THE David Anderson

R.A.D. - Rockin Ad of the Day / Scotch-Brite

Wash the dishes or pay the bill?  The folks at Scotch-Brite (in Brazil) created a fantastic opportunity to engage new customers, build brand awareness, and brand value.  They teamed up with some restaurants and offered to pay for a meal if the customer would wash some dishes using the Scotch-Brite scrubbing sponge.  I'm sure there were some who turned down the offer but look at how much the customers are enjoying this experience!  Some even took video of the experience and no doubt shared it with friends.  Well done!

 

2010 - Top Branding Events

Happy New Year to all!  2010 was another great and eventful year.  From a branding point of view there were definitely some historic moments.  Let's take a stroll down memory lane and revisit some of the memorable branding events of 2010:

• Old Spice became relevant again with a viral ad campaign.  I still haven't purchased any Old Spice products but I'm sure they have gained new customers.
• A new Gap logo... oh wait, nevermind... bad idea.  Thanks Twitter!
• The ipad launched and I capitulated... but it has been worth it!  New iphone launched but not without controversy... free bumper case anyone?  I think they'll survive.
• SunChips try to go green with the first ever 100% compostable chip bag only to be later buried when consumers banded together to protest the most noisy chip bag ever made.
• Vuvuzela... addicting and annoying but added to the draw of World Cup soccer... even I watched.
• BP Oil Spill - Not many brands fight a global crisis like BP had to this year.  Key take away is be prepared for crisis management and error on the side of the consumer. 
• Tiger Woods - it seems that from a branding point of view he is on his way back up... America will give you a second chance... ask Michael Vick.
• Goofy Bands - ok, not really a branding event but my kids are crazy about these things.
• Facebook, a social networking site with its own feature film?  This brand has reached new heights despite the privacy concerns.  What will 2011 bring?
• King James and the Decision - the majority was critical and appauled at the coverage of The Decision but we all watched and have chose sides.  Who will win/lose... Nike, NBA, ESPN, Lebron?  Either way, the Heat games will get more attention... for better or worse and my son still wants his shoes.
• Toyota - hard to believe that this quality brand became a punchline for comedians everywhere when they experienced issues with accelerators getting stuck in their vehicles.  They should be able to bounce back but they opened the door for others to grab market share... even Hyundai.
• Conan-gate - NBC and Leno took a hit for the way they handled their late night franchise but Team Coco took Conan to heights of popularity that he has never seen... now what channel is TBS on??  ...nevermind, I'll watch Jimmy Fallon instead.

I know this isn't a comprehensive list but some that stand out to me.  What are some of your top branding moments of 2010?

Is Your Glass Half Full?

Unless you are selling the perfect product, you need to understand how to identify and resolve customer's concerns.  As you go through the sales process your prospect will ask questions about the limitations of your product or service.  Don't shy away from these discussions!  Every product falls short in one area or another, the important key is to be able to probe the customer in such a way that you first, fully understand the concern and second, be able to respond in a positive light.  Don't attack the prospect or diminish their viewpoint.  Here are some of my favorite questions to use in these situations that keep the discussion moving in a positive direction:

1. That is an interesting point, help me understand why you feel that way?
2. What has been your experience with this method?
3. Are there alternate solutions to this approach?
4. Would you mind sharing with me how you are handling this today?
5. What are the other dependent factors that are impacting this process?
6. How would you like to see this handled?

Remember that you are building a brand with every conversation you have with your prospects, even the difficult ones.  If you ignore or try to brush off their questions you risk an opportunity to build trust and ultimately sell something. 

Brand Twitter Therapy

Here is a daily dose of Brand Twitter Therapy from myself and other twitter friends:

• @2social_soho: build strong relationships with your customers, and chatters to build your brand and create evangelists w WOM
• Happy customers = unpaid sales force. Make them happy.
• Automation in place of conversation = NONsocial Media
• @aliciafalcone: a brand is the stories your customers tell about you. Hopefully, same stories you tell about yourself.
• Branding is PRO-ACTIVE, not reactive. "If you don't lead, they can't follow."
• “In b2b, the customers you select are the company you become.” Das Narayandas of Harvard
• Every good brand needs a leader to execute the strategy and give someone for the activists to follow.
• When you can align your values and passions with what you do and how you do it, you gain energy and reduce stress. -Jordan Friedman
• "The best (sales) pitch is no pitch at all" - Valeria Maltoni via Marketing Profs.
• @bethlapierre: branding is first a strategic endeavor then a creative enterprise
• @DavidSandusky Yes, when everyone in org buys in to the brand strategy great things happen
• @IMAGEidentity: Many are under the perception that because their brand is selling well they have a strong brand... often not true.
• Every business involves a promise (brand) and the fulfillment of that promise (business’s abilities). – Interbrand
• The brands that create the most value are the ones that are the most relevant to the customers’ choice. –Interbrand
• Remain in tune with consumers’ attitudes and demonstrate empathy with what they are going through. -Interbrand

Evolution of Customer Support - Try Harder

 

Jeremiah Owyang published a presentation on the evolution of customer support that is worth reading.  Customer support organizations are a critical element of the brand experience.  Brand loyalty is largely determined from how customers are treated when support is needed.  As Jeremiah points out, customer support can be "strategic, a value center, and proactive towards customer needs".  Here are a few gems from his presentation:

• "Stop treating support as a lowly department who cleans up messes"
• "The evolved support organization must go to where customers already are at to proactively find, triage, and respond to customers"
• "Support is Marketing" - A happy customer can serve as an unpaid salesperson
• Use the insights from the support group to influence product development.  "Customer interactions should be recorded, prioritized and shared with product teams."
• "Let go and allow customers to self-support each other" - "Companies struggle letting go of answering questions about products, but should instead use the right collaboration and knowledge capturing tools to allow customers to self-support each other."
• "Shuffling customers with issues into a queue only amps frustration."
• "Measure based on value" - "(don't) only measure # of calls received and close but... how many crises were diverted, new knowledge gleaned, and interactions in the open web."

Drive the "Middle", "Tighter and Righter"

"Most of your team members want to make a valued contribution - to find purpose in their work" Stephen R. Covey

Covey's book, "Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times", contains some great words of wisdom for managing others.  Here is an explanation of those ideas as relayed via Fast Company blogger, Thomas Clifford.

• People and teams within organizations work extremely well; say about 20% to the right of middle.  20% under-perform to the left of middle.  The 60% in the middle could move to the right if they knew how.
• Move the "middle" to the "right" by
• • identifying islands of excellence: find the top performers and visit with them.  Find out what they do that sets them apart.  Ask them to share their success stories.  Invite them to mentor the "middle"
  • asking the team how to improve performance: Start generating success stories from the "middle" instead of focusing on failures.  Involving the team on a consistent basis by setting goals on how they can improve.

By driving better performance your organization will provide better brand experiences through a better offering and experience with your audience.

Dennis Hahn's "Building a Strong Brand: The ID Branding Framework"

Dennis Hahn's "Building a Strong Brand: The ID Branding Framework" does a fantastic job of describing the many elements of branding.  You should read the entire article but I want to share some of the highlights that stood out to me.

1. Definition: "Brand is the recognition and personal connection that forms in the hearts and minds of your customers and other key audiences through their accumulated experience with your brand, at every point of contact.  Ideally the brand that emerges is a positive one, leading to trust, loyalty and advocacy for your offerings, increasing shareholder value and establishing long-term advantage in the marketplace."
2. "Branding is an integrating business practice.  (Branding) should span your organization, weaving across and through personal interactions, corporate culture, communications, products and services."
3. "Your brand should be championed by top management and embodied from the inside out by all of your employees, product offerings and communications - at all times."
4. "Branding should never be treated as a project that has a beginning or an end."
5. 4 Core disciplines of the ID Branding Framework:
6. 1. Brand Strategy: Understand key aspects of a company's business, marketplace, customers, and other key audiences.  The strategy sets the foundation for all other activities.
   2. Brand Identity: The outward expressions of the company's values, personality, and promise.
   3. Brand Management: Plan delivery of internal and external brand messages to best connect with audience.  Cultivate brand adoption among employees and others with brand training.  Set up a system of tools for monitoring and assessing the brand's health.
   4. Brand Experience: Enable companies to design a range of experiences that customers and other audiences will find meaningful, memorable, and associate explicitly with your brand.  This is the surest path to building brand trust, loyalty, and advocacy.  Includes traditional market communications, personal interactions, events, function and reliability of products, (i.e., every point of contact with the audience).

With so many different opinions for what "branding" is or isn't I found this article to hit the nail on the head when it comes down to understanding the branding concept.  In case the link is down I have created a PDF of the whitepaper Download Building a Strong Brand.

Brand Therapy – Effective Customer Communication

As marketers, we are challenged to develop messages that are interesting and engaging to our consumers but sometimes we miss the mark.  We use buzzwords too much, we assume the customer will naturally understand the benefits, or we talk about ourselves too much.  I came across an interview with author Jonathan Kranz in which he shared some advice regarding effective communication with customers.  Mr. Kranz had some very good ideas on how to avoid these pitfalls.  Here are a few of the top points that made an impression on me:

 

JK: “We think we can distinguish our business from the competition by talking about ourselves: our company, our mission, our philosophy, and our products.  Yet the more we talk about ourselves, ironically, the more we sound like everyone else.”

 

Diagnosis:  I think some customers are trained to ask for this information but in reality Jonathan is right, they don’t really care about how big we are or the names for all 30 of our products.  They might need to gather that info at some point to fill out a checklist from procurement but really they only want to know about specific products that will help them solve their problems.

 

JK: “You have to establish trust before you can build a relationship with consumers.  You create credibility that leads to trust by doing three things: 1) demonstrating your empathy and understanding of the prospect’s concerns; 2) telling stories that illustrate your value to real people in real situations; and 3) sharing expertise that has immediate, practical value for your prospects.  That means directing your collateral efforts away from “about us” brochures and toward “about you” materials prospects want to read and keep.”

 

Diagnosis:  This advice applies to personal relationships as well.  As you are managing your personal brand, keep these principles in mind.  Understand concerns, share experiences, give practical advice.  This is easier said then done but it is very effective.  This reminds me of a software vendor that approached me recently out of the blue.  They had developed a fantastic application that contained a lot of important data for me to use in generating leads; however, in selling this application, they simply demoed the tool and didn’t explain how it would help me.  I thought of many applications for their tool but I wanted to see how informed they were so I tried to push them down that path to give me some actionable use cases.  When they couldn’t, my trust was gone and I didn’t buy.

 

JK: “You can never go wrong thinking from the point of view of your customers.  Put yourself in their shoes; anticipate their needs.  Write copy from their perspective.  Be real.  Stay clear of big abstractions like “solutions” and “proactive” and focus on specifics: real things people can touch, see, imagine.  Show customers how you solve problems and help them achieve the results they want.”

 

Diagnosis:  Sometimes it is difficult to think from the customers’ point of view if you have not walked in their shoes.  That is a big reason why developers should not make decisions in a vacuum.  In our company we have made a conscious effort to hire customers.  Now we not only have our perspective on the market, we also have brought in experience from our customer base.  This has made such a big impact to so many different parts of our business but especially to marketing because our messaging is much more customer focused and relevant to the day to day issues they face.