B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®

B2B Marketing views, news and interviews.

Contact Us

MENUMENU
  • Services
    • Influencer
      • Start Your B2B Influencer Pilot
    • Content
    • Search
  • Insights
    • Blog
    • News
    • Resources
  • Our Work
    • B2B Technology
    • IT Service Management
    • Project Management Software
    • Social Networks
    • Supply Chain
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Careers
  • Connect

Introduction: 6 Steps to Customer Life Cycle Optimization with Content

Lee Odden
Lee Odden
Content Marketing, Online Marketing

customer lifecycle optimizationAs an active observer and participant in the digital marketing world, I see a spectrum of attitudes and perspectives towards attracting and engaging customers online. There are a growing number of great examples and case studies within the world of content marketing in particular, but it’s really only a fraction of the digital marketing spend overall. Despite well promoted studies, statistics, trends and tactics, many companies don’t come close to realizing their potential when it comes to customer acquisition and community building online.

Why do companies continue to invest in content creation without specifying its purpose, the intended audience or outcome? Why do so many business marketers continue to think their existing distribution channels are all that’s needed to gain the full value of exposure to the content they’re publishing?

Limited resources, time and organizational constraints are common excuses. In fact, 69% of companies responding to our Integrated Online Marketing Survey said “Lack of Resources” was the top reason for not integrating digital marketing tactics like content marketing, SEO, social media, email, blogging and online PR.  I wouldn’t be surprised to find that many of the companies that cite lack of resources or internal expertise, also pour substantial budget into familiar, poorly measured traditional marketing channels like TV, print and offline publicity.

Customer segmentation and persona driven content marketing, like SEO, is an ongoing effort requiring participation, refinement and adaptability.  Knowing the customer journey across the sales cycle is a living map on how to use optimized content for awareness, interest, consideration, purchase, retention and advocacy. I think there’s a tremendous opportunity for companies that are just getting started in a meaningful way with content marketing and social media to look at their marketing mix in a more holistic way.  Integration can facilitate consistent customer experience across marketing channels but I believe it can also serve as a force multiplier for a company’s overall digital marketing efforts.

This is an introduction to a 6 part series of posts that I’ll be writing over the next few weeks on how to better attract and engage with prospects, customers and any other audience your content is intended to reach, online.

There are a number of models that represent buying and sales cycles, but as we’ve pointed out here in the past and in conjunction with reports I’ve collaborated with Forrester Research on (Make the Switch to the Customer Life Cycle and Four Steps to Tackle the Shift to the Customer Life Cycle) the role of brand and consumer relationship extend outside the buying cycle. Companies must adapt beyond optimizing their online marketing for linear sales relationships and expand those activities to the full customer life cycle relationship to retain and to inspire advocacy.

Each of the 6 steps will be modeled after the following format:

  • Current situation
  • Approach to optimization
  • Practical example
  • Next Steps in the cycle

Be sure to watch for the next posts in this optimization series covering each stage in the customer lifecycle model:

  • Awareness
  • Interest
  • Consideration
  • Purchase
  • Retention
  • Advocacy

By sharing a structured approach to different situations for each phase, I hope readers will start to connect the dots with how different content-based marketing tactics can be integrated and optimized for better customer experience, more sales, shorter sales cycles, greater revenue and better customer retention.

As always, if you want a deep dive into an “Optimized” approach to content marketing, be sure to pick up a copy of the book Optimize 🙂

About Lee Odden

@LeeOdden is the CEO of TopRank Marketing and editor of TopRank's B2B Marketing Blog. Cited for his expertise by The Economist, Forbes and the Wall Street Journal, he's the author of the book Optimize and presents internationally on B2B marketing topics including content, search, social media and influencer marketing. When not at conferences, consulting, or working with his talented team, he's likely running, traveling or cooking up something new.

Comments

  1. Brady Landry says

    July 26, 2012 at 4:09 pm

    If some companies (like Circuit City) followed this outline, they may not have suffered from bankruptcy. Planning ahead and strategizing each and every move is essential business practices, but have often fallen to the wayside. Many times companies look to optimize profits and forget about the importance the customers play in the business cycle.

LET’S GET SOCIAL

RSS Feed Twitter Facebook LinkedIn 2022 B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report Elevate B2B Marketing Podcast

Learn about:

SEE TOPRANK MARKETING SPEAK

How to Accelerate B2B Marketing Results by Working With Influencers

SUBSCRIBE        

TOPRANK BLOGGING TEAM

TopRank Marketing Blogging Team

 

Optimize

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

SEO Blogs

MARKETING BLOG RECOGNITION

CMI

Copyright © 2023 · TopRank Marketing

Return to top of page

We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies and revised Privacy Policy.