THINKing

2009 - Back To Basics

Posted: 22 Dec 2008 08:45 AM CST

Prediction: In 2009, marketers will get back to basics and will suddenly fall in love with their current customers again.

I’ve been saying it for years, marketers want the thrill of new business and spend way more money on it than they do on retaining the business they have. But every time there is a hiccup in the economy, you customers start to be a marketers new BFF. It’s back to customer retention in the new year.

Any marketer worth his salt has never taken his eye off his good customers in the first place. Marketers who have ensured that their brands have maintained their relevance and have not resorted to promotional activities that devalue the brand will weather the storm fine.

It’s not a soft economy that is affecting many brands, it is soft marketers.

Email, the best customer retention tool, will make a comeback in 2009. So, content makreters, brush off your content, retool it for email and serve it up. Restore those connections with current customers and they might just introduce their friends to you.