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How can your marketing look after your existing customers?

Image shows a guest guidebook, which is one way of creating marketing to look after your existing customers.

You know that good customer service is vital to your business. You might think that marketing is all about bringing in new people, but it can also look after your existing customers.

It’s about going above and beyond basic information, like your delivery updates, booking confirmations and contact details. Here are my favourite ways to use your content marketing to look after your existing customers.

Product tips and tricks

Showing customers how to get the best out of a product they’ve already bought shows them you’re interested in more than their money. You want them to get the best results. Instructions on product use are essential, but you can enrich the experience with advanced tips or alternative uses. This could help you attract new customers and support existing ones with the same content.

Sudocrem did this in a recent advert. It’s famous as a nappy cream, but they showed how it can be used on injuries or for skin conditions.

Getting ready

Sometimes, the best way to support your customers is to help them prepare in advance. If they’ve booked a beauty treatment, you should provide safety information, but you can also offer advice on how to make their spray tan last longer or maintain their hair between appointments.

Holiday packing lists can reduce their stress, or if you sell meal kits, you could let them know what kitchen equipment they’ll need. You can use all of these as blog posts to give your audience a taste of the customer experience you offer. It’s even better if you recommend things you don’t sell, as it shows you’re not just looking to make another sale.

Destination guides

I love planning holidays and looking for fun things to do while I’m away with my family. We’ve had some holidays with Eurocamp over the past few years, and they send destination guides via email. Eurocamp design the guides for their customers, so they include details of the facilities and activities on site. However, they also tell you about other things to do in the area, how far away they are and what age group they suit. If I’d written something like this I’d put it on the website too, to attract people who haven’t chosen their destination yet.

I used to write blogs for a holiday park, where customers owned their static caravans. We got great feedback; customers felt the owners cared and wanted them to enjoy their time away.

User-generated content

Big brands often use user-generated content, which is a great way to generate social proof with minimal effort. Encourage your customers to use your product, take a photo of themselves and share it on social media with a hashtag that’s specific to your business.

If you’re sending a physical product, you could include an extra treat, like some sweets or a bar of chocolate, with their order. Alternatively, ask them to showcase the results they’ve achieved with your product by sharing before-and-after photos. You can offer an incentive, such as a discount or entry into a prize draw, for anyone who posts.

Repurpose everything

There’s more than one way to use your content. User-generated before and after photos can go into your emails, website and sales pages, as well as social media. Start with a simplified version of your destination guide on a sales page and create a longer one for customers who’ve already booked their holiday.

You can use almost anything in an email and a blog post. For example, if your customer’s meal kit is on its way, you can let them know what kitchen equipment they’ll need. It could also encourage people who are reluctant to try your product because they’re worried they’ll need lots of fancy kitchen gadgets.

If you want to create marketing content to look after your existing customers and speak to your target audience, I can help.

When you work with me, I’ll get to know you and your business. I’ll suggest topic ideas if you need them, and we’ll spend half an hour a month (or longer if you prefer) chatting about your business and our latest topic. Then I’ll write a post that sounds like the best version of you and that your audience will love. To find out more, email me to arrange a chat or book a call.

Alternatively, sign up for my mailing list here, and you could win a free copy makeover.

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What kinds of content will help you grow your audience?

Chimp and stormtrooper thinking about content types.
Image by Julie Grant Photography

Growing your business means getting yourself noticed. What content can you create to attract new social media followers and website visitors and let people find out about you when you’re not face-to-face?

Read on for some ideas.

Be creative in how you present information

Whenever you create new content, think about how you can reuse it, so your audience gets the point no matter what kind of content they prefer. For example, you can edit your website copy for leaflets and present social media posts as text, graphics or videos.

Keyword blogs and articles

Writing blogs or articles using keywords your customers are searching for will help you show up in a Google search. You can also share them on your socials and educate people about your services. So, think about your services and what you want to be known for, and write about that.

Case studies

Case studies show your future customers the results you’ve got for real people like them, so it helps them trust you. Sharing them on your website helps your SEO, and you can post them on your socials or make a video telling the story.

Testimonials

Testimonials work the same way as case studies, except they come straight from your customers. Google reviews help your SEO, but you can also make graphics out of positive reviews and share them as posts.

Infographics

Infographics help people remember information so they can make great posts, and you can include them as a summary in your blog posts. They’re good on Pinterest as you can use them to summarise a longer article and post them with a link.

List articles

List articles could include top tips, questions, or your favourite resources; there are loads of possibilities. Post them on your website and break them down into individual social media posts and Reels or summarise the key points.

Personal stories

Sharing your story helps your customers get to know the person behind the business. A story can be an article or a few sentences so you can share them on your website and social media as text, images or videos.

Business cards

Believe it or not, some of us still have business cards (mine are from pre-lockdown). They’re great for networking, but you can carry them all the time; I once had someone ask for my card at a kids’ birthday party!

Leaflets

Leaflets offer more information than your business card can, which means you can pin them on your local noticeboard, leave them on a bumph table in a café or send them in the post.

Brochures

Brochures let you show off your work and give more details about your products and services. They can be pricey, so you could stick to sending them in response to new enquiries, but they can be a great way to introduce yourself to new people, especially if you offer a B2B service.

Merchandise

You’ve probably seen personalised merchandise at expos and trade fairs, but they work well as thank-you gifts and as a way of introducing yourself by post. The great thing about products with your name on is that people will keep them where they can see them, so they remember you.

Do you want to grow your audience by creating content that speaks your customers’ language? I can help with that. If you’d like a chat to find out how it works, you can book a call here.

You can also sign up to receive monthly emails packed with useful content writing and marketing tips using the form below.