How can businesses prepare themselves for longer term success?

Flexibility and adaptability are the cornerstones for longer term business success. Your customer profile is constantly changing, sometimes rapidly and sometimes slowly, so it’s vital that you can recognise and adapt to fit these changing customer profiles. Think about the tools, channels and styles that you utilise to engage with your customers. Is your messaging still relevant to your customers or have their priorities changed recently? Are you using the right channels to reach them or have they adopted a new communication platform? Customers will typically evolve quicker than companies can adapt, therefore accepting that you will likely always be playing some form of catch up is important, otherwise you’ll end up frustrated and disillusioned - which is less than ideal!

A recent example of changing customer preferences is the rise of self-serve content. The old notion that marketers are in charge of a content path that takes a buyer through a journey and nurtures them through a funnel is no longer relevant. Be brave and tear up your traditional approaches. Take time to research how your buyers really engage with your content and what their preferences are, before creating a new approach that meets their needs and expectations.