I was watching a football game the other day and happened to catch a few of the ads that were on during the game. While most of them were just a blur of noise in the background, one particular ad from AT&T jumped out at me. It caught me a bit off guard, so I played it again and confirmed what they were saying. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing…

The ad was talking about “effective advertising,” only they GOT IT WRONG. The AT&T spokesperson, Lily Adams, played by Milana Vayntrub, was listening to a salesperson talking to a young man about the great deals they were offering. He was amazed at these deals, so he called his mom immediately to tell her about it. As the ad goes, he made the call to a random person…a classic case of misdialing.

However, he told the salesperson this random person liked the deal so much they were going to come in and buy a phone and a plan. How convenient for AT&T. Lily’s response is what caught my attention. She said…

The post Sorry AT&T…you have it Wrong first appeared on WOM10.

I would encourage you to think a bit broader and deeper when it comes to a discussion about Content Marketing. We have to remind ourselves that “Content Marketing” is actually just a “TOOL” with a Bigger Purpose if used correctly. Like many of the other traditional, digital, and social media “tools” already being used, this one can fit into the same category…unless you THINK DIFFERENTLY.

Start with the concept that generally, “Marketing ruins everything.” OK, I know this will get some people’s feathers ruffled and for others of you, you will say Amen, it is completely accurate. The point I want to make is that when marketing gets a hold of “a new thing (tool)” they tend to do two things to it…over use it and use it incorrectly. Content Marketing probably won’t be any different so it will follow the same path at some point in the future…unless you treat it differently.

If you think of Content Marketing as a “tool” you are missing the point and its value.

There are two concepts in marketing…“PUSH” and “PULL” marketing. All traditional marketing was designed as “Push”…shoving out lots of ads and other information to the audience. This worked amazingly well in the Industrial Revolution when there weren’t any other options for the consumer to hear about products and services. Ad agencies were born and raked in millions of dollars on the backs of this approach. It has essentially died when we left the Industrial Revolution behind and entered into the Internet/Digital Revolution.

Unfortunately, many people in marketing didn’t get this was happening right under their nose. Instead, they saw a whole bunch of new “tools” called Social Media show up that they thought were simply a new and improved way to “push” their information to the customer. They were wrong. The customer initially thought this was pretty cool and welcomed the new way of getting information…then marketing ruined it. They started shoving everything they could…faster and in more volume…than they ever had before. They thought this would work…it didn’t. It was still “push marketing” only using a different tool called Social Media instead of direct mail, TV, radio, magazines, billboards, and a host of other traditional media tools.

The audience grew up and learned how they wanted to receive information and it wasn’t by having billions of pieces thrown at them through every channel they were on…they learned where the “off switch” was and turned off this barrage of messaging. The numbers have been declining steadily and marketing is wondering why their audience doesn’t want to see their valuable ads and self-promotional information. They really never did…

Enter Content Marketing as a new way to “push” more information to the customer. It is new because it actually involves content…something of substance (written, video, podcast, etc.). The consumer is asking for this…they want to learn more but invest less time in consuming the information. Once again we are seeing most marketing groups seeing the next “Promised Land” and as such are shoving more and more “content” to their audience. The right concept…wrong execution.

The content isn’t RELEVANT, HELPFUL, or TIMELY for their audience…it is just once again voluminous amounts of information…much of what we can already get by doing a search. This is where marketing stands to “ruin content marketing” as they have done for so many other forms of media.

But there is a solution…“PULL MARKETING.”

Pull Marketing is all about the “customer WANTING the information you have because it is relevant, helpful, and timely and so they PULL it to them…when they want and how they want.” This is an entirely different way to think about marketing. It is marketing the customer actually wants in their life because it is VALUABLE to them.

CONTENT MARKETING is an absolutely amazing way to create an effective PULL MARKETING strategy and execute it in a way the customer will love. Now companies have the opportunity to truly understand their customers wants and needs and anticipate what will be helpful and relevant in their lives and then give this to them in a timely manner. When marketing adopts this mindset, they have crossed over from the old traditional “push” process and adopted a completely different strategy of “pull” into their strategy.

THIS WORKS…AND THE CUSTOMER IS BEGGING YOU FOR IT.

Content Marketing can be the next PROMISED LAND for your marketing and company efforts…if you adopt a “PULL MARKETING” strategy and erase the “PUSH” strategy from your brain. Content marketing is absolutely something that your audience will love and reward you for when developed with a PULL MARKETING STRATEGY. It is what they want…marketing just has to understand this and not screw it up again.

What will you do as the leader of your company…the business owner and CEO? Will you allow your marketing to be done the old traditional way and lose the immense value in front of you that you could benefit from by using a “PULL CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY?” I believe the leadership team needs to direct the marketing function to be more OBSESSED with their CUSTOMERS and give them the ability to create a powerful PULL MARKETING strategy…using CONTENT as the core. Today leadership teams need to be more involved in marketing than ever before.

Today it can help to significantly solidify your brand, create true differentiation, and endear your customers to you in ways your competition can’t…this is where marketing and customer obsession can become your true competitive advantage. When this happens, Content Marketing can become the new PROMISED LAND for your company…and your customers will reward you both with business and much more WORD-OF-MOUTH…and we all know this is the ultimate success for marketing and the organization  overall.

Will you adopt and drive a PUSH or PULL strategy as a leader of your company? This is an excellent time and opportunity to put your company in front of the pack of competitors.

The post Is “Content Marketing” the new “Promised Land”? first appeared on WOM10.

When I get an e-mail, request, invitation, social media inquiry, or a host of other things, what causes me to simply hit the DELETE key rather than reading on? There are THREE MAIN REASONS I find in talking to most people as well as my own actions…I think you will be able to relate to one or more of these yourself.

It isn’t always about the catchy headline…I can get past that in less than a second and hit delete. It also doesn’t matter if it is some freebie giveaway of something else I don’t need…I can get past that in maybe 2 seconds and hit delete. There is more to this than meets the eye and there are some very specific reasons that cause me to READ ON and see what it is you have to say…

1. TIME…I READ ON when you either save me or not waste my most valuable asset today…TIME (over 70% according to a recent Forrester Research report). When I read/see something I immediately ask myself the question, “Is this going to help ‘save’ me time or help me ‘make the most’ out of the time I have?” If the answer that immediately hits my brain is yes or maybe, I continue and READ ON to see more about this information or invite or whatever the offer is about. This is my first and most important decision point.

For example, when thousands of people were tested on where their eyes go when they see something on YouTube, their eyes went immediately to the TIMER, not titles or summaries or comments. And the majority of people will not click play if it shows more than 3 minutes…they might go to 5 minutes if they are really interested in the video. It is the first thing they check out to see if they are going to watch it right now. If it’s too long, they say they will “come back later” and watch it…which is another way of saying I won’t be back because I will forget or be distracted by the other thousand messages that have been put in front of me after I leave this page.

Everyone wants a piece of your time. But unless you feel there is some return to you by using up your most valuable asset, you hit DELETE and move on.

2. RELEVANCE…My second most important criteria is whether this is something that will HELP ME in some way or IMPROVE MY LIFE. Is it relevant enough to do one of these two things? If not, I hit delete. If it is something I am interested in and believe I will be “better off for reading/watching/listening to it” then I READ ON. You can tell me all you want about it and how important it is but if I don’t feel a direct benefit to me, I’m out.

This is where a “content management” strategy is vital today…giving your specific audience the relevant content that will improve their life or business. But not just content by category…but “personalized content” so I feel like you are talking directly to me. Here’s an easy way to think about content that will always keep you on track. Pretend you are at a party and you meet a group of people who you learn some things about and understand some of their interests and needs. After you learned about these, would you then start talking about something entirely irrelevant to them? If you did, they would immediately leave the conversation and head to the food line.

But if you started offering them some insights and new thinking in the areas they just brought up to you that were of interest to them, they would skip the food altogether and stay glued to what you were saying. This is relevance. This is how you capture the attention and create value with your audience using content. This is one area most people in marketing don’t understand…it isn’t a “spray and pray” technique…it is personalized help for your selected audience.

3. RECOMMENDATION…This has become the most powerful means by which we do filtering after I have made it past #1 an #2 above…does someone I TRUST recommend this or not. If not, there is a high likelihood I will hit DELETE. But if one of my friends, connections, or colleagues recommends this to me, I most likely will READ ON.

This is one of the most valuable reasons you want your trusted audience to “share your insights and content” with others…it is TRUSTED CONTENT. If someone is taking the time to share something with me, I am going to check it out…almost regardless of what it is about…because it came recommended from a trusted source.

This is one of the primary reasons why you want to specifically identify your ideal Personas as an audience so you can share relevant information with them. When they find it of value, they will gladly share it with others “just like them” who are also in the target persona audience…creating a broader audience of your ideal personas. This is also why you don’t market or communicate with anyone who will listen…you don’t want more of an audience you aren’t specifically focusing on because they will bring others who you don’t focus on and they will be disappointed.

If you focus on these three areas, you can’t go wrong. Your audience will give you high percentages of both reading and sharing…they will READ ON. When you have a plan to address these areas, you are well on your way to creating massive WORD-OF-MOUTH and ADVOCACY from the right audience. Not only will they not hit delete, they will take the time to read, comment, and share. You have “earned their permission” and they are going to reward you by connecting you to others you want to reach. This is one great step towards “getting your customers/audience to do your marketing for you.”

The post 3 Reasons Why I hit DELETE instead of READING ON first appeared on WOM10.

Around the turn of the Century we left the Industrial Revolution behind us…some are sad and many are happy. We welcomed in the Internet Revolution with open arms and were anxious to see how the Internet could change our lives for the better. It has in many ways…but it has also brought its own set of issues with it.

The Industrial Revolution was awesome for what it stood for…mass production, innovation in technology relating to computing, new companies entering markets to give us more choices and a whole host of other really great aspects. It also, unfortunately, gave us marketing agencies and firms that adopted the concept of “broadcast messaging, campaigns, mass media, radio advertising, TV advertising, and lots of printed materials.”

These agencies were firmly in control of marketing and tight control over what we were “allowed” to hear/see and what we weren’t. We also had news sources that told us what they felt was important for us to know and we had to go along with it since there wasn’t any other means to validate it unless you were physically there. We, the consumer, were at the mercy of these giants and the messages they wanted us to receive.

Fortunately, the Industrial Revolution has died and this kind of “spray and pray” media that made ad agency executives incredibly rich has died (or is rapidly dying) with it. Social Media, a key component of the Internet Revolution, has essentially taken control away from these dominant groups and given it back to you and me…the customer.

The customer is now firmly in control today and there is no sign we are ever going to give it back. This is a good thing…and a bad thing for companies today.

The good part is we now have “vocal and engaged” customers who have the microphone in their hand and can tell anyone they want what they think. They can share insights to help others learn about your product/service and their experience working with you. This is information we were never exposed to when the agency behemoths had control. We have been “information liberated” with the birth of the Internet Revolution.

The other good part is now we can find anything we ever wanted to know about with just a few clicks on our computers or mobile phones. We have more knowledge at our fingertips than we could ever possibly use in 10 lifetimes. And if we want to purchase something, we can find 50 places (or more) that sell whatever it is we are looking for and even deliver it to us with the same few clicks…no more need to get in the car and drive all over town looking for something. We, as consumers, are empowered and we love it.

The bad part is the noise. Unfortunately, now that we are now in control, have access to all kinds of information and products, and can make choices from hundreds of options, companies are still behaving like they are still living in the Industrial Revolution. Now, more than ever, they continue to blast us with their information (pushing to us). We don’t just see the advertisement in the Sunday paper, we get 50 e-mails telling us to buy it from them because we happened to search on the item and now everyone wants to sell it to us. “Spray and Pray” is still alive and a key strategy for far too many companies today. For them, it didn’t die with the death of the Industrial Revolution.

Companies who still behave (including marketing) as if we are still in the Industrial Revolution are getting no benefit from Social Media. By using the same old techniques the agencies used decades ago…blasting us with enough ads and propaganda in hopes that you will remember them and buy their product or service…they are actually doing the opposite of turning off their audience. They must not have gotten the memo that the Industrial Revolution is over…the customer is in control and can tell us what they want and don’t want. We don’t want to be told what to buy…we can figure this out nicely for ourselves in the Internet Revolution.

The really sad part of this story is that companies use Social Media as simply another “delivery vehicle” for their Industrial Revolution approach. They believe that blasting us with their messages far more frequently and on more channels than they could have ever afforded to do when they paid their agency geeks millions of dollars is still working…it’s NOT. Social Media is FREE…all channels and frequency of messaging is without cost…just the personnel needed to send the blasts. The same “broadcasting, campaigns, advertisements, and propaganda” are still being sent out…only through Social Media channels instead of the radio, TV, newspaper, direct mail, and other traditional sources. It’s not working…

Companies that choose to still live in the Industrial Revolution are finding FAILURE in their use of Social Media. It’s failing because Social Media doesn’t work for companies who are acting the way they did when they were in the Industrial Revolution. It is a tool designed for the Internet Revolution.

When companies use Social Media to HELP THEIR CUSTOMERS improve their lives or business, the content is valued. When they share stories that benefit their customers and customers offer additional comments to add further insight, this is of value…and how Social Media can be a powerful tool for a company. Finding ways to help your customers save more time by interacting with your Social Media and digital channels is of great value. These are the OPPORTUNITIES for companies that live in the Internet Revolution and have left the Industrial Revolution behind.

Which Revolution is your company participating in today? When you analyze your marketing activities, are you communicating like you still live in the Industrial Revolution by “spraying and praying” or are you “helping” your customers improve their lives? Do the analysis…see which Revolution you are actually living in today and you might have just solved the mystery as to why Social Media isn’t working as well as you were hoping. It works when you help…not when you sell.

The post Social Media doesn’t work in the Industrial Revolution first appeared on WOM10.

I know this statement will raise the hair on the back of the neck of the people who are charged with creating these numbers and analyzing them on a daily basis…but there’s another aspect to consider. In reality, numbers are very valuable…the right numbers…at the right time. With so much emphasis on getting big numbers that can prove your point (we all know you can use numbers anyway you want to make a point) I see leaders missing some key numbers and information.

IF YOUR AUDIENCE DOESN’T CARE ABOUT YOU, DO YOU CARE ABOUT GETTING MORE OF THEM?

This is an issue of QUALITY over QUANTITY. In the early days of social media, everyone wanted big numbers…the more followers you had the more important you were perceived to be. In the early days of social media, some of my peers did everything they could to get their follower numbers up higher than anyone else so they could demonstrate how important they were…they weren’t. The audience didn’t really care about them or their content, they just followed them. But they had thousands upon thousands of followers and connections.

And so it continued…they spoke about how critical it was to have big numbers and so everyone got on the bandwagon and started generating big numbers. There were companies born solely in the business of helping people grab lots of followers and “likes” in facebook. You could easily buy 500, 1000, 10,000 of these if you wanted. If you didn’t have big numbers in social media you weren’t important.

THEY MISSED THE POINT…IT DOESN’T MATTER.

What they missed is the fact that NO ONE CARED ABOUT YOU…they cared about the numbers. So essentially what was being created was the exact same model that had just been killed…broadcasting messages to huge audiences in the hopes someone would notice and pay attention. This was nothing more than automating through social channels the “spray and pray” strategy that had been used during the Industrial Revolution…only they could spray you more often and with more data…UGH. This wasn’t working any better than it did before…sending your message to thousands in the hopes one or two might respond. It didn’t work…the numbers were misleading you…THEY DIDN’T CARE ABOUT YOU OR YOUR CONTENT.

Today, I would suggest that follower counts and numbers are generally IRRELEVANT. They don’t tell the story about who really matters to you and your business. What matters is the number of people who actually care about you, what you do, and the content you produce. Knowing who wants to engage in a conversation with you, willing to be loyal to you, and will tell others about you…those people matter. The rest, they are just people that “hang on” for the ride but will never do anything to help you in what you are doing. They don’t really matter. Unfortunately for most, this is the majority of their large follower base of people. Knowing who matters is what makes social media valuable and useful to you and your business.

In my speeches, I tell leaders I would rather have 10 customers that rave about me and think I walk on water with how I can help their business…they give constant feedback and they tell others…lots of others. I would trade that for 1000 followers or connections that don’t really care about what I am about or what I provide. These are meaningless numbers to me. I don’t play that numbers game…I want to connect to those who care and those I can truly help. If I can’t help them or they aren’t interested in the information I provide about ways they can become a remarkable company, they don’t matter.

These numbers shouldn’t matter to you either…especially if they aren’t interested in you as a company, an individual, or how you can help them with your product or service or experience. They just don’t matter to you.

Others might say, “Well they might know someone who does need your services or wants your information.” I disagree this is a valid source…people know people like themselves who are interested in the same things and have similar needs…not outsiders. They don’t really have the influence in the audience you want…this is wishful thinking. This is like the newspapers and radio stations telling you that since they play country music and you are focused on people who like classical that they will tell all the people they know about your classical music station. They won’t because they know other people who like country music, not those that are passionate about classical music. Simple example but easy to understand when you are talking about your content relating to your business.

Don’t let meaningless numbers mislead you to think you are doing great and making lots of progress when you aren’t…connect to the right audience and they will tell more of the right audience and this is how you grow the right audience. These don’t have to be big numbers to make this process happen. Focus on what’s important to the right persona audience and those numbers are valuable…and they don’t have to be big…just the right numbers.

When you focus on the right audience, you don’t need big numbers…unless they are in the right audience…then this is awesome. Fire the ones (unfollow or disconnect) from those that aren’t the right personas…they will only clog up your networks with others that are the wrong personas. Keep your channels clean and with the right people and watch it grow with more and more of the right audience for your message and your products/services and customer experience.

The post Forget the “Numbers”…they’re Misleading You first appeared on WOM10.

I often find during this conversation that many don’t really know the difference between the two and assume they are doing both when they are “targeting” their desired audiences. They aren’t…in fact, they are very different because it causes you to think entirely different.

Definitions according to Webster…

• …the statistical characteristics of human populations (such as age, income, location and others) used especially to identify markets…a market or segment of the population identified by demographics.
• …market research or statistics classifying population groups according to psychological variables (such as attitudes, values, fears or other personal characteristics)

Here’s the problem…demographics categorizes people by a general group and then assumes the behaviors of all the people within those groups are the SAME. This means that if we found a group of people that make $100,000 – $150,000 that they all behave the same way and want the same things so if we target this group with our offers they should all be interested. We all know today how ridiculous that is and has been for a while. For example, this would mean that a millennial tech worker at Google making $150,000 (most likely a lot more) has the same interests in buying our products/services as the 55 year old engineer at Boeing working on airplanes. This is the problem with demographics…they are too general and usually miss the mark.

But this worked when we use traditional media marketing techniques which “spray and pray” within our segment…we blast everyone with the same ad/message and hope to get 1% of the respondents to accept it and engage with us. Three things happen with this model today…

1. No one has time to read generic ads/messages aimed at everyone and they have to decide if it fits with their interests…this is a dead model even though many well-known agencies still sell it to many companies…but the returns are still abysmal
2. No one buys this way today…this is “push marketing” where if I push enough stuff at you over a long enough period of time you will eventually buy from me…this was an Industrial Revolution model and today I have too many choices to listen to your repetitive messaging…I turn you off
3. Think in terms of the reverse impact…if you hope to get 1% acceptance from this strategy, what happens with the other 99% getting bombarded with this message over and over…they turn you off and probably remember how annoying you were and make a mental note to never buy from you in the future

Today your audience wants you to market specifically to them…give them products/services and messages that are specifically aimed at HELPING IMPROVE THEIR LIVES. This is where PSYCHOGRAPHICS comes into the picture. If you are going to achieve this, you need to know one key thing…

WHAT ARE THE SPECIFIC, INDIVIDUAL, AND RELEVANT THINGS THAT WILL CHANGE/IMPROVE YOUR CUSTOMERS LIFE?

This is where companies fall short today…they simply don’t know what these characteristics are of their customers…they don’t know the PERSONAS of their desired audience. It takes work and time to understand these detailed characteristics of your audience. Rather than invest the time and energy into finding these out, many still default to the “spray and pray” model using demographics because it is much easier and is something they know how to do. When this happens, the customer ignores your message and eventually ignores your products/services.

PSYCHOGRAPHICS and PERSONAS are very closely related…in fact for simplicity purposes, you can think of them as the same approach. You take time to learn very specific details about the behaviors of your desired audience and then give them products or services and content that will help improve these parts of their lives.

For example, if we go back to our demographics example of the two very different people that fit into our $150,000 income bracket and overlaid it with psychographics, you might find something like this with the millennial audience

“Young married couples, buying first house, driving economy cars, looking to start a family, likes to be outdoors, supports certain NFP organizations, enjoys eating out, drinks beer, likes to be part of groups, etc., etc., etc.”

If you knew these “behaviors” and characteristics of their “persona” you could tailor your messaging specifically to helping them with these items and have an infinitely better chance they might pay attention…because you are HELPING IMPROVE THEIR LIFE. This is the key difference with understanding the psychographics of your audience. It is absolutely critical today if you want to connect or engage with your audience. Anything else and they don’t have time for you and will simply ignore your messaging.

When we help companies become CUSTOMER CENTRIC/OBSESSED, understanding the PSYCHOGRAPHICS and PERSONAS is vital…it is an absolute requirement to be successful in talking to and engaging with your audience. Without this, you can’t become obsessed over your customer…you simply don’t know them well enough to interact with them in a meaningful way. But when you do…they feel much more connected to you and your messaging. And if you provide this help often enough and with enough value to them, they actually look forward to getting it.

How would your world change as a company if your desired customer audience actually looked forward to getting your messages and was asking you for more? What kind of dialog and exchange could you have if they actually asked you questions, inquired to get more detail, and thanked you for helping them do better at what they do.

By understanding the PSYCHOGRAPHICS of your audience, you are connecting at a much deeper level than ever before with your customers. If you can always keep the following statement in mind you can create much more customer obsession and create much more value for both you and your customer…THE MORE YOU CAN HELP YOUR CUSTOMER IMPROVE THEIR LIFE, THE MORE THEY WILL HELP YOU IMPROVE YOURS.

The post Want Your Customers to Talk and Engage with You…think Psychographics first appeared on WOM10.

It’s time to change the way the arrow is pointing…away from YOU TO THEM…to THEM TO YOU.

Definition…YOU is you and your company…THEM is the customer and your prospective audiences.

When I think back on how my grandpa bought his cows for his farm, the arrow always pointed from THEM TO HIM…customers telling other potential customers who they should buy from that sold good quality cows and who was “trusted.” There isn’t a point in history where this approach hasn’t worked incredibly well and it works even more effectively today than ever before because of the internet. It’s just that most businesses don’t know how or haven’t given it a chance.

For too many companies there is the belief that if we blast our customers and prospects with “promotional” materials (such as ads, video, radio, newsletters, etc.) this approach will bring in more customers. If we blast them with stuff “about us” then they will be aware of us and want to come in and check us out. This is so ‘Industrial Revolution’ and delivers lower and lower returns every year. This is exactly what I mean when I say the ARROW IS POINTING FROM YOU TO THEM (your customers and prospects).

With the death of the Industrial Revolution and the adoption of the Customer/Internet Revolution, it’s time to REVERSE THE ARROW. It’s time to leverage the power in the market today which allows your audience of customers and others to send new customers to you!

If your customers viewed you as being totally awesome, they would have no problem telling everyone about you…this is the way the world has worked forever…nothing new. Therein lies the problem…if you aren’t totally awesome…in the eyes of your customers…your biggest source of marketers you could ever possibly want…you can’t REVERSE THE ARROW. Your customers won’t send others to see you if for no other reason than you aren’t awesome…and no one wants to recommend someone today that isn’t awesome…good enough isn’t good enough any longer.

But when your audience thinks you are totally awesome, incredible, amazing, and remarkable, they tell others…lots of others through social media…about you and why they should check you out and buy from you. The ARROW IS NOW POINTING FROM THEM TO YOU. They are now telling everyone they know about you and why they should get to know you. When 90% of the audience believes the recommendation about you from someone they know or are connected to and only 12% believe one of your promotional ads…why would you, as a business leader, ever want to do something with a 12% return when you could be getting a 90% return?

Why? Why? Why? It makes no sense given the highly competitive market we live in today.

Companies and Leaders do it because it’s easy…it’s what we know…it’s what so called experts tell us to do…it’s what’s been done in the past…because most don’t know how to TURN THE ARROW AROUND. But lack of knowledge on how to do something is the easiest thing to fix today…it’s the desire to change the way things have always been done that is the hardest.

Truth time…I have never believed in the arrow going from YOU TO YOUR CUSTOMERS AND PROSPECTS…it has never made sense and doesn’t make sense even more in today’s Customer Economy and Internet Revolution. I have always believed in the world of CUSTOMERS TO ME…having them tell others about me from my early days in sales, through my consulting years with the Big 5 and of course in my own firm today…it just seems like the way the world works best. Then my brother and I wrote our book because it was an opportunity to let people know “how to change the arrow” and focus on CUSTOMERS TO YOU. It was something that needed to be shared…and it further cemented my view that the ARROW SHOULD POINT FROM THEM TO YOU.

Companies that focus on “pimping and promoting” as the main direction of their arrow are seeing their audiences and returns getting smaller and smaller…until at some point they become obsolete and irrelevant. But when companies switch their strategies to focus on “helping their customers” and doing things that “build trust” with their customers they are seeing much stronger competitive advantages. Even the biggest consulting and research firms in the world are telling us this is the direction companies need to take or risk extinction. But even without all this research, it just makes good common sense.

Think about your own company and ask yourself (and your leadership team) which direction your arrow is pointing. It might be time to do some course correction and start to think about a strategy that changes the direction of your arrow. I can absolutely guarantee your customers will not only notice, but will shower you with appreciation and show their approval by increasing their word-of-mouth about you and your company. It’s the way successful businesses have prospered for centuries…and it isn’t going to change any time soon. Show your customers how much you can help improve their lives and give them an experience they want to talk about and watch the ARROW CHANGE FROM THEM TO YOU!

The post Change the Direction of YOUR ARROW and Stand Alone in your Market first appeared on WOM10.

The world changed with the introduction of social media. Now we have hundreds (if not thousands) of sources for information at our fingertips…instantly. So while newspapers are pretty irrelevant for most people today and are dying rapidly every day, their concept hasn’t changed…giving you up to date information that you can use in your daily life.

So what does this have to do with your CUSTOMERS?

When I ask business leaders (CEOs, Business Owners, VPs, etc.) how well they know their customers, you can probably guess the answer they all give…“We know them very well and understand their needs.” This is where the opportunity exists. Not always, but usually I find this isn’t completely accurate.

Often times leadership teams think in terms of what they believe is “knowing their customers” and it usually fits in one or more of the following areas…

• We know what products/services they buy from us
• We know how much they spend with us
• We know “something” about their business and how it relates to OUR products/services
• We know the organization structure of who is in charge and who are the buyers
• We know the demographics of our customers
• We know how they use our product/service

But here is where this falls a bit short…what they generally don’t know as well…

• How is it improving or changing their life
• How do they feel emotionally about your product or service
• How do they feel emotionally about your company…your employees…you
• Are they passionate or excited about your product
• Are they passionate or excited about the experience they get from you
• Are they so delighted by your organization they are telling others about you

Before you start to think this is too “touchy feely” and tell me they mainly buy your product because it does what they need, think about what people talk about. While they talk about some of the “features and functions” of the product (about 30% of the time) they talk more about how they are “using it” and how it is “impacting their life” by using your product or service (about 70% of the time).

It’s hard to talk about features and functions…you don’t know them all unless you have spent countless hours doing research…which most don’t have time to do. But here’s another issue that arises from this conversation. What if the person you are talking to bought a similar product from a competitor. Are you going to spend time debating the differences in the features and functions as to why one product is better than the other one? Most people avoid this situation…primarily because they don’t know all the features and functions well enough to be your product agent in the market.

But they can speak completely accurately about their “experience” and “how it has helped their life.” This is not debatable…it is their facts. Most will head in this direction with the conversation because they are more confident with this information and it CAN’T BE REFUTED or CHALLENGED…it is your experience and your life…not theirs.

Back to the newspaper analogy…

Today people (potential customers) turn to social channels to get information…they can see what their friends are saying on facebook and twitter along with their professional network on channels such as LinkedIn. The BOTTOM LINE…they are talking about you, your product/service, their experience, and how it has helped them in some way. THIS IS INFORMATION YOUR POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS WILL BE SEEING. This is a primary place your potential customers go today to get more CREDIBLE and TRUSTED information. Where they used to trust their handy newspaper, now they have moved to trusting their networks.

How are you populating the networks with information they want to have that will help them better understand the EXPERIENCE you will give them and how it will IMPROVE THEIR LIVES? This is where they go to get this information today. It’s faster, more frequent, and more trusted.

CUSTOMERS ARE YOUR NEWSPAPER OF INFORMATION TO YOUR PROSPECTIVE AUDIENCE.

It’s where they go…what they read…what they trust more than anything else. And in an era where TIME IS THE MOST VALUABLE asset to people, it saves them a ton of time. NOTE: The information we are talking about here is NOT advertising, more features and functions…it’s experiential and how it helps their lives. If you choose to misuse this and slam them with ads and CTAs (Calls to Action) you will alienate them and they won’t want to get information from you. This is your chance to accomplish the second set of bullets I listed up above.

If you think of yourself as “reporters” and contributing great “content” that will help your prospective audience…like a newspaper used to be…you will have a much greater chance of capturing the attention and trust of your audience of prospective customers. This is a great opportunity for just about any business or organization today…it’s an authentic and transparent way to connect with your audience. They are asking for it…they are talking about it already…they are sharing it with others. It’s what will differentiate your brand and separate you from all your “features and functions” selling competitors…it’s how you can win.

The post Think of your CUSTOMER like the NEWSPAPER first appeared on WOM10.

When there were fewer products and services, this made a lot of sense. Today, there are tens, hundreds, even thousands of choices in different product/service categories to choose from. Having  a brand associated around this today is a difficult, if not impossible, battle to win…at least not without large sums of money to spend to manipulate the customers thinking.

Brands like “Kleenex” which created a brand based on a product many years ago and clearly owned the space doesn’t have this advantage today. When someone goes into their local drug store or Costco or grocery chain, do they absolutely have to find the Kleenex brand? Not any more…everyone knows the other generic brands are just as good and usually much cheaper. So how valuable is the Kleenex brand today?

It’s only valuable if PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT IT.

Today, your Brand is far more valuable when people (customers and your desired audience) are talking about you…what you do…the experience you deliver…why it is so great to work with or buy from you. Having the most “recognized” name on TV or radio or in print advertising might work great for the company but it isn’t working for the customer audience. They are now able to shop you based on many factors today because of the prolific nature of the internet.

This means that while you might “push” your brand out to a mass audience, they are ignoring it today. They don’t need it “pushed” on them any longer because they can “pull” it to themselves when they are interested or in the market. When they are ready to make a purchase or begin doing their research they can “find you” easily. And what kind of research do they do?

Most customers (B2B or B2C) today will have completed 57% of the purchase evaluation and their decision before they every contact your company. And a predominant part of this research is coming from their social networks…not advertising or brand slogans. It comes from listening to what OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT YOU and your products and/or services. They are asking people they TRUST what they think and who they should be dealing with…this is the CONVERSATION that is happening you may not even know about.

Whatever they are saying is what your BRAND is today. If they say you are “red” and all your advertising says you are “blue”…you are red. It’s what the audience today says about you that determines your brand.

The real question today is how do you get the desired audience to know your brand and communicate the right message to others…this is a huge challenge for companies. But it can be done…and can be done very effectively. Without going into great detail in this post, allow me to give you some insights into how this can effectively work for your organization. There are two primary components you want to have working for you to communicate your brand effectively today…

1. Your CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE has to ROCK…if it isn’t awesome, incredible, amazing, WOW, and memorable, it won’t capture their attention enough to talk about. However, if it is truly remarkable and memorable, customers are happy to share this with their friends and connections because they are truly blown away by how they were treated. Customers will take the time to talk about something “over the top amazing” but won’t talk about “great”…time to have a very specific strategy and plan to move to being remarkable and memorable.
2. You need to COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE, and COMMUNICATE more than you have ever before about how you want them to see your brand. However, THIS IS NOT advertising and self-promotion…they will turn that off immediately. What you need to communicate is information that is INCREDIBLY HELPFUL to your desired audience so they see immediate value in how this will help them improve their lives or jobs. When you communicate this type of information in a way that they find very helpful, they will not only listen, they will start to understand more of who you really are. From the example above, if you write 100 blog posts talking about what it means to be “red” they will stop thinking of you as “blue” because you never talk about that…you talk about “red” so they learn this is who you are and what you are about. But the key is two words…HELPFUL and with HIGH FREQUENCY.

While there are other things you can do, if you just focused on these two areas, you would have a BRAND in the marketplace you want and that your customers could rave about and tell others. This is a critical step towards CUSTOMER MARKETING where your customers are part of your marketing team and help you in the marketing process (more on this in future posts).

The old way of BRANDING IS DEAD…the new revolution we are living in is all about the conversation, sharing with others, and word-of-mouth. Tap into these areas with your desired audience and you can not only establish the brand you want, you can become the recognized leader in this area by the one group that matters the most…your customers.

The post Time to Change your Thinking about “Brand”…think “Conversation” first appeared on WOM10.

Customer Service was created to handle issues, problems, complaints, and anything else that occurred when “things went wrong” with the customer. We needed someone to call…someone inside the company that could be a “first line of defense” before we deployed our most valuable talent. As a group, they are the front line for the organization to figure out what went wrong, determine the sense of urgency, determine the risk involved, and then, and only then, direct it to the appropriate group to engage.

Companies found early on that if the customer could call directly into tech support, or shipping, or operations, or accounting, or any other department, it would be a “distraction” for these people to do work. These were our some of our highest paid employees and we couldn’t waste this valuable resource fielding customer issues. Thus, Customer Service call centers and other groups were created…the first line of defense.

I have no argument that this was an efficient and effective solution…for the company…not the customer.

My question for any business leader is whether or not having a customer service department, as described above, is the right strategy. I don’t believe it should be a strategy…nor do I believe it should be a department that is fielding issue calls from customers. It’s admitting that the company is doing things that cause issues with our customers. Further, it is allowing our “most valuable asset” (our customers) to speak to what ends up being some of the lowest paid employees inside the organization…as our first line of defense against an issue.

The first question to answer is for yourself…do you personally enjoy calling most customer service departments? Of course not…it WASTES YOUR TIME! The company is essentially saying our time is more valuable than your time because we want to put you through our customer service group…a group that can’t solve our issue most of the time instead of allowing you to speak to the person that can solve your issue.

THIS IS A REACTIVE STRATEGY…NOT A PROACTIVE STRATEGY.

A proactive strategy says we are going to PUT THE CUSTOMER FIRST in everything we do and in every part of the organization. We are going to figure out what could possibly go wrong and put in processes and mechanisms to stop the majority of issues from happening. We don’t want any calls to our customer service group…it says we failed at preempting the issues and solving your problems before they are a problem or an issue.

THE GOAL SHOULD BE TO PUT THE CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT OUT OF BUSINESS.

If we knew our customers well enough…if we had processes in place that stopped the majority of issues from every happening…we could virtually eliminate the customer service department. This might sound too good to be true, but ask yourself is it possible. It might be difficult, but is it impossible? I don’t think so…and your customer doesn’t think so either. Your customer hates this process…they hate talking to front line people who can’t solve their problem so they have to waste more of their time with your company. No matter what concessions you give, you can’t give back the most valuable thing to your customers…THEIR TIME. This is what they don’t want to lose…they want to have more of it.

Develop a strategy that is 100% about your customer…it’s called Customer Centricity (or being Obsessed with your customer as I call it). This is a PRESCRIPTIVE and PROACTIVE STRATEGY…one that help you virtually eliminate the need for customer service. It is also a strategy your employees and certainy your customers will love and get energized about it.

This is the STRATEGY OF THE FUTURE for virtually every business on the planet!

If customer service is a big part of your strategy…change it. Spend the time and resources to develop a CUSTOMER OBSESSED STRATEGY that will help you create significant differentiation and profitability well into the future.

We left the Industrial Revolution behind about a decade ago…now we are flying at Mach speed into what is now being called the CISTOMER REVOLUTION or CUSTOMER ECONOMY. Companies won’t survive this Customer Revolution by focusing on customer service…it is merely a reaction to something gone wrong.

According to Accenture Strategy, 64% of consumers switched at least one of their providers because of poor service in 2014. And here’s what makes it even worse…because of the mass adoption of social media…77% of customers, following a bad experience with a company, will tell others. In other words, not only did a bad experience with cost them 2/3 of their customers, but ¾ of their customers went out of their way to tell others about it. When you do the simple math, assuming each consumer has (conservatively) about 500 connections, friends, and followers, if you upset only 10 customers (a tiny number) you potentially had almost 4,000 people hearing about it…from only 10 customers.

The goal of any organization should be to avoid these numbers, not recover from them or build in departments or strategies to “handle” them. The goal should be to eliminate them and reduce them down to zero. While it might not be completely attainable, it’s the right goal to shoot for and strive to achieve.

If you want to eliminate the reactive aspects and grow your business faster you need to switch from Customer Service to being CUSTOMER OBSESSED. If you think you are, here are 3 simple questions you should ask yourself and your leadership team…

1. Do we have a reasonable investment in our customer service program and a team supporting this function?
2. Are our processes throughout the organization built around the “customer first” strategy where everything is designed to make the customers life better…ahead of any benefit to us?
3. If we interviewed 100 of your customers and asked them a simple question, “Do you feel this company is obsessed with delivering you an incredible and remarkable experience more than their focus on delivering their products/services?” If they give you a resounding yes, then you are more of a customer obsessed company than you are a product/service company that provides customer service.

Take the challenge and ask the questions. It will help enlighten you to what strategy you really have around your customers. If it is a strategy based on customer service, you may be more at risk than you think…it is time to rethink your strategy for survival into the future of the Customer Economy. This is the time to take advantage of an incredible opportunity for you and your company that could put you on a trajectory of differentiation, more growth, and profitability.

Think about “proactively eliminating” customer issues before they happen by being completely obsessed about your customer instead of building departments that have to “react” to issues. It’s a completely different way to look at your organization…but it is the way your customers look at your organization every day.

The post Customer Service is a Risky Strategy first appeared on WOM10.