Best Practice: CUSTOMER ADVOCACY


THE SALE IS ONLY THE BEGINNING


that initial sale and creating a loyal customer. Te best way to build your business is not with the latest sales techniques or brilliant marketing— though these are important. Nothing succeeds like word-of-mouth advertising, and the creation of delighted customers is all about what happens aſter the sale.


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Enter the Customer Hourglass. Te hourglass was developed by the Altimeter Group, a marketing strategy firm in Redwood City, CA. Looking at the hourglass, you can see that the traditional product sales pyramid— Awareness, Consideration, and Intent leading to purchase—forms the top portion of the hourglass. It’s what’s under the purchase line that’s different and particularly relevant to those of us who sell products and services that are similar to those offered by competitors.


THE “NEW” GROWTH ENGINE


Social marketing has laid claim to the area south of the sale. In large measure, social marketing is simply a new approach to a long-held marketing principle—take care of your customers, and they will take care of you. Your point of differentiation when you’re operating in a world of “me too” products is the customer experience you create.


Te use of social networks is simply the new face of relationship marketing, something VistaComm has been practicing for years. Consumer-focused companies are using social marketing to address customer pain points and provide the resources and support that those who make a first-time purchase—as well as repeat buyers—are looking for.


Following the hourglass, great support leads to customer loyalty. A social presence for your business provides a forum in which those delighted customers you’ve created can share their happiness with the rest of the world. And with that, your customers have setled to the botom of the hourglass and become your advocates—and your best salespeople.


Agriculture has always been, and looks likely to remain, a business that thrives on relationships. It would appear that social marketing may be a fit for agri-business. Can social marketing play a vital role in your marketing mix? Perhaps, but only if you first develop a social marketing strategy. Jumping on the latest social bandwagon, without understanding how that platform can advance your marketing and business goals, is likely a waste of time and money—and possibly counter-productive.


When you’re ready to have a serious discussion of social marketing and your business, we’re ready to talk—and plan. Contact us at solutions@ vistacomm.com or 866-752-7707.


VistaComm • America’s Precision Marketing Leader for Agri-Business 19 PAGE


es, the headline does sound counter-intuitive. Businesses live or die by the sale—that’s a self-evident truth. But here’s another truth that all sharp retailers know. Tere’s a huge difference between making


Troy Long VistaComm President


In large measure, social marketing is simply a new approach to a long-held marketing principle—take care of your customers, and they will take care of you.


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