Tag Archives for service marketing

Developing your insight feed is critical to being relevant

This is the sixth in a series of short posts related to The CMO Agenda research. Informed by recent CMO conversations and CMG Partners‘ collective experience helping top marketers develop marketing strategy, we have compiled a list of seven ideas or jump starters for further conversation. These are meant to spark discussion, ideas, and action as we all enter a difficult 2009.

Whether developing new products or looking to increase loyalty, having a continuous stream of customer insight that draws on many different sources is important. This feed needs to be constant and plentiful. Technology is making it easier to find new ways to gather and make use of customer insight with limited resources.

Customer research and voice of the customer programs like councils and feedback meetings are the more traditional ones many marketers employ.  Marketing organizations should not forget the many simple everyday ways to accomplish this via tools like email, google alerts, RSS feeds, Twitter or talking with the services or sales representatives. The important thing is to make it an integral part of your day / week.

What can happen if you are not watching/listening?

Many should not forget the Motrin campaign that had so much twitter backlash over a weekend after the launch of a new “hip” mommy ad that the parent campaign pulled the ad. Don’t let this happen to you! Ensure your insight and listening post are capturing as much feedback as possible.

An example of a company doing this well is Dell with their IdeaStorm.com, where users generate ideas for new features or often irritating sales and marketing practices or service policies. The community can then vote on them which helps Dell focus and prioritize.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

New brand in down market: Hilton launches Denizen Hotels

Hilton Hotels Corporation
Image via Wikipedia

Just received an email from Hilton that states they have launched a new life style brand – Denizen Hotels.

Below is an excerpt from the email announcement:

Born modern, with global appeal and a local accent

Denizen Hotels will become a cultural epicentre at each of its destinations, cultivating community within its walls. Eclectic, social and humbly authentic, each property within the brand will be smart in design, cultural in character and sensitive in service delivery. Developed as an international intersection of business and pleasure, Denizen Hotels will redefine how guests stay and play. With innovative check-in technologies and in-room comfort controlled at the touch of a button, Denizen Hotels destinations will harness the best and brightest design and technology to provide a seamless guest experience for the modern traveler.

Denizen Hotels and resorts will range from unique, select boutique experiences to larger destination resorts, creating a unified yet eclectic brand for the global traveller. Active development negotiations are currently underway for resorts and destinations in key cities throughout the globe; including, but not limited to Abu Dhabi, Austin, Beverly Hills (California), Buenos Aires, Cancun, Hollywood (California), Istanbul, Jerusalem, Las Vegas, London, Los Cabos, Miami, Montreal, Mumbai, New York City, Panama City and Washington D.C.

To become a Denizen, visit denizenhotels.com

[Caution: the Denizen website is painful to navigate and slow]

The Bottom Line:

I am an advocate for new product launches even in a down market, but have a hard time understanding how this is a good idea. The concept on the surface has legs based on my experience working in the travel industry. This is definitely a wait and see…

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

CPG vs. Service Marketers: skill-sets and executive hiring decisions

Headgear is mandatory in amateur boxing
Image via Wikipedia

Recently, I posted a question on LinkedIn in a effort to get some outside opinion on marketing skill-sets and how that is driving hiring decisions. While I was underwhelmed by the number of answers I received — three in total — I was intrigued by two responses.

My Question: What are the pros and cons of hiring a traditional CPG marketer vs. a Service Marketer? More specifically, what is the rationale you are using to make this decision.

I further referenced the following examples: CPG – P&G, Unilever, Kraft;  Services – iTunes, Scottrade, Netflix. Primary basis in these examples was a consumer-to-consumer apples to apples comparison.

The Responses:

Tough question – The necessity to qualify past performances and the other integral parts of the hiring process can’t be overlooked, but on a macro level this is [my humble opinion].
The traditional service marketer is able to move left to right brain more fluidly, based on the career choice to associate themselves with something that is fundamentally “untouchable”. The career progression of being successful in any one of your service company examples shows a high level of measurement as well as creativity. In my experience, the ability to think on both sides of the brain has become integral to any top performing marketing exec. — Matt Gill, Senior Vice President, Pile and Company- Executive Recruiter for Marketing Talent

Your service examples are really consumer products in that they are tangible goods. However, to answer your question: a traditional CPG marketer is usually working with a tangible product of defined value and generally a defined brand image. He/she is used to dealing with measureable goals and defining strategies against share of market objectives. Tactical tools are known and also quantifiable, such as promotions, packaging, collateral support. A good CPG marketer knows how to use these tools to best effect. On the other hand, a service marketer is selling something that is usually very intangible and tough to measure in terms of cost and value to its intended users. As Matt says, there is more need for both the left and right side of brain to come up with strategies and programs that will be of relevance to the user. In my experience, successful marketers of intangible services can more easily and effectively cross over to traditional product marketing. It is much harder for a traditional CPG marketer to cross over to selling intangible services. – John Fricks, CEO at Frix Group – Marketing/Strategists

The Bottom Line:

Flexibility, versatility are the highlights in favor of service marketers provided by Matt and John. Matt’s point that top marketing executives need the “ability to think on both sides of the brain” is more associated with service marketers. CPG marketers need to demonstrate they can sell what you can not see — a great analogy to selling the value you can create for an organization.

At CMG Partners, we have been conducting qualitative research with a number of top marketing executives across a number of industries and find that those with a “seat” at the executive table are best at working across the enterprise to drive transformation or change that enables growth.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Service brands: vision of the future?

As a marketer and consultant, I always find it difficult to explain what a brand is to people that are not familiar with the concept (e.g. my mom). This task of explaining things becomes increasingly difficult when the brand is not something you can touch or feel like a service.

Service Brands are populating the landscape today and I feel a strong desire to learn from them as many other marketers should. Why? Because the idea of customer engagement, loyalty, or the idea of employees living the brand are old news to the service brands that get it right. Sure, the work is never done, but they are light years ahead of the consumer packaged goods companies.

I have put together the below diagram as an example of how the landscape of product-to-service brands is complex:

Examples Service Brand Landscape

The Bottom Line:

Three brands to take a page from are: Scottrade, Netflix, and Red Hat.

  • Scottrade has mastered customer service in my opinion. I must admit that I have a couple of accounts with them and within hours of making a major transaction on-line the local office (1 mile away) calls to make sure everything went as I expected.
  • Netflix mastered a simple concept of adapting to consumers lives and taking away the hassle of the rental store and late fees. Simplicity is their virtue. The next chapter of on-line and downloads for movies will likely test them.
  • Red Hat sells “free software”. In the early days, they boxed free software and made it easy to buy. Now they are leading and prospering in the enterprise business software arena and wining more than their fair share. The company’s culture of transparency and openness that is shared with the open-source community which fuels the software is Red Hat’s greatest asset. How else could you actually sell free stuff?

Links of interest:

Chris Grams Blog – Senior Director of Brand Communications & Design, Red Hat

The Official Netflix Blog

Scottrade YouTube Channel

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Zappos making push into insights business

franchiaccessories.com

source: franchiaccessories.com

Zappos launched zapposinsights.com, a website subscription service that vows to grant insider access to the Zappos culture and employees. Some may ask why… Zappos has made a name for itself in selling shoes online, but most importantly for building a culture that consistently delivers on its promises to customers. The CEO was interviewed by BrandWeek, “Zappos CEO: How to Build a Brand Without Spending Big on Ads“. Through purchasing the subscription, you can ask questions and get answers to how Zappos has tackled issues you are facing or what best practices they have learned along the way.

“We spend most of the money we’d spend on paid advertising and put it into the customer experience and let them do the word-of-mouth marketing for us.” – Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh on brandweek.com

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

How to get started with social media marketing

The social landscape from gregverdino.com

The best social media marketing strategy is to have a brand, product or service worth talking about. Let me stop there and let that sink in…

Lots of marketers and agencies are trying to crack the code to social media marketing. Take for example, Wendy’s Smart character (a.k.a the square hamburger) on Myspace.com with almost 40,000 friends or the folks from Kleenex and their Let it Out (TM) campaign and online community that has users submitting their own video stories filled with emotion. These are two very different approaches from Wendy’s use of exiting networks with very little campaign integration to Kleenex’s  approach with an integrated campaign and building their own community separate from more mainstream options like Facebook, YouTube, or MySpace.

So, who is doing this well? Dell has been touted as using the web and social media to turn their image around. Apple and Google have so many blog hits that they probably can stop advertising online… well if Google actually did advertise.

So what if you are not Dell, Apple or Google… what can you do to get started? Besides focusing on building the best brand, product or service, bloggers are probably the best place to start because they are the power influencers. Here are four steps:

  1. Identify your top 5% of customers that are power users or your highest engaged segment (if you can, identify if there are bloggers in this group, but do not single them out)
  2. Prepare for transparency and the need to take quick action including: changing your strategies, changing products, or apologizing if you find your company has done something this group does not agree with
  3. Now that you are prepped and know which segment to reach out to, treat this segment like the #1 media outlet that you would love to cover your business. This means giving them behind the scenes access, exclusive experiences, etc.
  4. LISTEN to them!

Finally, there is no guarantee that this approach will get you top billing on your blog of choice. You have first focused on building something worth talking about and now began to treat your most enaged customers in a special way. This has benefits well beyond social media exposure and if you are lucky you will get the exposure you are looking for.

Wine store (and so much more)

Owners & Operators of Wine Authorities

Owners & Operators of Wine Authorities

The post is long overdue. It is about a great wine store but not any wine store this is Wine Authorities in Durham, NC. Seth (aka Salamanzar) and Craig (aka grand poobah) are the owners, write a blog, and can be found behind the counter and ready to help you make the best selection.

The kicker about my love of this place is that it happened in just one visit! Let me explain…

A colleague and I needed a gift (Port) for a co-worker and did not know where to go. Kolu, our office manager, suggested Wine Authorities. Now on first hearing the name I said o.k. sounds like a normal wine shop. So, what happened that makes this place so great? Well, it was not one thing but the total experience and a hidden need that I did not know I had.

First, Criag greated us as we entered the store. he must have seen the desperation on our face when looking at the stores vast selection. He offered to help and walked us to the small Port selection. He explained each option and a little story behind the bottle. We bought two bottles and Craig’s obsevant nature latched on to the fact this was a gift and as he rang up the bill he almost un scripted started wrapping them in a special bag with a bow. Simply, great service. (I know as one of my areas of expertise in service marketing.)

Second, as Craig was at the register he asked if this was our first time at the store and proceeded to ask if we would like to be entered into the system. Now if he stopped here, you might ask what is so special, but he didn’t. He explained that on their website I would be able to enter my email address and see the ports that I had just purchased with a picture of the label. I can keep notes on how I liked them or rate them if I like. I would have never expected this type of value from a relatively small wine store.

Lastly, Seth and Craig have embraced customer marketing with a furvor. They understand there value is not only selling great wine, but it is the fact they are “sherpas” for the wine experience. To that effort they have an email newsletter and blog that I have just started to take advantage of in my quest for great wines.