Published on by Jay Mena and Adam Buckeridge, Director of Client Delivery
When you think of some of the world’s most successful brands, you likely envision a huge team spearheading new initiatives under a multi-million dollar digital marketing budget. That’s how they become so well-known, respected, and how they create an impactful brand experience, right? Not necessarily.
Yes, having a huge budget for business aspects like enterprise development and digital marketing is a major plus on the side of many large businesses, but having a lot of money doesn’t always equal success. Used strategically, a more modest budget can be small but mighty.
If you’re a small to medium size business looking to create a digital strategy that resonates across multiple channels then you might be surprised to find that even the most modest budgets can drive big results. Whereas there are options that cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to reach potential customers on the web, through social media, and via email, there are a number of ways to achieve the same goals without such a significant investment. What’s more, in many cases these alternatives can better fit your workflows and initiatives. Let’s dig deeper and look at some of the ways that major companies achieve a holistic digital user experience and how you can mirror (or improve on) their success with your own playbook of digital tactics.
Do You Need a Full
Digital Experience Platform (DXP)?
If you are a small or even mid-sized business then the short answer is most likely “no.” A digital experience platform (DXP) is a powerful tool that focuses on handling content and digital assets on a large scale. It’s concentrated on customer experience at its forefront, and this type of software exists to aid companies who are undergoing an enterprise development transformation. While a full-featured DXP might sound great, the cost of acquiring and implementing a DXP is prohibitive for many organizations.
Ultimately, DXPs zero in on customer experience - both pre and post-sale customer care, relationship building, and building an omnichannel approach. If it sounds fancy that’s because it is, but it’s not the Holy Grail of creating a stellar user experience and it’s certainly not the end of the world if your business can’t afford to adopt a full-fledged DXP.
Alternative Channels For an Immersive
Brand Experience
Taking a more frugal approach to creating a digital customer experience doesn’t mean that your business is in amateur territory.
Some of the world’s top brands, like Lululemon or Trader Joe’s have taken a more frugal approach in areas like marketing, without compromising success, even though they have the wallet space to be investing even more.
The lesson we can learn from them is that it’s not about how deep your pockets are, but how savvy your digital strategy is. In order to compete with the major players in your field, the key lies in developing and adopting multiple digital channels from which you can glean all the UX benefits and sidestep their potential pitfalls. Here are some channels to explore to enhance your brand experience:
If you’re wondering how to tap into all of these potential pluses, you’re not alone. Here are two things you should know about building your brand through social media engagement:
1. Enrich Customer Relationships
One of social media’s greatest assets is that it’s, well... social. It’s a priceless opportunity to engage with your existing customer base and attract new customers along the way. This means harnessing features like retweets, likes, comments, and views to your advantage.
Responding to your comments or addressing complaints is a chance to show off your brand’s personality, even if you’re responding to criticism or complaints. This personalized approach is an important part of customer care that creates a positive user experience.
2. Take Advantage of Alternative Marketing Strategies (influencer, free ads)
Billboards and TV ads are not the only way to market your business. In fact, those are dying (and expensive) tactics when compared to more current methods like influencer marketing. People are more likely to buy from a trusted influencer’s recommendation than they are from a company peddling its own wares.
Influencer marketing is about partnering with the right people in your field and offering them a free trial or sample of your products or services. A positive review from an influencer on social media has a relatively low cost and can have a significant payoff when it comes to lead generation and new customer acquisition.
Channel 2 - Reviews and Ratings:
Showcase Your Brand’s Customer Experience
Getting positive online reviews is another great way to organically promote your business because your customers trust other people’s opinions.
Unfortunately, people are likely to leave a review after a negative experience, but this doesn’t need to break your business - it’s all in how you handle it. Responding to a bad review right away and offering great customer service to improve their opinion goes a long way to promote a positive UX on a public stage.
These types of community-driven marketing are an affordable way to provide an immersive brand experience for your customers - your only commitment is the time you take to respond. Done right, this will have a positive impact in promoting your eCommerce business or helping develop your omnichannel experience.
Channel 3 - Listings and Directories:
Ensure Customers Find You Where Your Competitors Are
It’s all about the company you keep. If all of your competitors are listed in an online directory and you’re not - you’ve basically taken your business off the table when it comes to your customer’s view of who’s who in your industry.
Having a directory listing isn’t free, but it typically comes at a reasonable price so even businesses with modest budgets can take advantage of this type of co-branding. Not only will a directory appearance put your business on the same tier as your competitors, but it gives your customers all the information they need to contact you, making it a practical client-friendly tool that makes it simple to interact with your brand.
The key takeaway here is that there are plenty of inexpensive ways to market your business if you think beyond conventional methods. No matter how much success an avenue provides, remember that marketing never sleeps. Taking time for constant marketing is a must, but it’s more about strategy and less about spending.
5 Ways to Ensure Brand Experience
Success on a Modest Budget
It’s plain to see that you’re not at a total loss if you don’t have a huge budget for creating a rich brand experience. To maximize the potential in this area, there are some simple strategies that you can employ. These are active efforts, knowing that it’s not enough to simply be on social media or have your business sitting in a directory. To optimize your endeavors and provide the best brand experience for your users, your business must:
- Show consistency across all channels and outputs
- Operate around a set of well-defined objectives
- Have clear mission and values
- Demonstrate differentiation - what makes you unique?
- Show your brand personality
How to Implement a
360 Degree Brand Strategy
As we've established, immersing your customers in your brand isn't a passive activity. It takes assertive action as well as expert know-how to implement your digital experience. Just as you likely utilize a bookkeeper for financial matters and an attorney for legal matters, it is also wise to engage with professionals that understand digital strategy if you want your online presence to be a powerhouse of growth. Your focus should be on the core competencies of your business and the clients and customers you serve.
A marketing firm alone won’t cut it here because you’re going after multiple digital channels for achieving the results you want. A purely tech-oriented team isn’t the solution either. Instead, you need to partner with a team of digital strategists who can take a holistic approach: assess your current situation, dial into your business objectives, and create a game plan for optimizing your UX.
The team at Crowd Favorite is exactly the digital strategy partner that you need to tailor a technology solution for your individual needs. Our unique managed services approach means that we’re more than just a web shop - we’re the full-scale strategists that you need to carve out a place at the top of your industry via your digital customer experience and brand persona. Get in touch with us today and we’ll show you how you can achieve great things with a customized digital brand presence.
