There is a story about the Tower of Babel in which a great tower was built in the city of Babylon thousands of years ago. 

Babylon was a cosmopolitan city, many of the citizens were very impressed with themselves.  They were very important.  They did important things.  What they did, what they said eclipsed the value of everything and everybody else. 

Across this city/state there were a myriad of languages spoken, roll all of this together and it was a very confusing and problematic place to be at the time. 

All of this self impression along with the conflicting languages caused things to go badly.

Hmmm.  Does any of this strike a cord?  Did you notice in my blog posting I deliberately mis-spelled Babel?  It’s typed as ‘Babble’.  Dictionary.com defines Babble as “to talk idly, irrationally, excessively, or foolishly; chatter or prattle.” 

Sound vaguely familiar yet?  No?  Ok, I’ll keep going.

How about this.  Earned Media.  Getting warmer?  Tagging? Uh-huh.  Uniques?  Yep.  Web 2.0?  Sure.  Tweets.  Of course.  What about this one:  Link Juice.  Ummmm.

Marketers have their own language that to others sounds like well, babble.  Try an experiment.  Set a meeting request to your company’s CFO and put in the subject line ‘Briefing on Earned Media, Tagging and Link Juice. 

See if he or she accepts or instead, declines and emails you back asking what the @#!&# it is you want to waste their time with. 

Respond saying you made a mistake.  You want to share a few cost-deflection and lost revenue earn-back strategies you’d come across.  You’ll probably get a different result.  You see, marketers speak ‘promotion’, while CFO’s speak P&L (profit and loss).  Accountants speak GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principals), VP’s of Manufacturing speak Lean or Cellular (as in Lean or Cellular Manufacturing).  A few mutants still speak Six Sigma.  Together at some level in the organization, the management committee made up of the C-level and EVP level peeps who make decisions like merge, divest, close the Scranton Office, etc. speak Revenue Center and Cost Center. 

Revenue and Cost center is an interesting language, it has two intertwined dialects.  The first, ‘Cost’ is brutal and gutteral, sort of like Gaelic.  ‘Revenue’, on the other hand is more melodious and sweet; a joy to listen to. 

Those who speak Revenue and Cost see things as, well…generating either revenue or incurring cost.  Revenue and Cost speaks only of black and whites. You as a marketer are part of that world.  Yes!  It’s true.  Unfortunately, you reside more often than not in the Cost side; not always a comfortable place.  Sales sits in the Revenue side, which can be much more fun.  The reason is metrics.  Sales can show direct contribution to revenue.  TV ads and guerilla marketing tactics usually don’t.  Sales are easy to defend.  Without hard metrics, marketing is well, squishy and couple squishy metrics with terms and definitions that others don’t get and you are on thin ice in terms of value and influence.

While the term Earned Media sounds cool and is important to help describe all of which help define the granular inner-workings of some marketing tactic, its impact or outcome, most people outside of the marketing department don’t care or even understand.  Your marketing power points cause some in the organization to spontaneously bleed from the ears (note:  this will usually cause them to exclude you from critical meetings like budget planning).

Not being understood is bad.  If they don’t understand, you’re value to the organization is diminished (imagine getting a new boss who doesn’t understand what you do.  How long will you last?). 

If those who speak Revenue and Cost can’t understand your department or your program’s value, you don’t get the opportunity to actively shape how the marketing promise is delivered. 

Those who control the business enterprise (the making of the widget, the pricing of the widget and the distribution of said widget make their decisions regarding the widget without you.  Your input falls on deaf ears.  Yikes!  Hell on earth!

So what to do?  Don’t live in the chaos of Babylon waiting for the impending doom.  Be proactive!  Learn a second language and communicate.  When we as marketers are as versatile in the other operational languages our peers speak as we are in our own language, amazing things will happen.  One:  You will start measuring your activity and results in ways that are important to others (those who speak Revenue and Cost).  Two:  Your influence and work will amplify in terms of results.  Marketing initiatives will begin to be baked into operational activities and visa versa.

What were previously siloed activities will begin to work more harmoniously (i.e. CRM and Social Marketing) and you as a marketer will cease to be viewed by the other non-marketers in the company (whom by the way out number you) as not just the creator of hokey messaging and some un-measurable brand promise but instead the gate keeper of customer loyalty, net profit generation, low-cost win-backs and heck, maybe even a cost deflection source!

Well, we are at the end of this blog posting and the four non-marketers who were reading this have already gotten their fill and left, so I will reveal the big important ah-ha.  One that trumps even decoding Revenue and Cost.

You as marketers will hold the power of the customer in your hands and strong customer demand trumps everything.  You will understand them better than anyone, you will know how to reach and keep them happy.  You will know how to convert more customers using targeted, efficient techniques and tools.  You will balance the promise of your marketing efforts with the delivery of those promises by the operation.  You will be the master of customer engagement efficiency!  You will drive profit, which you can measure and defend…and that is a very good place to be.

That is, if you like that kind of stuff.

I received a comment from Deb Eastman, the CMO of Satmetrix regarding my recent blog post.  Her comment is below:

Steve, I want to clarify a miserception in your original post, M&Ms is absolutely NOT faking customer engagement.  This site is hosted on the Satmetrix Community platform and MyM&Ms used our technology to collect input from highly engaged fans.  However, Emma is an employee of myM&Ms and was responsible for engaging consumers to provide feedback on how to improve their products and overall customer experience.  They made several changes to their packaging, allowed consumers to put their faces on M&Ms and improved their customer experience based consumer input.  Consumers got the products they wanted and M&Ms increased loyalty in the process.  Everyone wins. 

It's unfortunate that budgets are currently impacting their level of engagement, but I expect we will continue to see myM&Ms engage with consumers and improve their products & services based on customer feedback.

This brand listened and acted on customer feedback.  I think most would classify this as genuine customer engagement.

Deb Eastman, CMO

Satmetrix

I would like to thank Deb Eastman for her point of view.  Since the M&M site was hosted by Satmetrix, they cannot, like many professional marketing service organizations, ensure that their counsel will be either listened to or acted upon.   Like the physician who counsels their patient to stop smoking, they simply can’t make it happen, even if it is the right thing.

Satmatrix is a well respected organization and should be applauded for fine work we see from them across the marketplace.

Deb points out that M&M’s implemented a number of key initiatives that came out of customer feedback.  This is great, but is only a start.  True engagement and subsequent performance results comes from:

1. Actively listening to the customer
2. Providing multiple ways for the customer to engage in this process
3. Organizing what was heard
4. Acting on this insight, across the business (beyond just the marketing group responsible for the initiative
5. Reporting back on what can be acted on, what can’t and why (note: Intuit does this with great success.  Intel is starting to do this in partnership with their hardware OEM’s.  Heck, even small firms have seen a more holistic approach allow them to effectively compete against much larger competitors, as well as, remember where their core advantage lies.)
6. Providing active, intrinsic rewards for involvement.  Note I said intrinsic rewards, not extrinsic.  That’s a slippery slope.  Intrinsic means:
   • Thank you’s
   • Spotlighting users
   • Articulate how their idea was integrated into the process, service or product
   • Tapping them as SME’s (subject matter experts)
   • Engaging them as mentors
7. Systematizing the process of customer engagement as part of the culture of the business, rather than a narrow program.

There are also some helpful tips for engaging influential customers (such as M&Mmbassadors) at WOMMA’s website.

Now, I am NOT saying that M&M has or has not done any of this.  Who knows, there may be a lot going on behind the scenes.  I’d love to hear from them. 

Moreover, I’d love to see this program come back…in full force…bigger and better than it ever was.  Since I am a fan of M&M’s, count me in.

Lastly, thanks to Deb at Satmetrix for her comments as well.

Apple has done an amazing job in creating an image and what used to be a customer base of passionate brand advocates.  People who were so gung ho on the brand that they would defend everything the company did, no matter what.  Today, I think they have morphed more into a company that caters to product advocates…people who love their i-phone, their i-pod, garage band, whatever.

Job’s rock-star style of ‘shock and awe’ product releases has created a double edged sword in the sense that everybody expects Apple to turn out fabulous, sexy and useful stuff.  I am going to go on record in saying that Apple’s ID (industrial design) team is legendary.  They could make a doormat sexy.  However, if it is not useful, or user-friendly the value starts to diminish.

I see a couple cracks in the dam that indicate there is trouble brewing.

1.  Apple’s twitter feed has over 24,000 followers.  It does NOT allow for @ REPLIES or RT (re-tweets).  It simply pushes out branded content with no concern or care to who is listening or why.  Marty Collins does a good job breaking this fact down.

2.  Genius bar.  If you have ever used it, unless you are a power Apple user (i.e. know exactly how to work the computer, the website and the system), in which case you mostly don’t need the genius bar in the first place, this is a horrible experience for the average Mac user.  It’s noisy, crowded, difficult to get an appointment and most people end up feeling like idiots and leave disgruntled.  Mostly because the 28 year old person on the other side of the counter (which separates you from them) has a t-shirt on that essentially says, ‘hey I am smarter than you.)  Apple wants to cultivate this image.  They believe it.

But not everybody feels this is a great experience.  On more than one occasion, I have been in a store and overheard some poor customer say either to a genius or to anybody in earshot that was listening, “Are you actually trying to make me miserable?”  or here was a real gem from the Michigan Avenue (Chicago) store “Do you think that you have me so completely that you can treat me like this and I won’t care?  Or that I have no choice?'” 

3.  Apple’s tools and marketing channels are devoid of any voice of the customer.  No UGC, no interactive tools, no learn from people like me, no easy and useful communities of other passionate users that’s integrated with the product. Instead, you find product, marketing content and white space.

In fact, I have to go to France (OK, it’s Sara France) to get to some form of consumer UCG I might find helpful.  But again, this is marketing content.  Not user content.  No way to rate or rank, share, communicate, collaborate, learn or experience. 

As marketing to consumers becomes challenging, not to mention an economy that is making virtually every shopper consider what they are buying, why and what is the value, Apple is on the verge of creating a problem for themselves.  It won’t manifest quickly I think but will come to a boil over time.

I saw this first hand a long time back when Scully headed Apple.  They (and he) knew better.  They (and he) never listened.  They spoke.  The company teetered on the brink because of that. 

Don’t get me wrong.  I love Apple.  I love the history, I love the overcome all odds mentality, I love the fact that they do get the product experience, every element from the packaging to the plug in.  I have many friends who are former Apple superstars.  Developers and marketers alike.

For Apple to capitalize on their still-strong fame, they need to re-think:

1.  Content only being 1 way.

2.  User Feedback and aggregation of the consumer’s content being a core strategy.

3.  Integration of the user experience into the product (think Yelp, Amazon, etc.)

4. Re-invent the store.

5.  Have a couple of marketing messages, not just bashing Microsoft.  Spotlight your customer!  Geico has a number of methods.  Sure, they are cheesy but it’s unsexy car insurance, not sexy devices.

Just a few thoughts. 

I decided to do an experiment.  I emailed 50 business executives that know and respect.  I carefully weighed who to include.  The list took two days to assemble. 

The question was purposely broad and came with a little descriptive help so as to allow for some creativity but not to entirely stray off the reservation.

Here is the email:

Sent:         Friday, February 06, 2009  11:00 AM

To:            Undisclosed List

Subject:    RE: Economy is melting.  What   are the TOP FIVE most important metrics for brand health/survival?

Status:    Red

--------------------------------------------------------------

Think engagement vs. awareness.  What increases loyalty generation?  What drives incremental spend?  What do I as a marketer that is ammo for the other C-suite members?

I got a 50% response rate.  Considering who I pinged, I was happy.

Here’s the breakdown:

Here are the responses, rank ordered:  I tried to keep the responses as close to the original verbatims as possible.  These are points are reflective of all the responses.

1.  Increased direct customer engagement; collaboration with each other and with the brand.  Outcome based activity (less promotion, more utility)

2.  Brand reputation and relevance/Net Promoter Score/Increased Relevance and direct value to the consumer

3.  Reduction of churn/increased focus on ongoing education and peer/customer collaboration/greater focus on UGC/expansion in customer centric/customer focused social media, web 2.0 and community activities

4.  Better integrated CRM activities/integrating customer support with sales and marketing/increase in customer voice within brand

5.  Better measurement to ROI around:  a) Marketshare  b) Margin  c) Net Sales  d) Cost deflection/operating costs  e) product usage  f) loyalty

Interestingly, I got on average a full page response from each person.  Some were short, sure but most were well thought out and provided a fair amount of detail.

I’d love you to weigh in and let me know what you think the top five are!

Here’s the good news.  With the explosion of technology, there are more and more annoying ways to pester customers and prospects, as well as, collect more data on their behaviors.  The freezing of the economy has, well, freaked most executives out thoroughly. 

The customer, who was as of Spring last year, looking like they were on the verge of being totally disenfranchised by most brands (hey, they are a nameless, faceless number that in the end can be replaced.  Shut up, we just want your money…right?) Now all of a sudden (and rightly so) has become very, very important. 

The customer finally can speak with their voice, not just their wallet…brands are listening.  They have no choice.  They listen and respond or go out of business.

Sort of like the fat guy who has to have a heart attack before he changes his life style.

In the end, this is going to be a good thing for both brands and customers.  They will have a closer relationship.  Technology and advertising for the sake of themselves won’t be the end-all-be-all they have been. 

The next question is how many brands will survive this.  I heard from one senior marketer the other day that in 24 months, there will be 15-20% fewer brands than we had 12 months ago.

What do you think?

It was 4 degrees at 5:45am this morning.  It was also dark. I slid and stumbled down the still snow covered driveway to locate my Wall Street Journal, the old-school paper kind.  Finding it I made my way quickly back inside.  But as I walked, I noticed one thing.  The paper weighed almost nothing. 

'”Hmmm, this would explain why I now have to walk all the way to the bottom of the driveway to get it.  A year ago, it made it three quarters of the way up.  Driver can’t toss it as far.”

When I got inside, I opened it and again noticed something that I had been seeing for days, even weeks but only today saw.  In each section, the cover, Marketplace, Money & Investing, even Personal Journal there is only one type of news.  Business all over, of every type is bleeding.  Some, like GM and Chrysler have throat wounds.  Others like Motorola, UPS and Dow Chemical are bleeding and anemic. Yet others like Mattel, Nintendo and even Electronic Arts are showing rumblings of trouble.

President Obama said something that stuck with me a while back.  “We don’t have a republican problem, we don’t have a democratic problem, we have an American problem.”  True, but we really have a people problem.  This issue is global and we are all tied together.

That said, rather than sit here and whine about it, we should all be acting pro-actively and thinking with an innovative mind.  Clearly, cost cutting across the board is a requirement in every industry but panic and repetition of traditional marketing, sales gen and CRM efforts will fall on deaf ears.  People, consumers are not worried right now, they are scared.

You will fight for every dollar decision.  Make it easy for them.  Listen to them.  Be innovative.  Speak plainly.  Share the knowledge.  Here are some ideas I have had over the last couple of days.

NBA teams:  Invite loyal fans to a series of pizza parties held on the hard wood.  As THEM to re-invent the stadium experience.  Music, activities, prizes, contests, etc.  Put management in the stands in sweatshirts that say Team Management:  Talk to me.  Make them move every 15-20 minutes.  Meet after the game, rank order feedback.  Post it as a checklist on what’s being done.

Retailers:  Recruit customers (real ones) to secret shop and provide them a deep discount on purchases when doing so.  Give them a forum to post their findings.  Act and report on those findings.  Give key customers Pure Digital (www.theflip.com) cameras to record their experiences.  Here’s an example, caught on a flip camera.  It’s called ‘Why buying a new sled at Walmart is a good idea, it’s called Meredith goes sledding.  Give them a forum to share homegrown ideas of stuff to do with their families that don’t cost an arm and a leg.

Airlines:  Remember, you have the power to make it better or worse.  It can be simple things.  Make a joke.  Ask a question.  Smile.  Show sincerity.  Look people in the eye.  Most of the things you do make you appear to be out of touch and actively working hard to piss us all off.

Restaurant chains:  Create mix and match fixed menu options for sharing.  Have patrons rank and rate favorites on paper menu options.  What sounds good, versus what is a good value versus what was actually tasty.  Follow up with repeat patrons to inquire how the take out service was.  Ask for 1 way to improve either the experience or the value.  Track this, learn from it, act on it, share it.  Create podcasts on ways to cook this at home.  Have a favorite dish?  We’ll show you how to make it.  If you are a chain that sells branded in store items, feature these items.  Provide in in-restaurant discount to people who have used these products and have a proof of purchase.  If you don’t make it, maybe you should.  Any contract manufacturer would welcome the chance. 

In the end, listen to your customers.  Ask them.  What you will receive is golden.  I’d love to have some more ideas.  What is it that businesses should be doing to stay in synch with their customers?  Post a category and one or two ideas.

In the November 2007 issue of CRM magazine I recently read an article titled 'Have You Caught It?'  The premise of this article was that Viral Marketing is striking out...but viral isn't to blame.

The article starts out like this.  "Disappointing numbers have convinced many marketers to decrease their viral marketing (spend) by 55% next year, but viral isn't to blame.  Viral marketing is exciting, and understandably so-it's a marketer's dream that by simply planting a video, consumers will not only find it, but also spread it far and wide."

The reality is that what I quote above isn't happening.  According to the article and the underlying research conducted by JupiterResearch, only 15% of viral marketers succeeded in getting consumers to promote their message.  Why is this?

Ready-Fire-Aim.  I have begun to call this phenomenon 'The You Tube Methodology'.  Now there is nothing wrong with You Tube.  On the contrary, it is a powerful and very engaging tool, when used appropriately (and there are a lot of ways to use it).  I instead refer to using the venue, which is a tactical tool as a strategy and avoiding a process altogether.  Bad idea.

So why do certain viral videos work?  Two reasons really; they resonate with their audience because they are made expressly for their audience (and many times members of the audience have a say in it or come up with the idea for the video themselves) or they are so far off the mark they are embarrassingly bad. 

The first example is like throwing the impossible pass to win the Super Bowl with one second left on the clock.  Your team's fans go, "Wow, did you see that?!"  They get the video snippit off You Tube and pass it around for days.  They talk about it for days and share it with people just like them.  I got a video from a friend of mine which illustrates this point.  See the video here.

Different sport but same idea.  Actually, it is the third time I had seen it in as many weeks.  As a competitive cyclist, I belong to a community of riders just like me, as well as a sub set of that community that are fans of single speed mountain bikes.  A very passionate group who talks about and recommends everything from nutritional aids to vacations to restaurants to you name it.  This social network is spread across the country and is made up of CEO's, attorneys, doctors, airline pilots, graduate students, plumbers and even a state senator.  Last week, one member of the group made a recommendation that resulted in another choosing to fly to Europe to take possession of a new Audi sports car, along with an included trip to the factory, a short vacation and a chance to drive his car on Audi's test track.  Purchase value?  $46,000.00.  What had he had originally planned to do?  Buy a used one locally.  Big difference and talk about influence.  How this video is spread is viral and it works.  Although it is not a product focused video, it easily could be and it resonates with a specific group (are you listening Giro Helmets?).

The second example is the train wreck that doesn't resonate with anybody but it is so bad that people feel the need to share it in order to make fun of it.  Any publicity is not always good publicity.  There are lots of examples of these 'corporate videos' that well, just plain suck.  So why do they, um, suck?  Most of all, they totally miss their demographic mark and there is no call to action for feedback, voting or to get involved.  There are other reasons but these two are enough for now.

So what's the purpose of this post?  To compel my fellow marketers to have a reason for doing something.  Take a page from Seinfeld.  The show about nothing.  The reason it was so funny was that it resonated with people for a specific reason (we all saw part of our lives there and could relate to it), plus it was scripted!  Planned out!  There was a reason for a joke.  It was tried out in advance!

Keep using viral tools but dump the You Tube Methodology.  You'll be a lot better of and a heck of a lot more successful (and popular with your customer base).