7 Ways Your Best Customers Can Help You Market Your Business

7 Ways Your Best Customers Can Help You Market Your Business

If you’re running a successful business, you probably have customers who love you – loyal, devoted customers who consistently buy your products and services and consider you their preferred supplier.

Relationships like these mean you must be doing something right. But in addition to making you feel good (and helping you reach your sales goals), your best customers can also play a powerful role in a smart marketing strategy.

Here are seven ways to capitalize on the value of your best customers in marketing:

1. Profile them. Customer data is a treasure trove for sales and marketing planning. Analyze your best customers’ behavior and demographics to identify their common characteristics. Use these insights to find similar customers on your database with the potential to become best customers or find new prospects that match your best customer profile. Target these groups with marketing and sales resources.
2. Ask them for input. Why do your best customers value your company so much? What makes them buy from you again and again? Interview customers to pinpoint your value proposition from their point of view. Use this information to craft marketing messages that will resonate with similar decision-makers.
3. Ask them for introductions. Best customers are often willing to refer you to their colleagues, especially colleagues within their own company who may have similar needs. Determine which introductions would be most beneficial to your business and easiest for your customers to make.
4. Create case studies. Case studies that explain how you solve problems for customers are an important component of B2B content marketing. If a customer prefers to remain anonymous, you may still be able to tell the story of your successful engagement without divulging proprietary information.
5. Ask for testimonials. Customer testimonials can be extremely influential to prospects considering your business. Add text and video testimonials to your website and social media; include testimonials in sales collateral. Make it easy for customers to give you a testimonial by offering to draft text for their approval. Here are additional tips for getting high-quality testimonials.
6. Feature them in advertising. True advocates for your company may be willing to appear in advertising endorsing your capabilities. Consider an advertising campaign built around customers and the ways you’ve helped them achieve their goals.
7. Co-present at industry conferences or co-author articles. If you’re in an industry with prominent trade journals and major conferences that feature technical sessions, you may have opportunities to contribute articles or make presentations. Co-authoring or co-presenting with a customer adds high interest and high credibility to your content and may give you a leg up on being selected as an author or presenter.

A Final Tip: Respect the Customer Relationship

Customers who love you may welcome your requests for their help in growing your business, but be careful not to take advantage of their goodwill or take them for granted. Customers should never feel you’re losing focus on their needs or worry that their value to you will diminish if your business grows.