Crumbs from the Scone
Let’s say you’ve been working around the clock on an improvement for your product, service or online interface. Because you know all about your upgrade, why it’s needed and how much value it offers, you might forget that it will be a completely new concept to your customers. A post at the Service Untitled blog gives this advice for keeping them apprised of an upcoming change:
Use multiple communication channels to make an announcement. Most of your customers won’t actively check for updates at your Web site, but they will monitor control panels, email accounts and text messages. “The key is to be creative and to understand how customers prefer to be contacted,” says Service Untitled.
Outline the change they can expect—and why it’s happening. Don’t expect lots of buy-in if you don’t explain how an upgrade will make a customer’s experience easier or more efficient. Be explicit about what’s in it for them, and you’ll likely discover a more receptive audience.
Be realistic about timelines. Give your customers honest estimates for the time a product or service might be unavailable—during implementation, for instance—and how frequently such periods will occur in the future.
Anticipate customer queries. “Communication almost always results in questions,” says Service Untitled. Be prepared with clear, concise answers and a friendly, helpful attitude.
Source: Service Untitled.
Crumbs from the Scone
“In the two weeks leading up to the November 4th election, email messages came fast and furious from both campaigns,” writes Morgan Stewart in an article at MarketingProfs. “I saw … commonly held best practices to be emulated, other [elements] that should be avoided … and a few new concepts that … [may] inspire email marketers to take their programs to the next level.” Based on what he learned from the campaigns, Stewart encourages marketers to:
Leverage the power of streaming video. Many Obama emails contained links to the Illinois senator’s inspirational speeches. “Perhaps of more interest,” says Stewart, “was the fact that many of these videos were displayed on vanity landing pages with key messages contained in the URL.” For instance, the address barackobama.com/keepfighting appeared in the body of one email.
Balance your objectives with value to the customer. In the last weeks of the campaign, he notes, the Obama team aggressively pursued donations. “[T]he fundraising tone became dominant to the point of minimizing other messages.” The McCain camp, by contrast, presented what Morgan considers a more balanced mix, from a marketing standpoint, of updates and requests for participation.
Says Stewart, “[W]e need to applaud instances where established marketing channels are leveraged in innovative ways. I, for one, plan to incorporate these [tactics] into existing email programs to help drive them to the next level.”
Source: MarketingProfs.
Crumbs from the Scone
When Ann Handley waxed philosophical on the subject practical jokes in a post at Annarchy, her readers filled the comment section with stories of their own favorite stunts. Most were personal in nature, but Mike Volpe of HubSpot noted that some of his best work-related memories center not on business accomplishments, but on zany pranks. “We work too hard not to have fun,” he said. “As part of this, we play jokes (admittedly geeky) a lot.”
To tease a germophobic colleague, for instance, the HubSpot crew created www.JonahsGerms.com, a collection of germ-centric factoids and photographs of various co-workers “infecting” computer equipment with their fingers, sneezes and—even—tongues. The heading “Executive Germs” included this helpful reminder that anyone can contaminate a workspace: “Did you think that germs are for the poor and the weak? Think again! People in high places can pass their germs to you just like the destitute and homeless on the T!”
“[W]e also keep an internal wiki called ‘HubSpot Lore & Mythology’ where we keep track of funny quotes and happenings in the company,” said Volpe. “It is a great way to keep all 60 (and growing) of us up to date on the company jokes, [and] a good way for new employees to hear about the past jokes.” In a fast-growing company like HubSpot—which had only five employees in early 2007—this documentation has the added benefit of making hire number 60 feel instantly connected to a quickly evolving corporate culture.
We see lots of Marketing Inspiration in the idea of building a more effective team with pranks and practical jokes—just remember to take photographs for the internal wiki.
Source: MarketingProfs enewsletter
Crumbs from the Scone
“During your annual planning ritual do you study and analyze the current situation in your market and then move on straight to setting your goals?” asks Dan Herman in an article at MarketingProfs. “Common practice—but a big mistake!” According to Herman, this practice actually encourages underachievement by placing artificial limits on your ambition. “Nowadays,” he argues, “most business successes result from early identification of market opportunities and a rapid and creative move to capitalize on them, maximizing profits.”
Herman’s methodology, called the Opportunity Scan (or O-Scan), comes in two stages:
What’s now? The first stage involves researching and analyzing the current market situation.
What’s possible? The systematic exploration of opportunities.
Answering these three questions will lead you from current reality to potential achievement:
What shouldn’t be? Place everything from wasted resources to customer frustrations in this category.
What could/should change? In other words, asks Herman, “[W]hat are the outdated or plainly dumb unwritten rules of the game that the players in this market stick by?”
What could be? Determine how your company can excel with a product or service your competition is unlikely to develop.
Source: MarketingProfs.
Crumbs from the Scone
In a post at Gapingvoid, Hugh MacLeod tells the story of a superstar blogger who publicly congratulated a corporate competitor for joining the blogosphere. In her “welcome to the neighborhood” post, she also complimented one of her competitor’s products, “which truth be told,” says MacLeod, “is … really good … for that industry.”
A senior executive at her own company quickly excoriated the superstar in an internal email that bemoaned the press she gave to a competitive product. “What the poor suit doesn’t realize, of course, is that on a basic, primal level, how you talk about your competition actually says a lot more about you, than talking about yourself ever will,” says MacLeod.
He argues that a willingness to acknowledge the quality in a competitor’s product or service underscores the confidence you have in your own. Great artists, he notes, often champion protégés and colleagues; hacks, meanwhile, run around denouncing established artists as overrated or untalented. “Animals can smell fear,” says MacLeod, “or the lack thereof.” And when the superstar explained this rationale to the executive, he eventually came around to her perspective.
We see plenty of Marketing Inspiration in MacLeod’s philosophy: “[W]hat’s true at cocktail parties is also true in marketing,” he says. “If you want to be boring, talk about yourself. If you want to be interesting, talk about something other than yourself.”
Source: MarketingProfs enewsletter
Crumbs from the Scone
“Most people are not very good listeners,” write Don and Sheryl Grimme in The New Manager’s Toolkit. The reason, the say, is that we spend our days juggling personal and professional issues, and find it difficult to focus entirely on those facing our employees and colleagues. When this happens, we don’t listen as closely as we should, and often jump to conclusions based on an inadequate understanding of the situation. This not only makes our marketing teams less effective, it alienates those offering the input and feedback we requested.
To remedy the situation, the Grimmes offer a step-by-step process for optimizing an active listening process:
Stop and give the other person your full attention.
Remain silent. Resist the urge to finish a sentence.
Collect facts, and assess what the person wants you to understand.
Ask reflective questions that paraphrase or rephrase a statement, e.g. “You want such-and-such. Is that right?”
Follow up with open-ended questions such as “What would you like to see happen?” or “Is there anything else?”
According to the Grimmes, a simple conversation with little emotional content might require only the first two steps. “[I]n other words, shut up and listen,” they say. But it never hurts to close with a reflective question that confirms or clarifies the conclusion.
Source: The New Manager’s Toolkit.
