Why it’s time to reposition leads (aka people) at the center of your marketing universe.
If I hear one more word about funnels, I’m going to puke.
These were my exact thoughts as I sat listening to the latest big-name startup whisperer at a recent marketing conference.
What happened here, friends? When did we all become so terribly…predictable?
Used to be marketers were the innovators. We spent days–and plenty of late nights–making our products and stories stand out. If a software engineer developed a new app to deliver toothpicks on-demand, or help confused shoppers pick between five brands of equally overpriced designer blue jeans, we could help them find a market for it. Because, amazingly, there almost always was one.
It was fun, and crazy and insanely frantic–because we had to do it all before somebody with a bigger brain, and possibly a better idea (gasp), beat us to the punch. This is where big ideas like content marketing and native advertising came from. We branded ourselves storytellers–and we got good at it.
But something happened.
We stopped innovating. Somewhere along the line, we became obsessed with process. We dropped our customers into a funnel; engagement became interest; interest became opportunity; opportunity became a lead, then a marketing qualified lead, then a sales qualified lead, then a sale. We put our customers in one end, turned the crank, and popped them out, packaged and sold on the other, like tidy little Jimmy Dean sausage links.
Don’t misunderstand: Good marketing is useless absent sound business metrics (I’ll write more about that in my next post). World-changing mission statements aside, every company still needs to make money. That’s the name of the game–and research shows that few tactics can deliver better, faster than marketing automation. So why is it getting harder to earn customers–and to keep them coming back?
Simple. People, turns out, don’t care for being funneled.
Marketing teams have gotten into the manufacturing business, cranking out leads instead of connecting with humans. It’s why so many startup websites and newsletters and case studies and [insert your content of choice here] look and feel exactly the same. This paint-by-numbers approach is a great way to take your startup’s marketing from 0-60, especially if you’re a young player in a relatively open market. But it’s not what makes you stand out. And it’s not what’s going to help you stick around when the competition comes for your head.
Don’t churn and burn
Say you’re a marketer at a growing software company. The lion’s share of your early customers are going to sign contracts–usually for one, two or, if you’re really lucky, three years. If you’ve got product-market fit and can generate buzz, signing enough clients to get you through the first year or two, assuming you’re in a decent cash position or have funding lined up, should be relatively easy.
The real challenge comes later, at renewal time. Failure to renew leads to churn. Few things are more deadly to young companies or products than high churn. There’s a reason most startup founders pound the table about renewal rates (usually in the neighborhood 87 percent to 95 percent). Renewal customers cost less to acquire than new customers and make it possible to grow your business on the shoulders of its previous success. Long-term customers are also incredibly loyal–and tend to be great word-of-mouth advocates for big-game prospects.
For all its merits as a startup and prospecting tool, the traditional marketing funnel simply does not prioritize long-term customer engagement. It goes like this: Awareness->Engagement->Discovery->Purchase->Retention, with retention appearing at the bottom, almost an afterthought.
That’s not what retention is–and it’s certainly not how customers view the relationships they build with brands. Without getting too philosophical, machines are process-driven; people are relationship-driven. Clients want and need constant nurturing–and continuous engagement. In short, life’s a cycle, not a funnel.
The back of the napkin
What if, instead of thinking of customers as tidy little sausage links, in one end and out the other, we repositioned them at the center of our universe? What if we rewired our MBA brains and rewrote our textbooks and slide decks to remind us that customers are people, and that we need to engage them that way? Would it help us grow our business?
I don’t know if you can read my handwriting. But there’s an idea here. And it’s worth talking about–if only to keep us all from getting sick at the sight of another lame marketing funnel.
Have you been thinking differently about how to market or position your company for the long haul? ContentBetter is offering free 20-minute strategy sessions. Book yours now, at www.contentbetter.com.
