Have we fully entered the “Engagement Economy?” Many leading companies have adopted a data-driven strategy to satisfy customers with higher levels of customer service that begin BEFORE a purchase is made.
Amazon, and many smaller companies with just 2 employees, have found this to be true. How does it play out in your customer's mind? What do your customers expect from your company and their purchasing experience? This is worth a look, to assess where you stand today. Want a trail guide? We're here to be just that:
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EXAMPLES, to get you thinking...
RETAIL:
The economy seems to be churning right along, but for a lot of retailers, these are the worst of times. More than 300 retailers have filed for bankruptcy so far this year. A lot of them are mom-and-pop stores, but there are a lot of big retail names -- like Payless ShoeSource, RadioShack and Gymboree -- on the list, too. So what's going on here? Many retailers are struggling because more and more customers are opting to shop online. It's the main reasons some economists predict 25% of all malls will be gone in five years and why department stores over the years have lost more jobs than coal mines.
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- Kroger Co. was already in trouble last week — and then Amazon said it would buy Whole Foods. The biggest U.S. supermarket chain lost more than $7 billion in market value combined on Thursday and Friday, the biggest two-day loss for the company since December 1999. The 19 percent plummet on Thursday was thanks to a lousy earnings report. The 9 percent drop the next day was courtesy of Amazon.com Inc.’s announcement about acquiring Whole Foods Market Inc. If Amazon pulls that deal off, the competition will be even more cutthroat in an industry known for razor-thin profit margins.
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B2B:
As Aaron Agius notes this week on SearchEngine Journal, only 32% of B2B marketers have a content marketing strategy in place. And that may be why a mere 14% “think their content delivers impact — full business value,” according to Forrester. Considering that, this is an opportune time to review ScribbleLive’s new study, “The Content Marketing Maturity Map.” It outlines five levels of maturity, and you can read more about the report in a previous post.