Oh, the wonder of beautifully crafted taglines. Those few strategically selected words that sum up everything your business stands for and what you want your target audience to know about you. They’ve made companies fortunes by telling people what makes them standout in the sea of sameness. Consider FedEx’s brilliant “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.” Nine simple words that tell FedEx buyers precisely what they’re going to get, while simultaneously informing all of its employees what their mission is. What if FedEx’s slogan was “We ship things!”? Would Nike be as successful if it allowed an executive committee to red-pencil “Just do it” into “When you need great shoes”? How would BMW’s vision change if “The Ultimate Driving Machine” became “Our cars are fun to drive!” My point is that these companies didn’t settle for weak platitudes or vague, generalized statements that could have applied to their competitors. Nope, they decided that they weren’t going to settle. Instead standing out and differentiating themselves was business-critical. Can the same be said for your company and its marketing? Do you have a themeline or slogan that makes you stand out? Is it unique and memorable? Or is it mediocre because somewhere down the line, people settled?
Let’s face it, we have a tendency to settle. It’s almost human nature. We settle for something that’s not just quite right, an outfit that isn’t our best look, a job that doesn’t maximize our talents or an ad or website page that’s okay or just “good enough.” While the act of compromise in life, relationships and particularly conflict is an admirable trait, compromise or “settling for” in marketing is a death knell.
You see, the whole point of your marketing activities is to get noticed; get engaged with your audience; and have your work be acted upon to bring in the business. Alternatively, anonymity, swimming in the center of a school of other fish, may be a good survival tactic if you are an anchovy, but it is not a good survival tactic for business. So you have to wonder why so much marketing – and so many marketers – feel the need to play “follow the leader” with respect to marketing trends.
The logic is that if others have done something successfully, you just need to do the same thing. Well, maybe. And then again, maybe not. As we all know, breakthrough products and breakthrough marketing campaigns are not achieved through conformity. Note the word “break” in breakthrough. These are the products and campaigns that break the rules. These are the products and campaigns that use insight, intuition, experience, sensitivity to the marketplace – and arguably the most important thing….courage – to do things differently. To break away from the status quo.
It is certainly true that most companies don’t have that innate insight and courage to be successfully different. We can’t all be like Steve Jobs. But for those are willing to do things differently and well, for those who want their companies to stand out, then the only rule that matters is: You cannot achieve exceptional success through conformity.
To that end, you can have your brand and product/service stand out if you’re willing to take a risk. For starters, ask yourself these three questions:
1. What’s can you say about your company that’s seen as a unique or fresh alternative to your competitors? This can range from the product or service you offer to the way you do business to that of sharing your wisdom. Think beyond the obvious. Dig deeper. Ask yourself a bunch of “So what does that mean?” and “Why would our customer care?” with each answer that’s given.
2. What medium makes the most sense for your brand? The goal is to create a campaign that drives conversation and ultimately revenue. So what imaginative or different ways (to what you’ve been doing) should be explored and implemented. Doing the same thing from one campaign to another, especially given all of the new technological and interesting messaging channels out there, is not only boring but could be seen by management as, well, not a great reflection on yourself.
3. How will you execute your campaign? Don’t risk looking amateurish or wasting time by trying to save money. Engage yourself with people that can help you get to the BIG idea and then help you implement it in a way that you and your executive management team are proud of. You’ll always remember the big successes, while you’ll forget how much money you saved or spent.
Clearly, whether it is investing in advertising, developing a little more creativity, spending the time to follow-up or making the effort to engage with your customers, you can easily elevate your marketing to where it needs to be. Anyways, what progressive marketer wants to settle for second best, or worse, be recognized as mediocre? That doesn’t play well either at the current company or when you need to show your portfolio of work if switching jobs. Instead, risk being brilliant instead.
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Rolf Gutknecht is vice president, director of account services for LA ads. To discuss your thoughts with Rolf on this blog or any marketing matters, email via this link, or visit www.LAadsMarketing.com. You can also connect with Rolf on LinkedIn.
“Vision without execution is hallucination” – Thomas Edison
We were having an internal strategy planning session for one of our newer clients, and things were going great, when one of our account executives said “All of this stuff is great but if the program doesn’t get implemented like it’s supposed to, it’s going to be considered a train wreck.” How true, how true.
You see, developing “strategy” is fun on so many levels. It takes thought, understanding, sensitivity to the marketplace, and creativity to come up with a really good strategy. It’s found everywhere and so everyone wants to get in on that fun. You have MBA courses that emphasize strategy. As marketers we’re concerned with social media strategies, mobile marketing strategies, customer experience strategies, advertising strategies, online strategies, acquisition and retention marketing strategies, sales strategies, and so on and so on. In fact, any time two or more people in marketing get together, they discuss strategy. A well-crafted strategy is critically important to the success of any marketing initiative, right?
But the most vulnerable part of strategy is the implementation. To deliver results that we as marketers want, we have to find a way to give strategy a life beyond the paper on which it was written and without implementation, even the most dazzling strategy is just words on a page…a hope…an unproven idea. While we all know this to be the case, we don’t necessarily follow through on that knowledge. You see, too many times, implementation is delegated to one of the junior member of the team or to “specialists” who might not appreciate where their role fits into the whole.
I think we all understand that someone has to do the hard work that puts a strategy into the marketplace. But by the same token, we can’t just assume that everyone who is working away in the trenches on their tactics is actually supporting the overall marketing and business strategy that was created. We can’t just assume that implementing the various pieces of the program is the same as implementing it in the right way in order to achieve the company’s marketing and business objectives.
We’ve seen implementation snafus, some more legendary or awful than others. From companies running ads for their products that drew people into stores only to find that the product hadn’t arrived. Or a major bank announcing a new customer loyalty program but hadn’t explained the plan to its branch managers. Or, as happened with me this past year, a athletic shoe manufacturer sent me email after email telling me to stop by their upcoming trade show booth and by turning in a printed copy of the email, I would receive a certificate for significant savings off on their athletic shoes. Guess what happened when I showed up at the booth? Yup, no one, and I mean no one at the booth knew anything about the offer. “Don’t know what this is all about” or “No one told us about this” was said over and over again. So in effect, all the strategy development to get my attention and have me purchase a pair of their shoes (admittedly, at a discount) came crashing to the ground with a large thud.
Poor coordination and communication, and a poorly implemented strategy has led to as many market failures as a poorly conceived strategy…maybe even more. As well, too often, marketing is criticized for not having measurable indicators of effectiveness and success. Too often, marketers have taken the easy road, measuring their likes, followers, or the number of comments they get on Facebook or other social media. These metrics simply measure tactics. But the measure of a strategy’s success is, quite simply, in the revenues. And those revenues are directly affected by how the strategy is implemented.
Today’s marketing executives must manage the organization’s marketing operations and not just oversee them. It’s where the fundamentals of how the various tactics work together (or don’t) that marketing success will be determined. Simple implementation is not all that difficult. Implementing cohesively (getting everyone on the same page with the same level of commitment) is the hard part.
For those leading the marketing operations of their organizations, remember that it’s not just about the strategy. You can have the best strategy, you can even frame it and put it up on the wall, but if you’re not executing correctly…it’s just artwork.
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Rolf Gutknecht is vice president, director of account services for LA ads. To discuss your thoughts with Rolf on this blog or any marketing matters, email via this link, or visit www.LAadsMarketing.com. You can also connect with Rolf on LinkedIn.
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” – Soren Kierkegaard
The last quarter of 2013 is almost history and as we stand poised to welcome 2014 in just 50 days from today, we hope for a future that is successful, rewarding and where dreams will be realized. Having seen the start of more than a few “new business years” during my career, I’ve learned that you can do one of two things in preparation for the coming year. You can yet again try to create a brand new marketing strategy for the coming year or you can pause, look back and do some serious reflecting, resolving to change, or improve some aspect about how you will initiate your future marketing campaigns. For some people, looking back over the past year may be something better left in the rearview mirror; on the other hand, burying your head in the sand can be seen as the primary ingredient in a recipe for another disappointing year…and you know how much the CEO/President/Owner/ Founder loves that kind of thinking and pending poor results. So before one celebrates the dawn of a new year…take time to ask yourself what are you going to do to change? What does success in 2014 look like to you and your executive management team?
Speaking for myself and our firm, the end of each year is met with a healthy dose of optimism for the coming year. We see 2014 through a lens of hopefulness, that things will indeed get better. Is that just us or will you and your organization also view the coming year with a level of anticipation that you haven’t had for a few years? Hey, it’s been tough for most everyone out there but let’s remember that at least a few organizations — perhaps your own competitors — have fared better than most despite these trying times. So what have they done to plot a course for a more optimistic and profitable path for success in 2014?
Depending on marketplace factors coupled with how well you were able to strategically position and market your company, the past year was either seen as a success or another year of disappointment. Success if you were able to grow your share of the proverbial pie (maybe at the expense of your competitors) or be sufficiently positioned to stay in business to fight the fight for another year. Or disappointment if things didn’t turn out so well because of…(you can fill in the blank). The question that begs to be asked here is, how much of last year’s success or disappointment was because of something you had no control over, such as good luck or bad luck, and how much was because of something you did or didn’t do given how the marketplace presented itself? I’ve found through personal experience this is the time to be totally honest with yourself. As the quote goes: “Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise.” – Sigmund Freud
Hey, I’m all for a bit of luck but you probably don’t want to continue betting future success on lucky things happening in the coming year. With this in mind, here are a few questions to ask yourself as thought starters as you begin the process of looking in the rearview mirror to last year and through your windshield to the next:
As marketers, one thing we know for sure is that change will not stop in 2014. The economy will continue to shift on us —hopefully with less drama. But by reflecting back on 2013, taking control of your marketing activities rather than being tossed around by the waves in the marketplace, along with thinking optimistically about what 2014 can hold, 2014 might actually be a year worth celebrating. It will be for us and hopefully will be for you as well.
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Rolf Gutknecht is vice president, director of account services for LA ads. To discuss your thoughts with Rolf on this blog or any marketing matters, email via this link, or visit www.LAadsMarketing.com. You can also connect with Rolf on LinkedIn.
When it comes to sharing on social media, there’s you and your network of friends and contacts. These are all the people that you’re connected with on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, email, etc. And like you, these people have their network, in other words, your network’s network. The big secret of social media, not just for your personal brand but for your company is that it’s not about your network per se. It’s not even so much about reaching those in your network. It’s about reaching your network’s network.
So every message you put out there should be something that your network wants to forward. If your network doesn’t want to forward it along to their networks, then your brilliant post or exciting news dies with them. It’s like telling a room full of people you know something wonderful that you would hope they would tell others…but the word never gets out. On the other hand, if you put out content that’s surprising, that teaches, that adds to the conversation, that provokes thought, that taps into a bigger discussion, then people will forward it. In a sense, they reward you for being oh so clever and smart.
For example, I’m of that age where I’m taking more of an interest in insurance-related matters, so I’ve found myself going to New York Life’s Facebook page. There they ask questions, have polls, allow you to fill in the blank on things that directly have to do with insurance; but many other times the content is peripheral – what do you want your legacy to be? How old is the oldest person you know and what makes them special? It’s stuff people comment on a lot. As you may know, what happens then on Facebook is that those comments show up on people’s individual pages as commenting about something on New York Life’s page. So it becomes viral… which is the art of reaching your network’s network.
So what kind of messages are likely to be forwarded, or maybe more importantly, what kind of messages are boring and least likely to be forwarded? Well one kind is the “cat” status update kind you find on Facebook. You know…”I just fed my cat.” “My cat is playing with her new toy.” Cat, dog, people, whatever. We all know this stuff hardly ever gets forwarded. But you know what, brands do the equivalent of “I just fed kitty” updates all the time. How many times have you read “we just got a new product,” or “we’re moving, ” or “our company just hired 10 more people,” “we just painted our building,” etc. Yaaaawn. While it’s not at all wrong to give out that info, just know you’re saying something about yourself that’s not adding value and thus this update goes no further than your immediate circle of connections, if they’re paying attention at all. Oh, and then there’s the type of messaging that you find on LinkedIn and Twitter a lot…the over-populating of meaningless updates and posts without cessation. One post or tweet after another to the point you get tired seeing this person’s face show up on your screen ever again! If the idea of social media marketing is to form relationships with people, then why would you want to undo what you’ve accomplished by over-marketing your company to the point where people say, “I’ve had enough. Buh-bye!”
So what kind of messages generate traffic for business and does get forwarded to your network’s network? It turns out you already saw this in high school when a message of great personal value went out there and was forwarded. I’ll call this “My parents are out of town…bring your own beer” message. This type of update breaks through the rest of the “ho-hum” messages because it does two things: it produces a high emotional response and people like sharing practically useful content to help out their friends, as well as business customers or prospects.
Now I’m not a psychologist but I’ve found through personal experience that the likelihood of sharing content seems to hinge on things that produce an emotional response by means of wonder, joy, anxiety, fear and surprise. I’m sure there are many other motivators but let’s just talk about these for a moment.
As we know, the idea of social media is to create and strengthen relationships with people. We do that by sharing information that they’d like to get, read and pass along to others. That doesn’t happen if what you have to say isn’t interesting and you won’t be interesting until you say and do things imaginatively, originally, freshly.
When I first started out in this crazy world of advertising and marketing, I had a co-worker who had been in the business for a while (think of the show “Mad Men”) who would pass on “things to know” in endless supply. One of those things that I’ve remembered over the years has to do with the difference between knowledge and wisdom. It goes like this: knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing that you shouldn’t put it in a fruit salad. I’ve said this so many times to friends, co-workers, my kids, etc., that I’m surprised I’m still not tired of saying it. But there’s so much truth in it and it applies especially to the discipline of marketing.
As marketing folks, regardless of the industry or size of the firm or marketing department, we’re busy trying to learn as much as we can so as to stay up with the times. And there’s so much to learn. Whether it’s new research telling us about how certain demo groups are behaving towards specific marketing channels, to new online tools, to the best lead-generation software, it’s all coming at us at lightning speed. But we have to remember the need to use good judgment given all of this knowledge. You see knowledge – having specific familiarity or understanding about something – is a bit different than having wisdom – being able to discern or judge what is true, right or lasting. In short, to be wise.
So, while all of this knowledge is important — and it is — we need to know what we can depend on and what is just a fad. What will apply tomorrow after “the next best thing” in marketing has burned out and we’re on to the next “next big thing.” So indulge me in the passing on of some marketing wisdom. Think of it as Marketing “Chicken Soup for Soul,” if you catch my drift.
Marketing wisdom is knowing…
So, when you open up your next Google Alert about a specific marketing subject or if someone from upstairs decides to drop off an industry trade journal with a Post-It note saying “maybe we should try this,” it might be worth remembering “Marketing wisdom is knowing what to put in your fruit salad or keep out of it.”
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Rolf Gutknecht is vice president, director of account services for LA ads. To discuss your thoughts with Rolf on this blog or any marketing matters, email via this link, or visit www.LAadsMarketing.com. You can also connect with Rolf on LinkedIn.
A few weeks ago, I was faced with needing to find a new dentist. So, the search began and the more I looked around, the more it showed just how many touchpoints came into play prior to – and after – a selection being made.
As we know, customers experience your brand in numerous ways and each of these touchpoints molds the customer’s impression of your company’s brand. If the brand is a promise you make, then the customer experience is the fulfillment of that promise. The customer experience can’t be left to chance. It has to consistently reinforce the brand promise across every customer touchpoint or the value of the brand itself is at risk.
So, after thinking about what your brand stands for and what sets it apart, it’s time to look outward. After all, if a brand is built and nobody hears it, does it make a sound? In not-so-distant marketing past, reaching consumers meant connecting through just a few channels: a catalog, a radio spot, a store visit, a customer service line, a salesperson…You get the idea. However, the number of channels for reaching customers has exploded in recent years. Think about it: when was the last time you made a major (or even not-so-major) purchase decision, personal or for business, whether a product or service, through a single channel? In fact, it’s more likely that your purchasing decision was made after being reached through a variety of interconnected touchpoints, from social media, to word-of-mouth, to advertising messaging, to conducting research online, to comparison shopping in the store.
Despite the desire to “silo” marketing channels, they’re far more effectively used together than individually. In a Forrester’s research report, it was noted that 33% of new customers involve two or more “trackable touchpoints,” and nearly 50% of repeat customers visit three or more “trackable touchpoints.” And despite the fact that nearly a 50% of the surveyed people believed that social media channels are a great place to discover new products, less than 1% of sales resulted directly from a social media referral. Online search (i.e., Google) and email were much more effective at closing a sale.
That said, your ultimate goal is to have each touchpoint reinforce and fulfill your marketplace promise. The best way to do this effectively is to look at each of your marketing, selling, and servicing processes which then allows you to create a simple touchpoint chart or map that defines your customers’ experiences with your brand.
Keeping this in mind, let’s use the process in looking for a new dentist:
That said, all touchpoints are not created equal. Some will naturally play a larger role in determining your company’s overall customer experience. To determine the touchpoints driving your customers’ overall experience, your organization can use a wide array of techniques ranging from quantitative research to institutional knowledge.
Yes, it’s simple….almost absurdly simple. But stepping into consumers’ shoes is an exercise absolutely too many executives neglect when marketing. We forget to become our own customers–with real, day-to-day concerns–and in the process, we lose sight of the most valuable touchpoint opportunities. Each one is a chance to present your brand and what you stand for.
In other words, having a more refined sense of “touch” has a big impact on how your prospects feel.
What does this popular country song by Johnny Lee have to do with this blog post? Well, this week my neighbor received a really attractive offer from a company with whom I’ve had a long standing relationship. When I called the company and asked if I could get the same offer, I was told “Sorry. That’s for new customers only.” When I then asked what offers did they have for current customers, I was told they’d get back to me on that. I have yet to hear from them.
So, with that in mind, have you noticed how many companies offer deals only to new customers? Sign up for our new program and the first month is free! Special gift for new customers only! Try our new product and we’ll give you more than you asked for! Here’s the problem with those type of offers: They focus on new customers and not the ones you already have. As a loyal customer of that business, it would be nice if you could take advantage of some of those special offers too. Trouble is that they’re for new customers only. You, on the other hand, have been supporting the business for years but you get nothing. Nothing for your dedication and loyalty.
Most people think that growing a company’s sales means getting new customers. Well, yes and no. Yes, new customers are constantly needed, but truly successful companies prosper on their ability to keep the customers they’ve already acquired. The reason is simple. Finding new customers is expensive and time consuming. For example, let the following research statistics wash over you….
Not to mention that current customers give invaluable feedback on “how we did” or “how the product/service is doing” along with being a major source of referrals, etc. That’s why losing a good customer to the competition is always a bad thing. You have to work more than 10 times as hard to get enough new customers just to make up the revenue lost with your departing one, and forget about profit.
Which brings me to the question that begs to be asked: “Why do customers leave?” Curiously, most business owners and managers have the exact wrong idea about why customers leave. Most people believe that customers leave because:
(Drum roll please)…Wrong!
According to an in-depth study by the research firm CRMGuru, the reasons customers give for taking their “business down the road” are:
As you can see, when it comes to keeping your existing customers, customer service is 3 times more important than price–and 5 times more important than functionality. Which obviously means that if you want to keep the customers that you’ve got, you should think about reversing priorities and pay more attention to customer service and quality–and, consequently, less attention to functionality and price. I fully realize that this runs contrary to 90% of what most people think is important, probably because price and functionality can play a large role in new customer acquisition.
So what can be done to maximize the value of your most valuable asset? Here are five quick thought starters:
Regardless of what you’re selling, your long-term profitability is largely dependent upon your ability to keep current customers, rather than acquiring new ones. While it’s fine to try things to attract new customers to your business, be sure to spread a little love around to those who are already in your camp and are supporting your business. Don’t forget, every now and then, to “dance with the one that brung ya.”
Imagine if you had some magical warning sound that alerted you before you made a misjudgment or a social faux pas. You know, like you’re about to bet on a bad hand and, HONK!, so you pull back your bet just in time. Or you’re about to give a future employer one of those cool “street” handshakes and, HONK!”, you think better of it. There’s a clever commercial for the Nissan Altima that plays out this funny notion as it promotes a cool new feature on the car: a warning honk that alerts you before you over-inflate your tires.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9xFgyv8BJI]
Now admittedly, we’ve all managed this long without the benefit of an automatic over-inflation warning, but still, it’s pretty cool. And it dramatizes a point that as a marketer you should be asking yourself: What’s the cool feature you have to sell? What do you produce, offer or do that excites your audience and makes them think “Wow!”
This is a pretty ho-hum world we live in and we’ve all seen ads, commercials, websites and Facebook pages up the wazoo. So the challenge of breaking through today means finding the one or two out-of-the-ordinary things people don’t expect or don’t know about you that fascinates them. We all know that to be the all important “Wow Factor.”
In your specific industry, you already know what the baseline of expectations is (quality product, made from quality materials/ingredients, great customer service, affordable prices). That’s just the opening ante that anyone in your business must provide. But where is the Wow that you alone can talk about? That one thing, or series of things, that is not merely unique but deserves an exclamation point in the eyes of your customer.
In books such as Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach To Customer Service, or Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable, the authors write about the need to be remarkable or else become invisible. In your marketing, the same rule applies, that you must find the Wow Factor and express it in a fresh and unexpected manner so that it excites the audience and sets you in a league all your own. That way, it grabs people’s attention and has them focusing on the message and not thinking about the other stuff that might come into their minds. They’re engaged…captivated.
In doing so, you start connecting with your audience on a more intimate level, and that better allows you to persuade them, get them to trust you, get them to believe you, and get them to want to buy from you. So when your competitor tries to pull them away, they’ll stay loyal to you.
Back to the example of the Nissan Altima, the commercial demonstrates that promoting one small but really interesting feature is better than loads of features or bland generalities. That nugget of marketing gold for you might exist in one “small” aspect of your operation but demonstrates everything holographically about the way you do business. Whether it’s some unique characteristic about the what makes up the product (i.e., it doesn’t rust…even when submerged in salt water) or a particular service that you alone are offering (i.e., you’ll return every inquiry within 2 hours), it just needs to be a Wow. Anything short of Wow, whatever it is, will be background noise and nothing more. And if it’s a Wow, no matter how small it is, your marketing can make it big.
It’s time to do some corporate detective work and discover – or develop – your own Wow Factor.
And hey, did I mention the marketing director’s daughter who (HONK!!!!) … oh, never mind.
The year is 1913. The automobile is more than a novelty by this time. It is here to stay, and already, in the big cities, cars are beginning to outnumber horses on the major thoroughfares. Every young and growing family of any means has one of these contraptions. And the Ford Motor Company is pumping these babies out as fast as his factory will allow. In fact, if you’re Henry Ford, in 1913, you can’t imagine that ANYONE would want to be without a car, given its obvious speed, convenience and ability to vastly improve commerce.
But that same year, anyone who is over 50 has grown up with the horse and buggy and they are far from abandoning the most dependable and affordable form of transportation there is. Out in the countryside, they’re even more locked in to the old ways. Of course, they’re all a dying breed – literally – and one day, maybe in another decade or two, Mr. Ford will be right. But in the meantime, it still pays to be a blacksmith.
The year is 2013. Social Media is more than a novelty. And the digital universe will continue to play a growing role in how one makes choices in every area. But there’s a market divide here as well: those under 50 who, growing up, depended on television and now the Internet as their major information sources, and those over 50 who grew up with newspapers, books and encyclopedias, news magazines, radio and eight channels of TV to inform their world view. Those gray-haired Baby Boomers and pre-Boomers aren’t ready to give up the old medium forms or use the full potential of Internet the way their younger counterparts are. They still rely on traditional media and the power of face-to-face relationships to form their opinions. It’s how they’re hard-wired, even though many Boomers and older seniors may have Facebook accounts and smart phones.
For the visionary marketer under the age of 50, little wonder that he or she sees the future the way Henry Ford did in 1913. Soon, EVERYBODY will be wired, interactive, and engaged in the multiplicity of online touch points.
But whoa! If you’re reaching buyers over 50, which is the absolutely dominant market for health care, retirement living, destination travel, hospice care and funeral services, it still pays to know how to shoe horses!
I spoke last week to a senior services industry group, most of whom were Boomers or older, and they were very clear on the fact that for the next decade at least, Boomers and the older generations will remain the primary target audience. In fact, it was fascinating to note how many of these industry professionals struggled to understand how to use Facebook. Well, they’re over 50, just like their buyers!
If you’re under 50, you might chuckle at these old codgers and say their ways are fast coming to a close. But do remember, if you’re selling anything to Baby Boomers and older, these old-school marketers are more on-target than you are.
Young emerging marketing directors need to know how to employ the technological and social changes that are underway. But if you’re marketing to Boomers and older, automotively speaking, this is still 1913, not 1930. The changes that should be happening right now aren’t so much about how to use Facebook and Twitter but how to speak to the Baby Boomer better, understand their culture better, speak their language better and show up where they are. That means more relevant branding, more choices of products and services, adroit use of surprise, humor and respectful irreverence in marketing, and the avoidance of anything that reeks of clichés and stock or traditional messages.
Visionary thinking is wonderful, but while you’re looking well down the path, it pays to watch where your very next step will be as well.
“Did you hear what I just said?” my wife asked me as I was busy doing the chores this past weekend. Fessing up, I admitted that I heard her but wasn’t really listening. I think it had something to do with the dripping bathroom faucet.
There really is a difference between “listening” and “hearing” as my wife occasionally reminds me. Hearing is passive and requires no effort, while listening, on the other hand, requires focus, attention and concentration. So with that as the backdrop, as a marketer, “Are you merely “hearing” your customers or are you “listening” to them?
In today’s world, we’re all stretched for time and the need to get done everything that needs to be done. But too many marketers are becoming so technology-addicted to their iPhones and email that they forget to listen the old-fashioned way to what their customers are saying and learning what it is that they want. They’re hardly even asking them. Attention spans have compressed to seconds, and face-to-face conversations (where body language plays a big part) are avoided in favor of texting and anonymous Internet surveys. It shouldn’t surprise you then that a Harris survey found that about 25% of all Internet users think it’s okay to be “plugged in” during their honeymoon, and just under 10% think it’s alright to surf the web during religious services. Do you really think that any of these people are taking the time to listen to their customers? Hardly.
So how do you know what your customers want? One of the most common answers I hear is, “Because they told us….” Yet, for me anyway, this answer only calls for more questions. Who? When? What did they tell you? How did they tell you – online? in person? Are you sure you really understood what they were telling you? Have their wants changed?
Think about this: if understanding what your customers want is the foundation of your marketing strategy, listening to customers is going to require more than a one-time investment in classic market research tools like focus groups and customer surveys. (Can I get an Amen on that?)
It’s no big secret that the markets in which you compete are evolving. Customer preferences and wants are continually changing. New competitors are showing up. But the one constant is your customers are talking. The key to truly understanding what they want is continual engagement – through social media, one-on-one interactions, and even sales calls. Getting in front of your customers and engaging them in conversations should be a required part of every marketer’s job – from the CMO down to the marketing specialist. And this applies to both B2B and B2C companies.
Ever wonder what causes customers to flock to one brand while remaining coldly indifferent to another—even when the offerings of the companies in question aren’t substantially different? Well, my experience working with varied sized organizations in all sorts of industries says that the single most important factor that separates the good companies from the great companies is the ability to listen to their customers. Great companies are maniacal about listening and differentiate meaning from the information given. In other words, they’re doing more than hearing what their customers are saying. They’re spending quality time listening. And they’re deriving their direction from what their customers are saying.
On that note, with social media being what it is, here are a couple of things to consider to help bring home the point of how important listening really is: Almost 50% of consumers want businesses to listen to them to improve their products while 60% of consumers want businesses to respond to their complaints. And, 66% of consumers across age groups want companies to respond to online comments on social media platforms.
Here are 5 quick tips on listening to your customers, and please, share this with your staff:
Now that all said, it’s also important to understand that not all customer comments are of equal importance and listening to them without some discrimination can be dangerous. Sure, they provide valuable feedback, advice and criticism, but the stuff some customers tell you can be distracting, unfocused, self-serving and a waste of time. You can’t please everyone and you can’t meet the needs of all your customers. This is when “hearing” them is a better course of action.
At the end of the day, if you don’t care, or can’t convince your customers that you listen, you can bet they will find a competitor who does. Successful businesses walk the walk and listen to the talk,