The Virtual CMO Podcast

Season 7, Episode 11

In episode 111, host Eric Dickmann interviews Justin Varuzzo. Justin has over 20 years of experience focusing on the intersection of marketing and customer service. This led him to start the Marketing and Service podcast for business leaders and entrepreneurs who want to build stronger customer relationships and set themselves apart from their competitors. The podcast features successful business leaders who reveal how they overcame pitfalls to become what they are today. You can connect with Justin on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Importance of a Unique Buyer’s Journey

A unique buyer’s journey solidifies your brand’s ability to connect and convert your target audience. While potential customers sometimes follow a linear path, other times, they engage in their own unique way. As a marketer, your job is to create content that supports multiple ways of engagement and entry points into your buyer’s journey. And for many organizations, the service channel is often overlooked as an entry point to that journey. Turning a positive service interaction into a sale is an opportunity missed by many organizations.

What is a Unique Buyer’s Journey?

A buyer's journey defines a buyer's path to purchase. It helps marketers understand a customer’s pain point and how their products or services could solve these. There are three stages of a buyer’s journey:

1. Awareness stage- This is where customers recognize that they have a problem that needs to be dealt with.
2. Consideration Stage- Now that customers are aware of their circumstances, they decide how to approach that particular problem. This is where you can pitch offers to help them overcome their pain points
3. Decision Stage- Once educated about their problems and potential solutions, prospects can decide whether or not you are the right fit for them.

Highlights from Our Conversation with Justin:

“It'll make the world a little bit better of a place if just a few companies can work on their service a little bit."

• [00:05:14] How can I affect service as a marketer?- One of the biggest issues that many big businesses encounter is that their marketing and service teams don't interact. It’s more challenging for the organization to scale if these groups fail to work towards a defined goal, strategy, and plan.
• [00:07:22] The unique buyer’s journey is a circular progression- A buyer's journey is a circular progression because a customer who buys your product may come back and buy other things. It is a loop that gets created.
• [00:13:53] Strengthening your marketing messaging- Part of a marketer's job is to have all kinds of content available to customers.
• [00:17:33] Your brand's most loyal customers- Customers can find it irritating to be bombarded with promotions and offers that have nothing to do with their interests. Make sure your offers are presented in the context of what you already know about your potential customers.
• [00:22:56] Customer Experience Design- Customer experience design is not about marketing, sales, and service efforts; it's about creating a unique buyer’s journey. Doing this regularly can make a big difference in your brand and create a better experience for customers.
• [00:25:14] Listen to feedback- Businesses tend to turn a blind eye and assume negative feedback comes only from hard-to-please customers. When you start listening, you might be shocked by everything that needs to be fixed or improved.

Unique Buyer’s Journey and Other Resources Mentioned

• Marketing and Service Podcast- Podcast Website
• Marketing and Service Podcast- Apple Podcasts

Live Stream on YouTube