Caffeinated ideas and views on marketing communications

Deborah Brody

Deborah Brody writes and edits anything related to marketing communications. Most blog posts are written under the influence of caffeine.

Are you rewarding loyalty?

Communication, Marketing / By / April 2, 2012

I have been thinking a lot about loyalty and whether companies value it or not.

Take for  example, my customer relationship with ATT Wireless. I have been a customer for several years now (although not by choice rather by the acquisition of my old carrier Cingular). I called customer service the other day to see if they would credit several spam texts I received (I don”t have unlimited text and pay 20 cents per message). The agent placed me on a ten  minute hold “to check my account” and later informed that it was not company policy to do so, but she would credit 40 cents to my account. Now, mind you, I had a similar conversation with another agent last year, and there was no problem crediting my account. No need to review. No lengthy process. I asked the agent if she was really giving me a hard time over 40 cents when I had been a customer for so many years.

This interaction seems to prove that ATT is not particularly concerned with customer loyalty. They would rather talk “company policy” to me than think about rewarding my patronage, which over the years is in the several $1000s.

I have been at my gym for several years. Has it ever given me anything to show appreciation for staying with it? NEW members get perks (free personal training or a t-shirt or whatever) but what do OLD members get? NOTHING. How does this reinforce customer loyalty?

Yet, everywhere you turn there are loyalty programs. From the local bakery, where 12 stamps will result in one free loaf of bread to the pharmacy where you swipe your card to get “reward dollars” after you’ve spent a certain amount.  Some of these loyalty programs do reward a loyal customer with something tangible and some are meant as a database mining operation. Guess which is which.

Large companies, especially financial institutions, seem to take customer loyalty for granted. Either that, or they simply don’t care if customers are loyal. If you have been at your bank for more than five years, are you getting anything? A better interest rate? A free safety deposit box?  I bet the answer is no, you aren’t getting a single cent. Yet, some banks will reward new customers by giving them a cash bonus deposited to their new accounts.

Customer loyalty is an area that marketing communications can’t fix by itself. It needs operations/institutional support. However, as a marketer, you need to be concerned about it. You can attract all sorts of new business with good communications efforts, but can you retain it? Are you doing something to reward “old” business?

If you aren’t thinking about customer loyalty and what you are doing to maintain it and reward it, they you are probably losing customers at this very moment.

 

Leave a Comment

About Deborah Brody

Deborah Brody writes and edits anything related to marketing communications. Most blog posts are written under the influence of caffeine.

Share

Being transparent (or, not making assumptions)

Communication / By / March 29, 2012

There is a women’s networking group here in Maryland that offers some nice events every couple of months. For April, they had been touting a well known health expert as the speaker to their event. This speaker was a huge draw. Yesterday, I decided to register. When I went to event page, lo and behold, the speaker is not listed. Instead, there is a panel of speakers (none of them “famous”) who will discuss health issues.

Is this a bait and switch? Did the speaker bow out due to an unforeseen circumstance? Why the change in speakers?

I have no answer because this group has not addressed it. Instead, they proceed as if nothing has changed.

They are making an assumption that people will want to attend the event regardless. They are making an assumption that you will get it. They are making an assumption that they don’t have to provide an explanation.

Don’t make assumptions! Be transparent. Be clear. All that needed to be said in this case was: We had scheduled speaker x for this event, but due to (reason) she is no longer available. Instead, we are presenting a fabulous panel….

This type of thing is what irritates people and turns them off. Say you signed up a month ago expecting the original speaker. You get to the event and she is not there. Don’t you feel ripped off? Disappointed? Or maybe you are just uninterested in the panel.

Don’t assume your audience will follow you if you don’t explain. Be transparent. Be honest. Be upfront.

Rant over.

Leave a Comment

About Deborah Brody

Deborah Brody writes and edits anything related to marketing communications. Most blog posts are written under the influence of caffeine.

Share

Weekly communications #fail: losing momentum

Marketing / By / March 23, 2012

Momentum is a physics term, which means that speed or forward motion of an object is equal to mass times velocity. In everyday usage, momentum is the strength or speed gained by motion or a series of events (here is Merriam-Webster’s definition).

Momentum is good for marketing–it helps you build up steam and propels you forward (gets you new business, more readers, bigger audience, etc).  But if when things are starting to speed up,  you apply the brakes, you (like your car) will quite literally slow down (lose momentum).

Losing momentum is a marketing killer.

How do you lose momentum? There are many “brakes.” Here are few examples:

Not returning inquiry calls: If I call you for information, I am what they call a warm prospect. By not calling me back, you are losing me. By taking your sweet time to return said calls, you also lose momentum.

Not following up:  In mid-December I attended the inaugural event for a new DC networking group. It sounded good and I provided my email, saying I would be happy to help organize an event. I haven’t heard ONE word from them. They haven’t held another event. They lost momentum.

Changing your terms suddenly (dashing expectations): Say you always get bread served at your favorite restaurant, and suddenly, the restaurant decides to cut costs and there goes the bread basket. It may have been what you enjoyed about the place, and now your expectations are dashed. You may not return.

Not blogging (or Tweeting or posting on Facebook) for months: You started your blog, and you had lots to say. And then you stopped posting. Any readership (or followers) you had, will dwindle. You lost momentum.

Whenever you do something that slows down your interaction with a prospective customer or client, you are losing momentum. That is a marketing/communications failure.

Have you experienced lost marketing momentum? Please give me your examples in the comments.

2 Comments

About Deborah Brody

Deborah Brody writes and edits anything related to marketing communications. Most blog posts are written under the influence of caffeine.

Share

It’s all about personality

branding, Communication / By / March 15, 2012

One of my favorite lines from a movie is this one, from Pulp Fiction:

“A pig’s got personality. Personality goes a long way.”

-Jules Winnfield (played by Samuel L. Jackson)

It seems the folks at Spike TV”s Bar Rescue didn’t think personality went a long way when they remade Silver Spring’s Piratz Tavern into the very generic Corporate Bar and Grill. As I commented here on the blog, I didn’t give the corporate makeover good chances of succeeding, and apparently neither did Piratz Tavern’s owners. The Washington Post is reporting today that the bar’s owners, Tracy and Juciano Rebelo are getting rid of the makeover and re-launching Piratz Tavern today.

The Washington Post article says this:

The bigger problem, however, was the tavern’s new identity, designed to attract Silver Spring’s corporate worker bees. The new place seemed to do just the opposite: It became a cruel joke among a number of locals.

After reading the article, I have concluded that the Bar Rescue team did have some genuine concerns about Piratz Tavern (to do with management style and food quality) but that their solution eliminated the only thing that made Piratz Tavern stand out–its personality. Remember, personality does go a long way.

 

Leave a Comment

About Deborah Brody

Deborah Brody writes and edits anything related to marketing communications. Most blog posts are written under the influence of caffeine.

Share

To network or not to network, that is a question

Networking / By / March 14, 2012

Here it is, mid-March (Pi Day today because it is 3.14) and I haven’t been to a single networking event this year. Not a one. I did got to a panel presentation yesterday, but that wasn’t a networking event.

Now, I believe in networking and in networking events. It’s important to meet people in person, and form relationships. It’s good to get out. So the question is not whether to network but where and how.

Here are some factors in deciding:

Who is going. Is there a good chance that you will meet prospective clients, or good resources or just fun people? Is it going to be lots of people you already know? Will it give you a chance to reconnect? You should have a goal in mind when networking. If not, you are just attending an event.

Where and when is it. Is it convenient to attend this event? Will there be parking if I have to drive or is it near a Metro stop? How long will it take to get there? Is it at the crack of dawn or in the evening?

Cost. Some events are free and those you can decide on based on the two factors above, but some events are costly. For example, I got an event invitation for something that is $49. And it is a breakfast presentation. To me, that is a lot of $$. Will the cost cover anything other than networking–a presentation or a meal? There’s one group I know that gives a percentage of the cost to charity, so there is a feel-good/do-good aspect to paying.

Plenty of notice/time to RSVP. Sometimes you don’t have enough notice (as I am writing this I got an invitation for something tomorrow night–sorry, I already committed to something else). Sometimes you have to RSVP far in advance.

What are your reasons to attend or not attend an event? I would love to hear what makes it or breaks it for you in the comments.

Leave a Comment

About Deborah Brody

Deborah Brody writes and edits anything related to marketing communications. Most blog posts are written under the influence of caffeine.

Share

Why you must have a marketing timeline

Communication, Marketing / By / March 12, 2012

This past Saturday, I received a 6″x11″ size postcard, in color (read: higher printing costs) advertising an event taking place on Sunday. Yes, you read that right. I got the expensive postcard one day before an event, and this was for a nonprofit group. You know what this postcard was? A total waste of money. I had already heard about the event via social media and enewsletter. I had already decided not to attend.

Time

Photo: Time by Thomas Hawk, via Flickr.

Why have a marketing timeline

What this organization probably failed to do was a build an accurate marketing timeline. Without a timeline, you will print and mail stuff too late (or too early), send enewsletters too often or not frequently enough, send a press release too far from the event, etc. Marketing takes planning. Planning is essential if you want to get the most for your marketing dollars. In the case above, the postcard was a complete waste of marketing dollars. Very few, if any people, decide to attend an  all-day event (which has a registration fee that is higher at the door) the day before.

How to build a marketing timeline

You probably will want to either sketch this out on a calendar or use a spreadsheet program to map this out.

1. Start with the end (your target date) and work backward.

2. Create a row for each communications vehicle, such as press release, enewsletter, email blast, brochure, etc.

3. Decide  how many days prior to the target date you want each communications vehicle to reach your audience.

4. Consider preparation time for each communications vehicle. For example, for printed materials, you have to consider printing times, shipping to you, delivery times (are you using first class mail or bulk) and approval process. Set target dates for each preparation step.

5. Fill out your timeline.

Remember to give yourself time to plan your marketing timeline!

Your thoughts?

 

 

Leave a Comment

About Deborah Brody

Deborah Brody writes and edits anything related to marketing communications. Most blog posts are written under the influence of caffeine.

Share

Weekly communications #fail: no response

Communication / By / March 10, 2012

We are all inundated with messaging from every which way. We get voice mail and texts, email, direct messages, tweets, and even snail mail. Sometimes we just don’t have time to respond to everything and everyone, but that choice is a communications failure.

This week, I told you all about the incident with my website. The woman who was the root cause of this issue has yet to respond to any of the tweets or emails I sent her. Not a single word (and the words I would most like to hear are “I am sorry”).  No acknowledgment that she messed up and that her screw up affected my business (and not to mention, cost me money).  By not responding, she has made matters worse because now she has increased my anger level and shown me that she just doesn’t care.

Of course, sometimes people respond because they feel compelled to. Their parents jammed manners into them, and thus, they resent having to answer each and every message. They can become passive-aggressive and they issue responses that don’t actually respond but put it off by telling you they tell you they’ll get back to you when they are a bit less busy or when Jupiter is in line with Neptune. In a sense, this is not communication but aggression.

Sometimes we don’t respond because we don’t have an answer. This is still non-communication.

Whether you have a legitimate reason or not, when you fail to respond to someone who is talking directly to you, you are failing to communicate.

 

Leave a Comment

About Deborah Brody

Deborah Brody writes and edits anything related to marketing communications. Most blog posts are written under the influence of caffeine.

Share

Why cold calling doesn’t work

Communication, Marketing / By / March 7, 2012

It’s 9:30 a.m. and I am trying to concentrate on a project when my phone rings. It is a representative from my credit card company.  She is selling some additional service like travel insurance or some such. She is speaking in a monotone, and barely letting me get in a word edgewise. I speak over her and tell her to remove me from the marketing list. She goes away but only after she has interrupted my work and made me lose five minutes listening to her spiel.

I’d bet you have had the exact same thing happen to you. Everyone has. Unsolicited telemarketing calls are the bane of my existence, and worse yet if they are recorded calls (robo-calls). And we get pounded with them–I get at least two or three a day. Luckily, most of us have caller ID and don’t pick up calls from numbers we don’t recognize or that are places we don’t do business with.

One time, I got a call from a real estate agent who went on and on about “listings in my area” and when I asked her what area that was, she referred to a place I hadn’t even heard of. I told her that she was calling the wrong person, and she had the nerve to be huffy at me.

Cold calls just don’t work. Why?

  • Because you are quite literally interrupting someone or catching him/her at a time that is inconvenient.
  • Because with caller ID, people can choose to ignore your call.
  • Because these calls are not invited or welcome.
  • Because they are blindly selling something based on broad factors like ZIP codes or business codes.
  • Because there are too many variables that must align to make a sale: person answers call, person is receptive to talking, person is interested in the offer.

The best type of marketing is targeted. Cold calling by its nature is not targeted. Even if you a home insurance sales person cold calling ten people who just bought a home, you aren’t really targeting because you don’t know whether those people already have home insurance.

The best type of marketing is customized. With cold calling, due to volume and your lack of knowledge about the target, you will likely follow a script, which, by its nature is not customized.

The best type of marketing is inbound marketing. Cold calling is outbound marketing at its very worst. It’s sending out messages to people who don’t necessarily want or need these messages and hoping that through some margin of return, you will get enough business to justify the expense.

Ah yes, I know. You got the biggest client you have through cold calling. I think you were lucky. You called someone at a convenient time, with a message to which he or she was receptive. And you were able to get him or her to actually pick up the phone. Or that person did not have caller ID. Or that person was in a very good mood that day. 

Why not put effort into other things that do work and that don’t leave your prospects cold?

P.S. Plus of course, fewer and fewer people are using landline telephones these days, and cell phones are not listed.

 

 

2 Comments

About Deborah Brody

Deborah Brody writes and edits anything related to marketing communications. Most blog posts are written under the influence of caffeine.

Share

Trust

Communication, Marketing / By / March 6, 2012

Trust: the movie

On Sunday night I watched the movie Trust (starring Clive Owen and Catherine Keener), which is about how a teenage girl gets scammed by a pervert online. I won’t give away all the plot details, but suffice it to say that it is a powerful and sad commentary on the underbelly of the online world, the power of the Internet; teenage angst and desire for acceptance; and parental disconnection.

Weirdly, this movie set the stage for an incident that happened yesterday that has made me think hard about the nature of trust and the online world.
Trust: the catalyst of the open source way

Photo by Libby Levi for OpenSource.com via Flickr

Trust online

The nature of online interactions makes it hard to know who you are dealing with. As in the movie Trust, a person can provide  a fake name, or picture or any other details. Unless we know otherwise, we are forced to trust the person is who she or he says she/he is.  This is why some of us limit who we are friends with on Facebook or connect with on LinkedIn. Twitter is a bit trickier.

Trust can be gained and lost

This blog and website was built by a virtual assistant/small business web developer whom I found online. I found her through Twitter when I was looking for some VA assistance. Since she had Web and WordPress skills, she fixed a couple of issues on my old website, and then built this website. Along the way, I referred a couple of people to her. But. She was a bit hard to get a hold of. She would disappear for days on end and not respond to emails or calls. Getting the project done was painful and slow. However, I was pleased with the end result.

This person also sold me web hosting on HostGator, as she was a reseller. I paid her upfront for a year of hosting. She assured me that I could deal with HostGator directly if I had any issues. Except when I did have an issue, it turned out she wasn’t telling the truth. Yesterday,  I found I had no email access and my website was down with a page that said “account suspended.” I called HostGator immediately, and to make a long story short, I was told that the account holder–the virtual assistant–had not paid her account and that in order to make changes to the account she would have to contact HostGator. Well, I told you she was hard to get a hold of. I called both numbers I had for her (one was disconnected and the other one went to a voice mail that was not accepting messages). I sent email, and I tweeted her repeatedly. She was not to be found.

In the end, I was forced set up and pay for a new hosting account, and because I had a password, was able to get HostGator to transfer the files. It was stressful. HostGator has all sorts of rules about reseller accounts about which I had no clue. I was told that my website/email could be down for as long as 48 hours. In the end, it was only a couple of hours.

I learned a lesson the hard way. You can’t and shouldn’t trust anybody you don’t know personally (and even then) completely. In this case, I should have retained control of my web hosting.

To quote Ronald Reagan, “trust but verify”

There is only so much you can do…some people will try to scam you even if you check out references etc. But before you put money on the table, you must do your due diligence and try to verify a person’s credentials. Also, check in with your gut. Your gut always seems to know.

Trust and marketing

As a marketer, part of your job is to make sure potential customers and clients can and do trust you. Without trust, there can be no business relationship. This is why we include actual addresses, names and phone numbers in our collateral material (including and especially websites). This is why we have customer/client testimonials and provide references.  And this is why third party sites like Yelp and Angie’s List are doing so well.

Trust is integral to marketing a business. Without it, you are toast.

Once trust is broken, you are done. I will never do business with the VA business again. And neither will anyone I know. Because of social media, my voice is amplified. She must not truly understand this because 24 hours later, I still haven’t heard a word. Radio silence in an online world.


Leave a Comment

About Deborah Brody

Deborah Brody writes and edits anything related to marketing communications. Most blog posts are written under the influence of caffeine.

Share
image_pdfimage_print

Contact us today to learn how to improve your marketing and communications.