TRANSFORM YOUR CUSTOMER MARKETING Improve engagement, reach, and advocacy with online community 1 INTRODUCTION Customer marketers have a tough job. They’re tasked with keeping customers interested after the initial sales push, opening the door for sales to convince customers to buy more from the company, and finding customers who are happy enough to advocate for the organization. All of this requires you to be in tune with your customers' needs, which is a monumental task. The organizations who win at engagement make those customers feel like next-door neighbors. How can you reach the right customers when they're spread out across devices, interests, and locations? CUSTOMER MARKETERS, MEET ONLINE COMMUNITIES When so much of the world is digital, it should be easy to reach customers, and online community software makes that a reality. You can bring your customers together, all in one place online, where they can talk and exchange ideas. Engagement is its natural outcome. And even more than that, you can use online community to help, curate, and create. TRANSFORM YOUR CUSTOMER MARKETING ©HIGHER LOGIC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2 HOW CAN AN ONLINE COMMUNITY TRANSFORM THE CUSTOMER MARKETER'S ROLE? Transformation is a big concept, but online communities can deliver. They’re a growing channel for customer marketing teams because they can transform your day-to-day, no matter the size of your team. With an online community, customer marketers have a comprehensive platform to engage customers, with multiple tools at their disposal, such as: » Automation rules to encourage participation » User-generated content promoting upsell opportunities » Gamification to pique interest and keep interactions both fun and organic Customer marketers can use a myriad of online community tools to get customers more engaged, reach customers for upsell opportunities, and scale advocacy programs. TRANSFORM YOUR CUSTOMER MARKETING ©HIGHER LOGIC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 3 1 GET YOUR CUSTOMERS MORE ENGAGED SO HOW DO WE GET “ENGAGEMENT”? THE MAIN POINT: ONLINE COMMUNITY GIVES The foundation of customer engagement is great relationships with CUSTOMERS A PARTICIPATORY WAY TO FIND customers. The methods you use to create relationships are entwined EXCLUSIVE SUPPORT AND RESOURCES. in a few departments, including yours (customer marketing), customer service, and customer success. Customers might be engaging by leaving complaints on your Twitter account, which can be useful to Engaged customers should be your team’s goal. These customers are spot and resolve issues, but it's not an ideal way to communicate with the ones that will help you achieve marketing goals year over year. If your customers on a personal level. You want a place where meaningful you look around on the web for ‘customer engagement,’ you’ll find dialogue can happen between your brand and your customer base. advice about “how to better engage your customers” or “strategies you absolutely have to try.” People are talking about engagement When customers join your online community, they get access to an because it’s both very difficult and very rewarding. Engaged customers exclusive portal you created to help them be successful, which is a great are more likely to increase spending, recommend your products or start toward building a positive relationship. services to your peers, or even participate in a case study for you. Instead of emailing faceless customers, interact with customers in real time, building meaningful relationships with them as you provide them with resources they need to succeed. And it’s not just you+customer relationships that grow. Customer+customer relationships grow as well, especially with access to a platform that makes it simple to start discussions and learn from one another. TRANSFORM YOUR CUSTOMER MARKETING ©HIGHER LOGIC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 4 THE NITTY-GRITTY SHARE RESOURCES Employ these three tactics to engage customers. The opportunities you have in an online community to provide resources to customers are almost endless. Compiling your resources Provide real value to your customers by helping them be in this online space makes the process of finding answers faster and successful with your product or service. They’ve invested in your easier for customers. stuff, so help them to use it well! HERE ARE A FEW WAYS YOU CAN DO THIS: When you use an online community, there are a few things you can do to encourage customer success through engagement. File Libraries: One of the simplest things to do is to create a file library with useful documents that customers request often, including resources you wouldn’t want to share on your public website. Webinars: Create webinars exclusively for customers that inform them about a complicated feature of your product, give them insight into your shared field, or promote an additional product they could purchase. A customer who is fully engaged Events: Use your community to promote events where customers can get to know your staff, learn more about your industry or represents an average 23% product, or network with each other. premium in terms of share of wallet, profitability, revenue, and Knowledge Base: You probably develop educational resources relationship growth compared with for your product – why not develop a space where customers can the average customer. access trainings and product information at their own leisure? (Source: Gallup, 2014) Courses: Use a learning management system integration in your community to offer trainings or courses to your customers. Classes could range from training on how to be a community ambassador to extra education in your field. TRANSFORM YOUR CUSTOMER MARKETING ©HIGHER LOGIC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 5 ENCOURAGE ACCESS TO PEERS ENCOURAGE STAFF PARTICIPATION Communities are a natural place for customers to connect with Employees from all sectors at your company should be active in your likeminded people. You should expect to see discussions ranging online community. Customers get to see the human face of your from questions about best practices for using your product, organization when they interact with your employees – you’re doing networking, to just small talk. The community you set up for a little person-to-person marketing, especially if your staff is helpful them is likely to become more than just a place to discuss your and respectful. A company where customers can rub shoulders with product, and be a place where they’ll find friends and make your staff is going to look a lot more collaborative than a company valuable professional connections. where customers’ only link to you is a “contact us” page. This direct channel to your staff will lead customers to be more successful, and Whether your department or another will own the community, help them feel connected. make sure someone is responsible for community management. It’s likely customers will strike up discussions on their own, but if discussion wanes, you’ll need someone to spark conversation. Any good music suggestions, anyone? I've been struggling to find new, focus-enhancing music to get me through the day. I listen to podcasts on my commute, but I get distracted if I try to listen while working. All suggestions are welcome! ------------------ Sara Sara Singleton Singleton Online Community Manager Something I've been getting into recently is music with a deep base beat (I guess it's more techno-y stuff). I think that's actually more helpful for focusing than not listening to anything, oddly enough. Check out my focus playlist, lmk what you think! Jake Barton TRANSFORM YOUR CUSTOMER MARKETING ©HIGHER LOGIC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 6 EXPAND YOUR 2 CUSTOMER MARKETING REACH THE NITTY-GRITTY THE MAIN POINT: BRING YOUR CUSTOMERS TO YOU Make use of your customers’ proximity with these two ways WITH ONLINE COMMUNITY. to increase upsell. Since you have a way to easily connect with customers, use the How do you currently communicate with your customers? Maybe you platform to promote upsell campaigns. Your methods don’t have to be send out a weekly newsletter, see them at your tradeshow booth, or do over-the-top (and probably shouldn’t be): There are natural ways to a webinar once in a while. Whatever methods you use to connect with create face time for your additional products or services. For example, them, you probably wish there was a way to make sure they’re really you can rely on user-generated content and inbound marketing hearing you. Your communication is key to increasing their business methods to increase interest in any additional purchases available to with you. customers. With an online community, you have direct access to your customer base. This is the perfect set-up for customer marketers. TRANSFORM YOUR CUSTOMER MARKETING ©HIGHER LOGIC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 7 CREATE OPPORTUNITIES FOR USERS TO HEAR ABOUT UPSELL OPPORTUNITIES ENCOURAGE USER-GENERATED CONTENT USE RESOURCES STRATEGICALLY TO PROMOTE UPSELL CAMPAIGNS Create communities within your online community specifically to Although you’ll want most of your resources to directly support promote add-on products and influence purchasing decisions. User- customer success, you can weave in resources about additional generated content can work powerfully in your favor, as customers products or services you’ve got available. Fit these into your customer discuss the pros and cons of additional opportunities, the value success framework by showing how they’ve increased other customers’ they’ve found, or ways they’re leveraging a product. Customers success or productivity. The webinars or events you create can appreciate hearing straight from other users who’ve experienced generate interest in additional products across the community. the product or service already, knowing they’re not getting a sales Try featuring current customers who’ve found success in these webinars. pitch. Even if they hear cons, they’ll be informed about what they’re They’ll add to your user-generated content stash and make your case purchasing.