Marketing Automation is often associated solely with the benefits it can bring in managing relationships with one’s target audience-whether a B2B lead or a B2C customer-for the purpose of direct sales. In this article we will take as an example the FMCG market, a sector in which an ecommerce typically does not exist or has truly marginal sales, to demonstrate how automation and personalization of the user experience can be a key tool for generating value from one’s customer base.
“Why should I invest in managing the relationship with my customers when the distribution of my products is mediated anyway and I can’t benefit directly?”
The risk evidently is to continue to sell millions of pieces a year of one’s products without being able to create a direct relationship and dialogue with one’s consumers, that is, without learning anything about how they relate to our brand.This was quite normal in the past because systems capable of aggregating data making them actionable were really within the reach of very few companies. Fortunately, today, thanks to innovative Marketing Personalization solutions, it is possible to collect and use this data allowing us to analyze the real behaviors of our consumers, relating to them in a personalized and automatic way.
Some examples
Let’s look at how, two of the world’s largest FMCG companies invested heavily in a strategy that would enable them to collect data, analyze and action it, and create a relationship with their consumers that went beyond selling the individual product on the shelf.
Henkel | Donnad Trusted Friend
Unilever | Between Us
These two portals, make it clear how much content is a central asset of this type of strategy. Content that must be designed for different stages of the Customer Journey and that is often co-created with its consumers, thus increasing their engagement. Both portals also fulfill another fundamental function, which we will explore in a later article, namely that of becoming a recruitment center for their brand ambassadors.The website then takes on a completely different role and meaning, allowing us to build personalized experiences for our customers and engage them with product tests, articles, contests etc.
How to Leverage Marketing Automation
To carry out this kind of work, it is crucial to be able to equip ourselves with tools that allow us to:
- Recognize and segment our consumers so that we understand which segments are potentially the most relevant to us
- Personalize their browsing and reengagement experiences across differentchannels so as to create an ongoing visibility and relationship
- Collect and normalize consumer data from a variety of online and offline sources with the goal of having a unified view of the target audience: data from contests, loyalty programs, customer service, point-of-sale events, promoters, etc.
- Communicating with our consumers in a personalized but automated way , helping them make the most of our products, giving them even unexpected advice that creates a relationship that goes beyond the product and brings them value.
All of this will allow us to make the most of the productive effort, of content and activity, that we most likely already do today and that engages editorial offices and communication offices in a major way without the output of this work being measurable or having a specific purpose.
Directing these efforts to relationship building with our consumers will enable us to develop more effective strategies and be able to significantly increase the return on investment of our marketing activities.
These can no longer be solely to building brand awareness but must play a role in creating a consumer’sexperience, no matter what stage of the lifecycle they are in.If you want to find out how all this can help make your marketing campaigns more effective, don’t miss our next article on how Marketing Automation can make your marketing campaigns more effective.
