The Care and Feeding of Clients

Today's is a guest posting from Howard Wolff ... a marketing consultant with timeless advice on client service.

Click here for his column "Where Have All Your Clients Gone."

Election Promotions: Are there no limits?

You may have already heard about this Pizza Hut promotion: as part of its election year "Pizza Party" campaign, Pizza Hut is offering free pizza for life (actually 30 years) if anyone in the audience at the town-hall style presidential debate had the audacity to ask the candidates: "Sausage or Pepperoni?"

There has been a torrent of negative publicity around this stunt - and rightly so, in my opinion.  I've never believed the saying that "there is no such thing as bad publicity."  Companies - especially big established companies - need to act responsibly, even if they're trying to be creative.  Pizza Hut has done some non-rational advertising and PR stunts before.  Perhaps you remember when they paid (a lot of money) to put the logo on the side of a Russian Proton rocket in 2001.  I wonder how they measured the return on that investment.  I can just imagine the creative team coming in to pitch the debate idea - and congratulating themselves on how "creative" they could be. 

I remember seeing a bumper sticker once that read:  Bizarre is Easy.  Creative is Hard.

Amen.  

Hey, Starbucks! There are 50 States!

Here we go again.  Starbucks is a national brand with a national cause related marketing program.  The only problem is that the iconic image that Starbucks is using for its "Let's Create Jobs" program is a map outline of forty eight of the fifty states.

Starbucks marketing folks, listen up!  That image has been wrong for more than 53 years.  News flash:  Alaska and Hawaii have joined the union. 

Starbucks store managers and district managers in Hawaii ... give your corporate office a call and let them know that you exist.  And let them know that the jobs program is a good cause here, too.  And tell them that these cause related programs - which are meant to build the brand's reputation - look silly when you lop off two of the fifty states.  And you can suggest that if they want to eliminate two states, maybe they should drop Nebraska and Maine.  That would make as much sense.

Hrumph. 

Creating Cult Brands

I used to tell my students that the ultimate loyal customer was the one who would get your logo as a tattoo.  In fact, in presentations, I used the specific example of Harley Davidson riders who probably are those customers most likely to sport a branded as a tattoo. 

Harley may be an extreme example.  They have clubs, activities and long distance rides.  But Harley also spawned a real life line of accessories that went beyond the bad-boy biker image. 

Saturn cars in its heyday (before the corporate types ruined the brand) had a cult of loyal customers who actually traveled to Spring Hill Tennessee (often as part of a vacation) to revel in the Saturn experience. 

When I was in college near Chicago, Coors was a cult product.  Coors wasn't distributed in the Chicago area and students coming back to campus from the Rockies after break would always bring Coors back with them ... and it was always greeted with appropriate awe.

Apple is the latest cult brand ... though it is much bigger than any of those other examples.  Cultists camp out to be first in line for a new Apple product. 

What does it take to bring a brand to cult status?  Looking at just these few examples, there is no one single successful strategy. 

Harley caters to a unique psychographic group.  They became a tribe ... and Harley is their idol.  It is the brand that identifies them as part of the tribe. 

Saturn created an off-beat brand:  A different kind of car from a different kind of car company.  The brand positioning set Saturn apart from other car brands and created a reason for Saturn owners to bond with the company. 

Coors enjoyed the classic condition of a well crafted product that was hard to get.  It's limited distribution made it a sought-after brand. 

Apple built its cult around the image and reputation of its founder ... and the very real innovation and iconoclastic design it built into Apple products. 

If there's a common thread, building a cult brand means giving a well-defined set of customers reasons to rally together with the brand acting as the glue. 

Good Intentions - and Unintended Consequences

There's actually a law of unintended consequences:

 “The Law of unintended consequences holds that almost all human actions have at least one unintended consequence. Unintended consequences are a common phenomenon, due to the complexity of the world and human over-confidence.” – Author Unknown

Ah, overconfidence.  We are so often so entranced by our latest great idea or the newest shiny new thing that we don't spend enough time thinking through the possible negative consequences.

When I was doing the marketing for Hawaii Pizza Hut, we introduced and advertised a pizza buffet for lunch and for certain nights for dinner.  The program was doing well in general, but some of the restaurants were doing better than others ... and some didn't do so well at all.  So, after analyzing restaurant-by-restaurant sales, management decided that some of the restaurants would have buffet at lunch - and some wouldn't.  And some would have buffet on certain evening nights - and some wouldn't.  The unintended consequence was that we could no longer advertise pizza buffet on television and, as a result, the whole concept of buffet declined.  Unintended consequence coming from well intentioned business analysis.

There have been recent news reports that a low cost air carrier (LCC) may be starting service to Hawaii.  The industry and the media are all excited about the prospect of new airlift.  There may be an unintended consequence, though.   If a carrier like JetBlue comes into the market and changes price expectations, we may see the large "legacy" carriers like United, American and Delta cut way back on their service.  So the net result may be negative. 

I think we're seeing an impending case of unintended consequences when it comes to voting.  Governments are starting to push for the idea of online voting.  On the surface, it addresses some shortcomings of in person voting:  low voter turnout and high cost for managing a voting site in each precinct.  Here's my "unintended consequence" worry.  While it introduces convenience and cost savings, it takes away some of the benefits of in-person voting, notably the privacy of the voting booth.  Once voting can happen on line, what's to prevent someone (your boss, your religious adviser, your union rep, your cult master ... or whoever) from standing over your shoulder and "helping" you make your choices.  I can imagine organizations inviting senior citizens or those without transportation to centrally located computer banks where they could get "assistance" in voting.  Currently, regulations restrict campaigning within a certain distance from the voting site.  How do you enforce this when any computer can be a site?  Maybe there are some safeguards that can be put in place ... but this and other possible unintended consequences should make us think long and hard before making a fundamental change.

Someone once called me "Dr. Doom" because I would probe and ask hard questions when evaluating new ideas.  I don't mean to be negative, but I do want to pursue new ideas with my eyes wide open and an understanding of what might lurk in the world of unintended consequences.  

One of the many challenges in marketing is that there are so many ideas floated around.  The trick is to evaluate them carefully and work hard to imagine the possible negative connotations to a seemingly great idea.  

Guest Posting - 'Cause I'm Not a "Twitter-ite"

4 Practical Ways to Build Your Influence on Twitter

According to an Adobe/Econsultancy Digital Intelligence Briefing released this month (September 2012), 86% of 650 marketing professionals have an active presence on Twitter.

The ROI of Twitter is associated to larger brand mindshare and better customer service for the hyper-connected consumer.

In Hawaii, surveys have confirmed that a growing number of marketers are using Twitter to promote their business. Of those using Twitter, 27% said it had helped generate new business leads and 33% said Twitter had helped them close new business.

To start using Twitter for your business, start by identifying the reporters and top-tier editors of the publications that write about your industry. A freelance PR consultant can help you if you don’t have the time to do this yourself. But once you have your list, don’t start tweeting high-profile reporters right away. Your Tweets might look like spam. Instead, look for ways to insert yourself into the stream of conversation. Here's how:

Use these 4 Steps to Build Your Influence on Twitter

1. Regularly interact with 15 people that are already connected to someone who influences your industry, but have small or medium-sized followings of their own. Look for 10 or 20 people with a few hundred followers and see who Retweets and Replies to their message. This tip works because it’s easier to get noticed when you’re one of a few dozen rather than one out of a few thousand.

2. Create an “influence map” for your business—the 10 or 20 people that the leaders in your industry pay attention to. You can find these people by looking at Twitter streams and Klout topic lists. If the person you’re trying to engage with regularly Retweets or Replies to the same group of people over and over again, then see if you can establish relationships with those people first. Soon, you might be included in the conversation! As your influence grows, you will eventually become part of a “ladder of trust”—as long as you regularly create and share valuable, compelling content for your followers.

3. Once you’ve identified your “ladder of trust,” ask, “How can I give something of value back to the people I want to engage with?” Look at your own research, industry reports and always be on the lookout for ways you can be helpful. Share their content, but add extra value. For example, ask questions of your followers, then use that feedback to write an article about that subject. Then share that article with the person who originally tweeted the inspiration for your idea. They will likely share your content to their entire network!

4. Be supportive and go the extra mile whenever you can. Always be looking for ways to help and give back. Over time, your extra effort will help you get noticed, while showing the type of value you can bring to a relationship. Be unique and worthwhile. Plan to build relationships for as long as a year or more before asking for something in return. What are other ways that you can think of to help build your influence on Twitter? Start the conversation by sharing your thoughts in the comments section below.

About the Author:

Laura Kinoshita is founder of a hybrid marketing, PR, social media, SEO and advertising web firm established in 2007. Her online marketing campaigns earned two awards this year, a PRSA Koa award for Bite Me Sportfishing of Kailua-Kona and a Hermes Creative Gold Award for The Shops at Mauna Lani on the Kohala Coast. She is the also the author of a 25-page, step-by-step guide for how to incorporate Facebook & Twitter into a marketing plan. Get your copy at: http://bit.ly/LK-tips

How Do You Deal With a Juggernaut? Plant a Seed of Doubt

SamSung Takes On IPhone 5

There's no doubt about Apple's ability to generate buzz.  Weeks before the launch of IPhone 5, there were teaser stories across all media and lots of speculation about what wonders the new phone would introduce to the market.

If you're a competitor, I'm sure there would be a great temptation to lie low and wait until the pre-launch hype and the launch advertising subsides before responding to the juggernaut.

SamSung took a different approach and launched an advertising campaign touting the Galaxy 3's features, but also planting a seed of doubt about how cool the IPhone really is.

Now, SamSung is not going to sway hard core Apple customers.  They "drank the Kool Aid" and they'll buy anything that Apple puts out - standing in line for hours to do it.  That's a sign of a power brand.  But for those undecided's out there, SamSung's commercial provokes some doubt about just how cool the IPhone really is.

First, the commercial reiterates some existing doubts and issues about the IPhone (like the new adapter).  Then it makes comparisons, pitting the Galaxy 3 against the IPhone.

But the coup de grace is at the end of the commercial when SamSung questions the coolness of Apple users.  The SamSung hero in the commercial has been standing in line,demonstrating the wonders of his Galaxy 3.  When asked if he's giving up on Galaxy to get a new IPhone he responds by saying he's just holding a place in line - for his totally uncool parents.  It's a great deflater for Apple's cool demographic.

Here's a link to the commercial.  SamSung Galaxy S3 Ad

I've often used Apple ads in class to demonstrate how you can be creative and effective at the same time.  I'm delighted to see that SamSung can dish it out, too.

Let the competition continue.