How can a company increase its value with digital marketing? What things should they pay attention on? Digital marketing is changing all the time so it’s important to keep up with the time and trends.
This Google’s video taught me the basics of digital marketing, marketing funnel and how it’s connected to the customer journey. I find it very relevant to this study unit since it is about customer experience.
There were more than 200 000 travel agency businesses in the World at the beginning of 2023. Well managed marketing is the key to stand out. You need to find what are your customers needs. What are the specific problems your current or future customers want to solve.
Customer journey map
I have never worked with the marketing, so this video gave me a new perspective to the subject. I want to learn and understand better what the steps and touchpoints during the journey are and how to reach them by the business. I already know the customer journey side by being the customer. The fact is that if the journey is not easy and customized for me, and it doesn’t satisfy my needs, I will probably take my money elsewhere. The company is not getting me as their loyal customer or even one-time buyer.
Companies can make a customer journey map which is a visualized map of the purchasing process and journey. It can start with the searching part, and it might not end at all even though the person has bought from the company several times and has become a loyal customer. Companies can make several different maps for different types of customers.
I think these journey maps can definitely help the companies to understand their customers better. With the maps they can anticipate better what might happen next and what they should do to keep the customer happy.
Companies want to have loyal customers. They are the ones who give good recommendations and bring money and possibility new customers to the company. When I’m happy with the company and its service, I do tell my friends about it.
Marketing funnel
As there are different types of customer journey maps, there are also different kinds of marketing funnels. I found the funnel helpful for me to understand marketing better.
The basic funnel has 4 stages:
- Awareness – the part of the marketing where the customers find out about the company. The more people find you the better.
- Consideration – the part where the customers start to think if they should buy from you.
- Conversion – the part when a person becomes your customer.
- Loyalty – the part when your customer buys again from you and become a long-term customer.
Before the customership
On the video they focused a lot of the awareness and consideration. I understand it. Those are the parts before the person is your customer. It’s the part when company try to wind the customer on their side. How could you ever get customers if no one knows you exist?
According to the video, the good way to raise the awareness is paid ads on social media, websites, and emails. Yes, people will know your existence but might not like it. For me example, I hate those videos and ads popping up everywhere, especially if I’m not their target audience. It’s important to think careful what kind of ads you want to send and to whom.
On my opinion consideration is the most important part of marketing. This is where the company stands out. This is when people either choose you or someone else to buy from.
During the customership
Conversion and loyalty are the parts after the person is or becomes as a customer. I want the purchasing to be easy and safe. I want to know what I’m about to buy. How do I get the product. What do I do if I want to return it. The easier the purchasing process is for me the more likely I’ll buy from the same company again and become a loyal customer.
To get loyal customers, companies can send reminders or newsletters to their customers or give some offers or discounts for next purchase. I have noticed that the offers are often valid only for a week or two. If I have just bought something from that place, I’m not going to buy again immediately. For the companies it would be better to concentrate on the positive experiences, which makes it more likely the customer will return.
Conclusion
The funnel is from the position of the business when the map considers the journey from the customer’s perspective. I think to be able to market your company well, you need to understand both sides of it.
Digital marketing is a huge process, and it takes time and money. Give it some time. Find you audience.
That you are able to get loyal customers and market your business successfully, you need to understand the customer journey. You can even make different kinds of customer journey maps for different types of customers.
It would be interesting to try marketing and especially digital marketing sometimes. Find out how hard it actually is to reach the right audience and make them interested in the company. And finally buy my products.
Are you a loyal customer of some company?
Source:
Google Career Certificates. 2022. The Customer Journey & the Marketing Funnel | Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce Certificate.
Statista 2024. Key data on the travel agency industry worldwide as of January 2023
Featured image: Photo on Flickr
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