Why Customer Centricity Should Be at the Heart of Your Marketing Strategy

Why Customer Centricity Should Be at the Heart of Your Marketing Strategy

The Gist

  • Revenue first. Prioritize existing customers to boost sales and loyalty.
  • Customer voice matters. CMOs must advocate for customers in C-suite decisions.
  • Insight over assumption. Utilize customer feedback for genuine engagement.

Recently on CMSWire, the editorial calendar slotted writers to write about customer-centric organizations. As a contributing community member and new CMSWire Advisory Board member, my task is to explore “CMO-ey things.”

So, what does customer-centric mean for CMOs and marketing leaders in general?

Being Customer-Centric: ART for Customers

If you’ve read my stuff before, you may have come across my view that the goal of B2B marketing is to create ART: Awareness, Revenue and Trust. A great relationship between marketing and the customers, and being customer-centric can positively impact all of these.

Awareness and Trust

Whether you frame the challenge of getting time with a buyer as a deterioration of attention spans, that there are just so many other things that are competing for their attention, or that the buyer is just awash with vendor content, today, we clearly have a challenge in cutting through.

The reward for marketing to work in a customer-centric business or for driving this approach is that customer sourced content, like case studies and reviews, is worth its weight in gold in attracting that valuable, sparse buyer attention.

This image shows a close-up of a golden balance scale with nuggets of gold in the weighing pan, illuminated by warm, glowing lights. The surrounding environment is slightly blurred, with a hint of more golden hues and circular bokeh effects in the background. This visual metaphor captures the value and weight of insights derived from a customer-centric approach, emphasizing what customer-centric means for CMOs in their role of balancing and evaluating customer needs against business strategies.
The reward for marketing to work in a customer-centric business or for driving this approach is that customer sourced content, like case studies and reviews, is worth its weight in gold in attracting that valuable, sparse buyer attention.BillionPhotos.com on Adobe Stock Images

Why? Because this content builds trust. Your buyer sees people like them risking their own professional reputation by going public on their love for your product, the ultimate in social proof.

In their 2024 Software Buying Behavior Survey, Gartner found that 98% of software buyers say that “product recognition based on ratings or user reviews influence their purchase decision” — and it’s clear that the voice of your customer builds a huge amount of trust.

Getting case studies and testimonials takes a lot of effort and is almost impossible if you (in marketing) are the first person to say hello to them since they bought the software. This needs to be a motion set in place in sales and service, an element of being customer-centric as a business.

Whether it’s public testimonials, case studies, user-generated content, conference speakers, or more private conversations like win/loss analysis and product and messaging feedback, customers are a key marketing resource. They provide not just top-quality marketing material but also insight that helps us create and optimize the next campaign.

Related Article: How Customer Reviews Can Make or Break Your Business

Unlocking Customer Insights: The Role of Product Marketing in B2B

Aside from building awareness, generating revenue, and fostering trust with buyers, a crucial role of marketing should be to provide customer insights. This responsibility often falls to product marketing in B2B environments, involving understanding customer personas and needs to inform product teams as well as sales and marketing strategies.

Marketing, particularly the CMO, has the opportunity to play a deeper role as well. They can serve as the customer’s voice and advocate at the C-suite table, shaping business strategy. This is an essential senior role when businesses get serious about being customer-centric.

Of course, discussing customer insights and their guidance requires a note of caution. When adopting this approach, you may hear senior colleagues refer to Henry Ford’s claim that customers would have asked for a “faster horse” instead of a car.

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