It’s been a long time since my last post. As many of you would know, that’s because I’ve been busy tying the knot with my beautiful wife (as per my last post). So what better way to reacquaint myself  than with a rant against the very industry that has utterly consumed my life for the past 6 months. Let’s get straight to the punch – the wedding industry is evil. Pure evil! Profiteering off love and raw emotion is almost as despicable as profiteering off war/death. In my journey, I dealt with two types of operators – short-term profiteers (the overwhelming majority) and event partners. And there’s a clear marketing lesson in this story about how an overemphasis on short-term gains can cost a business in the longer-term. Let’s take a look at how the two types of  parties operated…

Short term profiteers

As the name suggests, short term profiteers are all about the cash baby! Or more to the point, extracting the absolute maximum number of dollars out of the transaction. A broad range of tactics and tricks are employed by the profiteers in an attempt to increase the total volume of dollars from you:

• Emotional bribery: This tactic was used on my wife numerous times and really pissed me off. After expressing pricing concerns, she’d often be told that money should never be a barrier for a wedding. Easy to say when you’re not paying for it… One prospective dress supplier even told her to ignore the budget she was working towards and just get what she wanted. “Don’t worry about what your husband says; it’s your day after all”. Funny… I thought marriage was supposed to represent a union. Needless to say she was quickly removed from the supplier list.
• Bait and switch: One of the oldest and most devious tricks in the book. Various suppliers roped us in with promises of free services (such as alterations or delivery), only to conveniently forget about those verbal agreements when it came time to settle the bill. Often for the sake of little more than a hundred dollars. Tell me… is it really worth pissing your customer off in the most royals of manners for the sake of a hundred bucks?
• Failure to provide any additional service: Our boutique hotelier was well aware that we were staying at their venue as part of our wedding celebration. Yet despite the fact that we were spending well in excess of $250 per night, they refused us permission to take photos in their picturesque lobby area, as we had not utilised their wedding facilities. Nor would they honour a specific request to scatter rose petals on the bed. Way to ruin the romance!

In summary, short-term profiteers are pricks.

Event partners

To blatantly discard all wedding suppliers as dishonest would be a disservice to the rare diamonds in the rough we found (such as our wedding caterer or wedding band), who understood that premium pricing should in fact be accompanied by premium service. These were the providers who at least gave the impression that they actually cared about our wedding, rather than simply fattening their wallet.  They followed a few simple principles of good business:

• Being responsive to our enquiries and communicating effectively
• Honouring minor requests without attempting to jack up the price
• Being open about their pricing structure
• Customising and personalising their service where necessary
• Understanding that good service is good marketing!

So who wins in the end?

Sure… the short-term profiteer might have got an extra $100 out of me via their bait and switch tactics. But they are the real losers in the end. I was amongst the first in my friendship circle to tie the knot. I have five close friends getting married in the next 9 months. Guess what they’re doing now…? Planning their wedding. And who do you think they’re turning to for advice and referrals. Me.

Naturally, I’m more than happy to give them a list of suppliers who I insist they avoid. At all costs! Conversely, I have have been a passionate advocate for those few businesses who treated us well. For our caterer, that has already translated into a new customer to the tune of $20,000. And guess how we found out about our caterer… via a referral.

So congratulations Mr short-term profiteer. You weasled a few extra dollars out of me. But you’ve cost yourself thousands of dollars in new business. And whilst I haven’t named and shamed you, others will in the future via social media. You’re living on borrowed time buddy.

Power to the people!

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you’ll know I’m prone to the occasional rant. And one of my more frequent musings is the conservatism of Australian businesses towards social media. But rather than cracking that old chestnut open again, today I’m going to tell a happy tale of social media excellence. Because we can’t always be grumpy can we? It’s a story of an Australian organisation applying social media to their industry in a killer manner. And would you believe it… it’s a footy club! Yes. A footy club. While the industry is often portrayed as neanderthal like, the Essendon Football Club is putting most Aussie businesses to shame in their application of social technologies. No wonder I love them so much…

It’s clear that the Essendon Football Club has a strong committment to the web as a marketing channel. Indeed, they are the only club in the AFL to maintain a stand alone site beyond the AFL’s official hub, thereby sacrificing financial compensation from the AFL. But by maintaining complete control over their web presence, they have been able to innovate at a higher level than any other club. And as it turns out, they’re innovating at a superior level to most Australian businesses. Let’s take a look at how they’re applying social technologies to their industry:

Twitter

The Essendon Football club’s use of Twitter is impressive. While other businesses fumble for practical uses, Essendon obviously recognise the strengths of Twitter and tailor their usage accordingly. And with almost 3,000 followers, the punters seem to agree. Three particular uses of Twitter have impressed me:

• Breaking News: Rather than utilising Twitter as a broadcast channel to distribute news, Essendon FC uses the immediate nature of Twitter to break it. Indeed, the club’s Twitter feed was used to break one of the biggest stories of the year – the shock recruitment of their new CEO from rival club Hawthorn. Mainstream media later reported the news, citing the Twitter feed as the news source. The club also used Twitter to break the news that star player Jobe Watson would make his comeback from injury.



• Live event coverage: Twitter and sports are a match made in heaven, particularly when a game isn’t covered on free-to-air television. Live Tweeting provides an alternative form of coverage for fans who are unable to attend/watch the game. The Essendon Twitter account is used on gameday to give blow by blow descriptions of how the game is unfolding.



• Player profiles: The club also seems to be strongly involved in establishing a player presence on Twitter, which is a brilliant move. AFL players are idolised across the country, and Twitter allows fans to ‘connect’ with their heroes, opening a small window of insight into their everyday life. Sports hero gazing holds just as much appeal as celebrity gazing, as illustrated by the popular accounts held by Lance Armstrong & Shaquille O’Neal. Jobe Watson and Angus Monfries are the two Essendon players currently on Twitter, with the club actively promoting a rivalry between the two over who can attract the most followers.

Live player chat

Aside from Twitter, Essendon also utilises a custom built live chat service on its’ own web site dedicated to live match coverage. The most recent match coverage can be viewed here with around 300 entries from supporters. The master stroke of the internal live chat service is that each week a different player participates in the chat session with fans during the match, providing their thoughts and commentary on the game.

It’s worth noting that the players participating are not fringe players or outcasts. In most cases the players are regular first team players who are injured or suspended including Andrew Welsh, Adam McPhee and Angus Monfries. I believe captain Matthew Lloyd has also hosted a session. Much like Twitter, the initiative is clearly aimed at bringing fans closer to their heroes. And while the player’s participation and interaction with fans is very much limited, it is the perception that fans can connect with players that creates value. Given players match day committments (even injured players), it’s unlikely a higher level of engagement during the game can be realistically achieved.

Blogs and open commenting

A club blog has been established as part of Essendon’s web infrastructure, although as an internally built tool, it lacks the functionality of WordPress blog. Most contributions come from the coaching staff and players themselves, albeit at a rate of about 1-3 posts a month. The posts provide some level of insight into the inner-sanctum of the club, discussing issues such as finals prospects, the challenge of interstate travel and dealing with long-term injuries.

While the blog component of the site is perhaps underutilised, it is the blog-like commenting function on all news items that adds a real level of audience engagement to the site. It is not uncommon for match reports to attract 100+ comments from passionate fans (including myself). The open and unfiltered fan commentary has built a vibrant community that reflects the true pulse of the punters. Fans aggregate each week to rejoice in victories over arch rivals, and to bemoan dismal losses against lowly ranked opponents. Admirably, the club is brave enough to allow the most ardent of trolls to post incessant drivel week after week in the knowledge that others will jump in to defend the club/players/coach.

As a result of the unbiased commentary, the Essendon FC match report is now one of my first stops after a game. I come back to the site regularly with the specific intent of reading fan commentary. I’m keenly interested in seeing how others have perceived the team’s performance, as well as contributing my own thoughts. By simply allowing open fan discussion, they have made me a far more engaged and loyal user of their web site.

Video

Bomber TV is Essendon’s subscription based online video service, to which Bomber fans can subscribe for a cost of $10 per year. All the standard content is there that you’d expect from a footy club including game highlights and press conferences. However, the club produces a raft of unique video based content to ensure fans get value for their money (all $10 of it). The wide range of video content includes:

• Panel Shows: Two panel shows are produced each week with the involvement of Essendon’s assistant coaches. One show analyses the performance of the team in their most recent match, and the other previews the game for the upcoming weekend.



• Interviews: Player interviews are a staple of Bomber TV with club legends and current players giving insights into their careers and lives.



• Behind the scenes footage: Fans are given a taste of the inner workings of the club with footage from club functions, training sessions, interstate trips, sponsors events & more.

User comments are also open for video content, although far less utilised than the comments function for the general news.

Social network

The fifth bow to Essendon’s social media armory is a niche social network for Bombers supporters called ‘The Hangar’. It operates in the manner of a very simplified version of Facebook. Fans can create their own profile page and connect with other Bomber fans. In theory the concept is solid. Football fans have a common interest and offline social clubs thrive. Indeed, I’d appreciate being able to meet more Essendon fans as sometimes my regular group of friends can’t make it to the game. However, the execution of the social network is poor (but I’ll give them a break… they can’t get everything right).

The greatest problem for The Hangar is that it is extremely difficult to actually connect with other fans. The only way to search for people is by surname (which is a very cumbersome listing process rather than a keyword search). But what if I don’t know who I’m searching for? Isn’t the point of social networks to connect with new people? So how do I know who to connect with? I’d much rather run a search based on interests or geography (perhaps we could hitch a ride to the game together). It seems other people encounter the same problem, because I have only ever received 2 friendship requests from fellow fans. Even when I do connect with others, there is little scope for real interaction. We can leave comments on each other’s walls, but that’s about it. No email or alternative form of communication exist.

Despite its limitations, The Hangar has seems to have thousands of members (as demonstrated when searching by surname). So the concept has some potential. However, until it is more functional, it is unlikely to be utilised to its full potential.

Mobile

While not strictly a social initiative, Essendon’s mobile site is further evidence that the club is committed to innovating in emerging channels. The mobile site allows me to access key pieces of club information including game results and reviews, club news, the ladder, a fixture & more. The mobile interface is greatly simplified to allow convenient browsing from my iPhone.

Australian businesses – watch & learn!

There’s no question that sporting clubs have a head start over most businesses when it comes to applying social tools & technologies. The sheer passion of the average sports fan means that they are for more likely to be drawn to social technologies the club creates. Most businesses simply can’t replicate that level of passion or interest.

However, it is still up to the club to devise smart tactics for each channel to engage fans. And it is here that Essendon excels. While many businesses approach social tools with a traditional marketing mindset, Essendon has identified the strengths of each channel (social network adise) and delivered an experience that creates true value for fans.

Now… there’s no question that my judgment in the matter may be biased based on my affinity with Essendon Football Club, but I can’t think of an Australian organisation doing a better job of implementing social technologies. If you can, feel free to drop their name in the comments…

This post has been a long time coming. It seems like an eternity ago that my pal Trevor Young sent me a copy of Connection Generation by Iggy Pintado to read. And I’m certainly at the back of the queue when it comes to reviewing the book, with people such as Lucio Ribeiro and Craig Wilson already giving their considered opinions. But with a hectic lifestyle, the fact is I rarely dedicate 15 mins an evening to offline reading. So finishing a book can be a bit of a journey at times. But enough about me… let’s take a look at the book.

Connection Generation is all about the influence technology and the Internet has had on the way we communicate and connect to each other. Iggy argues that everyone who has lived through the emergence of the world wide web is part of the connected generation, regardless of their demographic. And he’s right. Since the emergence of the web as a communications channel, it’s next to impossible to have not have adopted it in some manner to communicate and connect (even if it is just for viewing emails). It is the manner in which we have adopted the technology into our life that distinguishes us.

Iggy breaks the connected generation into 5 core groups, based upon their adoption and usage of connection technologies:

• Basic connectors: Those that largely ignore new technologies, or apply it with a single-minded & limited purpose
• Passive connectors: Those that understand communication technologies, but choose not to adopt it as a major part of their life
• Selective connectors: Those that manage their connectivity in a organised manner with proficiency, relevant to their particular needs.
• Active connectors: Those that have a deep understanding of connection technologies, and use it proactively for personal and business gain.
• Super connectors: Expert connectors that manage various connection technologies in a structured method to continually expand their network.

The break down of the connected generation is where I got the most benefit from the book. There’s clear similarities between Iggy’s categorisation of the connected generation and Groundswell’s Social Technographics Profile (which is also comprised of 5 key user groups). However, while Groundswell outlined the core behaviours of the different user groups, Connection Generation goes into greater depth into the psychology of why users behave as they do. Consider this description of basic connectors:

“They claim to be technologically disabled and are usually in deep denial about their ability to learn and use technology to connect. Their preference is to spend as little of their time using connection technology as is humanely possible. The basic connector is also challenged with applying technology to process. As technology is not at the forefront of their thinking and they are entrenched in “established-way-is-the-best-way” thinking, they may not see the possibilities and benefits of using technology to save time, money or effort.”

I found this type of insight particularly interesting, along with a subsequent chapter on the challenges of managing each user group. The second half of the book concentrates on best practices for leveraging connection technologies from a personal and business perspective. And it must be said, Iggy is the king of acronyms when it comes to outlining how to leverage connection technology. I counted four different acronyms in the second half of the book:

• HITS: An acronym describing the behavioural pattens of the connected generation
• PLAN: An acronym describing the steps to manage connected individuals
• GROUP: An acronym describing the typical behaviour of online groups
• OPEN: An acronym describing the steps in managing connected groups

There were also the ABC’s of connection and the three R’s of connection. Phew! I probably got less out of the second half of the book as I am an avid reader in the field. But that is not to say that it’s not good. There is plenty there for beginner’s and intermediate’s to pick up. And there were also a range of case studies I hadn’t seen before. I’d suggest the book is most suited to those just beginning their adventures in social media and connection technologies, but there’s enough there to keep advanced audiences interested as well.
]]> http://onlinemarketingbanter.com/book-review-connection-generation/feed/ 3 http://onlinemarketingbanter.com/the-5-most-important-lessons-from-my-first-year-of-blogging/ http://onlinemarketingbanter.com/the-5-most-important-lessons-from-my-first-year-of-blogging/#comments Mon, 12 Jan 2009 10:34:42 +0000 James Duthie http://onlinemarketingbanter.com/?p=403

On January 11th my humble little blog celebrated its very first birthday. But rather than publish some lame/self congratulatory post, I’ve decided to follow in the footsteps of my buddy Tad, and use the occasion to embark upon a little reflection. Infants are sponges for information in their first few years of life, and as a blogging infant I’ve certainly learned A LOT. So today I thought I’d share the five most important lessons of the past 12 months…

Lesson 1 – Momentum disappears damn quickly

In the final quarter of 2008, my life was largely pre-occupied with personal matters such as my recent engagement and the all important end of year holidays. As a result my publishing frequency and external social media participation dropped dramatically. What surprised me was just how quickly my blog lost momentum. Momentum is perhaps one of the most underrated characteristics of blogging success. In my case, I had spent 9 months building momentum by:

1. Frequently publishing new material
2. Networking regularly in my preferred online communities – Sphinn & StumbleUpon
3. Commenting regularly on other blogs
4. Frequently contributing guest posts to prominent third party blogs
5. Participating in the occasional external interview

I suspected my efforts had bought me some well deserved time off. Apparently not! In the blogosphere it seems that out of sight means out of mind (even if it’s just for a few days…). Within weeks of reducing my participation I’d noticed dramatic drops in traffic, subscriber engagement, reader interaction (comments) and social media support. The loss of momentum was cumulative as the period of inactivity extended, to the point where it become a virtual ghost town in December.

Yeesh… can’t a guy take a break…?

Lesson 2 – It’s not all about the traffic

Like most bloggers I spent most of my first year obsessing over traffic levels. I’d check my stats every morning and eagerly anticipate the traffic spike after I published a new post. I even developed a split personality. But if my time off in late 2008 taught me nothing else, it was that traffic ain’t everything. With my publishing frequency at just 25% of my most active output, traffic plunged:

Eeep!! While it wasn’t unexpected, my heart broke and my ego was crushed. With reduced productivity and output, I expected my subscriber numbers to follow. But they didn’t. In fact, subscriber growth continued at almost exactly the same rate as when I was most at my most active:

Amazingly, the final quarter of 2008 saw the steepest growth in subscriber numbers of the year. I don’t really have a good explanation of how or why this occurred (aside from a backlog of good content…?), but it did make one thing abundantly clear. While traffic may be good for the ego, if visitors don’t convert to subscribers, it serves no great purpose .

Lesson 3 – Personal blogging doesn’t make you a social media expert

Earlier this year a smart young buck by the name of Julian Cole put together a list of the top 100 Australian marketing blogs. It replicates the Ad Age structure by using traffic ranking signals to rank Aussie blogs. I was fortunate enough to come in at number 11 on the list. Hooray for me. Some would say that makes me a social media expert. To that I say… “bah”!

Certainly I have an idea of how to build and promote a personal blog. And based on that knowledge the agency I work for began to involve me more heavily in client projects with an element of social media. But what I increasingly found was that very few of the tactics I used to build my blog were applicable to the corporate environment. Amongst other things issues such as time frames, ROI, resourcing, legalities and management hesitancy rendered many of the tactics I’d used redundant. My personal blogging experience still held some value, but its applicability was limited.

Rather than say any more, I recommend you watch what Brian Chappell has to say on the matter (not the highest quality vid but the message is poignant):

Lesson 4 – Networking is forever…

It wasn’t long into my blogging adventures that I realised I needed to develop a personal network. Indeed, I created my very own process to build a network of influential friends and peers. And what do you know… it worked. But having successfully created my personal network, I sat back and enjoyed the spoils (mainly in the form of social media support). I thought the job was done. It clearly wasn’t.

At the time that I published my post on how to build an influential network I came under criticism from people who thought the approach was akin to ass kissing.

“If you want to devote your life and time to kissing up, go right ahead. You might get a kiss or two back. But that kiss will be worthless in a little while when the ‘top dogs’ you kissed up to yesterday disappear tomorrow.”

I’ll never agree with the ass kissing argument, but boy did the crux of the comment turn out to be true. Months later, and for various reasons, many members of my posse have significantly reduced their participation in my chosen social networks. And as a result, the support I was generating slowly dwindled away. Rather than continuing to proactively play the networking game, I became lax. My bad…

Let 09 be the year of resourceful networking!

Lesson 5 – Guest blogging rocks

If you’ve read this blog for a while you’d know I’m a huge advocate of guest blogging. In the middle of last year I launched a guest blogging ‘world tour’, during which I contributed to a range of prominent industry blogs including SEO Scoop (twice), Huomah, Techipedia, SEO 2.0 (twice), TheVanBlog & Social Desire (twice).

Initially I was a little nervous about ‘giving my traffic away’. I hadn’t quite conquered the traffic obsession just yet. But I soon learned better. Throughout the year, my biggest subscriber jumps always came after a popular guest post was published. I was sacrificing traffic, but gaining subscribers. And what’s more important to the long term growth of your blog…? I think Tad summed it up perfectly below (aside from the whole ‘sought after’ bit…):

“You can’t really measure reputation. By now you are one of the most sought after writers in the industry. I doubt that a few more visitors to your blog would have the same effect.”

With that in mind I’m planning a second world tour starting as of February ’09. First cab off the rank will be Steven’s blog, because I’ve given him lame broken promises for guest posts over the past few months. Sorry buddy! For everyone else, if you want your blog to be part of the tour in 09, feel free to drop me a line.

What’s with all the negativity dude?

You may have noticed that 4 of the 5 lessons focus on things that I haven’t done particularly well. That’s not to say there haven’t been positives, because there have been plenty (many of which I have written about). Hell… if there weren’t any positives I doubt I’d still be going. But I think our greatest lessons come from our mistakes… and I know that has certainly been the case for me in my first year of blogging. Hopefully my mistakes will help others to learn.

The challenge now is to take decisive actions from those lessons in order to build a better blog in 09. Because as  Einstein would say – insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results…

A few weeks back I published an analogy I often use to explain the social web to our less than savvy prospective clients. Once clients grasp the concept of social media, the next question I often hear is ‘Why on earth would I want to get involved in that?!?’. Fear often sweeps over management types as soon as they hear words like ‘open conversations with real customers’. It scares the living bejesus out of them! So today I’m beginning a series that aims to debunk commonly held misconceptions that mainstream managers use to block corporate entry into social media. The first misconception that I’ll tackle today is that that social media affects only a vocal minority of their customer base…

A few work colleagues recently attended an online marketing conference which included a session on the corporate application of social media. At the end of the presentation, a member of the audience asked a question that typifies the thinking of many old school marketers:

‘Why should I bother interacting in a community if it only has 46 members?’

Perhaps the best way to answer the question is with another question. Who would you rather talk to; 46 customers or thousands of randoms with no interest in your business? I’d take the 46 customers. But I suspect many wouldn’t. After all, speaking with your current customers isn’t going to help you win new customers is it…?

You bet your ass it is!

Word of mouth for the masses

I’ve often heard social media described as word of mouth on steroids. And it’s true. Before the days of the Internet, purchase decisions were often based on:

1. Recommendations from family & friends
2. Product reviews in independent media outlets

In short, our alternatives in gathering a range of trustworthy and informed opinions were severely limited. This very much benefited marketers. With few reliable information sources, marketing messages retained some level of relevance with customers. But then Amazon went and changed everything…

Amazon introduced online product reviews, and all of a sudden customers had access to independent and unbiased opinions from fellow consumers. No spin. No rhetoric. Just real feedback. And boy did they love it. The emergence of new user generated platforms only increased the flow of consumer driven analysis. Today, customer opinions and product reviews can be found on blogs, Twitter, social news sites, social networks & more.

The absolute freedom of information has forever influenced the way people make purchase decisions. The simple fact is that consumers rarely trust marketing messages. Instead, they turn to each other for unbiased insights. Indeed, recent studies by Forrester and Rubicon Consulting both found online word of mouth to be the second most important influencer of purchase decisions.

Forrester Research:

Rubicon Research:

The true impact of the vocal minority

Niche online communities may be small, but the reach and impact of their conversations is unlimited. While a direct discussion itself may engage only a handful of customers, it will be watched by many, many more. A product related discussion between 5 customers may ultimately influence hundreds (if not thousands) of purchase decisions. The Internet gives word of mouth an infinite life span…

Rubicon’s report provides perhaps the best metaphor of the role and importance of the vocal minority. They compare online discussions with theatre performances:

“Online discussion is a poor way to communicate with the average customer, because average customers don’t participate. But it is a great way to communicate to them, because average customers watch and listen.

Most content and discussion sites should be viewed as performances, in which the site’s organizers interact with a relatively small number of users in order to educate, persuade, or entertain everyone else.”

A new opportunity for marketers – Influence the influencers

Whether they know it or not, the vocal minority have become major influencers of product purchases. The voice of 46 customers in an ‘insignificant’ online community is far more relevant than any marketing message. Most marketers view this as a disaster.  But the reality is that it presents an amazing new opportunity.

Until now, word of mouth has been invisible to marketers. Dissatisfied customers occasionally voice their concern, but most simply refuse to buy again. They are lost forever, but the business is unlikely to ever know. Social media however brings word of mouth into the direct visibility of those willing to watch and listen. Dissatisfied customers can be identified and targeted by customer support staff.  For the first time ever marketers have the opportunity to monitor, respond to, and influence word of mouth.

Effective responses to online discussions can turn the biggest of detractors into brand advocates. Dell has proven it. Positive actions breed positive word of mouth. And positive word of mouth breeds customer purchases. In the last 10 days alone, Comcast has scored PR coups via interviews on John Batelle’s blog and the Top Rank  blog. The authors of these two blogs are amongst the most influential marketing voices on the planet. The glowing interviews would have been read by tens of thousands of subscribers. And they would have been shared with hundreds of thousands. Talk about influencing the influencers! And all Comcast did was answer a few customer complaints via Twitter…

And on that not I declare that we have a… Myth busted!

The vocal minority may be the only ones contributing to online discussions, but the rest are watching… and they’re making their purchase decisions based on what’s said.

Let’s return to the original question to close the discussion – Who would you rather talk to: 46 customers or thousands of randoms? If you can’t see the value of interacting with those 46 customers by now, you probably never will. In which case it’s probably best you just went on making TV ads…

Stay tuned for the next couple of weeks as I continue to bust other social media myths!

It’s been a hell of a long time since my last post. There’s been a whole bunch of reasons why, but only one that’s actually interesting… and that’s my recent engagement to my girlfriend. Before you click away I promise I won’t bore you with tales of romance. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Believe it or not, I’ve found a way to relate the experience back to marketing (how romantic is that?!?!). Indeed, I found my own tale of engagement to have important lessons in customer engagement (pardon the pun). Stay with me… it’ll all make sense soon.

My own take on marketing theory is similar to the Seth Godin school of thinking – everyone who touches a customer/client is a marketer… even if they don’t know it. While is may sound strange to some, customer service staff are most definitely marketers. Real life experiences have one hell of an influence on a customer’s perception of a brand… moreso than any marketing message ever will. Indeed, this tale focuses on a couple of recent experiences that changed the way I perceive two businesses.

The shitty customer experience

I love curry. So much so that my fiance playfully refers to me as a curry muncher. So when I recently discovered a curry restaurant around the corner from my work I was delighted. However, that feeling was quickly tainted by my first customer experience…

‘What do you want!’ barked the snarky looking staff member who served me. I knew I wanted curry, but they had a lot of options. What they were lacking however were labels for each curry.

‘What’s that one?’ I asked pointing at one of the curries. She started serving it into the take away container immediately.

‘Hang on. What is it?’ I asked. ‘Butter chicken’ she snapped back. Fine… I like butter chicken. It’ll do. I pointed to another one. Same question. Once again she ignores me and begins serving. Sigh…

‘Excuse me… can you tell me what it is please?’.

‘Rogan Josh’ she snaps back. I guess that’ll be fine as well. She gives me the serving. Next problem. My meal is nine tenths rice and one tenth curry. This wasn’t cheap curry either (or should I say outrageously expensive rice).

‘Ummm… can I have some curry with my rice?’ I say somewhat tongue in cheek (but somewhat serious). Now she’s really annoyed. It seems I’ve insulted her work. She snatches the serving back and puts the teeniest little extra bit of curry on it. Urrgh… forget this. I concede defeat, take what I’m given and leave, never to return. Which is a shame because the curry was great. But my customer experience sucked so much that I’ll make a point never to buy from them again. I figure I probably would have eaten there twice a week. Over the course of a year that’s a fair amount of cash their friendly staff member just cost them. Let’s recap… this particularly sprightly staff member:

1. Spoke to me in a rude manner
2. Failed to answer my questions
3. Gave me a product I was unhappy with

No marketing message from that restaurant could ever change my perception of the place. My customer experience has forever tainted my perception of the restaurant. I guess it could have been worse though. At least I didn’t get served poo…

The incredible customer experience

My second tale is a much happier story. And as you may have guessed, it relates to my recent engagement. Which is just as well I suppose because nobody wants their engagement to be a shitty experience! I wanted to do something unique for the special occasion. I’d already booked a trip to Tasmania, an island an hour off the coast of my home town. Part of the reason I chose Tasmania is because of its amazing natural beauty and wilderness, something both my fiance & I appreciate. So a nature tour sounded like a perfect way to pop the question.

I tracked down a company called Inala who provide personalised nature tours. I called their office and spoke to Tonia, who I advised of my very special request. I told her of my wish to propose on a secluded beach. But of course, having never visited the island before I had no idea where to do it. I needed her local knowledge to choose the appropriate location. What’s more, I also needed her help to plan a covert operation in which Inala would set up the proposal site for me (complete with champagne and the proposal written in the sand). In her own words, it was ‘a mighty responsibility’… But it was a responsibility that the people at Inala handled unbelievably well.

Over the following days we liased regularly via email to concoct our cunning plan. Tonia was not only professional, but genuinely excited to be involved in the event. Within a few days we had a watertight plan. And plan worked to perfection. The location Tonia selected was unbelievably beautiful. I couldn’t have chosen a better one myself. And the covert operation to set up the scene of the proposal worked brilliantly. My unsuspecting fiance received the shock of her life. Then there were the little extra touches that Tonia and the Inala team threw in. A floral wreath made from local flora was settled next to the bottle of champagne. And Tonia ended the day by giving us a card of congratulations. It’s fair to say that Inala nature tours created an amazing experience we’ll never forget.

So what’s the point of these random stories?

The point is that marketing does not operate in a silo. Customers don’t judge a product based on its marketing message. Marketing may influence a customer’s purchase decision, but their perception of the brand is based on a whole range of factors including price, product quality, opinions of friends and of course customer service/support (amongst many other things). Bad customer experiences become bad marketing via word of mouth.

My local curry restaurant has a great product. But I won’t buy it, and I tell my friends not to go there either. Conversely, I have probably told almost a hundred people about my amazing experience with Inala. Some of them are going to Tasmania soon. I suspect they’ll give Tonia a call. And of course, with this blog that message will ultimately spread to thousands. There is a reason the Internet is called word of mouth on steroids…

Good marketers don’t just concentrate on creating outstanding marketing campaigns. They also create great brand perceptions by managing all elements of the customer experience. Anyone can make a sale with a crafty marketing message. Just ask any spammer. But not everyone can keep that customer coming back for more…

And for those who are interested, here’s a snap of the happy couple. Now do those look like the faces of satisfied customers or what…?

We interrupt our normal programming… because today I just gotta get my rant on! Rather than the usual SEO/social media banter, I’m talking relationship marketing. Or more to the point… industries that totally suck at it! The topic is of sudden interest to me after a particularly bad experience with my telecommunications provider. Few people will be surprised to hear of my ‘pull your hair out’ experience with a telecommunications company. After all, Sprint received the top gong for providing the worst customer service in the USA in 2007 (with AT & T and Verizon also rounding out the Top 10). And here in Australia Telstra and Optus are hardly renowned as customer service kings. Indeed, my experience was enough to make me wonder if the old mantra of ‘The customer is always right’ had been replaced by ‘The customer is a complete pain in the ass, and I’d rather stab myself in the eyeball than actually help them’.

When relationship marketing goes wrong…

My own personal version of Dell Hell unfolded recently after my mobile/cell phone was disconnected by my telecommunications provider. The tumultuous chain of events are described below:

• As part of an internal system upgrade, my telecommunications provider changed their online billing code. Consequently, online bills could no longer be issued from the original source.
• As a savvy online consumer I willingly opted-in to receive my bill notifications exclusively via email a long time ago. But the change in payment process meant that bills could no longer be issued from that source. Indeed, customers were required to opt-in to the new payment process (a new online payer code). Which is all well and good… except they never told me.
• Despite having both my email address and mobile/cell phone number, I never received a  communication advising of the change to the payment process. They may have attempted to send a postal letter my way, but my address was outdated as a result of recently moving house (the only part of the saga that I accept responsibility for). So much for communicating with customers in their preferred format…? I’m lucky to check my mailbox once a week. And by the way.. in case you hadn’t realised, email and text are a hell of a lot cheaper than postal mail…
• After failing to receive a bill for two months, my account lapsed into an unpaid and overdue status. A short time later my service was disconnected (despite the fact that I have never missed a payment in 4 years). I discovered this fact when I attempted to call a client to inform them a colleague was running late for an impending meeting. I was on the road, but my phone was dead… and I had no way to contact the client or my colleague… grrr!!!
• In my first attempt to rectify the situation, I called the customer help desk for ‘assistance’. However, it seemed that all was not well following the system upgrade. The operator was unable to access customer data, and consequently couldn’t help me. I was told to call back the next day for assistance. Urgh… another day without a phone!
• The next few days were busy for me and I didn’t get around to calling back for another week (somehow managing to live without a mobile/cell phone). Despite this, I was greeted by an operator who advised that the system was still down. He listened to my frustrations and advised that he’d remove the block from my phone once the system was fixed. Finally… a resolution awaits.
• I waited… and waited… and waited. Another 7 days passed without a mobile/cell connection. So I called in again… and what would you know… their system is finally working. I recall the tale of broken promises, but to no avail. There is no record of any customer interaction on my file… On the positive side, now that the system is up they can belatedly resolve the problem – “I’ll just put your through to someone who can help you”. Seven transfers and half an hour of my life later, the block is finally removed.
• I am just about to hang up, relieved that the whole episode is over, when the operator gives me one final hurrah – “We’re going to have to charge you a $45 late payment fee”. At that point I finally lost the plot! After copping an earful the operator decided it was a better idea to waive that charge…

My biggest beef throughout the saga was that no attempt was made to contact me prior to disconnecting my phone, despite my excellent payment record. The company knew enough about me to piece it all together – I received my bills exclusively via email, I’d never missed a payment & they had changed their payment system. Look at the clues… A simple email or text prior to disconnection would have resolved the problem.

However… every cloud has a silver lining. And in my case, that silver lining is the fact that I’m out of contract with my current telecommunications provider. Interestingly, I would have thought that would have made retaining my business a high priority. It’s far cheaper to retain a current customer than to find a new one, particularly in a market as competitive as mobile telemcommunications. And it’s even harder to find and retain good customers (like one who has remained loyal for 4 years and never missed a payment). Seems like the marketing team skipped their classes in relationship marketing. And for that… they can kiss my sweet ass goodbye.

Other industries that hate their customers

The telecommunications industry is certaintly not alone in their treatment of customers. Here’s a few others that spring to mind:

Banks

There’s so many reasons to hate the banks – inflexible operating hours, exorbitant fees (for transactions that cost them nothing), excessive waiting periods for customer service & many, many more. But perhaps the most poignant example of the general disdain banks feel for customers has been demonstrated via interest rate movements. For six years, the banks of Australia have raised interest rates in line with moves from the Reserve Bank of Australia. However, with the economy now taking a dip, the Reserve Bank finally moved interest rates in the negative. In the lead up to the rate reduction, the banks refused to confirm whether the cuts would be passed on to customers, stating that the effects of the US sub prime crisis were still affecting them. Because sometimes, it seems record profits simply aren’t enough… Only after after extreme government pressure did the banks fall in to line. Thanks for your concern…

Public Transport

Perhaps this is just a Melbourne thing, because I know public transport networks in other parts of the world are first class. But our train network completely sucks ass, as proven by the performance indicators. In July, 93.5% of services were on time, which might not sound too bad at first glance. However, the classification of ‘on time’ is somewhat creative, including any train that arrives within 5 minutes of the scheduled departure time. Remove the 5 minute buffer and I’m certain delivery falls well below 90%. How many industries can survive when one in ten products fails to meet quality standards? It seems even the government has given up on public transport by introducing a new penalty structure that limits fines for service delivery failure… sigh.

The spending habits of our friendly public transport provider gives us the concrete proof needed to confirm that they do in fact hate their customers. Rather than spending precious funds on improving the quality of the service, they find it more appropriate to:

1. Pay for ad campaigns that belittle fare evaders
2. Employ more hired goons to bash passengers

Real estate

An industry in which lying, manipulating and downright deceiving customers is not only accepted, but taught and promoted. The less said about real estate agents the better.

Notice the common theme between the industries listed above? They’re all essential services. We need banks. We need telecommunications. And we need public transport. We can’t live without any of them. Unfortunately, it seems the companies operating in these industries realise this. And as a result they take us for granted.

Bastards…

I have a theory. I’m sure it’s true. And it goes like this – Digital marketers are sluts! That’s right… sluts. They love jumping in to bed with new customers… they love the thrill of the chase… so much so that a range of sub industries have emerged to fulfill this primal urge (think SEO, Pay-Per-Click, Affiliate marketing etc). But when it comes to the development of meaningful long-term customer relationships, they’re out the door before the sun has risen…

Perhaps I’m bitter & jaded. Perhaps I’m just feeling a little used myself. You see… I thought I was in a serious relationship. I thought they actually cared… I thought they were different.

The web site’s name was Juno. We met about 7 years ago. Juno satisfied my need for electronic music in vinyl format. Everything about Juno was perfect – low prices, an unmatched product range and depth, excellent product categorization and browsing features, a simple user interface, weekly email alerts based on my favourite music genres & convenient RSS feeds. It was love at first site (pun intended).

My affair with Juno seemed to last forever. I was loyal and never contemplated ‘cheating’ on them. Why would I… it was young love. For over 5 years I willingly parted with my hard earned cash after every pay check for the latest vinyl releases. I had a vinyl addiction and Juno satisfied my craving.

But then something happened. At the start of this year I got busy… real busy. I took on a part-time role along with my full-time job. And I began this blog. Life became hectic and regimented, and I had far less time for leisure activities. Poor Juno suffered my neglect as a result. And while my passion for Juno never waned, we slowly drifted apart.

It wasn’t long before my Juno addiction seemed to have almost disappeared (replaced by a blogging addiction). I fell out of the habit, and maybe even fell out of love. Juno maintained token contact via weekly product release newsletters, but where was the personal touch…? Wasn’t I special…? Didn’t I deserve a little special attention…? After all, I’d given Juno over 5 years of my life… and 5 years of my income. I had poured thousands and thousands of dollars into Juno. Where was the love…? Didn’t our relationship meaning anything to Juno…? Was I little more than a booty call…?

By all accounts I should have been ‘special’ to Juno. I would have scored through the roof on a customer RFM model. My purchasing habits were recent, frequent and of monetary significance. But Juno turned out to be just like the rest of them. In fact, I suspect the relationship would have ended a long time ago had I not made the effort… perhaps even after the first date… sob.

So here I am… bitter and twisted… and convinced that all digital marketers are the same. And while I may be emotional, the proof is on my side. Marketing Sherpa’s 2008 Email Marketing Benchmark Guide indicates that just 18% of email marketers track the life time value of their database. And if just 18% are tracking lifetime value, how many have processes in place to catch their best customers before defection? Not many…

So for all you digital marketers out there – I say take a leaf out of Jim Novo’s book. Because we all know that sluts end up with empty and shallow relationships. Is that the type of relationship you want with your customers…?