Church of the Customer: June 2005 archives
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June 30, 2005
Two new word of mouth blogs
Two new word of mouth blogs to add to your newsreader:
* Jonathan Carson, the CEO of word-of-mouth measurement firm BuzzMetrics, has started a blog. He covers "the skinny on word-of-mouth marketing and the proliferation of consumer-created content."
* Walter Carl of Northeastern University blogs about his research into word of mouth and buzz marketing.
Both guys are smart and leaders in the field.
June 28, 2005
Word of mouth marketing and B2B
B2B Magazine correctly says business-to-business marketers have been in the word of mouth field for years, but they often don't realize it.
B2B marketers who employ customer reference or advisory
programs, traditional PR, analyst outreach and even trade show
marketing are using word-of-mouth.
Their challenge is to bridge traditional tactics into more updated ones, such as blogging, customer communities or online forums.
B2B companies may not necessarily create the next iPod or TiVo, but with the right amount of focus and dedication, they can still create word of mouth that gives them an edge over competitors.
June 24, 2005
Hispanic word of mouth
Hispanics are 40% more likely than non-Hispanics to tell a friend to avoid a store where they are treated rudely.
That's according to a new study, which says Hispanic customers typically are more passionate in their relationships with brands than customers of non-Hispanic descent. The study's authors suggest that marketers appealing to Hispanic households focus on delighting these customers than the general U.S. market.
One thing not explained in the study: why Hispanics are more loyal and more likely to tell friends about poor experiences. Perhaps that's explained in the authors' new book.
June 23, 2005
Podcast: Women's word of mouth; Wanna be a business book author?
In today's podcast, we talk with Andrea Learned, co-author of Don't Think Pink, about word of mouth and women. Tune in for Andrea's advice on how to market to women who influence your male customers. We'll also share our top 10 things we believe you need to know if you want to be a business book author.
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Show topics
1. Interview with Andrea Learned, co-author of Don't Think Pink (Begins at 1:00)
2. So you want to be a business book author.... (Begins at 13:00)
Show notes
Links to people, companies, articles, blogs, etc. mentioned in the podcast:
* Andrea Learned, co-author of Don't Think Pink
* 80% of all consumer purchases are made or influenced by women
* "Transparent marketing" to women
* Word of mouth and gender
* Chicago Women in Technology (ChicWIT)
* Tweeter
* Dearborn Publishing
* The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Published
* Brand Autopsy blog
* Robert Scoble
* Shel Israel
* Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers
* Steve Rubel
* Little Red Book of Selling
* Mini, the Wonder Dog
Show music
Intro/close: "G.L.S." by Salme Dahlstrom
Break: "Pink" by Aerosmith
Show length
24:03
Podcast hosting provided by Conference Calls Unlimited
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Previous podcasts are here.
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The viral marketing contagion
USA TODAY reports that viral marketing is on the rise.
Still, there's little evidence that most viral campaigns increase sales. But they do win agencies awards.
I guess some things still remain important.
Ed Zander's Motorola Mission
Ed Zander is the first outsider to run Chicago-based communications giant Motorola. He was hired in 2004 to turnaround a once-dominant company that had been stuck in the weeds for years.
After a year on the job, Zander says his primary mission at Moto is convert a "thick culture" that often acts as if it were on autopilot into a more engaged and transparent one.
The company's robotic culture was largely the result of an insular, top-heavy management structure that showed very little, if any, desire for customer involvement. As Zander told the Wall Street Journal (subscription req'd):
"I noticed that after three weeks (of arriving on the job) nobody was in my office to call a customer. I thought it was strange. In my previous life, we'd bring a customer in or we'd be pounding away at our market share. And I just didn't see that. So I asked who are top customers are and started calling them, and then visited them, one by one."
Five profitable quarters later, when there were many unprofitable quarters previously, Zander's simple formula seems to be working.
A company's culture and practices are largely a reflection of the CEO's values and practices. It seems blatantly obvious -- put customers first, and stay in touch with them -- but practicing this theology consistently requires focus. More than most people think. Especially at the top of the org chart.
Is your company's culture thick, or transparent?
June 21, 2005
Measuring word of mouth
If metrics are a must-have for your significant investment in word-of-mouth marketing, then attending WOMMA's July 13, one-day session on "Measuring Word of Mouth" is a no-brainer.
The list of papers to be presented at the conference looks terrific for us word of mouth wonks. There's even one on customer evangelism.
You can get $50 off the registration fee by using the discount code "Blogsareawesome" when registering. [Be sure that the "B" is capitalized.]
(Disclosure: Jackie and I sit on the advisory board of WOMMA.)
June 20, 2005
Business and philosophy
When it comes to business, which philosophy do you subscribe to?
1. I believe my business could ultimately be destroyed by factors beyond my control, such as inflexible unions, shifting demographics, competitive monopolies, governmental regulation or acts of god.
2. I believe my business is in complete and utter control of its destiny, regardless of outside factors.
If you picked answer one, then you probably hold stock in determinism, which basically posits that every event, act, and decision is the inevitable consequence of outside influences independent of human will.
If you picked answer two, you picked the more difficult choice but ulitmately, I believe, the right choice: free will.
Author Jim Collins says so, too, in the current issue of Fortune (subscription req'd) as he discusses Southwest Airlines' seemingly impossible success.
"Think of all the events and factors outside managerial control that have hit (the airline industry) since 1972: fuel shocks, interest rate spikes, deregulation, wars and 9/11. And yet the number-one performing company of all publicly traded companies in terms of return to investors for a 30-year period from 1972 to 2002 is (Southwest Airlines). Now what would have happened if the folks at Southwest had said, 'Hey, we can't do anything great because of our environment?' But at Southwest they say, 'We are responsible for our own outcomes.' "
Right on, brother Jim.
June 16, 2005
Microsoft's mea culpa, and its response
A good mea culpa from Microsoft: A Windows product manager says the software giant has been a poor listener.
"We have not done a good job of listening to the needs of online consumer leaders," says Microsoft's Josh Levine. "We have heard repeatedly that these communitie want one place to find timely, in-depth information coming out of the Windows group as well as other groups across Microsoft that touch consumer technology."
So, the company has launched The Hive, an online community for online community leaders. I like Levine's positioning of the Hive: "The Hive isn't about Microsoft. It's about community leaders coming together to better serve their readers and members." But he says it's not a marketing initiative. Hmmm.
Providing a community forum for influentials and evangelists to connect is a solid strategy, so kudos to Microsoft for its timeliness. A few niggles: I'm not sure the Hive's points-for-participation feature is necessary. If the experience of another "hive" is indicative -- in this case, BzzAgent -- then roughly 25% (or less) of a community participates in points programs. It seems that fewer people are motivated by points. Delivering on the mission of the community -- getting insider news and information about Windows products, sharing
tips with other community leaders to help improve one's community -- should provide the incentive to participate.
That, and the name "The Hive" joins a crowded field of buzz nomenclature. "Bees were a good analogy for the idea of leaders coming together and cross-pollinating ideas and sharing information," Levine says. "Plus, poodles seemed too silly."
Josh is mistaken about two things:
1. The Hive is a marketing initiative; connecting customers is marketing. It's just not part of a lame ad campaign.
2. Poodles are not silly.
The threat to public broadcasting
I've known Al Bartholet for a few years. He's the general manager of Kent, Ohio, public radio station WKSU. For the time I've known and consulted with Al, he's been a consistently even-keeled, thoughtful leader -- the embodiment of public radio.
This week, Al sent a stirring note to his radio station's listeners and supporters. It's a long note, but it's important to read if you're troubled by the recent politicization (and attempted highjacking) of public broadcasting via threats and intimidation.
For several years an inaccurate e-mail has circulated warning about an imminent threat to federal funding for public broadcasting. Unfortunately, that threat has now become all too real.
On June 9, the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health, Human Services and Education approved a $100 million reduction in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) for FY 2006. This represents a 25% reduction of funding for CPB. The situation becomes more dire when other Subcommittee cuts, including elimination of funds for public television's satellite interconnection system and Ready-To-Learn program, are added to the mix – bringing the total reduction of funds to public broadcasting next year to more than 40%.
The U.S. House of Representatives will soon vote to approve the Subcommittee's funding recommendations for FY 2006. CPB funding is only part of the bill in front of the house, but for those of us who value the work that NPR and PBS member stations do in our communities, it is an issue that speaks straight to the day-to-day worth of public broadcasting.
If you wish to comment on CPB funding, it is vital that you do so now. In 2008, the current Subcommittee bill eliminates federal funding for CPB, essentially making all public radio and television stations completely dependent on private donations for survival. WKSU, through the loss of grants from CPB, will be directly affected by these funding cuts.
Ralph Regula, U.S. Representative for Ohio's 16th District and Chair of the Subcommittee, told the Canton Repository, "I don't know what will happen in two years... [Public TV and radio] need to look around and start planning because I'm saying in effect, or the bill is saying, 'Don't rely on having the money in two years.'"
Now is the time to act.
CPB was created by Congress in 1967 as a private, nonprofit organization that provides funds for over 1,000 public television and radio stations and supports producers, educators and technology specialists for the development of new public television and radio programming. It is not a stretch to say that without CPB there would be no NPR, and WKSU would be a very different radio station from the one you listen to today.
President Lyndon Johnson said in remarks made while signing the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 into law, "The Corporation will assist stations and producers who aim for the best in broadcasting good music, in broadcasting exciting plays, and in broadcasting reports on the whole fascinating range of human activity. It will try to prove that what educates can also be exciting.
It will get part of its support from our Government. But it will be carefully guarded from Government or from party control. It will be free, and it will be independent—and it will belong to all of our people."
Al says the word of mouth among his colleagues in public broadcasting is "very dark. This is a very serious threat."
If you're an evangelist for public broadcasting, now is the time to contact your congressman or senator and voice your concern, distaste or disgust.
UPDATE: Sixteen senators have called for the firing of Kenneth Tomlinson, the president of Corporation for Public Broadcasting and one of the chief architects of injecting conservative partisan politics into public broadcasting.
