Archive for Customer Engagement
Turning Customers into Your Company’s Brand Advocates
Posted by: | CommentsCustomers can become valuable brand advocates for your products and services, according to a McKinsey study. I’m a firm believer that companies can leverage their own employees on social networks to advocate for their brands and I’ve written about that. But the McKinsey study, “Four ways to get more value from digital marketing,” is convincing in its point of view that traditional advertising and point-of-sale promotions, one-way channels to customers, are losing potency to the power of interactive communications with customers who then become your brand advocates.
Viral marketing gains new customers
Not surprising. “Moving from a one-way, company-driven sales mentality to a two-way relationship with consumers requires core changes in the way marketers do business,” the study learned. Digital technology has changed the way consumers make purchasing decisions. Instead of asking friends and families for recommendations, consumers now read online reviews, compare features and prices on websites and discuss options on social networking sites. This is a golden opportunity for companies to find out what customers are looking for and to respond to their needs directly one-to-one.
The term “marketing to the one” became a buzzword a few years back. But now it has become a reality. Among leading companies that have leveraged this two-way conversation are Comcast, Dell and American Express. They constantly monitor what their customers are saying about their products and service. Smart companies are also revamping their websites and launching online promotions that engage their customers in a way that was impossible just a short time ago.
But most companies are, unfortunately, still mired in their old ways, spending most of their marketing spend on paid advertising reaching the many. Digital marketers reverse this, focusing on a smaller core of engaged people who spread their message.
Inspiring customers to help stretch your marketing budgets
Back to customers as brand advocates. Digital marketers let “customers do more of the heavy lifting as they decide what to look at, play with content and forward it to their online communities,” says McKinsey. I would call them brand advocates for the companies that treat them well and provide outstanding products and service.
Gary Vaynerchuk
Gary Vaynerchuk, in his book “Crush It,” offers a powerful example of the effectiveness of viral marketing. For his wine business, he spent $7,500 to offer free shipping codes via three traditional advertising channels: a billboard on the New Jersey Turnpike, direct mail, and radio. The billboard brought in 170 orders, radio 240, and direct mail 300+. Then, at no cost, he sent out a free shipping code via his Twitter account and received 1,700 orders in 48 hours. No doubt, many of his followers retweeted the offer to their friends. They became brand advocates for winelibrary.com.
Is your company engaging your employees and customers as brand advocates? I would love to hear your stories.
Facial Cues Tell us a Lot About People and Success in Business
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Facial expressions are crucial to social – and business – interactions. A story in The New Times today discussed research by a graduate student who is doing a study on her own condition called Moebius syndrome that causes facial paralysis. Unlike people without the syndrome, Moebius sufferers must find other cues like gestures and tone of voice to communicate emotions that most of us take for granted.
How important are facial expressions to success in business? Very important. As the article points out, we tend to mimic the gestures and expressions of conversation partners that create a kind of shared good will. Ask most people who they want to do business with, and they will generally say someone they are comfortable with. We’ve all had the experience of talking to someone who gives us absolutely no facial or verbal cues. Maybe it was a potential client. Nothing could be more uncomfortable because we may interpret this lack of cues as rejection — and possibly it is.
So what’s the lesson here? In a selling situation, try to use all three methods of communication: words, pictures and actions. The words are important but actions like smiling, laughing, frowning, and arched eyebrows communicate as much or more than words. They create a visceral connection to your conversation partner. You may never get to the next step in a personal or business relationship without them.
White Castle Boss Goes Undercover and Learns Employee Engagement Works
Posted by: | CommentsI was finally persuaded by a friend to watch the new hit show “Undercover Boss.” This reality show confirmed that a CEO can learn a lot about how to make the company better by engaging with employees. For those who haven’t seen the new show on CBS, a CEO goes undercover as an employee in his own company to see for himself how things are working. Dave Rife, owner of the White Castle hamburger chain, was this past Sunday’s undercover snoop.
Praise for a job well done
When he started his adventure, I don’t think he fully understood how stressful the job of a White Castle employee can be, with the fear of losing a job always in the background when you have a disabled child, as one employee did, or another’s fear of simply messing up.
How Do I Do This?
Mr. Big Shot discovered that he couldn’t do simple chores like sliding plastic wrap over a batch of buns in the packaging machine. He ruined several barrels’ worth, prompting a supervisor to say the hogs (who get to enjoy the mangled buns) would be eating well that night.
What he learned best, though, was how important employees are to the success of the company. At a White Castle drive-in a young co-worker explained to him about the importance of greeting each customer and going out of your way to help with little things, like sliding the customer’s credit card in a hard-to-reach slot. In watching this scene, I was almost brought to tears by the young man’s sincerity and dedication. So was Dan Rife.
Another employee showed him a shortcut, but told him not to tell management, because that’s not how they said it was supposed to be done.
After his eye-opening week on the road, working besides his employees, Rife returned to headquarters wiser and more appreciative of what it means to be on the front lines.
Magically, he brought several employees to headquarters to assist with developing training programs – hey, they should. Aren’t they the ones who know what the problems are and how to fix them? He gave a $5,000 scholarship to a budding chef, and another $5,000 to the employee with a disabled child.
The program ended with Rife speaking to a pep rally of employees, beaming with the joy of being acknowledged by the head of the company. Happy with the recognition that they were asked to work as a team to achieve the company’s success.
Annual Report Time: Don’t Forget Your Employees in Communication With Shareholders
Posted by: | CommentsWell, PR Departments in public companies are surely beginning work on their annual reports. They can smell spring in the air – when these symbols of capitalism come rolling off the presses once more. In a reprise of my past admonitions, with a few additions, I implore writers and designers to keep a few things in mind.
- Please make the report more exciting. Notice I did not say interesting. Splash some color on the pages, use a large typeface so oldsters can read the copy, especially if you’re using reverse type. Use bold, brash headlines. Most readers will be viewing the report online so make it compelling and dispense with flash and any other doohickey that slows down loading or distracts the viewer.
- Remember the company has employees. Yes, many fewer of them, but they still are the backbone of the company. I was shocked last year when I perused the annual reports of several of the largest Fortune 500 companies and found they had not a single photo or story about an employees. It is disappointing to think they merited so little recognition.
- Make it sell. The report should very strategically position the organization as the leader in its space, developing new paradigms of products and services.
- Use Testimonials. Words out of the mouths of your customers and employees can bring the vision statement to life. Let them tell the reader what a great company this is.
So, if you’re assigned to create this year’s annual report, how do you ensure it accurately represents the organization and has a long, active life after it’s been printed and distributed? Here are my suggestions:
- Get the CEO involved from the get-go. Do not even think of hiring a writer or design firm until you have met with the CEO to understand how s/he wishes the organization to be positioned in the document. S/he cannot delegate this discussion to someone else.
- Write a creative platform that describes the overall theme and tone of the annual report, its content and “look.” Get the CEO to sign off on it.
- Solicit in-put from the key people in your organization who would most likely use the annual report throughout the year such as the head of sales, director of development, director of public and community affairs, and so on. What do they want emphasized in the report? Find out what would make them use it during the year to help them achieve their goals.
- Make a mock-up of the report, page by page. It doesn’t need to be fancy. Take some legal paper and fold the sheets in half. It’s essential to know the content of every page and ideas for photos, charts, etc.
- Now you can meet with your design firm and writer, if that’s not you. Everyone should be working from the approved creative platform and mock-up. Believe me, they will love you for it.
- Show two to three designs to the CEO with the mock-up. If you’ve done your job right, s/he will have a tough time picking out the winner, because s/he will love them all.
- Be true to the creative platform as you go through the process of developing the report. Be excited as it begins to unfold as a living, breathing document that will take on a life of its own for a year. Don’t be afraid to be a little gutsy with the copy and design. You’re not creating the next Bible, after all.
So, with these humble bits of advice, good luck and go forth!
