Story-telling has emerged as a preferred mode of subtle marketing by organizations. Customers are getting hooked to unique stories. However a mistake that a lot of company founders are committing is telling their personal stories, many of which often do not have a long shelf life. To solve this conundrum, some methods have been identified to pick out most compelling stories. First of all, customers’ pain points need to be understood as Capital One perfectly did. During the business research they conducted on small businesses, they realized that such firms faced the issue of keeping costs down. Thus they developed solutions best suited to small businesses. Customer feedback must be invited as they provide genuine business intelligence on market needs. Occasionally, it also works to give products away for free on trial basis. This allows potential users to have a demo of the product so that when they really need it, they already know the best solutions. Stories also enable customers to advocate for the brand to fellow users. Businesses or customers can also help each other out in this way.

Source:http://www.forbes.com/sites/cherylsnappconner/2016/12/10/selling-by-story-telling-the-best-stories-succeed-by-putting-customers-first/#61083edb59c4

In present day business conditions, it is well known that customer acquisition through traditional means is faltering, but instead it is done by offering them some unique value. In order to provide this, some ways have been identified. One such way is transitional education. A lot of product or service offerings will do better if customers are better educated about the value provided. Design Pickle is one such organization that has provided transitional education to customers for their design offerings. A related method is called education based marketing which maximizes the scope of digital marketing using emails as the medium to transmit educational content related to the product or service offered. A third method is called memorable convenience which provides services to customers for values they need at the most convenient time possible. Oscar is one such service which translates insurance quotes into standard English so that people understand better. Email segmentation is a method to provide customized services to groups which have different requirements based on scores they receive under different parameters. Crucially staff must be provided adequate corporate training on two aspects especially. One of them is that they must have adequate product knowledge so they may act as advisors to customers. The other one is that service staff must be empowered so that they can provide memorable experiences to customers.

Source:http://customerthink.com/5-ideas-to-attract-more-customers-by-offering-value/

Some ways have been compiled together which when pursued stimulates an increase in cross-selling. First of all, companies must look into the overall picture by studying the balance sheet before pursuing cross-selling instead of taking short term measures to achieve weekly or monthly targets. Customer profiles need to be created for the regular ones which will include dynamic information by combining internal as well as external data. Individualized customer growth outcomes must be targeted as same policy may not work well for all. A lot of companies delay the process of cross-selling by waiting for the ideal time and background machinery. That will never come, so it’s best to start straight away while the CRM or data warehousing systems get fixed. Also a model must be built where the systems can be replicated and not just a one-off usage.

Source:https://hbr.org/2016/11/5-ways-to-increase-your-cross-selling?referral=00563&cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-daily_alert-_-alert_date&utm_source=newsletter_daily_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alert_date&spMailingID=15958551&spUserID=OTY0OTMwNTk5NwS2&spJobID=904074975&spReportId=OTA0MDc0OTc1S0

The millennial generation’s mindset is ideally suited to developing great brands. This is because they think on a global scale and effectively manage digital marketing. This they do leveraging brand evangelists who organically promote the brand without any extra investment from the company’s side. They do not believe in ‘old school’ push marketing. Also their marketing strategy is more focused to delivering genuine quality rather than running after sales. Servicing is given high priority so that repeat customers are generated. In order to improve products, customer- centric solutions are advised. The method of delivery keeps all stakeholders excited. Toxic platforms are failing and half baked ideas are creating content pollution on them. Thus it is best to focus on entrepreneurial leadership and fortunately that is evolving now with the passing of the baton to the millennial generation.

source:http://www.forbes.com/sites/brentgleeson/2016/11/22/3-reasons-why-the-millennial-mindset-leads-to-building-great-brands/#61079d9d2627