Marketing is more than just information that introduces products and services.

Marketing is the experience of buying your products.

It is also the experience of using the product.

It is the experience of returning a product that does not perform as expected.

To prevent that one, marketing can be helping the customer get more from the product, or upgrading to an improved version.

I recently upgraded my iPhone and family service plan. There were some bumpy segments within that journey, but now that it’s complete I can say that I’m happy.

Stay with me for the point of how this relates to your marketing.

Shared Customer Experiences are Marketing

Google defines the zero moment of truth (ZMOT) as the moment when a prospective buyer discovers your business. This may be through a personal referral or information online.

What’s interesting is the zero moment of truth is usually the result of either a fabulous or inferior customer experience, because that is what gets talked about.

Let that soak in.

Our 3-hour ordeal of understanding one mobile service plan from another was stressful. It was clear the representative understood the plans; he just couldn’t explain them well for our situation, so we had to go over them again and again.

Training easily solves the problem we experienced.

The business opportunity is finding those touchpoints within your buyer’s journey that need improvement.

I discovered this when operating my landscape design and construction business. We broke everything down, created new materials, practiced telling the right stories, and more.

Most important is that we identified the one thing about the customer experience that would distinguish our business if it were significantly improved. It worked like magic.

Make this your 2016 goal. Choose just one thing about the customer experience that will make your company stand out if you do it better than everyone else.

Remember that whether that is marketing, product or service related, it’s all still marketing, if you still struggle to get leads then read this blog post about Facebook Quizzes.

More for Overachievers

There are really three ways you can improve the customer experience.

#1 – Innovate: Find new ways of doing things that do not exist today.
#2 – Disrupt: Create new ways that make the old ones obsolete.
#3 – Iterate: Make the current way of doing things better.

The last one was what we did with our landscaping business to solve an industry-wide problem.

Technology is typically the way to disrupt. Innovation is what builds market leaders.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on customer experiences? Meet me over on Twitter to take the conversation further.

About the Author:  Jeff Korhan, MBA, is the author of Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business and host of This Old New Business podcast.

He helps organizations use media to create exceptional customer experiences that drive business growth in a digital, social and global world. Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+