THINKing » Consumer Behavior http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog My CreativeTeam Thinks About Creativity, Marketing, PR & Social Media Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:40:12 +0000 en hourly 1 Brands Need A Home http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/brands-need-a-home/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/brands-need-a-home/#comments Wed, 05 Oct 2011 16:47:31 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/?p=2599
Photo credit: clarita from morguefile.com

Many brands are investing a lot of time and money into social networks, almost to the point of ceding control to another entity. It’s time to rethink this.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t participate on platforms like Facebook and Google +. I am just issuing a warning that it is not a good idea to become too intertwined in something controlled by someone else. Facebook and Google + are free platforms, and as such they can make the rules. Therein lies the problem.

Take for instance Facebook’s decision to remove the discussion tab from pages. Says Inside Facebook,

The in-house app, also known as Discussion Boards, allows Pages to host simple forums. However, Facebook says “The best way to encourage conversation and feedback is through posts and comments on your wall”. It will therefore eliminate the Discussions app, despite AppData showing that it has 22 million monthly active users.

Well, there are a lot of Facebook page administrators who have spent literally years using this application. Some have used it for its threaded discussion ability. What happens to the archives? Our friends at SocialFish don’t like this much either.

It doesn’t matter to Facebook that it’s much easier for people interested in ongoing discussions to follow an archived, threaded discussion format. Or that it’s much easier to have an actual discussion format, not Facebook’s ever-changing, secretly-algorithmed wall post format. What’s easy or useful for users is not Facebook’s concern; Facebook cares about Facebook. Period.

All brands are in danger here, but particularly smaller ones. For months, I have warned friends who own small businesses that they need a digital home besides Facebook. I encourage them to at least set up a free WordPress blog if they can’t afford to have someone build them a website. Your site should be the hub – not a spoke – of your content marketing. You should use social networks as a sidewalk back home, not the other way around. Or, someday, your brand could be homeless.

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/brands-need-a-home/feed/ 1 Tap The Crowd http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/crowdsourcing/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/crowdsourcing/#comments Thu, 29 Sep 2011 18:59:53 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/?p=2589
Photo credit: Piresco from morguefile.com

We talk a lot about listening, and some companies are beginning to give it a try. But, too often, the company doesn’t really hear because it is too focused on what it wants, not what the customer is asking for. At other times, companies get customer input but don’t ferret out what a customer really wants.

We believe in going to the crowd to get input and for ideas to help us stay ahead of our competitors.  And, so does Ross Shafer, author of the new book, Grab More Market Share: How to Wrangle Business Away from Lazy Competitors. He says crowdsourcing can often be a company’s best way of gauging its customer and improving its product  or service. Says Shafer,

Don’t insist that you know what your customers want or how they want it. You need to crowdsource  – a way for you to connect with the part of culture that already knows you: your fans. By admitting you don’t know everything, you can ask your fans for their help in developing new products or services.

He points out a couple of good examples:

  • Starbucks uses the website www.mystarbucksidea.com to solicit new innovations and ideas.
  • Boeing cut a year off the design process by crowdsourcing for its successful 787 Dreamliner

What about you? Are you listening to the crowd, or actively soliciting ideas from your fans? Tell us about your crowdsourcing efforts.

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/crowdsourcing/feed/ 1 You Have A Problem? I Have A Product! http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/you-have-a-problem-i-have-a-product/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/you-have-a-problem-i-have-a-product/#comments Thu, 17 Mar 2011 14:00:01 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/?p=2206

If you have a business headache, do you really care about someone’s products and services? I know I don’t. Give me a solution, then we will talk.

Here’s the truth, most B2B companies are so egocentric that they could care less about their prospects’ problems. Well, maybe it’s not that they don’t care but that they are so concerned about selling their products and services that they have never even thought about them from their prospects’ perspectives.

If you are marketing B2B products and services, you need to start talking about specific outcomes not products, services, capabilities matrices, or proprietary processes. Never, ever say something like:

We offer an end-to-end software product built to unify collaborative design, supply chains, production, marketing and customer service through a proprietary scalable process that increases innovation.

Raise your hand if you have any idea what the above means? I’m not seeing any hands.

I used to work with a data storage company which always wanted to talk about its proprietary media coating. Customers did not care about that coating. The problem: they only wanted their data to be safe. So, instead of doing highly technical ads focusing on the coating, we suggested that they focus on data safety.  We led with an easy to understand benefit – data safety – and we briefly explained that the coating was what made their data safer. It worked.

So, get out there and define the prospect’s problem, talk about it from his perspective, and then show how you can solve it using statistics and customer case studies. Do that and you are 80% of the way to making the sale.

How are you doing in this area? Know of any companies doing a good job? Tell us about it.

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/you-have-a-problem-i-have-a-product/feed/ 2 A Silent Message From Your Customer http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/a-silent-message-from-your-customer/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/a-silent-message-from-your-customer/#comments Fri, 11 Mar 2011 18:43:57 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/?p=2181

Your customers are telling you something, but aren’t saying a word. Most businesses will never get the message because they are too focused on what they want, not what the customer is asking for.

I was talking to my friend, Tuesday last night about this. She runs Vogue Illumination, a business that makes custom lamps from wine bottles. Tuesday, who is highly artistic, began her business making wine bottle lamps with thematically designed shades. For some reason, the thematic lamps that took the most of her time and creative ability were not her best sellers.

She added some with less adorned lampshades and sales took off.  As Tuesday says, “I get the message. Customers don’t want what I thought they would want. I’ll offer them as an option if someone wants a customized lamp.”

We have clients who think of us for a single service, like web design. I make sure they know we offer other services like print and packaging design, as well as video production, but I’m not spending a lot of time pushing it. If they want web design, then I’m looking for additional web design opportunities with them.

Are your customers sending you a similar message? Are you listening for the silent message? Tell us what message your customers have given you.

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/a-silent-message-from-your-customer/feed/ 1 Brands Out Of Control http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/brands-out-of-control/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/brands-out-of-control/#comments Mon, 14 Feb 2011 20:02:51 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/?p=2094

Are you taking charge of your brand or placing its control in the hands of others? In light of recent crowdsourced ads at the Superbowl, that’s the question Beau Fraser contemplates in a MarketingDaily article.

Delegating too much authority to consumers makes me wonder whether we are creating a monster and in the process abdicating our role as professional marketers to a mob. The monster and mob are one and the same. They are the consumer.

Now, I agree that we can’t abdicate our responsibility as marketers but I disagree vehemently with Fraser’s assertion that,

I’ve never agreed with the idea that says “Set your brand free. The consumer owns your brand.” They don’t. We do. Or at least we’d better. After all, we created it. We gave it meaning. We keep it shiny and fresh. We redefine it when it loses its relevance. Any brand left to the consumer to define is a weak brand because every consumer will have a different definition.

You don’t own your brand. As I’ve said before,

a brand is community property. The company, its employees, allies and consumers share the brand. A brand is not solely graphics, logos, taglines and such. Every interaction a company has with its various publics adds to or subtracts from the brand.

You, the marketer, must try to steer the brand, but you also must accept the fact that others have input into its meaning. What do you think: is the brand yours or is it community property?

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/brands-out-of-control/feed/ 3 Customer Surprise http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/customer-surprise/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/customer-surprise/#comments Fri, 29 Oct 2010 16:34:16 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/?p=1443

When is the last time you had a customer surprise that was also pleasant? Mine was just today.

I’ve been looking for a black turtleneck to complete my Halloween costume. Unable to find one anywhere. Went to Belk, the recently rebranded Charlotte, NC-based department store, to see if they had one. Lo and behold, there it was.

The $20 shirt had been marked down to $12. Sweet. So, I take it to the counter to pay for it. Cashier says, “with the coupon that comes to $9.59.”

“I don’t have a coupon,” said I. “No problem,” she says. “I rang one in for you.”

Now, I don’t know if this surprise couponing is part of the rebranding, but it was a very pleasant surprise, and the cashier was extremely nice, as well. But look what they got out of it. I’m writing about it on a well-read blog and I’ll tweet about it as well. Not a bad return for a 20% off coupon.

What could you be doing in your business to surprise customers? Got any examples? Tell us, tell us!

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/customer-surprise/feed/ 4 Stop Listening To Your Customers http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/stop-listening-to-your-customers/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/stop-listening-to-your-customers/#comments Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:36:19 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/stop-listening-to-your-customers/ Are You Listening?

According to Mark Cuban, you should never listen to your customers. Does he really mean this?

No,  what he is saying is that marketers must take matters into their own hands when it comes to creating a new product or improving an old one. Says Cuban,

I’m working with a company that at one point had a product that was not only best in class, but also technically far ahead of its competition.  It created a better way of offering its service and customers loved it and paid for it. Then it made a fatal  mistake.  It asked its customers what features they wanted to see in the product and they delivered on those features. Unfortunately for this company, its competitors didn’t ask customers what they wanted. Instead, they had a vision of ways that business could be done differently and as a result better.  Customers didn’t really see the value or need, until they saw the product.  When they tried it , they loved it.

He is right, as we have explained here before,

Here’s the truth: Your customers don’t know what they want. And to assume otherwise is folly. When you begin relying totally on customers to be your product development department, you are asking for serious trouble.

I’m not advocating that you stop listening to customer concerns. Au contraire.  Like Cuban, I’m saying that you must ask the right questions of your customers and then figure out what it is that they are really saying. Your customers are smart and can provide some excellent input.  It’s our job as marketers to ferret out the true meaning of that input.

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/stop-listening-to-your-customers/feed/ 1 Put Away The Diamond Ring http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/put-away-the-diamond-ring/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/put-away-the-diamond-ring/#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:19:55 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/put-away-the-diamond-ring/ It seems to me that many marketers are like the guy overeager to get married. That guy walks up to the first pretty girl he sees and immediately whips out the diamond ring, asking for the order, so to speak.

Marketers who ask for too much information from prospects the first time they meet is guilty of this, too.

I am always cautioning my clients about asking for too much information too soon.

If someone wants to sign up for your enewsletter, it’s OK if you initially just get an email address and a first name. That’s what I recommend. You can give the prospect the option to provide more but I only require those two elements.

As the prospect gets to know you and appreciates the content you are providing, then you can ask for a little more information.Or, if you want to provide them with some increasingly valuable content, then its appropriate to require a little deeper contact information.

FutureNow addressed this topic recently and I loved this line for their post,

Remember, it’s not about you or your sales process. Your visitors are volunteers in the process and are coming to your site with motivations and intent.

That’s dead-on. Those visitors are volunteers, there of their own accord. If you don’t provide them the information they need without asking them to marry you right away, your competition will. So, let’s put away the diamond ring until we are really sure about this whole marriage thing, OK?

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/put-away-the-diamond-ring/feed/ 1 Smart Customers http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/smart-customers/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/smart-customers/#comments Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:13:20 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/?p=975 Your customers are smart, but as marketers, we often misconstrue what they are telling us. We’ve written about this before but thought about it again today when I read a piece by Valeria Maltoni entitled “Your Customers Don’t Know What They Want.” Maltoni says,

Whenever you design a survey, a feedback form, write a phone script – throw away everything you know about your product and service. Your customers and prospective customers are not in your head – they don’t have your same history and assumptions about what you ask. Instead, look to capture the outcome they’re seeking. What job are they trying to do?

 It’s not that customers don’t know what they want, it is that they don’t know the possibilities.

Krispy Kreme gives us a prime example of asking the right questions and actually listening to their smart customers. They didn’t ask the customers what they wanted in a donut. They asked questions that got to the heart of the Krispy Kreme brand experience. Consumer input brought about the “Hot, Now” signs and the drive-through window.

Maltoni suggests that marketers ask questions and listen to customers for,

  • indications as to how they’re solving a problem now or thinking through it
  • hints that the second answer is where you should focus
  • clues as to what gets their hearts racing in addition to their minds going

    Listening to your customers is always good, particularly in a reccessionary period.

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    ]]>     http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/smart-customers/feed/ 2     Face Time http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/face-time/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/face-time/#comments Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:58:45 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/?p=968 Some social media proponents would have you believe that the digital world is the new Nirvana. Guess what? Humans – the users of social media – haven’t really changed their behavior in 75,000 years. Although, we do dress better now, and we’re not all cavorting naked on the plains of the Serengeti.

    Humans – being human – love social interaction, particularly of the face-to-face variety. Always have, always will. In fact, a recent survey by Forbes indicates that executives favor face-to-face meetings over the virtual kind.

    A majority of executives say the recession has cut back their travel and face-to-face meetings, and they don’t like that very much. A full 84% of those surveyed say they prefer real-life interaction over digital.

    Although you can’t meet with every one of your online shoppers, you can provide them some human interaction, too  They are craving this. According to an August 2009 survey conducted by Harris Interactive for human-assisted shopping site IMshopping,

    77% of US Internet users who made an online purchase in the past six months would be interested in help from a real person before buying certain things on the Web. Though a majority of online shoppers reported a desire for help at least some of the time, 82% of respondents said they had not been able to get that assistance in the past. And more than one-half of that group said it had affected their purchase decision negatively—at least some of the time.

    I’m not saying there isn’t a place for virtual meetings and online interaction. I’m just saying that you need to understand the genetic need humans have for the tangible. It’s harder to read people during digital interactions, and you can’t build deep, meaningful relationships solely using ones and zeroes.

    The same holds true for tangible marketing material. There is a time and place for everything, and now is the time for you to stand out by being more tangible to your customers and allies.

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