There's no attempt to engender loyalty. No recognition of the value that maintaining customer relationships might bring. Because the focus is always on the next big acquisition. But if you're looking for longer-term sustainability, this mindset has to change. 

Why Media Companies Keep Losing Clients

It's when you overlook key stages of the customer journey that the customer relationship begins to crumble. For starters, there's the enthusiasm drop after the initial deal is closed. Onboarding is rushed, with little effort made to align on campaign goals or creative deliverables, which leads to a lack of structure and brings a transactional tone to the relationship. Making clients feel less engaged and less valued. 

When the client is less engaged, communication tends to fall away. They ask for less, so that's what the media company gives them. Rather than having insights tailored to their brand and regular, proactive updates, clients receive infrequent, one-size-fits-all reports that do little to build trust or demonstrate value.

Which is one of the many ways in which client expectations are often mismanaged. If you make grand sales promises but fail to back them up with consistent delivery — including communication — your credibility suffers.

And then there's the real crux of the issue: the undervaluing of retention. Failing to nurture existing customer relationships inevitably has serious financial consequences for any business. Retaining a client is significantly more cost-effective than acquiring a new one, especially as customer acquisition costs have surged nearly 60% in recent years.

Businesses now lose an average of USD$29 for every new customer acquired. What's USD$29? A lot, when you multiply it by the hundreds of clients agencies target every year. And even more when you add in the value that loyal clients contribute over time through repeat bookings, willingness to try premium placements and referring others.

In fact, they typically spend up to 67% more than new customers. So, when you see a growth in customer churn, it's not just immediate revenue that is lost; it's predictable future income and potential brand advocates. 

When you add in the fact that media operations are resource-heavy, each new client represents a significant investment. When those relationships end after a single campaign, the return on that effort is limited. So, when you fail to invest in client relationships and loyalty, you ultimately fail to invest in long-term growth.

How Personalisation Can Become the Foundation of Customer Loyalty

One-size-fits-all is no longer enough for securing customers. Today's clients expect media partners to understand their unique brand voice, audience and objectives. Personalisation provides the opportunity to drive customer retention as well as acquisition, in a number of different ways.

Data-Driven Insights

Data is the heart of personalisation. Personalisation begins with data. And you have so much of it available. By analysing a client's campaign history, audience demographics, performance metrics and seasonal trends, you can identify what works for their audience, allowing you to tailor and develop future campaigns. Building enhanced value for the client over time.

Customised Campaign Recommendations

Every client brings different objectives to their campaign. For some, it's far-reaching awareness. For others, it's precise, hyperlocal impact. Personalisation means designing campaigns around those goals, replacing standardised packages, with curated recommendations that align with the client's audience, budget and intent.

So, when you're working with digital out of home (DOOH), high-visibility campaigns might benefit from premium placements, while more targeted efforts could focus on contextual ads near key retail locations. Showing that you're willing to understand and work with your client's needs.

Dynamic Creative Optimisation

Personalisation goes beyond where ads appear; it's also about how they're presented. Dynamic Creative Optimisation (DCO) enables real-time adjustments to ad content based on variables like audience data, time of day, or even weather conditions. So, you might change out a customer's advert from breakfast wraps to paninis or afternoon tea, as you move through the day.

Tailored reporting 

Standardised performance summaries don't actually mean that much to clients. But if you can send reports that directly reflect an individual client's KPIs, you start to speak to them in a language that matters to them and shows that you're engaged with their business. 

The Value of Using the Right Tools

Using personalisation for client retention can be next to impossible without the right tools. Using a platform like Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics 365, or Zoho CRM can help unify data from various operations — bookings, performance, billing and feedback — to provide a single, connected overview.

And this can help your teams focus on delivering a cohesive customer experience. When you add in the likes of Sales Cloud, you can keep account details and sales activities up to date and accessible, while automated workflows prevent missed follow-ups. While tools like Einstein AI help to turn data into actionable insights, opening up opportunities for the entire team.

Acquisition will always be important to media businesses. But lasting success comes from turning that initial contract into a healthy, long-term relationship. And personalisation is one of the most effective ways to do that.

For more information, visit www.brysa.ai. You can also follow Brysa on LinkedIn.

*Image courtesy of contributor