First Principles
My Netcore colleague, Pratik Bhadra, had a very good LinkedIn post discussing how marketing needs to change (in the context of ecommerce companies).
The traditional model ecommerce marketers follow to market their customers is exactly what it is. TRADITIONAL.
The model is
– Setup ad campaigns on Google and Meta
– Pump in HUGE budgets to acquire customers
– Get customers to visit, do a transaction, leave
– Continue pumping money to acquire more and more customersThis model is not scalable anymore. The ecommerce market is mature and crowded. The cost to acquire a customer (CAC) is significantly high and ROAS, let’s admit, is s**t.
Add to that, the competition is cutthroat. Customers have endless options to shop from.
If you continue following this, you’ll eventually run out of business.
At Netcore Cloud, we believe The MODERN way of marketing should be
– Increased focus on existing customers
– Engage them continuously across all available channels digitally
– Keep taking feedback on how your ecom business could do better
– Reward them for providing their feedback
– Prompt dormant users to shop again with incentives
– Provide exclusive experiences to loyal customers for repeat purchasesHow will this new model help you?
– Spending on acquisition will reduce
– You’ll connect with your customers on a deeper level
– Your brand name and value skyrockets
– Your end customers will eventually start advocating for youTakeaway
– Don’t put all your money on acquisition. You can only get so far. You’ll end up broke
– Customers today engage with ads at lower rates
– Make your customer the center of everything. From acquisition to engagement to retention
– The game of acquiring new customers has pivoted to engaging and retaining them
– Focus on repeat business to sustain in the long run
Marketing is as simple as that: focus on existing customers and growing them, and then ensuring they refer their family and friends, rather than spending most of the marketing on acquisition and reacquisition. This is a theme I have been consistently writing about in my 100+ essays: make martech rather than adtech at the centre of digital marketing. [Among the more recent essays, see The Profipoly Quest and The Profipoly Quest: Maya’s Story.]
In martech, three are four emerging themes:
- Age of AI: Co-Intelligence
- Consolidation: Point Solutions to Platforms
- Profitable Growth: Focus on Retention
- Co-Ownership: Progency
Among them, the biggest impact will be because of AI. While Gen AI is already making an impact on content creation, the multiplier will come from Agentic AI with its ability to create a Co-Marketer for the marketing department and a Digital Twin for every customer. They will work together in a Mirror World powered by a Large Customer Model. Think Department of One for a Segment of One (N=1). For martech companies, the shift will be from 1S (Software) to 4S (Strategy, Software, Services, Sharing). This is the coming world of Agentic AI which will transform digital marketing for brands and martech companies alike, creating new winners – either incumbents who are able to reinvent themselves or disruptors who build AI-first Martech solutions.
