Posted by Deborah Chaddock Brown on March 21, 2010 under Books, Communication, Connecting Moments, marketing, social media | 
Once again Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton have corraled a couple hundred writers, marketers, and entrepreneurs and asked them to provide their valuable insights into connecting with the customer through social media. The book is currently at the publisher and is expected to hit the book stores (print and Kindle/iPad versions) in April! I’m humbled to be part of this wonderful collection for the second time.
In the Age of Conversation 3 Gavin and Drew asked authors to share their thoughts in one of ten areas:
At the Coalface
There is much to be said for good strategy, but what happens when the strategy is done? What happens when the time for talking is over? This section is about working at the coalface of social media. It’s about the real world lessons that come hard and fast. It’s about case studies and the stories and events that are much better in the re-telling than in the moment.
Conversational Branding
When we talk of brands, we generally understand what it means. But what happens when a brand ventures into online conversation. What does it mean to participate in these conversations? Is this earned media? Is it paid for? Or is there an in-between space? How important is brand in the social media space? How does the conversation shape or change the brand?
Influence
Much is made of influence, but what does “influence” mean in social media? Who has it, and who creates it? Does influence mean different things to different people? Is it hype or can it make the cash register ring? Is influence one of the new currencies?
Getting to work
They say that the best approach to social media is dive in. But getting to work with social media can be harder than it first appears. What have you done to quickly get to work? Or perhaps this section is about how you use social media to get to work — literally. Is it a viable tool for networking and job hunting? Or maybe this section is about how social media is changing the face of work. Does getting to work now mean sitting at the kitchen table in your bathrobe?
Corporate Conversations
There is plenty of coverage of social media when the focus is on marketing or advertising. But what is happening in other parts of your business? How is social media playing within your business and has it surprised you? Or…if you’re a consultant or agency, how do you introduce social media to the C-level at your client’s business? How do you make social media more than a fad or seem relevant to the bottom line?
Measurement
Can you measure social media? Many claim you can and many claim you can’t. But if you can measure social media, should you? And how do you measure it? And do you measure it in terms of ROI? Or influence? Or ability to do good? What are the metrics that matter and how do you get to them?
In the boardroom
Is social media a fad dreamed up by the marketing department to get the attention of the executives? What are the hard questions and firm answers that get thrown around the boardroom. And who, if anyone, is best placed to answer? What role should the C-level executives play in a company’s social media strategy? Do they just green light it? Should the CEO have a blog? Or…from a non-profit’s perspective, how does the board of directors play a role in the organization’s SM activities?
Pitching social media
The work has been done and the late nights are weighing heavily on your shoulders. But it’s time to buck up – to pull it all together and wow your client. What do you do to impress? Is there a new art to pitching social media? And is it important to eat your own dog food? Or, if you’re from the PR side of the table, how are you pitching your client’s stories to social media’s influentials? Or are you using a different tactic?
Innovation and Execution
People make great claims for social media. Is it the long dreamed of silver bullet? Can the tools and techniques be harnessed to drive innovation? How can you take an idea or a strategy and make it work for your brand or your business? How do you move from idea to actual execution? What task or tool has social media eliminated or replaced? What do you predict it will eliminate in the future?
Identities, friends and trusted strangers
Many people are now living much of their lives online. Who do you call friend? How do you set boundaries or decide who to let into your circle of influence? How do you know who to trust when you can’t look them in the eyes? How do you define your own identity? What tools, techniques and sites do you find most useful in creating your online brand? How do offline meetings or conferences influence your online identity?
A pretty powerful collection of ideas – wouldn’t you say? So who are the contributing authors? Check out this list of amazing people:
Keep checking back here for updates on when you can order your copies! By the way – the really cool cover was designed by none other than cover designer Chris Wilson.
Posted by Deborah Chaddock Brown on February 4, 2010 under marketing |
Jean Gianfagna, marketing strategiest and business owner of Gianfagna Marketing recently started a blog entitled: Smart Marketing Strategy. Great name and as it turns out – great information.
I just took a visit and found an interesting blog post on connecting the customer data gathered with the marketing message delivered. In the post, Why Customer Data is Essential for Effective Marketing – Especially for Your Customers Jean shares a personal example of how Disney and Chase bank missed the boat when it came to using the historical customer data they had on file.
Generic marketing message sent to existing or prior customers without taking advantage of the weath of personalized data sends the loud message WE DON’T CARE TO TAKE THE TIME TO SEND YOU A MESSAGE PERSONALIZED TO YOUR NEEDS.
In Jean’s case, Chase sent a message that missed the boat on a variety of levels. Her advice for how they could have captured her attention more effectively:
Dig deeper into the customer file and find all the Charter Cardmembers who are lapsed customers. Append those recordswith current demographic data to see how many are families with grown children or adults who are now grandparents. Send these empty-nesters a direct mail package promoting the fun and value of the Disney experience for adults, or a package targeting grandparents with grandkids for that segment of the mailing list. Most important, acknowledge and celebrate the customer’s prior relationship with Disneyand demonstrate — in a way that’s relevant and real — why restarting that relationship now, at a new point in the customer’s lifecycle, is an unbeatable offer.
Jean’s point – take the time to match an appropriate message to customers based on the information already gathered. It is the rifle approach rather than the shotgun. A targeted message is more likely to connect with the customer and inspire them to take action.
If you are going to gather the data – why not use it to build a customer relationship?
Posted by Deborah Chaddock Brown on December 15, 2009 under General, marketing |
I can remember sitting around the executive table at Pearle Vision with the competition ads in front of us. We would scour over their wording and product focus and even their color scheme to see how we could position our message to stand out.
Then one time and gosh I wish I could remember who said this – we threw out the competition material and decided to look with a fresh, clean slate. “If we only compare ourselves to the competition then we force our thinking into a rigid box. We need to just compare our performance and company to ourselves and then begin to think outside the box.”
I just joined a gym. Yes – I’m paying good money for all the pain I am in. I look around the room at people 20 years older than I am lifting weights, working out on the machines going a mile a minute and it is hard not to be intimidated. But the trainer that helped me get started gave me some great advice.
“Don’t look at them. Don’t compare yourself to them. Don’t look and see what someone else is doing, just focus on your own progress.”
And I am making progress. I can see it in my clothes and on the scale, I can feel it in my knees and I am enjoying a greater sense of energy than I’ve had in the past, but it is hard not to compare yourself to others.
When we compare ourselves to others we do so without all of the information. We don’t know their strategy or what they have planned for the future – we can only see the tip of the iceburg and therefore in our comparison can make invalid assumptions. Whereas, when we only look at our own performance for comparison, we do have all of the information. We know about the great margin discounts we received from a supplier or we understand the unique needs of our customer or the fact that we just invested money in a customer service training program for our sales staff. We can see what the results are based on the effort and focus we put forth.
So rather than comparing yourself to the competition – hold the mirror up and ask yourself a few simple questions:
- How am I doing based on the customer’s expectations?
- Has my referral or repeat business increased?
- What percentage of my customers are returning customers?
- Has my average transaction increased?
- Have we improved relationships with our vendors?
- Has the number of complaints dwindled?
- Has the number of compliments increased?
- How is the employee morale versus last year at this time?
Just like Mom always said “keep your eyes on your own plate” when I’d complain that my brother didn’t have to eat as many peas as I did – we need to just focus our attention on improving business based on our own performance rather than that of the competition.
What benchmarks do you have for your business? How do you compare and measure success?
Posted by Deborah Chaddock Brown on October 21, 2009 under Internet Connections, marketing |
Have you heard of the new pop band opening for the Jonas Bros? Honor Society.
While in Phoenix I heard them interviewed on the wildly popular morning talk show John Jay and Rich and they were fun, quick and talented. But the thing I took away the most from their interview was that they “got” the importance of being easy to find and being EVERYWHERE on the Internet.
They have a consistent brand. Their name: Honor Society.
When asked where fans could find them to purchase their records they said:
We are on Twitter @honor society, on MySpace/honorsociety, on Facebook/honorsociety, on YouTube/honorsociety. Then one of the band members said, “yeah we are pretty much everywhere – just type in Honor Society.”
I thought – man, these little 20something (if that) have nailed a critical branding fact that I’m still struggling with. Pick a brand – stick to it – use it everywhere. I’m on all of the social media sites but some times I use my name, other times, my tag line and still others, my company name. How can anyone find me? How can I be known one for thing?
How about you? Are you easy to find? Are you visible on the web with just one brand name?
Posted by Deborah Chaddock Brown on October 5, 2009 under Books, marketing |
Drew McLellan of Drew’s Marketing Minute is at it again! For the third time he’s bringing together marketing and business professionals from around the world to share their thoughts, tips and techniques and profits benefit a charity.
I had the pleasure of joining in the Conversation last time.
This time Drew has invited 300 authors to participate and share their views in ten different areas. There are already 137 of the original authors signed up to contribute again (me too!) but effective TODAY, Drew has opened up the opportunity to YOU!
Go RIGHT THIS MINUTE – to complete this Survey Monkey survey and sign up to be a part of Age of Conversation 3. Only thirty people will be selected for each topic so you need to go right now and sign up so you can get the topic of your choice.
For more information about Age of Conversation 3 visit Drew’s blog.
Posted by Deborah Chaddock Brown on June 29, 2009 under Customer Moments, marketing |
I just returned back from a once in a life time trip to Italy with my Mom and daughter, Emily. We began our adventure in Rome where we hooked up with 38 other Americans experiencing Italy with cross-generational family members. Tauck tour groups has a series of tours called Bridges in which Grandparents and their Granchildren can experience a new country together.
My 12 year old daugher has wanted to go to Rome since Hillary Duff filmed the Lizzie Mcguire movie and so away we went.
During our first day we experienced the Vatican museums and the Sistene Chapel. In the grand hall leading up to the chapel we encountered this painted tablet. Our tour guide, Richardo, informed us that it was advertising in its earliest form.
This tablet is about 4 feet sqaure and was painted outside of the restaurant – informing passers-by what type of food they could expect to enjoy should they venture indoors. Advertising as early as 2 AD.
While I was traveling, I took notes of some of the sales, marketing and cutomer service experience we encountered. Over the next few blog posts I’ll be sharing some of my insights. Suffice it to say – my Earning Customer Loyalty speech is going to be revised based on the lessons I learned from the Italians I encountered.
I invite you to share the experiences you’ve had while traveling abroad of if you live in another country – please share your culture as it relates to customer service.
I sometimes think that Americans believe they have it all figured out when it comes to sales and service and yet I found an entirely different truth while in Italy. It was eye opening!
