Engagement marketing places the customer at the center of the picture.
According to Adobe, “Your most valuable asset isn’t your product – it’s your customers.” Engagement marketing incorporates personalization, one-on-one interactions, and a two-way relationship to create a marketing strategy the customer responds to positively.
According to Adobe, “Engagement marketing is the use of strategic, resourceful content to engage people and create meaningful interactions over time.” The end goal is to create a long-term, reciprocal relationship with the customer.
Benefits of Engagement Marketing
Engagement marketing more effectively reaches the customer.
Customers are bombarded by marketing campaigns daily when, in general, people don’t like being sold to.
Yet, customers still consume. Engagement marketing attempts to solve this problem by creating a strategy that customers appreciate and lean on.
Engagement marketing establishes greater trust.
Customers trust companies that value their input and treat them as individuals. Trust is crucial for setting your business up for long-term success.
Engagement marketing translates to a greater Return on Investment (ROI).
Think of how much money is wasted on marketing campaigns that fail to engage customers. Turning these sunk costs into interested customers will translate to more sales and profit.
Beginner’s Guide to Engagement Marketing
There is no ‘one strategy fits all’ for effective engagement marketing, and every company’s strategy will look different. However, there are some key aspects that would benefit any business.
Personalization.
Creating a personalized marketing approach is key—the more personalized, the better.
You want the customer to feel valued and known by your company. To achieve this, create buyer personas, which are fictional representations of your ideal customer based on your current customers. The more detailed you are, the better because this leads to greater personalization.
Include demographics, behavior, motivations, goals, etc. Once you have multiple buyer personas generated, you can target these groups through personalized advertising. In general, use the client’s name whenever possible.
Collect data.
The more you know about your clientele, the more personalized your marketing strategies are.
Plus, data can be used as a measurement for success, and it’ll help you make informed future decisions. Before collecting the data, make sure you have a solid idea of how you are measuring success.
Share stories.
Customers love inspiring stories.
They’re interesting and provide the human side of businesses to which customers can attach themselves. Perhaps share customer stories about how your business has helped them. Or share how your business is supporting important causes.
Brainstorm unique marketing campaigns.
Engagement marketing requires creativity to find new ways to engage your customers.
Perhaps try sending company calendars to existing and prospective customers. These are useful promotional products that will be used and seen all year, keeping your business at the forefront of their mind. Or try sending personalized cards. These will grab the customer’s attention and feel more personal than an email.
There are multiple other ways to practice effective engagement marketing, but hopefully, the above tips will provide a good foundation.
An example of effective engagement marketing: Spotify
Spotify is a popular music streaming platform.
Spotify’s extraordinary success can be partially attributed to its ability to personalize its customers’ musical experience. Spotify creates multiple daily mixes curated for the user based on their musical preferences. Spotify also suggests popular playlists similar to the user’s known preferences. All this introduces the listener to new music and keeps them coming back for more.
Perhaps one of Spotify’s most popular features is its Spotify Wrapped, where it analyzes the user’s listening preferences throughout the year and shares this data, which includes favorite songs and artists and preferred style of music. Spotify users look forward to their Spotify Wrapped and enjoy sharing it with their friends.
Engagement marketing is not a one size fits all option. This is what makes it so challenging to pull off, yet simultaneously effective when done well. Try it out to experience first-hand benefits.