How Often Do You Actually See Your Customers?

Maybe it's not a fair question for some brands. Some brands are online-only, eCommerce sites. But for the rest of us, I think the question stands. As marketers, how often do you actually see your customers or clients?

If your customers or clients are local, your answer is probably, "fairly often." But if your customers or clients are not located nearby, your answer may be, "well, not that often." Don't worry, you're not in the minority.

Salespeople, pre-sales and post-sales support people see their customers fairly often. But marketers aren't "in the field" and don't always get to meet firsthand the people using their brands.

But it can be vital to actually meet, face-to-face, to learn more about who your customer is, what keeps him or her awake at night and how your brand might be more useful to him or her.

I am as guilty of this behavior as anyone else. That's why I jumped at the chance to meet with one of our client's entire marketing team in Seattle. It was an opportunity to put faces to phone voices and catch up. I also got to hear directly about issues, challenges and needs they were experiencing.

If you haven't seen a customer lately, I encourage you to make plans to do so. Oh, and if you are an online-only, eCommerce site, think about ways to geolocate some of your clients who actually might live nearby and meet with them in person. I promise, you will learn quite a bit more about them.