Jul
8

Why relevance-based thinking is good for the bottom-line of your business and your customers

Author: J-P De Clerck

The word ‘relevance’ is omnipresent in marketing literature these days. Of course, it’s a term that can be explained in many ways. I myself use it mostly in the context of ‘valuable’ for the people with which you, as a marketer, interact. Think, for example, of the relevance of the content on your blog for your target group, the relevance of the information in your e-mails, or the relevance of the information that you spread through all kinds of social media.

 
But relevance is more than that. It’s doesn’t merely have to do with the value of your content and the interaction with your customers. It also deals with the value that you create for your company, the segmentation of your target groups, and especially with the correct interactions that you have with your clients and prospects in all possible cross-channel moments of contact. 
 
Relevant interactions as well as providing valuable information and help, will in time lead to word-of-mouth and an increase in interesting clients and prospects. For instance, a relevant white paper provides data and connections with people that are relevant for your business.
 
Sure, many of the aspects I just talked about are merely parts of a broader context. Still, relevance-based thinking is solid advice for anyone, because of one simple reason.
 
Thinking relevance is thinking customer and value
 
Whoever wonders with every marketing action (moments of contact, e-mails, production of content, CRM-actions, whatever) just how relevant this particular action is for the people who he hopes to offer something valuable, is per definition working in a customer- and results-based way.
 
Relevance should be focused on making every single moment of contact between prospects and clients and the company valuable, optimizing the customer experience, making a more personal interaction possible, and on continuously improving your efforts.
 
You do so by listening to all channels that people use and through all tools with which you can measure data on your customers’ needs and wishes, analyze, and combine data into useful information.
 
To be relevant, look at all contacts with your customers and prospects
 
In order to be relevant for customers, a marketing- and communication strategy is per definition a cross-channel and cross-divisional one.
 
It monitors the customer behavior, preferably in real-time, and starts eliminating all unnecessary and irrelevant information and moments of contact.
 
When a seller mails a customer or approaches him for a special action, then this interaction is irrelevant if this particular customer is involved in an ongoing debate with the after sales division about previously bought, now broken products.
 
If someone contacts the information service, customer service, or sales for more information about a certain service or product, it’s interesting to know if this person has, for example, already downloaded a paper about the service or product.
 
Not only does it make the moment of contact more personal – and therefore more relevant –, it also ensures that you don’t have to explain all kinds of things that he or she might already know off.
 
The more data, tools, content, and channels you combine in order to make the interaction with clients and prospects more personal and informed, the more relevant your marketing will become, no matter what the medium is.
 
A moment of contact becomes relevant once it leads to a positive, efficient, and quick experience, at the right moment, through the right channel, and with the right knowledge and information.
 
The relevance and value for your business is a direct effect of this.
 
The author is an interactive marketing consultant and experienced blogger. You can connect with him via Twitter.
 
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