Marketers think they’ve seen it all, but they are usually blind to what customers really need.
(Note: I addressed this topic recently in a virtual session for GroupHigh, excellent influencer identification software that we use at Convince & Convert. GroupHigh also writes fantastic influencer marketing case studies right here on this blog).Slides below.
More than ever before, marketers have access to data. Big data. Small data. Data from software, reports, spreadsheets, APIs, agencies, consultants and more. But data isn’t enough, and it’s not the answer.
Marketers are surrounded by data, but starved for insights.
As a marketer it is up to you to not just rely on data, but to move past it to find meaningful insights into what your customers REALLY need. And that requires doing something that you probably don’t do – but that marketers used to do routinely; have actual conversations with customers.
Marketers don’t really know what customers want because they typically aren’t interacting with customers directly. Marketers are too busy doing marketing and mastering software to actually have face-to-face customer interactions. These groups in your company understand customer needs:
Sales
&
Customer Service
(not marketing)
Ignorance of customer needs is not excuse for marketing that isn’t useful or effective. Are you sitting in on your sales team’s meetings? Are you interviewing customers monthly? Are you reviewing weekly summaries of customer service inquiries and doing keyword analysis of them?
What are you doing to fix your marketing blind spot?
