Loyalty, the Holy Grail of Marketing
Loyalty, the Holy Grail of Marketing:
A cross-industry look at the challenges and rewards of driving customer loyalty
(We will be tweeting live throughout this event May 13, 2010 at 3:30 p.m. ET at twitter.com/cmgpartners. Follow us to receive real time updates of the conversation.)
“Marketing is about being customer-centric and the first step in driving loyalty is creating attachment,” said Rich Beatty, founding partners of CMG Partners, opening the Loyalty Lab Client Summit panel discussion on April 8, 2010 and setting the tone for the conversation. He went on to explain that “Driving attachment impacts behavior, which drives financial results.”
These two statements lead to the same conclusion … customer loyalty drives financial results. With customer loyalty tied directly to performance of your bottom-line, marketing leaders cannot ignore this critical piece of the marketing puzzle.
The New York panel brought diverse experiences from senior marketing executives across industries, including Cindy Ricciardi, VP of CRM at SiriusXM; Robert Birge, CMO of Kayak; Margaret Hynes, Director of Platinum Card Marketing American Express; and Jeff Bedard, Brand Manager Campbellkitchen.com Campbell Soup Company.
Despite hailing from different backgrounds and industries, their views on customer loyalty were remarkably similar. It is all about understanding and addressing the needs of customers.
“Business success is predicated on people coming back, the focus is entirely on continuously improving customer experience,” said Robert Birge.
Jeff Bedard added, “The objective hasn’t changed, but the tactics have. It is about creating a community of shared needs and beliefs.”
Another panelist noted, “It’s becoming more difficult to drive loyalty, so it’s even more important to stay close to the customer to understand their needs.”
All panelists agreed that a large part of the brand’s role in meeting customer needs is creating the community of shared beliefs that allows for heightened engagement and interaction. New, emerging technologies such as social media have changed the approach to customer loyalty, forcing marketers to focus on driving ongoing dialogue versus one-way communication. It is truly about creating a relationship with customers and, like all relationships, marketers must adjust to changing customer needs and nurture these relationships to drive success over time.
This Thursday, May 13, 2010 we are taking another cross-industry look at customer loyalty challenges and rewards with a new panel and new insights.
The Loyalty Lab 2010 Client Summit Chicago event is taking place at the W Hotel, City Center in Chicago, Ill. and CMGP’s Chicago panel includes: Scott Lerner, Founder, Sol Elixirs; Jonathan Lange, SVP, Group Account Director, Deutsch, Got Milk? campaign director; and Bryan Shimko, VP of Marketing, HSBC.
Along with Rich Beatty, this panel will be discussing trends, successes and challenges in customer loyalty while sharing insights and personal experience from their respective industries.
We will be tweeting live throughout the event at twitter.com/cmgpartners. Follow us to receive real time updates of the conversation. Be sure to check back here as well for a recap, highlights and take-aways from the discussion.
