Content Insider #940 – Advocacy
By Andy Marken – andy@markencom.com
“When Lawrence finds what he’s looking for, he will go home. When you find what you are looking for, you will go home.” – Auda Abu Tavi, “Lawrence of Arabia,” Horizon Pictures, 1962
Europe imposed their General Data Protection Regulation (GPRD) as well as a broad family of privacy rulings.
Shortly thereafter, California passed the CPRA (California Privacy Rights Act).
Finally, the dullards in Washington tiptoed into action.
They “invited” big hitters of the social media world to explain to them how they can help members of Congress keep their jobs and do what the government is supposed to do … protect folks.
Of course, the current regime has shifted to figuring out how they can get in on the action.
What’s the big deal?
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Congress tore down the curtain surrounding free services and apps then they tore down the consumer protection barriers.
After all, “everyone” knows that when you sign up for something (especially when it’s labeled free), and people will mine all of the data they can and use it for whatever.
Take Amazon Prime’s reality series “Beast Games” with Mr. Beast.
Amazon said the show amassed more than 50M viewers globally. The most watched unscripted series … ever.
Then Entertainment Strategy Guy tallied data from a number of 3rd party folks including Nielsen, YouTube, Google Trends, IMDb and more.
The conclusion? The show didn’t knock it outta the park, but it didn’t bomb either…just good.
In other words, there’s so much data out there you can pick the set that works best for you.
The problem is … consumers don’t know and don’t like it!
More Isn’t Better – All too often, companies put their focus on winning a new customer rather than retaining existing customers and making them not just happy but super happy. Existing customers not only cost little to keep happy, but they also are pivotal in attracting new customers … economically.
Salesforce recently found that 50 percent of the folks think their data isn’t really safe on sites (including yours).
Begrudgingly, they may “know” you have their data, but 54 percent believe the data isn’t really being used in their best interest.
Marketing folks repeatedly give people reminders that they’re acting on the individual’s behalf.
Folks seem to think that because you have all of their personal information, organizations should be able to address them as individuals instead of a target demographic or a number.
You know, only send them personal messages/offers that are relevant to them rather than “Hi there (your credit card name here)!”.
Yep … it doesn’t build a whole lotta’ trust.
Of course, AI has been rolled out everywhere to develop that personalized relationship.
The major problem is that the marketing folks, their bosses and the AI community have unleashed a set of solutions that are somehow supposed to build and cement a strong customer relationship but …
That’s so not so!
How are they measured?
Their success is measured by focusing on decision-making and resource allocation that achieve long-term goals. They pay attention to the overarching activities that shape a company’s direction and ensure alignment with its vision and mission.
More Isn’t Better – All too often, companies put their focus on winning a new customer rather than retaining existing customers and making them not just happy but super happy. Existing customers not only cost little to keep happy, but they also are pivotal in attracting new customers … economically.
In other words, they want the same demographic/psychographic/targeted group of folks their competition is going after.
They use all their data to profile the ideal customer who just happens to be the competition’s customer, so they focus all of their messages and marketing efforts on persuading the other firms’ customers to be their customer.
If they’re lucky, you win one and only lose one.
The only problem is that win costs $100 plus while keeping an existing customer might have cost only $10.
That’s a lot like the saying, “Lose a little on each sale and make it up in volume.”
The sad part is that it doesn’t have to happen.
Companies spend days/months pouring over and analyzing the data and crafting their AI-enabled marketing plan/budget – trade events, ads, social media outreach, website(s) – to reach, sweet talk, capture the ideal customer.
Then, they use their new AI tools to carefully and meticulously craft the perfect headlines and copy, create breathtaking exhibits, develop the right blog/social media posts, sales literature/messages, bring on all the right social influencers, and hit the target audience with everything they’ve got.
If the customer base grows – even a little – they get another chance next year to analyze/refine the process and get even more customers.
If it doesn’t work or is only marginal, they can blame it on the data and AI to buy some time or … try their expertise somewhere else.
As a result, the average marketing executive’s job tenure is relatively short – 2-4 years compared to that of their C-suite bosses.
Failures happen all too often today because marketing folks lose sight of the fact that they’re focused on satisfying a single individual (the boss) … not on the evolving, ever-changing customer base.
They’re so enamored with the data and all the things that AI is doing what they no longer have to do, they forget that real people determine the success or failure of their efforts/programs … externally and internally.
A couple of years ago at the Forum on Leadership, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos explained one of his firm’s “secret” marketing tools – a question mark on an email he had received from a customer that is forwarded to a member of his team.
“I have an Amazon address, so customers can write to me,” he explained during the session. “When it is an issue, I forward emails to the executives in charge of the area with a question mark. It’s shorthand [for] can you look into this? Why is this happening?”
Customer vs. Data – Amazon’s Jeff Bezos still has a public email address at Amazon because it enables him to know when things are going right and when they’re not. Staff members know a passed-along email means action needs to be taken.
When the email lands in the appropriate manager’s inbox, he/she knows an answer or solution is expected immediately, even if it requires overnight/weekend research.
Bezos views that email address, jeff@amazon.com, enables management to stay close to customers and in his view is one of the most valuable monitors of customer satisfaction.
“We have tons of metrics,” he noted. “When you are shipping billions of packages a year, you need good data and metrics.”
If all of Amazon’s data says one thing and customers say something else, he believes the customers.
Rather than focus on the competition, the firm tends to have a customer obsession philosophy.
The company may be in front of the competition but they’re always behind the customers.
“They are always pulling you along and that keeps the team motivated,” he said.
Amazon may have millions of customers around the globe, but data/metrics enable them to focus on messages for a specific person.
Okay, we admit that at times, it’s a good thing and at others it’s a little … creepy.
But instead of just clinching a sale; when customers have an issue, question or problem, they get a personalized response … quickly.
For any company, that’s more important in building a relationship.
People Matter – Marketing people are enamored with the volume of data they have access to so they can improve their marketing efforts. They lose sight of the fact that people aren’t numbers.
One of the major stumbling blocks in many organizations is that customer data is fragmented and scattered across siloed business units.
Engineering has their data, sales theirs, product managers theirs, accounting theirs, customer support theirs, shipping/receiving theirs and marketing theirs.
As a result, every time a customer contacts the company it’s like it’s their first visit.
Customers frustratingly wonder, “What the h**l did you do with all of the information I gave you before, and before, and before that?”
The more marketing can develop/deliver a customized message/experience, the better the selling/buying experience.
More importantly, the stronger the customer relationship with the company, its products/services.
Suddenly, you’re no longer targeting a category of consumers.
Instead of using AI and all of that customer data, firms are able to focus on the needs/wishes of a single person quickly, easily and effectively.
The Customer Cycle – A firm’s priority is to win a customer. The second should be to keep the customer by meeting his/her wants and needs. The longer the customer is satisfied with the products/services, the more valuable they become because they not only buy more but they tell others about the great company.
Unfortunately, most marketing types stop right there.
Their work is done!
They’ve isolated their activities from the rest of the organization.
Now they’re ready to start the process again by attracting, interesting, and getting new customers to buy so they can replace the inevitable attrition they’ve come to accept.
Wrong!
Losing Sight of Objective – Sure, launching a new product/service is fun and so is increasing brand awareness … it’s numbers you can show the boss. It may not be glamorous, but most of marketing’s attention should be on keeping customers and keeping them longer.
Actually, they need to rewind the clock and do what folks like Netflix has done so successfully.
Netflix’s content development process is driven by data analysis, creative pitches and a willingness to experiment.
They focus on understanding which films/shows subscribers accessed, how long they stayed on the project, which video story they went to next so they can help creatives develop and improve their shows to attract and retain the largest possible audience.
In other words, their marketing is an inherent part of their corporate DNA/culture – across the entire organization. One that is constantly focused on consistently delivering an exceptional customer experience.
It’s a good example for firms in any business to follow to ensure that everyone in the organization is responsible for the firm’s marketing success, not just someone with a CMO title, product/project managers, content creators/placers.
There is a marketing perception that the key to capturing today’s eyeballs and interest is by using social media influencers, which is true; but do they convince people as much as word of mouth – on or offline?
Come on, who believes the celebrity influencer really likes, uses, depends on Your product or service?
Their recommendations are far less credible than a real person in a job similar to yours or a friend/relative.
The very foundation of your marketing effort should be to focus on finding, nurturing product/service advocates.
They not only spend money, but they also bring in more customers than any of your ads or social media outpourings.
And … they talk about, recommend your company, your products, your service, your support whenever they are asked and often even when they aren’t asked.
Foundation – When a company is sold or bought, there’s always a line item called goodwill or the value of the company to the customer base. Having a strong and committed customer base is often more valuable than a string of patents.
Carrying out an effective and robust customer advocacy program is remarkably easy … just focus on the customer needs.
First, no one wants to be addressed simply as part of a demographic group … Millennial, GenZer, DIT, EP, engineer, male/female, filmmaker, or other marketing segment.
“I’m me, I matter!” they scream.
People aren’t interested in being told about products/services they have already bought or even about stuff you’re interested in selling.
They want to know how your product/service will meet their needs.
They want their questions answered quickly and courteously.
There’s no room for anything less than amazing customer service, customer support, customer attention!
Word travels instantly and virally–not just across town, the state or the country but rather around the globe.
People continually post comments or questions online today.
Response, advice, assistance; and recommendations arrive from multiple sources … some good, some not so good.
These comments also spill over to offline discussions.
Ninety percent of consumers have indicated that they make their purchases based on word-of-mouth.
Even though advocacy drives an estimated $6T in consumer sales, according to CTA research, less than 58 percent of firms know who their advocates are.
Worse yet, less than 80 percent of the firms leverage the relationship in their marketing.
More than likely, it isn’t part of the organization’s marketing strategy/plan because it’s out of their direct control.
Sherif Ali’s observation in Lawrence of Arabia was right,” Truly, for some men nothing is written unless THEY write it.”
What a freakin’ waste!
Andy Marken – andy@markencom.com – is an author of more than 900 articles on management, marketing, communications, industry trends in media & entertainment, consumer electronics, software and applications. He is an internationally recognized marketing/communications consultant with a broad range of technical and industry expertise– especially in storage, storage management and film/video production fields. He also has an extended range of relationships with business, industry trade press, online media and industry analysts/consultants.
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