Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

Customer service in the Twitter age!

By -

I just received a text message from O2, my mobile / cell phone provider. It turns out that they wanted to let me know that they were about to withdraw one of the benefits of using their service.

However, rather than just admit that, for whatever reason, they were about to withdraw this benefit – they decided to try and “sell” this drop in service as something for me to get excited about.

Here’s what they did!

I get a great service from O2.  So, I called them and was treated to a recorded announcement, from an over-enthusiastic voice actor. He wanted to tell me about some great new changes. The ‘great change’ is that O2 are removing a free service that I value and replacing it with, well, nothing!

It gets worse – because what followed was a sales pitch, to try and get me to buy things from an uninspiring list of companies, which O2 has deals with. In my opinion, these were simply the kind of regular ‘offers’ you get for free in the press.

So, O2 have stopped me receiving a service I wanted and used the removal of this service, as an opportunity to ask me to go and spend money with their “offer partners!”

So, I thought I would share my experience with my readers….

…and that’s what this post is all about!

Old style customer service

Until recently, big companies could get away with this kind of behaviour. Their customers had no voice and were largely powerless to do anything. Yes, they could move to another provider, but for a fairly small inconvenience like this, very few customers, if any, would go through he considerable expense of buying their way out of a phone contract.

Social media empowers customers like never before

But, in 2009, customers have a voice. If companies treat customers like fools, under-deliver or fail to back-up their promises, they can pay a hefty cost. Today, people have blogs, social networks and in many cases (like my own), they have access to the attention of  hundreds of thousands of people.

In an interconnected world, it pays more than ever, to ensure your customers expectations are met or exceeded.

Samsung NC10 – It’s brilliant!

Companies can also benefit massively from their customer’s use of social media. For example, I wrote recently about the amazing Samsung NC10 netbook computer and it’s ability to work all day long, on a single charge!  My glowing endorsement of this wonderful machine was all the more powerful, because I have no association with Samsung and gain nothing from endorsing their machine.

That makes this kind of endorsement super-powerful – far more powerful than a paid-for commercial or sponsored post. I know for a fact that people have now bought that computer, because of what I wrote.

If you want to drive up sales and boost the reputation of your brand, make sure you treat people better than they expect and better than your competitors do.

If you want to lose customers and hurt your reputation, just do the opposite!

Owning a hammer doesn’t make you a carpenter!

By -

Here’s why so few people get the marketing results they want from social media tools like blogging, Twitter, FaceBook etc.

If you wanted someone to make you a superbly crafted piece of handmade, wooden furniture, you would go to an experienced carpenter or cabinet maker.  You know that it takes training and dedication in order to develop the skills required, to build beautiful furniture.  You wouldn’t just buy yourself; a hammer, a saw, some wood and nails etc, and expect to immediately be ‘gifted’ the skills required to build it yourself.

For some reason, many people seem to think that different rules apply to anything connected to the Internet!

In marketing, I see people every day, who believe that just because the tools exist online, to help them build a network or community, that all they need to do is start using them.  Then, they start blogging, using FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc and wonder why they see very little commercial progress.

It would be just like giving me a carpenter’s tools and expecting me to build some beautiful furniture – I would end up with nothing more than bruised thumbs and an ugly pile of wood!

The best most people achieve from their online community / network building, is to develop lots of ‘links’ with others, who are equally unaware how to commercially benefit from all these tools.

If you are serious about using social media tools to help you improve your marketing, don’t end up with bruised thumbs! Learn the fundimentals of community building AND THEN start using these amazingly powerful tools.

Expert advice – really?

By -

Thanks to services like lulu.com – anyone can be an author.

Thanks to services like BlogTalkRadio – anyone can be a radio show host.

Thanks to WordPress, TypePad and Blogger etc – anyone can be a journalist.

Thanks to Twitter – anyone can have a following.

In an age where anyone can claim to be an expert, it pays to do some research before taking ‘expert’ advice!

Quick marketing tip

By -

Right now, no matter what kind of business you are in, one person or company is leading the way; locally, nationally or internationally.  These elite providers get to work with the most commercially valuable clients and their name is usually on everyone’s lips – but why?

A great marketing question

Most businesses spend their time focusing on their own little ecosystem.  They focus on their own business and their client’s or customers – that’s it.

Why not take some time out and do some research on what the top people in your industry are doing right now, which you could learn from or improve upon? This study of success can be extremely illuminating and a very effective way to make a lot of progress, very quickly!

Trust me – We’re great!

By -

This post is all about how to increase your sales and profits, by matching your actions to your promises.

Marketing & trust

Trust plays a BIG part in sales and marketing.  That’s because we buy from people we trust.  It’s also why testimonials and referrals are such powerful marketing tools.  They provide a short cut to the trust building process.  Even if you don’t know a service provider, the fact that a friend recommends them to you, immediately makes you massively more likely to do business with them, than with a stranger.

Marketing & consistency

There has been a lot written about the importance of building trust, yet very, very few marketing professionals ever mention one of the most important elements in the trust-building process. Consistency.

Even if a person or company has been recommended to you, you are unlikely to go ahead and use their services if they seem inconsistent, when you speak with them or check them out.  For example, if Bob recommends an accountant to you, but when you call them you are left waiting for ages before an uninterested person answers the phone, you still won’t use them.  That’s because there’s a lack of consistency between what you have been told and what you have experienced. This causes confusion and in marketing we know that a confused mind ALWAYS says NO!

Consistency & image

Many businesses (of all sizes), think that this consistency problem can be overcome by investing in a snazzy new logo and some well designed marketing material.  Banks and phone companies are a great example of this. They will often invest a fortune (millions) on beautifully designed websites, brochures and commercials – only for you to find that when you call them, you are placed in a queue, before your call is transferred to someone who’s clearly not interested and usually reading from a script or check list!

Whilst it’s REALLY important to invest in great design, this is only part of the challenge.  You also need to make sure that a prospective client’s experience of your business is consistent with that polished, professional image.

Marketing & customer service go hand in hand

Why not take a look at the overall experience a prospective client is likely to encounter, when connecting with your business?  Examine every part of the process.  This should include (though not exclusively), things like; how you deal with their initial email enquiry or phone call, how you handle the initial meeting and the follow-up.

How does their experience in these areas match up with your marketing promises of great customer service?  Remembering all the while that GREAT customer service means that you offer significantly better customer service than your competitors! Every business I have ever studied promises great customer service, yet most provide an average service at best.  They seem to do as little as they can ‘get away with’ – when they should be constantly searching for better ways to improve their customer’s experience.

This simple exercise should be expanded to include how well you look after your existing clients too – that’s if you intend keeping them!  Right now, with so many businesses really struggling, your competitors are working harder than ever to persuade your clients / customers to switch to THEM.

When you decide to offer truly great customer service you; add value to your service, generate more referrals, win more new business and just as importantly, retain more of your existing clients / customers too.

The Seth Godin Blog – Highly Recommended

By -

Occasionally, a blog stands out to me as being extra special and when it does, I award it one of my rare ‘Highly Recommended’ awards.  Today, I am highly recommending Seth Godin’s blog.

The Seth Godin Blog

seth godin blog tribes purple cowFor those of you, who do not already know, Seth Godin is a highly successful author, marketing expert and entrepreneur.  However, it’s Seth Godin’s blog excellent blog that I would like to bring to your attention.

Seth’s blog is updated every day and primarily covers marketing.  His blog posts are written for ‘real people’ not marketing experts.  They tend to be short posts, thought provoking and always interesting!

Seth’s approach to marketing is very similar to my own, with an emphasis on building communities and delivering value – rather than pursuing people / business with marketing tricks.

As you may already know, I have worked in marketing for over 20 years and have run my own successful international marketing business since the mid 1990’s. In my opinion, you and your business will benefit greatly from a subscription to Seth Godin’s blog.