We were in a quasi-sales pitch meeting yesterday and the prospect began discussing the “break-even” analysis. (I used to hate it when sales guys told me how many sales I would have to make to break even. If I just break even , the only person who has made money is the sales guy. If I just break even, I’m working for him, not me.)
In the analysis, we brought out the tried and true “Customer Lifetime Value” (CLV). (CLV is “a prediction of the net profit attributed to the entire future relationship with a customer.”) And as content marketers, we have pretty firm ground to stand on when we do. Content marketing is all about educating both your potential and existing clients. Sy Syms made the following statement famous in the business world. “An educated customer is our best customer.”
1. Educated Customers Stick Around (Customer Retention)
As Syms understood, if your client or customer understands the full benefits of your service, they will have more confidence in the outcome when the critics show up. The spouse might say . . .
“You should try __________.”
“No”, your educated client says, “what we’re doing with this vendor works because . . . ” If your customer watches a “how-to” video and learns how to use your product properly or in a new application, they will be more satisfied. By continuing to put out great content on your site, social, email, etc. you continue to strengthen the relationship with the customer and often have opportunities to sell them other services or products. Confident and satisfied customers subscribe again and purchase again. Therefore the CLV increases with content marketing.
2. Educated Customers Refer (Customer Acquisition)
I talked about some of this in 5 Ways Content Puts Your Referral Engine In 5th Gear (read that post for more on this subject), and it certainly applies in this post as well. Through your content, your confident, satisfied client learns your sales talking points and shares them with their friends. In the meeting we were in yesterday, one of the folks in the room who are not on our staff piped in before we could, talking about how content snowballs over time to become a long-term, durable asset. We didn’t even have to mention it.
And since all that great content is online and VERY share-able, when your customer refers on social media, that referral goes out to a lot more people than it would in a one-on-one setting. By using online content marketing strategies, you empower your referrer exponentially and CLV just went up quite a bit more.
[sam id=”2″ codes=”true”]