In offering fully integrated marketing and strategic communications services — including content, public relations, marketing and research, and so on — W2 Communications team members have always understood that the key to our success isn’t just about landing new clients: It’s about keeping them for the long haul.
All businesses need to focus on customer retention as vast amounts of data indicate that the cost of obtaining new customers greatly exceeds the cost of retaining happy ones. Our agency follows a model for customer retention, and we use that to help our clients keep their own customers, even if our businesses are starkly different.
On the content side of the business, for example, a converted prospect will often stay with us for three, five or 10 years or more. And that’s not even considering the many client-side points-of-contact (PoCs) who come right back to us after they leave for another industry employer, repeatedly.
This is all about focusing intently on the right side of the following “butterfly” graphic, which our Chief Strategy Officer Jennifer Leggio developed many years ago and has sworn by since. While the left-hand side (conversion rate optimization) plays a significant role, the right-handed side (customer retention optimization) proves critical for lasting success. Our programs help our clients with this process. Toward this end, we are dedicated to transforming our clients and our clients’ customers from ground-level “adopters” to “advocates and brand ambassadors.” When they reach that higher level, they do more than stay with you — they promote your services to other promising prospects.
Indeed, as the resident “content guy” here, I can state without hesitation that I’ve worked with a notable number of our client-side folks for the majority of years I’ve been here, starting in December 2010. In an era when two of every five clients stick around for no longer than two years, that’s a pretty good track record for our team.
Here are the core values that we’ve maintained to ensure these relationships last as we generate blogs, bylines, e-books, white papers and additional forms of content for them. And, again, more importantly, help our clients do the same:
- Investing in preparation – Before diving into a new content topic with a client, we set aside a large block of time to research the subject. We realize that technology is constantly shifting. So we are determined to respond to a new content opportunity with the ability to discuss the subject at hand on the client’s level, by immersing ourselves into the various associated concepts and nuances.
- Losing the script – Too many teams approach a client content discussion with a script in hand. They come up with generic, uninspired questions ahead of time and rarely depart from them. But because we dig so deeply into the preparation process and align the content to the clients’ desired outcomes, we can ditch the script and work as collaborators instead, in a focused but free-flowing exchange of ideas. All of which makes for better, more compelling content that impacts positive customer engagement for us and our clients.
- Committing to attention to detail and craftsmanship – I personally see too much content out there that’s so…sloppy and just plain bad. We’re talking multiple typos, inconsistent capitalizations, inaccuracies, questionable sourcing, poor structure, incoherent explanations, flabby and/or awkwardly worded sentences, etc. All of this takes away from the credibility of the clients’ subject matter expert (SME) whose name is attached to the work. Our clients keep coming back to us because we thoroughly review our submissions for style alignment, proper capitalizations, clarity, on-point and properly sourced research, tight sentence construction, optimal organization and accuracy above all. The more professional the presentation, the more authoritative the client comes across to their target audience.
- Capturing the client’s “true voice” and thoughts – By the end of the process (the client review part), the designated SME should say, “This is pretty much what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it.” Sure, there will be some minor tweakings and maybe some small additions/subtractions. But if you’ve essentially captured the client’s thinking and tone, then you’ve accomplished at least 90 percent of the job at hand. Which means you are one step closer to helping them achieve their business goals.
At W2 Communications, we land – and keep – our content clients year after year because they know what they’re going to get with our content: Painstakingly thorough but tight blogs, articles, e-books and papers that reflect our immersion into the topics and ability to develop thoughts with clients on their level, while never losing sight of the “small but important” details. Our communications, marketing and research clients benefit from the same level of professional attention. If this sounds like something you’d like to discuss with us further, then please contact us.