Short Film or Ad ? Desire: A Ridley Scott Production for Jaguar

Who cares..it's brilliant

It's Not A Conversation If You Don't Say Anything

Russell and Bromley's Missed Opportunity

As a Russell and Bromley fan , I was interested to see if their shoes could be purchased online.

It seemed that I caught them mid-upgrade

But it was great to see that they offered me the opportunity to keep in touch and find out when the new website was up and running sometime in the Autumn. ( Having worked with a few Marketing  Teams, they love to be that vague with the launch dates - not that the customers like it)





So the email sign up looked like this, and it was great to see that they didn't ask too much of me

And a matter of moments later I got a welcome email.

But that was the beginning of October 2012, and not having had any emails since I thought I'd take a peek at their website today...and can you spot the subtle change in copy?

Looks like a slight slip in the delivery date.

Now of course they still have bricks and mortar stores so surely there was an opportunity a month into the 'relationship' to keep me in touch as to what was happening both on and off line?

The Conversation

Thomas Cook 0 - Low Cost Holidays 1

It’s not what you say, but the way that you say it

It’s not what you say, but the way that you say it. 

It's not what you do , but the way that you do it.

(Bananrama and Fun Boy Three)

So when considering the content that you put on your website, through your social channels, in your emails remember these few tips

• Be genuine. Make is sound as if it's coming from a real person and not just a marketing automation cut and paste routine
  
• Put a face and name to your social efforts.  Logos are good, people are great.
  
• Put as much effort into developing your voice as you do your content.
  
• It's about the customer, not you
  “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” - Dale Carnegie,
• And of course not forgetting my old friend Aristotle's view of how to be successful in the art of persuasion
  
  
  Ethos - before you can convince an audience, they have to accept you as credible and as a result will think you are telling the truth. My take from this is that as a brand, we need to ensure that we don’t pretend to be something that we’re not. Trust is the cornerstone of eCRM. Once abused it is rarely given again
  
  
  Pathos - the quality of a persuasive argument that appeals emotionally. Sometimes, the heart rules the head. 
  
  
  Logos - does it make sense to me as potential customer, how logical is my argument and my proposition...does it make sense that you are sending me an offer on the latest offer on a Maldives holiday when logic tells you that I am an Center Parcs kind of guy?

Re-Defining 'Conversation'

I came across this interesting if old piece from the Ogilvy Blog and what conversation means these days .

To me it's interesting because it still promotes the idea of conversation as really being the constant throughout the evolution of marketing. The conversation may alter or take on a different emphasis depending on where and when it is taking place, but it still exists.

The conversation might be taking place via a social media site where peers are exchanging thoughts on a product, or it may between the brand and the consumer via feedback programs or a series of emails.

What's key is that we as marketers understand what the conversation content needs to be at that particular moment, and uses technology, where appropriate, to optimise this content and uses technology to make the conversation easier to take place.

The future is not about combining the conversation that is marketing with technology

It's about doing that now!

Putting the Brand at the Heart of the Customer

I know, we all thought that the Customer was the focus. Indeed they are. But to mis-quote from John F Kennedy’s inauguration speech

 ‘And so, my fellow Marketers: ask not what your customer can do for you - ask what you can do for your customer.’

We know that traditionally the model has been for the Brand to have the upper hand in the relationship with it’s customer. But we believe that has changed. Don’t we ? Well yes and no.

Today’s customer no doubt does have more control.
The way they buy has changed
The way they research has changed
And they undoubtedly talk, comment, review our products in a completely different way to say even 5 years ago

Does this put the brand on the back foot? I suggest that actually it’s an opportunity for brands to become as important as ever in customers’ lives.

How? By listening to customers’ needs at every touch point in their journey to whatever they are trying to do. That might be the journey to purchase your product or it might be an opportunity for the brand to help customers in their everyday lives by just making things easier and better.
Yes of course we can sell more by understanding how customers buy, but we can actually sell more just by sometimes being there when customers need help or have a problem.

In reality what does that mean? Here are a few examples that I've liked recently





As we continue to tighten our belts we still need to eat
– even when we are on the motorway where food is notoriously expensive.
So the Moto app provides us with a Deal of the Day to make prices more palatable.











When tyring to sell a car, webuyanycar.com very kindly
sent me an email confirming my appointment, but also gave me the option to change the appointment time with a link in the email.
In the end I didn't sell my car to them but the service was amazing






I sometimes treat myself to a lovely sandwich from my local deli Mairs. And I can tell you they are amazing!

But on one Saturday lunchtime...

And what did I get back?

So of course I go back!


At the checkout in Sainsbury's,

they automatically compare your baskets branded goods with their main competitors and are honest enough to tell you if your shop would have been cheaper elsewhere.
( Brand Match)


And as a result offer to give you money off on your next visit.







In one way or another, these are examples of great use of different touch-points to enhance the customer experience. Making life easier.

Great examples of eCRM

Great examples of everywhere CRM

Tall Latte - That's Not My Name

Excuse the blatant abuse of The Ting Tings' song title, but it did ring a bell when I received an email from Starbucks this morning.

From Wednesday 14th March, Starbucks Cafes will use your name in store as a way of making the experience much more personal.




The actual transcript is as follows


Have you noticed how everything seems a little impersonal nowadays?


We've all become user names, reference numbers and IP addresses.


That's why at Starbucks we've decided to do things differently.


From now on we won't refer to you as a latte, or a mocha, but instead as your folks intended, by your name.


Okay, we know it's only a little thing but hey, why don't we buy you a coffee on the morning of the 14th of March, and you can introduce yourself. 


We're Starbucks. 
Nice to meet you.


It is only a little thing but it does go back to the old days of customer service when the local shop keeper knew his customers by name and not by an id or loyalty card number. And of course knowing someone's name is a great asset when starting up a conversation

Admittedly Starbucks don't make my favourite espresso, but in terms of of how they are getting to grips with today's consumer ( iPhone payments, intelligent use of data with their Starbucks Rewards card and Crowdourcing through My Starbucks Idea ) they certainly get top marks for effort.

I for one will be in store 14th March for my free Tall Latte.

Let's hope there aren't too many Gianfrancos in the queue!

Integrating Social and Email

Interesting video conducted by my friend Jim Ducharme from Get Response with Sundeep Kapur of Email Yogi at the Marketing Sherpa Email Summit . 


Yogi answers this question: “What is the optimal way to integrate and connect the activity of your social and email marketing efforts?”


In particular Sundeep talks about using Social to get more customers, cut costs and improve email marketing results.

How to Start an Email Conversation

A few months ago I wrote a post on how to start a conversation the right (It's all about the conversation...or is it?: How to start off an email conversation...the right way) . And with this post I gave some tips on sign up

I was sent this fantastic piece of work that shows the benefits of asking people to confirm their email address in the subject line of the confirmation email. ( see it here )

Definitely worth an A/B Test don't you think ?