Marketing and the Age of Chivalry

Today I am going to talk models. And before you get too excited let me explain that I do not mean the Kate Moss, Claudia Schiffer, Elle MacPherson type of model. I just am not that kind of person and this corner of the blogosphere is not for that kind of talk. No I mean the kind of models so beloved of consultants and experts and gurus and, since I would like to be regarded in that category, I want to introduce you today to my model for communications and to demonstrate quite convincingly I am sure you will agree, that marketing is indeed a chivalrous calling.

Over the past few weeks I have been reviewing the communication activities of businesses and it is becoming clear to me that many businesses, driven by the need to encourage customers and potential customers to buy from them, are bombarding their market with ‘buy me now’ messages without introducing themselves first to their potential customer.

Would you buy from a stranger? Would you hand over money to someone you only had the vaguest inkling of who they were and what they were offering? Would you trust someone if you thought they were not right for you?

And yet this is exactly what many businesses expect their market to do, day in day out. They send out direct mail, e-blasts, e-mails and the like, screaming ‘call me now’, ‘buy me now’, ‘click here’, without first going through the principles of courtship. A customer needs to be wooed, they need to know who you are, what you stand for. They need to learn to trust you, to know that you are right for them before they will get into bed with you, before they will buy from you.

And this is where my model comes in, a model that explains the journey that you need to take the consumer through with your communications. A journey that is going to involve wooing, courtship and seduction but only if we get it right. Who said marketing was not sexy? To me good marketing is about courtship, it’s about preserving the Age of Chivalry.

In recent weeks I have come to know one business very well. It is a great business but it is not stopping to think how it can get more of its target market to think positively of them, to get to be top of mind in their market’s mind, to be first choice. Instead it is single-mindedly intent on selling; on getting customers to buy; on having a one night stand. As a result response rates and the cost effectiveness of its marketing are declining and shrinking dramatically as the pool of interested buyers gets fed up, stagnant and exhausted. It’s time for this business to use my model to increase the pool of buyers aware of its offer, who see its offer as relevant and who then want to buy. And this is where my model, my customer journey, route map comes in.

The act of purchase means that you are being chosen and to get to this point your business has to have been noticed by the customer; they have to like what they see; you have to be relevant to them and their emotional and rational needs; and you have to be top of mind at the time of purchase. These are links in the chain and stage posts on the customer journey, each fashioned by different communications medium over differing periods of time. Not all communications are the same. Each has a different but complimentary role to play. And like everything else you are only as strong as your weakest link.

In the business I described above I am trying to get them to do less product push marketing through direct mail and e-blasts and encouraging them to build awareness, relevance and being top of mind through a sustained PR and events campaign which will show them in a positive and expert light to their target market. If my theory holds true, and I am sure it will, less ‘buy me’
marketing will improve response rates as they broaden the pool of people aware of them, thinking positively of them and wanting to buy. More wooing leads to a more fruitful and longer lasting relationship. If it’s true in life, it’s true in business.

And so as you see effective marketing depends on us marketers preserving the Age of Chivalry.

Is it me?

But has anyone else noticed that, after our recent albeit brief descent into a new Ice Age, the enviro- and eco-mentalists are no longer talking about global warming. They have re-branded. So instead of global warming we now have climate change. Like any lazy marketing director trying to change a dodgy brand proposition, the strategy is to call yourself something different rather than change the proposition and to hope no-one notices. The underlying proposition remains dodgy but there is now new lipstick on the pig. Am I the only one who thinks like this?

Have great week.

Sit felix. Et sit fortanatus.

Doris

With the Six Nations now in full swing, this week I am going to seek inspiration for my wit and wisdom on the rugby field. Now given that my team is not doing very well, as seems to be the norm for us at the moment, (I will give you a clue I am not Welsh and we are even doing worse than England) I know that this is a big risk for me but I want to introduce you to Doris and to talk about how important she is to the world of marketing.

Do you remember Jonny Wilkinson? If you don’t, then a few years back he was every Englishman’s hero and every Englishwoman’s favourite scrummy rugby hunk. And don’t England need a Jonny now. Anyway Doris was Jonny’s friend as important to him when he kicked a ball as she will become to you at the end of this piece of marketing dribble.

If you remember Jonny, you will recall he had a very distinctive kicking style. . He would crouch over the ball, holding his hands as if he praying for the ball to go over, staring fixedly into the far distance with his eyes darting between ball and post before starting his run up and usually slotting the ball over for three more points. Sometimes he looks like he is trying to lay a rugby ball like a hen does an egg. Can you picture the scene?

A few years back I met Jonny and he explained to me that when he is lining up his kick, he picks out his friend Doris sitting in the stand behind the goal and he tries to land the ball in her lap. Doris is an imaginary character but in his mind he can visualise what she is wearing, what she looks like, what book she is reading, even what her hair is doing today and what colour of lipstick she has on. I kid you not.

Now you are probably wondering two things-is Jonny mad? And what does this have to do with marketing. Let me explain.

No Jonny is not mad though they do they say that line between madness and genius is incredibly thin. He is focussed and single minded in what he is trying to do and who his target is.

And surely in our business we must be as single and as clear minded as Jonny. Should we not build a picture of our Doris in our mind? We are all in the marketing and communications business, no matter what job title we have on our business cards and in our job specs. Great communications, great marketing and great branding comes from having a clear idea of who we are trying to reach, who we are trying to talk to, who we want to influence. Only by doing this can we develop strong and effective communications and great marketing. We all need to be able to picture Doris. We all need a Doris working in our business.

And in case you think I have now gone mad. Let me put forward Marks&Spencer in my defence. A few years ago there was a distinct possibility that M&S, a national institution, might go under. Part of the problem stemmed from the fact that in a bid to widen their franchise they tried to appeal to a younger and trendier audience, and they lost sight that their Doris was a middle-aged woman in middle England. Once they re- remembered that they started to turn the corner.

And if you want more proof, let us consider another great British institution that has recently gone under, Woolworths. It most certainly did not have a Doris and without this understanding its demise was as certain as the fact that its Pick ‘n Mix sweeties would not lead to anorexia.

So who is your Doris? What do they look like? How old are they? Are they male or female? Where do they live? What car do they drive? What newspaper do they read? Where do they shop? What do they think? What do they feel? What do they value? And so on and so on. Once you can build up that picture marketing, communicating, selling to them is so much easier.

As Debbie Harry of Blondie once sang ‘Picture This’. It is almost that easy.

Is it just me?

As you will be aware for last week or so global warming has been postponed by the UK as the snow and freezing winds arrived on the Arctic gusts. Amid the transport chaos and the school closures and heroic tales of derring by commuters snow boarding to work, my local army recruitment office was closed by the weather. And the office for the RAF. Indeed only the office for the navy and the marines was open. Now I don’t know about you but I do expect our armed forces to be available 24x7 and not just when the sun is out. Do we now only fight in warm climates where there is no risk of snow and ice or of our brave soldier boys slipping and sliding on the ice. Hats off to the navy and marines though. At least they are prepared to report for duty in all weathers.

Have a great week.

Sit felix. Et sit fortunatus.

Anyone for tennis?

As a regular devotee of this corner of cyberspace you will not be at all surprised that businesses seek out Cicero’s advice, opinion and views on all things marketing. I can assure you it is true and I am currently dispensing marketing advice to businesses on a global scale. You get it free. Others have to pay. I do hope you appreciate this.

Last week I was talking to one business about tennis balls. I know that at this point your eyes are no doubt turning heavenward and you might no doubt ne anxious to go an explore the rest of cyberspace for some enlightenment and wisdom but bear with me. It will be worth it.

If I was to throw a bucket of tennis balls at you, how many do you think you would be able to catch? One? Two? Three? Ten? Twenty? I would guess that you might catch one or two at most. Am I right? Try it and if you can catch more than five please do write and let me know but I am pretty sure that the number you would catch would be in low single figures.

Now replace tennis balls with marketing messages and you might start to see where I am going with this.

For our marketing communications to be successful and to have any chance of cutting through the clutter and noise that dazzles and bombards us, we should assume that our brains, as well developed as they are, well yours at least, are capable of catching preferably one, but maybe two at most, tennis balls or communication messages at any one time. Any more confuses and overwhelms our central processing units and when this happens they have a tendency to shut down and our well crafted and carefully designed communication messages get lost and wasted.

I was using my tennis ball metaphor last week to explain to a business why it should not combine marketing literature in mail shots to save money; to illustrate what was wrong with a website which overloaded and bombarded the visitor with content to extent that its core purpose was lost; and to highlight what was wrong with a marketing and sales approach which gave customers 25 reasons to buy a given product or service.

In trying to make sure that it gave something to everyone it ran risk of giving nothing to no one, of standing for nothing, of being uncompelling and unconvincing and irrelevant.

I think they got the message when I threw a basket of tennis balls at the chief executive. No kidding. And for the record he caught one though I think he was rather taken aback at my rather physical approach to the development of an effective communications strategy. I guess that will be one business not seeking Cicero’s advice again.

Effective communications is single minded. Single minded in what it is trying to say, what product or service it is trying to promote; single minded to whom it is trying to talk to; and single minded in the result it is seeking to achieve. And that means making choices. And that is the secret of great marketing. Marketing is about choices. Choosing what to do, what to say and to whom.

Otherwise it is all about throwing tennis balls out which fail to be caught.

And if you doubt or question this thinking, think of all the advertising inserts that businesses pay for and which carpet bomb your lounge when you open the weekend papers. The volume overwhelms us and none get read. Maybe less is more and one carefully placed advertising insert might get read. This is the one tennis ball we can all catch.

Anyone out there got an opinion on this they want to share with my global readership?

Is it me?

Each and every day the enviro- and eco-mentalists exhort, preach and nanny us to do our bit to save the planet from the ravaging effects of global warming which is, of course, rather ironic given the cold and snowy weather of the past few days. Anyway I like to do my bit to save the planet. But has anyone else noticed how a 4 line e-mail is converted into a tome consuming almost as much paper as ‘War and Peace’ once printed. Why does this happen? I am well past the point of technophobia where I would print off every e-mail but sometimes it is unavoidable and when this happens not only do I get the critical information I wanted but also all the small print and disclaimers and threats of dire retribution if I am reading this e-mail when it is intended for someone else. Result-we consume more paper than we need to. I don’t get all this verbiage when I write I letter and send it by the traditional methods so why does someone think I need it when I read an e-mail message.

And so global warming is all the fault of the corporate lawyers. QED.

Have a great week.

Sit felix. Et sit fortunatus.

Oh what a lovely war!

It is not often that you will find something helpful and useful coming out of our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is even rarer for there to be lessons for marketing emerging from these conflicts. But as a regular Cicero Speaks devotee it will come as no surprise to you to learn that I can find enlightenment in unusual places and I have found a very important nugget of marketing learning from these brutal wars.

Last week I was telling you about the words of wisdom of my northern agent in the Dales. And this week I want to share with you some words of marketing insight from a real and genuine 5 star American general. I truly do scour the world to bring you learning and enlightenment.

I was reading recently an interview with General David Petraus, the American general who until recently was the main man in Iraq and who has just become head humvee honcho in Afghanistan. In his interview he said,

‘You cannot build awareness or engagement through a bullet proof windscreen’.

Now you may be struggling to see the immediate relevance of this to marketing so let me explain.

As senior marketers we will often build awareness or engagement through a bulletproof windscreen. Only we call it market research. Do we do enough to get out from behind our bullet proof windscreen to find out what is going on, to discover what our customers think about us, to experience what they are experiencing? Could we do more? Or are we content to let the shag pile grow beneath our feet and rely on intelligence from our research reports? And lean on the columns of excel worksheets from our front line staff for understanding and insight?

A few months back I was on one of my regular missions on behalf of us all to improve and upgrade the quality of customer service that some large faceless organisation was offering me and the rest of its customers. Getting nowhere with the customer service team I asked to speak to their Head of Customer Service to be told ‘I am sorry but he does not speak to customers’. Are you as amazed and as dumfounded at that statement as I was? This is an organisation where I was assured that ‘your call is very important to us’ and ‘customer service is our number one priority’. Yeah, right. But it is also an organisation where its senior management do not think it important enough to speak with customers. Guys, listen to General Petraus.

Since this experience I now make a point of asking to speak with the Customer Service Director or the Marketing Director if and when I have an issue that is irresolvable by the front line staff. It is a good game to play and you should try it. It is saddening to see how few organisations will allow you to speak to those supposedly leading the charge to make their organisation customer-centric

Now I don’t want to hold myself up some sort of paragon of marketing virtue, assuming of course that you can juxtaposition ‘marketing’ and ‘virtue’, but I did always try to get out from behind my bullet proof windscreen and would encourage my team to do the same. I was always happy to speak with customers if they phoned. And indeed was always keen to contact a sample of customers whose business we had lost to find out why we were not at least as good as the competition.

I would always ensure that my team and myself had shopped the customer shop and experienced the customer experience. As they say (no idea who ‘they’ is in this instance) ‘if you want to improve airline food, serve it up in the airline’s board room’.

So if you work in marketing or have a responsibility for customers in your organisation, so that means all of you, I want you now to commit to build awareness and engagement without a bullet proof windscreen. I would love you to personally commit and to encourage your team to commit, to the Petraus Marketing Doctrine:
· To speak with customers if they ask to speak with you
· To speak with a sample of new, existing or ex customers every month to find out how they feel about your business and how it could be made better
· To regularly shop the customer shop

By doing this you will be sending out a very powerful signal to your customers and equally importantly to your front line staff, exactly what kind of an organisation you want to be. And you will be amazed at what you will learn and uncover.

So do it now. Not next week. Not tomorrow. Not when you have a space in your diary. Do it now and get on with it. And maybe some good will have come out of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Is it me? I recently had to visit one of the NHS’s finest establishments. Please don’t worry there is no need for you to rush over with the grapes and flowers. I was there in a professional capacity rather than because of ill health. While there I went for a coffee and cake. I was staggered to see they had 2 price lists and they actually advertised that visitors (in other words taxpayers like you and me) ‘would have a 25% surcharge added to their bills’. Shocked and appalled is not the word, and yes I know that’s two words.

Why? Even if we accept the premise that staff should get a discount, to flaunt that and to brazenly advertise that everyone else should be surcharged, is symptomatic of the public sector’s attitude that if you don’t work there, the rest of us are cash cows. Needless to say I refused on principle to be surcharged for my coffee and left, having made my point and having drawn parallels with the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution. Extreme I know but relevant. Is it just me who thinks like this? Your thoughts please.

Have a great week.

Sit felix et sit fortunatus.