There’s an old adage that goes, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” In one word, we can refer to this as “synergy,” a crucial concept in integrated marketing.
Synergy is a concept that’s been used in different areas, including science and communications. In marketing, synergy happens when two or more initiatives are combined to produce powerful results.
This idea is becoming more relevant nowadays as more brands recognize the need to boost collaboration between departments. Tightly integrated organizational functions allow managers and frontline employees to make better decisions regarding operations, business development, and customer service.
However, if your company is among those who are guilty of not utilizing online marketing insights for your call center, this article is for you.
Marketing + customer service
Essentially, brands can’t deliver excellent customer service if they don’t use the customer data gathered by marketers. One of the richest sources of consumer insights is your brand’s content marketing campaign.
Here are the benefits of tying together your digital marketing and customer care department.
1. Enrich and expand customer profiles.
By looking at your online channels closely—your website, social media page, review sites, and forums—you can get to know your customer on a deeper level. Remember, consumers are more than just demographics. Sure, their basic information like age, gender, and location do allow for a more targeted marketing approach, but nothing compares to knowing what marketing strategies appeal to them and how they choose the products they buy. All these are insights you can extract from their content consumption habits.
2. Understand your customers.
The spread of web-enabled devices like the smartphone and tablet is part of the reason why the growth of online marketing exploded. Mostly, customers are always online, and they utilize the web not just to enhance their personal lives but also to make wiser purchase decisions. They check brand reviews, seek customer support, and buy items online. Now, if you know exactly what your customers’ browsing habits are, you’ll be in a better position to interact with them.
If you want to gain a 360-degree view of your customer, pay attention to the following:
• What channels do they use to interact with you?
• What content types are they most interested in?
• Do they leave comments on your page? If so, what types of comments do they leave?
Once you’ve pinned down the answers to these questions, you’ll be able to create a customer experience management strategy that addresses the critical needs of your target audience.
3. Improve customer service training.
To deliver excellent customer service, your call center agents must not only be well-trained. They must have a working, updated knowledge about who their customers are and what they expect from brands. This makes way for limitless opportunities. For instance, agents can upsell or cross-sell more effectively and anticipate why customers are reaching out to them.
In most instances, marketers already have these juicy details on their hands. However, if the organization’s internal framework doesn’t allow for collaboration, these insights would fail to reach the customer support department. This is a huge waste of useful information.
4. Boost telemarketing.
At some point, every call center has had its fair share of telemarketing woes, mainly because outbound calls aren’t popular among customers. There are instances, however, wherein telemarketing can work. One of the most powerful ways to boost your outbound sales is to tell convincing brand stories to your target consumers. And you’ll only know which stories would pique their interest if you look at your content marketing campaigns. Specifically, you must identify the specific types of content that generate the highest level of engagement from your audience.
5. Come up with better customer service strategies.
If you truly know your customer, customer experience management will become second nature to you. Often, brands fail to please their target market because their customer support tactics aren’t founded on consumer insights.
Integrated marketing bridges this gap. By integrating your online marketing projects with your call center, you can create a customer-centric strategy that addresses all the needs of your target consumers. This is perhaps one of the best ways to nurture loyalty and build meaningful relationships with your individual customers.
