I wanted to share this perspective on the importance of rich brand experiences , by Laurence Knight, posted on Ad Age.com 12/23/09
Want to Innovate? Then Create a Rich, Holistic Brand Experience
Here's How CMOs Can Capitalize on This Emerging Opportunity
Brand experience is rapidly becoming the new frontier for innovation.
Such brand experiences authentically embed the product into deep content or services, stretching the footprint of the brand far beyond where it is used. This type of innovation is becoming a mandate for growth across a number of consumer categories, particularly in package goods.
Not to be confused with the lifestyle marketing approach of Patagonia, North Face, Disney and the like, experience-led innovation is all about serving up rich, differentiated experiences that encourage consumer involvement and collaboration.
As CMOs look to capitalize on this emerging opportunity, they must take several prerequisite steps.
First, CMOs must rally their organizations to create a clear vision for consumer involvement. Brand development, customer service and breakthrough innovation groups should be integrated and aligned around visionary, experience-based insights that drive the involvement.
Identifying these insights unlocks product benefits and services. Gone are the days when marketing and innovation groups can focus on new product benefits to drive growth and when the innovation group fills the funnel before passing on the responsibility for managing the brand development vision to brand managers.
Insight-led research must be broadened beyond usage to examine how a brand can resonate across core consumer experience states, looking at: 1.) "How does a brand educate me?" 2.) "How does it entertain me?" 3.) "On what can it advise me?" 4.) "Is the brand an expression of me?" 5.) "Does the experience connect me to similar consumers?" 6.) "Does the brand give me a sense of purpose?"
As a team, this integrated organization needs to work seamlessly to translate the experience-based insights into an authentic, holistic experience rather than come up with only emotional and functional product benefits.
A brand that has figured this out is Nestlé's Nespresso, which goes way beyond selling packaged coffee on shelves to offer a holistic experience delivering coffee, machines and services. The brand educates, entertains and involves the fan base in the full experience of how the coffee is grown, selected and roasted. This brand understands the insights behind its experience so deeply that it can present the entertaining style of actor George Clooney alongside the educational voice of its supply-chain manager on YouTube and knows to come up with different innovative designs to appeal to the distinct preferences in different countries.
Second, as brand and innovation teams create new experience states, it's critical to define how a brand philosophy serves the fan base. To do so, it's essential to flip one's thinking, embedding the brand in experiences created rather than taking the traditional benefit-driven approach that consumer package goods have followed. For marketers it's no longer good enough to just capture and manage the brand equity as a static snapshot of benefits, essence, reason-to-believe and key differentiator.
For instance, Unilever's Axe young men's grooming brand differentiates itself by creating authentic, consistent experiences built around a "mating game" platform. Unilever involves consumers using traditional media but also draws them into whole experiences, everything from renaming a popular nightclub in New York's Hamptons to the Axe Lounge and saturating it with Axe branding to creating a female Axe Patrol that visits bars and clubs, frisking guys and applying body spray. This platform is clearly linked to the Axe brand, and no other brand could replicate these experiences and still seem authentic.
Third, with the shift toward identifying rich experience states rather than product usage, teams must experiment with new formats for describing concepts that depart from the standard 100-word limit. Now working directly with rich-media production companies, the pioneering marketers in this area are creating deep content from five to 30 minutes that is more entertaining, educational and solution-oriented. Embedded in the rich experience are 15- to 30-second sound bites that can be used in more than just traditional media activation.
Natural beauty brand Bare Escentuals embeds the simple "swirl, tap, buff" foundation-application ritual into every brand experience, both in media and at retail. This not only educates the consumer, but the ritual becomes the essence of the brand reinforced across all experience points and creates a product connection simply through the experience itself.
A key element of Bare Escentuals' marketing is QVC programming featuring CEO Leslie Blodgett, a format that demands demonstrable, experience-driven storytelling. She has created rich stories around the brand, how it's used and where it's from, and she actively recruits her fan base as unpaid advocates to go forth and evangelize. She also drew them in with a documentary-style video shared on YouTube about how the Bare Escentuals' campaign called "Try, Believe, Love" was created. She's living the experience of the brand and showing how it can be lived on so many levels.
Brands such as these that understand, embrace and innovate using experience-based insights have a true advantage in developing breakthrough innovation.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Laurence Knight is president-founder of Fletcher-Knight, a marketing-innovation consultancy that specializes in translating consumer insights into winning brand ideas and growth strategies.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Social Media's the Little Engine That Can Build Awareness
I wanted to share this interesting perspective from Judy Shapiro, posted on AdAgeDigital 12/16/09
Social Media's the Little Engine That Can Build Awareness
Here Are Six Reasons Why It Will in 2010
Remember the children's story "The Little Engine That Could"? It told of how the big shiny engines were not up to the task of getting up over the hill to deliver the toys to the kids in time for the holidays. Instead, despite the skeptics, it was the little engine in an act of pure will, that kept telling itself, "I think I can, I think I can," who was able to get over the big hill to get the job done.
In some ways, social media is like that little engine (and I use the term social media in its broadest sense to encompass digital and social media). Everyone is playing with social media, but there is a deeply held perception that social media lacks mass audience reach, measurability and depth to get the job done. This perception fuels the debate of whether digital agencies are "ready to lead," which as been a hot topic even within this very forum. Some digital agencies contend that social media is mature enough to be the leading vehicle whereas big agencies stay true to the law of large numbers that traditional media reliably delivers.
But the debate about who should lead seems rather irrelevant, because the key concern should be what will work to get over that "awareness hill" that every advertiser must scale to achieve business results. Is the little social media engine ready to scale the big hill?
"I think it can" and here's why.
When social media exploded on the scene (and I think that's a fair characterization), it garnered attention because it held the promise of microtargeting in combination with a new level of engagement that one-way traditional advertising could never duplicate. No one doubted the value of reaching people in these highly engaged environments, but no one really knew how to do it efficiently en masse. Large agencies operated within the traditional ad model that delivered numbers while digital agencies tended to rely on the "viral" nature of their tactics to deliver large numbers. That approach was too hit-and-miss to satisfy most businesses and rightfully so.
This is why, until now, social media has not captured a larger share of big advertisers' budgets -- it seems oxymoronic that social media's microtargeting capability can ever deliver mass audiences.
But like our little engine, I believe 2010 will be the year where the social media finally says "I think I can" to deliver large audiences because the technology pieces are coming together to create the formula for audience reach, measurability and interactivity that yield intent and business results. There is a new maturity in this space as represented, for example, by marketers who now understand that thousands of Twitter followers has no direct relevance to effectiveness or that Facebook alone can not launch campaigns.
Here's how the social media engine can be used to deliver mass audiences efficiently:
Social Media's the Little Engine That Can Build Awareness
Here Are Six Reasons Why It Will in 2010
Remember the children's story "The Little Engine That Could"? It told of how the big shiny engines were not up to the task of getting up over the hill to deliver the toys to the kids in time for the holidays. Instead, despite the skeptics, it was the little engine in an act of pure will, that kept telling itself, "I think I can, I think I can," who was able to get over the big hill to get the job done.
In some ways, social media is like that little engine (and I use the term social media in its broadest sense to encompass digital and social media). Everyone is playing with social media, but there is a deeply held perception that social media lacks mass audience reach, measurability and depth to get the job done. This perception fuels the debate of whether digital agencies are "ready to lead," which as been a hot topic even within this very forum. Some digital agencies contend that social media is mature enough to be the leading vehicle whereas big agencies stay true to the law of large numbers that traditional media reliably delivers.
But the debate about who should lead seems rather irrelevant, because the key concern should be what will work to get over that "awareness hill" that every advertiser must scale to achieve business results. Is the little social media engine ready to scale the big hill?
"I think it can" and here's why.
When social media exploded on the scene (and I think that's a fair characterization), it garnered attention because it held the promise of microtargeting in combination with a new level of engagement that one-way traditional advertising could never duplicate. No one doubted the value of reaching people in these highly engaged environments, but no one really knew how to do it efficiently en masse. Large agencies operated within the traditional ad model that delivered numbers while digital agencies tended to rely on the "viral" nature of their tactics to deliver large numbers. That approach was too hit-and-miss to satisfy most businesses and rightfully so.
This is why, until now, social media has not captured a larger share of big advertisers' budgets -- it seems oxymoronic that social media's microtargeting capability can ever deliver mass audiences.
But like our little engine, I believe 2010 will be the year where the social media finally says "I think I can" to deliver large audiences because the technology pieces are coming together to create the formula for audience reach, measurability and interactivity that yield intent and business results. There is a new maturity in this space as represented, for example, by marketers who now understand that thousands of Twitter followers has no direct relevance to effectiveness or that Facebook alone can not launch campaigns.
Here's how the social media engine can be used to deliver mass audiences efficiently:
- Think about creating "content campaigns" to drive a focused message using a multichannel approach, e.g video, mobile marketing, social networks and even traditional media. This approach puts the value on content as an audience builder but in a very strategic way. And to help content campaigns along, there are innovative new technology companies, like WebCollage, that offer content syndication and management services to make this task very efficient on a large scale.
- Tap into the power of your customer service organization to be your social-media front-line soldiers. It is one of the most powerful ways to achieve mass reach within current organizational resources. JetBlue is a great example here as they make it a point to respond to every tweet within minutes.
- Create mobile apps to propel new interactions while allowing you to bake in the viral looping element. Gap Style Mixer is a great example; the app gets you in-store discounts while letting you share the discounts with friends.
- Use behaviorally appropriate ad networks as the "carpet layer" of a social-media campaign to deliver large number of impressions similar to the old fashioned GRP (gross rating points) of TV. But to ensure that impressions deliver interactivity, weave in a diversity of behavioral targeting opportunities and retargeting programs from companies like FetchBack or SearchIgnite (this is where you re-present ad an to a target who did not respond the first time).
- Adapt real-world social networks to extend the reach of your social media campaigns. One innovative company in this space is called HouseParty, which allows people to host real world parties for product sampling (think Tupperware parties or Avon Ladies). This company cleverly utilizes social media so they can deliver large scale numbers quickly and efficiently.
- Introduce new tools to measure social media that focus on engagement, interactivity and intent. One great example is a company called Nuconomy, which provides new tools to understand how interactivity drives intent and sales.
As in our story, when the little engine scaled over the hill, it gleefully said "I thought I could, I thought I could." Perhaps 2010 will be the year when the social media is able to say the same.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Judy Shapiro is senior VP at Paltalk and has held senior marketing positions at Comodo, Computer Associates, Lucent Technologies, AT&T and Bell Labs. Her blog, Trench Wars, provides insights on how to create business value on the internet.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
The Economic Recovery Mirrors Customer Strategy
This is an interesting article that compares and equates the broad economic dynamics of the past year with that companies in how they deliver to their customers...
"There was a shattering of confidence and no trust" within the global banking sector. If a lack of confidence and trust brought the world's economies to their knees, imagine how a lack of customer confidence and trust can impact a company. "Once confidence goes, you're in a terrible position because you don't know how far down it will go," added Gerard Lyons, Ph.D., chief economist at Britain's Standard Chartered Bank. He was referring to national economies, but he may as well have been speaking to a room full of customer executives.
1to1 Weekly
Date: 11/09/2009
Issue: November 9, 2009
The Economic Recovery Mirrors Customer Strategy
Global economic recovery and customer-focused business strategy have a lot in common.
These days, when economists get together, the conversation usually isn't pretty. The Great Recession this past year hit almost every industrialized nation, and then some. At last week's Premier Business Leadership Series (PBLS) conference, however, leading economists framed what they think will be a global recovery in a way that mirrors customer-centric strategy.
The recession has two overarching causes, according to Joseph Quinlan, managing director and chief market strategist at Bank of America's Global Wealth and Investment Management division. "There was a shattering of confidence and no trust" within the global banking sector, he said. If a lack of confidence and trust brought the world's economies to their knees, imagine how a lack of customer confidence and trust can impact a company. "Once confidence goes, you're in a terrible position because you don't know how far down it will go," added Gerard Lyons, Ph.D., chief economist at Britain's Standard Chartered Bank. He was referring to national economies, but he may as well have been speaking to a room full of customer executives.
As the recovery begins, the tactics and strategies being discussed sounded a lot like what you would find in a customer strategy playbook. "We are seeing the first flickering signs of recovery," said David Hale, a global economist at Hale Advisors, referring to slightly positive numbers around housing starts, consumer confidence, and the loosening of credit by banks. However, we've got a long way to go, he said, and there is still rampant unemployment and uncertainty.
One positive outcome of the recession, Hale noted, was that as a consequence of layoffs in the U.S. there has been a gain in productivity compared to other nations that did not eliminate as many jobs. "U.S. businesses will enter 2010 ten to 15 percent more competitive than Japan or Germany," he told the PBLS audience. "This puts us in a good position for export growth."
Growth in exports is akin to a strong customer acquisition and retention plan: Who are we going to export U.S. goods and services to, and will they buy? Lyons said that within the past decade more people in the world have emerged from poverty, creating a new middle class in China, India, and other parts of the world. As potential customer bases expand, nations will have to understand the needs of these new consumers to deliver the right products and grow share-of-wallet in these emerging markets. "Countries with the ability to adapt and change will be successful," Lyons said.
The invisible versus the visible handIt's almost impossible to get a group of economists together without someone bringing up Adam Smith, the father of modern economics. And the PBLS event was no different. During the conclave Lyons pointed out that Smith's term "the invisible hand," which describes the free market, doesn't tell the whole story. He explained that Smith also defined a "visible hand" – morality and ethics. "People talk about the power of the invisible hand, but not the visible," Lyons said. "The financial sector has lost that."
This is another direct reflection of customer-centric thinking. As Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Ph.D., discuss in their latest book, Rules to Break and Laws to Follow, a company that does not act in the best interests of its customers shouldn't operate a business at all. Acting in customers' best interest is necessary to create an internal corporate culture that encourages morality and ethics in all business dealings. Trust and transparency, effective employee engagement, and the balance of short- and long-term strategy are the foundation of a successful customer-focused organization, they write. It's also the foundation for a successful global economy. "We need to get some morality and ethics back in the system and focus on the long-term opportunity," Lyons said.
"There was a shattering of confidence and no trust" within the global banking sector. If a lack of confidence and trust brought the world's economies to their knees, imagine how a lack of customer confidence and trust can impact a company. "Once confidence goes, you're in a terrible position because you don't know how far down it will go," added Gerard Lyons, Ph.D., chief economist at Britain's Standard Chartered Bank. He was referring to national economies, but he may as well have been speaking to a room full of customer executives.
1to1 Weekly
Date: 11/09/2009
Issue: November 9, 2009
The Economic Recovery Mirrors Customer Strategy
Global economic recovery and customer-focused business strategy have a lot in common.
These days, when economists get together, the conversation usually isn't pretty. The Great Recession this past year hit almost every industrialized nation, and then some. At last week's Premier Business Leadership Series (PBLS) conference, however, leading economists framed what they think will be a global recovery in a way that mirrors customer-centric strategy.
The recession has two overarching causes, according to Joseph Quinlan, managing director and chief market strategist at Bank of America's Global Wealth and Investment Management division. "There was a shattering of confidence and no trust" within the global banking sector, he said. If a lack of confidence and trust brought the world's economies to their knees, imagine how a lack of customer confidence and trust can impact a company. "Once confidence goes, you're in a terrible position because you don't know how far down it will go," added Gerard Lyons, Ph.D., chief economist at Britain's Standard Chartered Bank. He was referring to national economies, but he may as well have been speaking to a room full of customer executives.
As the recovery begins, the tactics and strategies being discussed sounded a lot like what you would find in a customer strategy playbook. "We are seeing the first flickering signs of recovery," said David Hale, a global economist at Hale Advisors, referring to slightly positive numbers around housing starts, consumer confidence, and the loosening of credit by banks. However, we've got a long way to go, he said, and there is still rampant unemployment and uncertainty.
One positive outcome of the recession, Hale noted, was that as a consequence of layoffs in the U.S. there has been a gain in productivity compared to other nations that did not eliminate as many jobs. "U.S. businesses will enter 2010 ten to 15 percent more competitive than Japan or Germany," he told the PBLS audience. "This puts us in a good position for export growth."
Growth in exports is akin to a strong customer acquisition and retention plan: Who are we going to export U.S. goods and services to, and will they buy? Lyons said that within the past decade more people in the world have emerged from poverty, creating a new middle class in China, India, and other parts of the world. As potential customer bases expand, nations will have to understand the needs of these new consumers to deliver the right products and grow share-of-wallet in these emerging markets. "Countries with the ability to adapt and change will be successful," Lyons said.
The invisible versus the visible handIt's almost impossible to get a group of economists together without someone bringing up Adam Smith, the father of modern economics. And the PBLS event was no different. During the conclave Lyons pointed out that Smith's term "the invisible hand," which describes the free market, doesn't tell the whole story. He explained that Smith also defined a "visible hand" – morality and ethics. "People talk about the power of the invisible hand, but not the visible," Lyons said. "The financial sector has lost that."
This is another direct reflection of customer-centric thinking. As Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Ph.D., discuss in their latest book, Rules to Break and Laws to Follow, a company that does not act in the best interests of its customers shouldn't operate a business at all. Acting in customers' best interest is necessary to create an internal corporate culture that encourages morality and ethics in all business dealings. Trust and transparency, effective employee engagement, and the balance of short- and long-term strategy are the foundation of a successful customer-focused organization, they write. It's also the foundation for a successful global economy. "We need to get some morality and ethics back in the system and focus on the long-term opportunity," Lyons said.
Monday, November 30, 2009
If You're Wondering What Not To Do When It Comes to Social Media, Learn From BCS
To the RichCustomerExperience Community, I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving! With the holiday shopping season upon us, I know there will be many companies who will deliver you a rich customer experience. I am even more confident there will be companies who will leave you disappointed. Please share your stories with us...
In the meantime, I wanted to share this good article that reinforces an important lesson regarding how to use, and how not to use, social media.
The BCS might not be your favorite institution, but it has kindly spent the last week creating a useful case study in how not to use social media...but it made the classic mistake—at least initially—of treating these social-media platforms like propaganda broadcast tools, rather than a way of finding out what, exactly, fans want.
If You're Wondering What Not To Do When It Comes to Social Media, Learn From BCS
http://adage.com/article?article_id=140754
In the meantime, I wanted to share this good article that reinforces an important lesson regarding how to use, and how not to use, social media.
The BCS might not be your favorite institution, but it has kindly spent the last week creating a useful case study in how not to use social media...but it made the classic mistake—at least initially—of treating these social-media platforms like propaganda broadcast tools, rather than a way of finding out what, exactly, fans want.
If You're Wondering What Not To Do When It Comes to Social Media, Learn From BCS
http://adage.com/article?article_id=140754
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Behind Coca-Cola's Biggest Social-Media Push Yet
This is a real interesting article on how Coca-Cola is gearing up for its largest social-media project ever, one that will test its own internal flexibility and force a number of its global markets into the digital and social-media space. Although I am not convinced that this project will really sell more Cokes, I do applaud their aggressive move into social media and inserting this new channel, that is becoming pervasive in many peoples' everyday lives, into their marketing machine toolkit.
http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=140591
http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=140591
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
My Rich Experience at Springsteen Concert
Much has been written about companies needing to deliver a "rich customer experience" built around their products and services and all aspects of their brand to their consumers. The other night I was enjoying myself at yet another Bruce Springsteen concert and came to the realization on something I guess I had always known as a loyal fan...he delivers a great experience, everytime. Performers should be held up to as high a standard when it comes to delivering on a memorable, satisfying and enjoyable experience. If they don't, they face the same consequences as the retailer or the airline does...growing customer discontent, less loyalty, fewer purchases, poor word-of-mouth, declining profits...
Anyways, back to The Boss. Throughout his long career, he has always been known for delivering marathon-length concerts packed with his non-stop energy, emotion and responsiveness to his fans. Even now at the age of 60 years-young, his fans comes first.
Anyways, back to The Boss. Throughout his long career, he has always been known for delivering marathon-length concerts packed with his non-stop energy, emotion and responsiveness to his fans. Even now at the age of 60 years-young, his fans comes first.
On this tour, he is playing certain albums in their entirety among the 3-hour set-list. This night, he played Born to Run. As he noted on stage, this was the first album to start a real “conversation” between himself and his now-rabid fan base. More than 30 years after its release, this album still touches a powerful chord among the Springsteen faithful. He also takes requests from the crowd. There were hundreds of homemade signs with names of songs on them, and sometimes even a special message. "Living Proof" was a request the Band wasn't prepared to play. A sign with a photo of an infant, "future Boss fan," born two weeks ago Sunday night, prompted Springsteen to tackle the song. It took a while for him to get everyone together. It was like a glimpse of a rehearsal, but they got it right. That moment gave a feeling of intimacy, not sloppiness. He also went into the crowd multiple times, even at one time "body-surfing" the crowd from half-way back on the floor, trusting his faithful would get him back where he belongs on stage.
At times, it was hard to tell who was enjoying the concert more, the crowd or Springsteen. Truly a rich customer experience. Can't wait until the next show!
Marketing Needs a CMO: Why It's Time to Restore Marketing's Credibility by Driving Growth
Here's an interesting article that offers a perspective on the credibility, relevance and importance of marketing today... along with a good discussion that follows
http://adage.com/cmostrategy/article?article_id=140520
http://adage.com/cmostrategy/article?article_id=140520
Monday, November 16, 2009
2009 State of Marketing Study: The Shift
Prophet recently released results of it's latest survey, 2009 State of Marketing Study: The Shift, conducted in partnership with the Association of National Advertisers. The goal of their research was to understand how marketers are shifting their roles from supporting business growth to being in the driver's seat and leading the growth agenda. Elevating marketing to a higher level requires both mindset and cultural shifts that start with, but are by no means limited to, marketing leadership. This study uncovered that while marketers from all walks and at all levels understand the need to effect such shifts, they’re further away from its realization than they think. See an executive summary of survey results here
http://www.prophet.com/downloads/whitepapers/shift-survey-2009.pdf
http://www.prophet.com/downloads/whitepapers/shift-survey-2009.pdf
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Customer-centric view to define future CMOs: Forrester
Here's interesting but expected findings from a new study from Forrester...
Forrester Research data released this month shows that just over one in 10 companies value data-driven customer intelligence at the C-level. However, analyst Dave Frankland, the report's author, expects that to improve.
Forrester found in its October 16 study, The Intelligent Approach to Customer Intelligence, that 12% of company executives embrace customer intelligence, defined as "the management and analysis of customer data from all sources, used to drive marketing performance and business strategy."
In the study, the result of interviews over the past year with customer intelligence professionals, including a survey of 301 during the year's second quarter, Frankland noted marketing departments are likely to become "customer advocate[s]" as they try to reach savvier, advertising-skeptical consumers while demonstrating bottom-line results.
"In many organizations, the database was built solely to send direct mail," Frankland said. "Now, many companies are waking up to the fact that this isn't a contact opportunity, it's a knowledge opportunity."
It's likely that CMOs will lead this charge toward more accountable marketing, he added.
"The traditional archetype of CMO is focused on the brand, and though that will never go away, I think the focus on the customer hasn't always been there as much as it should," Frankland said. "There is the opportunity for the CMO to become the change agent.”
"When we discuss this with direct marketers, we tell them this is an opportunity for them to enhance their role in the organization," he added.
Forrester Research data released this month shows that just over one in 10 companies value data-driven customer intelligence at the C-level. However, analyst Dave Frankland, the report's author, expects that to improve.
Forrester found in its October 16 study, The Intelligent Approach to Customer Intelligence, that 12% of company executives embrace customer intelligence, defined as "the management and analysis of customer data from all sources, used to drive marketing performance and business strategy."
In the study, the result of interviews over the past year with customer intelligence professionals, including a survey of 301 during the year's second quarter, Frankland noted marketing departments are likely to become "customer advocate[s]" as they try to reach savvier, advertising-skeptical consumers while demonstrating bottom-line results.
"In many organizations, the database was built solely to send direct mail," Frankland said. "Now, many companies are waking up to the fact that this isn't a contact opportunity, it's a knowledge opportunity."
It's likely that CMOs will lead this charge toward more accountable marketing, he added.
"The traditional archetype of CMO is focused on the brand, and though that will never go away, I think the focus on the customer hasn't always been there as much as it should," Frankland said. "There is the opportunity for the CMO to become the change agent.”
"When we discuss this with direct marketers, we tell them this is an opportunity for them to enhance their role in the organization," he added.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
A little humor
Taking a slight detour from the all serious and important topics related to the customer experience, I wanted to share a funny clip on How NOT to use Powerpoint. Perhaps a learning opportunity here as well. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cagxPlVqrtM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cagxPlVqrtM
Monday, September 21, 2009
Knowledge-Sharing Resources
Aside from sharing all our own personal and professional rich customer experiences with one another, there are also plenty of other good resources like blogs and industry websites where we can also turn to for knowledge. I wanted to share my set of resources that I track and monitor with you, in hopes you might be able to share some of your top knowledge-sharing resources with our Community as well...
CRM2.0: http://blogs.zdnet.com/crm/
Customer Experience: http://www.rightnow.com/blog/
Paul Greenberg http://the56group.typepad.com/
Destination CRM: http://www.destinationcrmblog.com/
Brent Leary: http://crm2.typepad.com/brents_blog/
Inside CRM: http://www.insidecrm.com/
CRM daily: http://www.crm-daily.com/
CRM Buyer: http://crmbuyer.com/
1 to1 media: http://blogs.zdnet.com/crm/
Bruce Tempin/Forrester> http://experiencematters.wordpress.com/
Forrester/Marketing Leadership> http://blogs.forrester.com/agencies/
Dave Frankland/Forrester> http://blogs.forrester.com/marketing/daves_posts/
Customer Think www.customerThink.com
CRM Outsiders http://www.crmoutsiders.com/
Collection of CRM Intelligence> http://freecrmstrategies.wordpress.com/
Graham Hill's blog has some good insights> http://www.customerthink.com/user_content/37 Peppers & Rogers > http://www.peppersandrogersgroup.com/blog/
Big Fat Marketing blog http://www.bigfatmarketingblog.com/
Ultimate Customer Experience http://ultimatecustomerexperience.blogspot.com
Vitamin IMC vitaminimc.blogspot.com
Trends > http://www.trendcentral.com/WebApps/App/Global/Home.aspx Branding/Advertising blog> http://www.influxinsights.com/blog/
Interactive Marketing/Advertising blog> http://www.adverblog.com/
Customer value resources http://www.colloquy.com/
Peppers&Rogers http://www.1to1.com/
Yankelovich data-driven marketing> http://www.yankelovich.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
Marketing charts for download> http://www.marketingcharts.com/
Technorati blog search engine http://technoratimedia.com/
MarketingSherpa http://www.marketingsherpa.com/
BtoB Magazine http://www.btobonline.com/
Target Marketing http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/
MyCustomer http://www.mycustomer.com/
Top 100 Social Media Cheat Sheet for Business http://www.linkedin.com/news?viewArticle=&articleID=52413013&gid=146431&articleURL=http%3A%2F%2Fnextmark%2Etypepad%2Ecom%2Fblog%2F2009%2F07%2Ftop-100-b2b-social-media-cheat-sheet%2Ehtml&urlhash=Z91s&trk=news_discuss>
CRM2.0: http://blogs.zdnet.com/crm/
Customer Experience: http://www.rightnow.com/blog/
Paul Greenberg http://the56group.typepad.com/
Destination CRM: http://www.destinationcrmblog.com/
Brent Leary: http://crm2.typepad.com/brents_blog/
Inside CRM: http://www.insidecrm.com/
CRM daily: http://www.crm-daily.com/
CRM Buyer: http://crmbuyer.com/
1 to1 media: http://blogs.zdnet.com/crm/
Bruce Tempin/Forrester> http://experiencematters.wordpress.com/
Forrester/Marketing Leadership> http://blogs.forrester.com/agencies/
Dave Frankland/Forrester> http://blogs.forrester.com/marketing/daves_posts/
Customer Think www.customerThink.com
CRM Outsiders http://www.crmoutsiders.com/
Collection of CRM Intelligence> http://freecrmstrategies.wordpress.com/
Graham Hill's blog has some good insights> http://www.customerthink.com/user_content/37 Peppers & Rogers > http://www.peppersandrogersgroup.com/blog/
Big Fat Marketing blog http://www.bigfatmarketingblog.com/
Ultimate Customer Experience http://ultimatecustomerexperience.blogspot.com
Vitamin IMC vitaminimc.blogspot.com
Trends > http://www.trendcentral.com/WebApps/App/Global/Home.aspx Branding/Advertising blog> http://www.influxinsights.com/blog/
Interactive Marketing/Advertising blog> http://www.adverblog.com/
Customer value resources http://www.colloquy.com/
Peppers&Rogers http://www.1to1.com/
Yankelovich data-driven marketing> http://www.yankelovich.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
Marketing charts for download> http://www.marketingcharts.com/
Technorati blog search engine http://technoratimedia.com/
MarketingSherpa http://www.marketingsherpa.com/
BtoB Magazine http://www.btobonline.com/
Target Marketing http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/
MyCustomer http://www.mycustomer.com/
Top 100 Social Media Cheat Sheet for Business http://www.linkedin.com/news?viewArticle=&articleID=52413013&gid=146431&articleURL=http%3A%2F%2Fnextmark%2Etypepad%2Ecom%2Fblog%2F2009%2F07%2Ftop-100-b2b-social-media-cheat-sheet%2Ehtml&urlhash=Z91s&trk=news_discuss>
Friday, August 7, 2009
How much does the role of company recruiters impact the customer brand experience?
A recent report from Forrester Research shows that customer experience is closely tied to customer loyalty, and that the correlation between the two has been increasing. In the report, customer experience was measured by whether the company meets a customer's needs, whether the company is easy to work with, and the enjoyability of a consumer's interactions with the company. Bruce Temkin of Forrester also states that the most fundamental customer experience principle is that "every interaction creates a personal reaction, simply put, experiences are totally in the eyes of the beholder."
According to a related study from SAS Institute and Peppers & Rogers Group, only 20 percent of companies today even try to know the state of their customer experience by measuring it holistically across all channels.
Throughout my consulting career, I have been helping companies to recognize that it is the summary of all customer touchpoints, not solely advertising and marketing activities, that form that customer brand experience. I believe one major, "under-the-radar" result of this economic recession and competitive jobs market is the new and growing impact that HR (now sometimes called Talent Acquisition) is having on the company brand experience.
Over the past six months, I have interacted (or attempted) with HR/Talent Acq. recruiters at over 100 companies. Based on my own personal job search, the typical "experience" has been a general lack of acknowledgement, status or response to job applications, even sometimes when after actually going through the interview process. I miss the days of rejection letters in the mail, which at least provided closure. Likewise, I have heard very similar and frightening stories from others. In my opinion, the millions of job-seekers out there today, who may also be potential current consumers, as well as future company business leaders, vendors, partners or industry peers, are experiencing very poor interactions with many companies that will stick with them (and everyone they tell). It's too early to tell just yet the longer-term impacts on company brands from this current phenomena, but I think it's worth noting the importance and influence of company HR/Talent Acq recruiters who are on the front-lines.
Whether you have interacted with company recruiters recently or not, how much does the role of HR impact, whether positively or negatively, the customer brand experience in today's bad economy?
According to a related study from SAS Institute and Peppers & Rogers Group, only 20 percent of companies today even try to know the state of their customer experience by measuring it holistically across all channels.
Throughout my consulting career, I have been helping companies to recognize that it is the summary of all customer touchpoints, not solely advertising and marketing activities, that form that customer brand experience. I believe one major, "under-the-radar" result of this economic recession and competitive jobs market is the new and growing impact that HR (now sometimes called Talent Acquisition) is having on the company brand experience.
Over the past six months, I have interacted (or attempted) with HR/Talent Acq. recruiters at over 100 companies. Based on my own personal job search, the typical "experience" has been a general lack of acknowledgement, status or response to job applications, even sometimes when after actually going through the interview process. I miss the days of rejection letters in the mail, which at least provided closure. Likewise, I have heard very similar and frightening stories from others. In my opinion, the millions of job-seekers out there today, who may also be potential current consumers, as well as future company business leaders, vendors, partners or industry peers, are experiencing very poor interactions with many companies that will stick with them (and everyone they tell). It's too early to tell just yet the longer-term impacts on company brands from this current phenomena, but I think it's worth noting the importance and influence of company HR/Talent Acq recruiters who are on the front-lines.
Whether you have interacted with company recruiters recently or not, how much does the role of HR impact, whether positively or negatively, the customer brand experience in today's bad economy?
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Share your good company customer experiences
In a previous discussion, we talked about bad company customer experiences. I think people will think twice now about flying United Airlines, or signing up for AT&T (dis)service.
Anyways, please share any of your good or great company customer experiences ALONG with why you think so. Thank you.
Anyways, please share any of your good or great company customer experiences ALONG with why you think so. Thank you.
Blog Community Engagement
It often takes a little while for new blogs like this one to gain traction through posts and comments to discussions on an ongoing basis. Until then, I will initiate topics more frequently to keep the momentum.
I value your current participation, whether just monitoring or posting, and hope you continue to find increasing value here. As your time and interest allows, please feel free to go back to any previous discussions to post any comment, or start up a new topic of interest to you.
Thank you again for being a part of the Rich Customer Experience Community.
I value your current participation, whether just monitoring or posting, and hope you continue to find increasing value here. As your time and interest allows, please feel free to go back to any previous discussions to post any comment, or start up a new topic of interest to you.
Thank you again for being a part of the Rich Customer Experience Community.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Share your bad company customer experiences
Every one of us has experienced just bad, horrendous service from a company or organization at one time or another. Aside from all of us being consumers, the fact that we are also customer and marketing professionals makes these customer "experiences" that much more shocking.
Please share any of your bad company customer experiences ALONG with how you would have managed the situation after it occurred or prevented it in the first place.
Please share any of your bad company customer experiences ALONG with how you would have managed the situation after it occurred or prevented it in the first place.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
What is your definition of CRM?
There are literally hundreds of definitions of CRM (customer relationship management) out there. My own personal one is: a company-wide business philosophy embodied throughout an organization that puts customers first, with the objective of engaging them to build mutually-beneficial long-term, valuable relationships.
What is your definition or what are attributes that you believe it should include?
What is your definition or what are attributes that you believe it should include?
Pre-Launch...10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...
Once again, thank you for being a part of the Rich Customer Experience Community. With the launch of this new blog, I wanted to reiterate that its relevancy and value for everyone is driven on your active engagement. However, if you just want to monitor the discussions, that's ok too. Hopefully this new community will become a meaningful resource to you for spurring new ideas, challenging old ones, identifying and sharing best practices (or worst practices), helping a peer to solve a problem or any other useful purpose.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Welcome...
Welcome to the Rich Customer Experience Community!
Before launching into the first topics of discussion, I wanted to first provide just a little background on how I began my career and the path, with its twists & turns, that led me here.
Growing up watching way too much tv during my childhood, in some unconscious way, Darrin Stephens (both of them) and the antics at McMann & Tate exposed me to the glamorous, exciting and "magical" world of advertising. Of course, I was watching re-runs, since Bewitched ran from 1964 to 1972. I can't pinpoint any other significant influences on my career aspirations looking back now, although I somehow knew during my high school days that I wanted to study both advertising and marketing, two discliplines I felt were so inter-connected that I wanted to understand both. That led me to Syracuse University, where I could major in both simultaneously. During this time, my interest in both fields continued to grow and reconfirmed my decision and focus. However, it seemed like another tv drama came along and influenced me further. Although I wasn't even a twenty-something yet, I became hooked on the ad agency world from 1987-1991 watching Michael and Elliott and the travails at DAA on Thirtysomething. I knew then that I had to be a copywriter at an ad agency.
As my graduation in 1990 was now fast-approaching, I soon began to face the stark realization that breaking into advertising, on the creative side nonetheless, would not be easy, especially with the industry heading into an economic tailspin. This is where the path became bumpy...
During my last semester of school, I flew to Chicago (all on my own dime, or I should say credit card) for two days just to drop of my resume and portfolio around town and pound the pavement. I left with blistery, bleeding feet and had to catch the train back to the airport wearing only socks...
Heading back again to Chicago that summer for 9 days, again all on my own...credit card, I managed to obtain 31 informational interviews at almost every major and minor ad agency in town. Of course, no one was hiring, but it was a start...
Realizing that I wasn't going to find a job while still living at home in Upstate New York, I was determined to save up money and move to Chicago one year from my graduation date...
On the morning of May 6, 1991, I hit the road with all my life's belongings (or at least what I could squeeze into my small sports car) and hit the road, never to look back...and arrived in Chicago 12 hours later without a job, a place to live, or even knowing anyone. Well, that is not entirely true. This was not some spontaneous adventure. If you know me, I research and plan out everything. Actually, I had been planning this for a year...
I lived in a tiny but nice dorm room at Northwestern's graduate housing building at 850 N. Lake Shore Drive for $12/night. It fit my budget well. Lived on peanut butter & jelly sandwiches and water as my two meals a day, every day. Ummm...
Outside of my ongoing informational and real job interviews, the only person I ever spoke with was the newspaper guy at the corner of Michigan and Chicago Avenues, who I passed about ten times a day.
Finally, finally, after three months, landed my first job in advertising at a small ad agency off of Michigan Avenue. I had kept in touch with them since speaking with them the summer before. I was earning $10,500/year with no benefits, no paid holidays, no vacation time. It didn't matter. I was in. I could now move out of the dorm. I could now stop eating pb&j.
I was now a copywriter (as well as anything else they asked me to do each day). Nine months later, though, the agency was sold to a larger one and I was let go, but it didn't matter because I was on my way.
Two months later, I was working in a new position with a large publishing company, doing direct mail, advertising, PR and promotions. I was beginning my strategic shift from creative advertising to integrated marketing. A few years later, went back to school full-time and earned my MS in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern. Then off to Leo Burnett, where I led all database marketing programs for two large brands. Wanting to gain broader industry experience, I entered the world of consulting for the next eight years with Andersen, KPMG Consulting and BearingPoint (all the same company--but that's another long story), where I consulted to Fortune 500 clients across many industries on a wide range of customer, marketing and branding strategic & operational issues and solutions to improve the customer brand experience and the effectiveness of delivering it. My most recent stop was on the client side, leading the database and interactive marketing teams at USG, a Fortume 500 building-materials manufacturer.
Over this Long path, my professional as well as personal life events have shaped and instilled in me a passion for rich customer experiences. Thank you for allowing me to share a little background. Now, on to our discussions!
Before launching into the first topics of discussion, I wanted to first provide just a little background on how I began my career and the path, with its twists & turns, that led me here.
Growing up watching way too much tv during my childhood, in some unconscious way, Darrin Stephens (both of them) and the antics at McMann & Tate exposed me to the glamorous, exciting and "magical" world of advertising. Of course, I was watching re-runs, since Bewitched ran from 1964 to 1972. I can't pinpoint any other significant influences on my career aspirations looking back now, although I somehow knew during my high school days that I wanted to study both advertising and marketing, two discliplines I felt were so inter-connected that I wanted to understand both. That led me to Syracuse University, where I could major in both simultaneously. During this time, my interest in both fields continued to grow and reconfirmed my decision and focus. However, it seemed like another tv drama came along and influenced me further. Although I wasn't even a twenty-something yet, I became hooked on the ad agency world from 1987-1991 watching Michael and Elliott and the travails at DAA on Thirtysomething. I knew then that I had to be a copywriter at an ad agency.
As my graduation in 1990 was now fast-approaching, I soon began to face the stark realization that breaking into advertising, on the creative side nonetheless, would not be easy, especially with the industry heading into an economic tailspin. This is where the path became bumpy...
During my last semester of school, I flew to Chicago (all on my own dime, or I should say credit card) for two days just to drop of my resume and portfolio around town and pound the pavement. I left with blistery, bleeding feet and had to catch the train back to the airport wearing only socks...
Heading back again to Chicago that summer for 9 days, again all on my own...credit card, I managed to obtain 31 informational interviews at almost every major and minor ad agency in town. Of course, no one was hiring, but it was a start...
Realizing that I wasn't going to find a job while still living at home in Upstate New York, I was determined to save up money and move to Chicago one year from my graduation date...
On the morning of May 6, 1991, I hit the road with all my life's belongings (or at least what I could squeeze into my small sports car) and hit the road, never to look back...and arrived in Chicago 12 hours later without a job, a place to live, or even knowing anyone. Well, that is not entirely true. This was not some spontaneous adventure. If you know me, I research and plan out everything. Actually, I had been planning this for a year...
I lived in a tiny but nice dorm room at Northwestern's graduate housing building at 850 N. Lake Shore Drive for $12/night. It fit my budget well. Lived on peanut butter & jelly sandwiches and water as my two meals a day, every day. Ummm...
Outside of my ongoing informational and real job interviews, the only person I ever spoke with was the newspaper guy at the corner of Michigan and Chicago Avenues, who I passed about ten times a day.
Finally, finally, after three months, landed my first job in advertising at a small ad agency off of Michigan Avenue. I had kept in touch with them since speaking with them the summer before. I was earning $10,500/year with no benefits, no paid holidays, no vacation time. It didn't matter. I was in. I could now move out of the dorm. I could now stop eating pb&j.
I was now a copywriter (as well as anything else they asked me to do each day). Nine months later, though, the agency was sold to a larger one and I was let go, but it didn't matter because I was on my way.
Two months later, I was working in a new position with a large publishing company, doing direct mail, advertising, PR and promotions. I was beginning my strategic shift from creative advertising to integrated marketing. A few years later, went back to school full-time and earned my MS in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern. Then off to Leo Burnett, where I led all database marketing programs for two large brands. Wanting to gain broader industry experience, I entered the world of consulting for the next eight years with Andersen, KPMG Consulting and BearingPoint (all the same company--but that's another long story), where I consulted to Fortune 500 clients across many industries on a wide range of customer, marketing and branding strategic & operational issues and solutions to improve the customer brand experience and the effectiveness of delivering it. My most recent stop was on the client side, leading the database and interactive marketing teams at USG, a Fortume 500 building-materials manufacturer.
Over this Long path, my professional as well as personal life events have shaped and instilled in me a passion for rich customer experiences. Thank you for allowing me to share a little background. Now, on to our discussions!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
