthought, it's time to wake up and smell the retention coffee.
Remember, in the B2B world, the sale isn't the end – it's just the beginning. Your marketing doesn't stop when a customer signs on the dotted line. That's when the real magic begins.
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Winning the Buyer-Led Journey with Ardath Albee
If you think it's a straight shot from awareness to purchase, boy, are you in for a surprise!
Meet Ardath Albee, the queen of digital relevance. She's shaking things up with her "Buyer-Led Journey" concept. And let me tell you, it's a game-changer.
Today buyers are calling the shots. They're not playing by your rules or following your fancy sales funnel. Nope, they're zigzagging all over the place, gobbling up content like it's going out of style.
Take Gong, for example. These smart cookies embraced Albee's ideas and created a self-serve content hub. Instead of shoving prospects down a predetermined path, they let buyers roam free.
But wait, there's more! Albee's got this brilliant idea called "content threads." It's like a web of interconnected content that guides buyers on their crazy journey.
Vidyard nailed this concept. They wove together blog posts, videos, and case studies so seamlessly that buyers could jump in anywhere and still find their way. Pretty slick, huh?
Now, here's where it gets really juicy. Albee says we need to stop thinking in campaigns and start thinking in conversations. Ongoing, evolving chats that keep buyers engaged.
Drift took this to heart and ditched those old-school lead forms. Instead, they're using chatbots for real-time, personalized conversations. It's like having a virtual sales rep available 24/7!
But hold up, I know what you're thinking. "How do we measure success in this buyer-led chaos?" Great question! Albee's got an answer for that too. She says we need to focus on long-term engagement, not just quick wins.
DocuSign's doing just that. They're tracking how prospects interact with their content over months, not days. It's a long game, but it's paying off big time.
And get this - recent research from Forrester backs up Albee's ideas. They found that 68% of B2B buyers prefer to research independently online. And a whopping 62% say they can now develop selection criteria based solely on digital content. That's huge, folks!
So, here's my take: If you're still trying to force buyers down your funnel, you're fighting a losing battle. Let your buyers lead the way. Create a smorgasbord of interconnected content. Engage in ongoing conversations. And most importantly, be patient.
Remember, in this new world, the buyer's journey isn't a sprint - it's a marathon. And if you play your cards right, you might just find yourself at the finish line with more deals than ever before.
So, what are you waiting for? It's time to ditch that linear thinking and jump into the wonderful, wacky world of buyer-led journeys. Trust me, your pipeline will thank you!
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5 Social Selling Strategies That Actually Work
For most people, social selling is just about spamming their LinkedIn connections with product pitches or just posting and ghosting or treating their accounts like a static billboard.
We're about to dive into five killer strategies that'll turn your social game from snoozeville to sales central. Ready? Let's roll!
Become a Thought Leader, Not a Pitch Machine.
Look, nobody wants to be sold to 24/7. So ditch the constant sales talk and start dropping knowledge bombs instead. Take Henry Schuck, Zoominfo's big cheese. He's always sharing juicy tidbits about data-driven sales on LinkedIn. The result? A whopping 150,000+ followers hanging on his every word. Now that's influence!
Source: PostBeyond
Engage, Don't Just Broadcast - Social media isn't your personal megaphone. It's a party, and you've gotta mingle! Hootsuite's social team gets this. They're not just posting and ghosting.
Nope, they're in the trenches, chatting it up with their audience, jumping into convos, even hosting Twitter chats. And guess what? They've built a massive community of 8 million followers. Talk about social butterfly goals!
Employee Advocacy - Your team isn't just there to push papers. They're your social media army! Sprout Social figured this out and created an employee advocacy program. They armed their folks with shareable content and social media know-how. The payoff? A mind-blowing boost in social reach and double the website traffic. Now that's what I call teamwork!
Enter Social Listening – Mention, those clever cookies, use their own tool to eavesdrop on social convos about pain points their product solves. Then, they swoop in with helpful advice - not sales pitches. This ninja move landed them big fish like Microsoft and Toyota. Cha-ching!
Create Value-Packed Content - Look, if your content is putting people to sleep, you're doing it wrong. Take a page from Ahrefs' book. They're pumping out meaty YouTube videos on SEO strategies that have people coming back for seconds. The result? Over 300,000 subscribers and leads pouring in. Now that's content that converts!
But don't just take my word for it. Research backs this up too. A recent study by LinkedIn found that 78% of social sellers outsell peers who don't use social media.
And get this - companies with consistent social selling processes are 40% more likely to hit revenue goals. Those are some numbers you can't ignore!
So, here's my two cents: Stop treating social media like a billboard and start treating it like a cocktail party. M.I.X, mingle, share stories, and for Pete's sake, be interesting! Remember, people buy from people, not faceless corporations.
Ready to kickoff your social selling game? Start with one of these strategies today. Trust me, your sales pipeline (and your social media manager) will thank you. Now go forth and socialize, you savvy marketers!
And there you have it, folks! Another edition #9 of Vik's M.I.X in the books. If you found these insights valuable, don't keep them to yourself! Hit that like button, share this newsletter with your network, and drop a comment to let me know what you want to see in the next edition.
Until then, keep mixing it up in the wild world of B2B marketing!
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