Last week Google announced on their blog the addition of a new feature called the Google SideWiki. This new feature is being positioned as a feature that allows you to learn and get help from others.
The Google Sidewiki, allows you to contribute comments, information, point of view directly to any webpage. The Google Sidewiki appears as a browser sidebar, where you can read and write entries along the side of the page. You can then syndicate your posts through other social media channels including Twitter and Facebook.
The ramifications for marketers, I believe, are significant if this takes off, and I have no reason to doubt that it won’t. First it makes every web page on your company web site social. That means that as prospects, customers, partners, media come to your website they can see the comments that others have left, both good and bad and post their own comments. I would imagine competitors can even leave comments now on your website if they would like to.
Why is this important? Word of Mouth is the #1 or 2 (depending on what survey you read) influencing factor on your buying cycles. Through Sidewiki Google has now brought word of mouth right to your companies door step.
This ultimately means that if you aren’t listening or monitoring what’s being said about you that you really need to start, as your website is your company’s primary communication and marketing vehicle today. If you’re not engaging, or conversing through social media channels, than you better start thinking about it.
Jeremiah Owyang does a great job of providing some key steps to take to help you formulate your strategy in response to this at his website. I recommend you read them. After reading those suggestions I recommend you do two things:
1.Download Sidewiki at google.com/sidewikiand contribute your own entries alongside some web pages and syndicate out to some social media channels, so you see it and get it
2.Have a meeting with your team to discuss what this means to website strategy, how you will monitor, and how you will respond to disgruntled customers, employees, and competitors.
Should you care if some irate client complains on Twitter that he wasn’t happy with your service? After all he only has a few followers. Most people look askance when you ask them if they blog, or tweet. What’s a tweet ?, is a common question I get. According to Forrester most people are really not engaged all that much across any social media channel. So does it really matter?
Here is a great example of when the power of publishing is put into the hands of a disgruntled customer. Apparently United Airlines broke this guy’s guitar and according to him after a year of going round, and round they refused to replace/repair or fix it.
Being a creative chap with creative friends he did a “protest” video, and put it on You Tube. Well 550K views later, after being picked up on national news broadcasts United’s brand is taking a hit in the world of web 2.0 and beyond and is being positionedby a single individual as “The Brand that Breaks Guitars”.
Should brands care when people complain in social media? Granted there are only a few of us who are active and make our voices heard across social media channels. @Delatsucks tweeted that “Last Delta representative I spoke with literally said, "We do not care about social media. It has no impact on our business model."
Well social media may not have a direct impact on your ability to sell tickets and fly planes, but it can and will have an ever increasing impact on your brand, and that does have a direct impact on your business model. The change today is that a single individual could conceivably position your brand to millions of prospective customers without your knowing or control. Does United really want to be positioned across 550K people (& growing every second) that it is the airline that breaks guitars?
Perhaps the guitar carrying segment is fairly small and would have a negligible impact on United. However what about the larger population who could be influenced to think about United as a company that does not provide good customer service, or cares very little about its customer. Would United care about that?
The real question is does any brand care when anyone complains regardless of communication channel, and are they authentic in their desire to resolve the issue in a fair and amendable manner. This directly relates to the brand experience the company wants to create. In today’s environment companies big and small must take into account the frictionless word of mouth communication era that we live in, where there is unlimited publishing capacity for creative individuals. Today’s brands must begin to view complaints as an opportunity to engage and build a positive brand experience. Just as the age old adage goes” I’d rather know when someone is unhappy versus not knowing, and then I can do something about it. Nuff said.
BtoB Online caught up with several CMO’s to get their take on what they are doing different this year versus last year. In short:
·Trend to Online media
·Much more use of social media in marketing programs
·Greater use of rich media (i.e Video)
·Using marketing tactics in a more integrated way to build thought leadership
·Leveraging social media to bring the voice of the customer into play.
I’m very surprised at the number of CMO’s who use the term social media, marketing, and lead generation/sales in the same sentence. I have a hard time bringing social media into that context. Social media, in my view, is about the conversation first and foremost and in being authentic, transparent and honest in that conversation. Lead-gen, and sales are nice things that may, or may not happen, but to focus on those areas as the primary objectives of bringing social media into the mix still confirms to me that most of us in B2B marketing view social media as tactics instead of communication.
(Too be fair to all. These comments are short and may not represent the ideal context of their intentions)
Tom Haas, of Siemens, did say that their goal was to really support a conversation between their company and its customers and I think that is the right goal to have. I also liked the thoughts from Jack Mason, of IBM, who said that IBM has launched a new program using rich media to capture a much more personal, and real side of the people that make up the their brand. This is a brilliant agenda, in my view, as we too often hide behind technology, and don’t get the individuals that make the brand out in front. Of course it may be that I’m the one who doesn’t get it. Nuff said
Lois Paul co-founded LP&P in 1986, with the aim of building an agency that did high-tech public relations a different way. Prior to founding LP&P, Lois was executive editor/features and a founding member of PC Week (now eWeek). During her tenure, she was responsible for more than 50 percent of the newspaper’s editorial content and specialized in reporting on the computer software industry. Prior to the launch of PC Week, Lois was senior editor/software at Computerworld, the leading computer weekly publication at the time.
Disclaimer: The Company I work for, “Lumension”, is a client of LP&P.
1. There has been a lot said and written in recent months that with the advent of social media there is no longer a need for Public Relations firms. What’s your take on that point of view?
There is no question that Public Relations has had to evolve over the past few years, in particular, as the marketplace has changed and social media has become a more critical communication channel to customers and the industry.The Public Relations professionals who have embraced this change are in higher demand than ever.Social media adds a new element to a marketing mix that requires careful strategy, monitoring and measurement to be truly successful and high ROI.It fits perfectly into a good Public Relations firm’s mix of programs that are customized based on each client’s market and needs.Beyond this, the opportunity afforded by social media to speak directly to customers means companies need to speak their language.A good Public Relations firm can help with this.
2. Lots of companies today are trying to figure out how to use social media tools within their business. What is your advice to those companies on how to begin?
Just this week I talked with several companies who are at this beginning point.My advice is always to determine your end game – who are you trying to reach with social media and what is your ultimate goal for the conversations you want to engage in with those people.Once you clarify your target and mission, you need to assemble your assets to determine what content you have and what you need to assemble; who will ultimately own content development, monitoring services, etc.Essentially you need to build a social media plan, just as you strategically plan all aspects of a solid communications program and measure their results.At the same time, you should spend time listening to online conversations on blogs, Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, and others to learn who is talking about you, your products, competitors and problems you’re trying to solve.This provides valuable data that can help formulate the strategy.
3. What are your thoughts on the “Social Media Press Release”? Does it replace the tried and true press release we all grew up with?
In short, there’s a place for both social and more traditional news releases.We have used the social media style releases for many of our clients, but not in all circumstances.A strategy release that really needs to document a story cannot be handled as well with this type of release, for example.In many ways, the traditional press release needs an overhaul, whether or not it is to shift it to the series of links that is essentially the format of a social media release.We often suggest news advisories or bypass releases entirely and strategically target news dissemination.Many sales forces feel that a win hasn’t happened unless there is a press release.In those companies, we suggest a shorter format for releases that are less labor intensive and will require shorter review cycles to achieve their ultimate goals.
That said, companies should use social media releases to offer atomized pieces of content that complement the information in the release itself.This allows bloggers, (increasingly) traditional media and members of a company's buying community that are publishers/ creators of information to embed in their own posts or online articles about the subject of the release.The other aspect that's more important now in the age of microsharing is to include triggers that prompt people to share the news, such as a "Tweet This" summary that is hyperlinked so someone can more easily distribute it.
The other view we have is that there is not a one-size-fits-all template that should be followed for every release. That said, the templates that are out there help to determine what people and companies should consider adding to releases.There are certain elements that should be in every release (links to company web site, Twitter summaries, straight URL's to content/channels on third party services like Flickr, YouTube, related links, calls to action with simple links to a purpose landing page for the release so it is measurable, etc.), but not every release should be in a bulleted format, nor should every release include multimedia content.
4. What type of policy issues should a company consider before embarking on a social media/blogging program? Do we now need safe zones in the company where twittering or blogging on items discussed is not allowed?
Public companies in general need to be mindful of all of the rules related to selective disclosure before they embark on a social media policy.Public or not, all companies really should establish a policy that helps everyone understand how to proceed – whether it is with regard to a company-sponsored blog or Twitter channel or a personal blog, Twitter feed or Facebook or MySpace pages.Just yesterday I talked with a company that has some strong contributors to Twitter building relationships on that channel.Their CEO wants to pull them back a tad, just to make sure they are careful about disclosing information too soon that might come out of conversations with clients, prospects or partners.Twitter is such an immediate medium that it’s key that all heavy users are well versed in corporate guidelines before they inadvertently reveal information prematurely or inappropriately.
5. The approach Johnson and Johnson took to its product tampering issues in the 80’s has long been viewed as the gold standard in crisis communication. How does this approach to crisis communications hold up in the world of web 2.0?
I think J&J’s approach, which I remember well, still stands up today.I have done many blog posts talking about how companies or even individuals would have been better served by being straightforward in the face of a crisis.It’s important to determine the facts, the key stakeholders, and the designated official spokesperson.Then it is key to be as clear and transparent as possible, using all appropriate channels.If you cannot answer a question, you should be clear about that.But you should provide as much information as you can as quickly as you can.Social media is just another channel in this type of communications approach.A corporate blog gives companies a perfect forum to disclose information in a controlled way, linking to press releases, videos, etc. that will help them communicate the facts in a clear way.Twitter is a way to push this out more broadly.When I was a journalist, I always sensed that information one of us would dig out was always bigger news that information that was revealed to us.I think that still holds in the world of Web 2.0 and social media gives companies new tools to control and self-publish that information.
I’m a member of great social media community called The CMO CLUB. The community is for senior marketing leaders to come together and share ideas, and thoughts on the issues of the day.
Pete Krainik, started the club and has done a great job at taking the club to the next level. Earlier this year Pete asked the Truman Company, an executive marketing consulting firm, to help The CMO Club develop a set of actionable insights, gathered from club members in an effort to help navigate these trying times, and build successful strategies for 2009 and beyond.
The result of this effort was “Insights from CMOs” — the collective wisdom of nine CMO Club members based on in-depth interviews with the Truman Company conducted in early 2009. I thought I would share the top 5 insights as I think its good advice in this age we are in:
1.Customer Centricity: Marketers must take responsibility in brining the voice of the customer into the organization and help the organization identify where, and how to add value to these customer relationships. I agree, but I also think this is one of the most challenging areas. With more pressure on short term revenue generation, and decreasing budgets this reality is harder to achieve, but we shouldn’t lose focus of the importance.
"It’s marketing’s job to make sure that the consumersare at the center of the process."
2.Marketing must secure a strategic role in the organization: Marketers must focus on demonstrating how they add value and ROI to the business in order to have a voice at the table. True, and depending on the organization this can be a tough one. Sometimes marketing is viewed as nothing more than the “cake & cookies” functions or “those guys that make pretty pictures”. If this is your reality, then it is imperative that you shift the discussion, and the function of marketing as the full value of marketing is not being met.
"Every time I sit down in front of the CEO or the CFO, I should act like I’m pitching an idea to venture capitalists."
3.Marketing must become the key agent of change within the organization-Marketing can do this by shedding light on the customer. If you’re successful in points 1 & 2 you will naturally be the agent of change.There are also several dimensions of change taking place that marketing must lead in as noted below.
4.Internal stakeholders are just as important as external stakeholders. This is a key insight in my view as marketing must align itself with sales, product development, service and the c-suit if it is to be a successful function. One reason why the turnover is so high in the CMO role is due to this insight.
"Spend 50% of your time educating your internal stakeholders on the value of marketing, and speak in their language."
5.Drive short term revenue but ensure the longer term view. This is especially true in this environment. Marketing must focus on driving revenue but not at the expense of keeping our eye on the long term strategy, and in supporting and enhancing our brand promise to our customers and markets.
Kogi is the latest phenomenon in LA dining. Chef, at world famous restaurant, decides to forgo glitz and glamour and create a unique fusion of Korean and Mexican food and serves up these delectable concoctions in roving catering vans all over LA.
I’m not making this up folks, and it’s the stuff that Hollywood is made of. I’m sure the food network is already doing a show on it. While I’m a foodie at heart, the real story is one of a relatively unknown (until recently) mobile catering truck that used Twitter and awesome food, to create a following, and help lubricate word of mouth in America’s 2nd largest city and now the world.
As Kogi is a mobile business, and a small one at that, it needed a way to tap into the following that it had created, and who was already talking about Kogi on Facebook, other social networking sites and blogs. Kogi’s brand director, in a recent Reuters article, stated that they decided to use Twitter as a way to communicate with their “tribe” and facilitate gathering places based on the trucks location. Kogi turned to Twitter. Today you and Kogi’s 23,000 followers can be found on Twitter at twitter.com/kogibbq.
This shows the amazing capability of utilizing a social media tool to facilitate a small business with a large following, and an excellent product. So let’s look at Kogi’s ingredients for success:
1.Great Product: Kogi obviously has a tremendous product. Social media success and for that matter any business, starts with an amazing product or service.
2.The Tribe of Kogi: Kogi’s customers wanted to talk about their experience, and in fact had became a tribe. Seth Godin writes that “a tribe is any group of people connected to each other through an idea or experience”. In this case, Kogi’s customers had become a tribe, but we’re missing a leader. When Kogi stepped in, and utilized social tools Kogi become the leader of its own tribe. A place where a brand wants to be at the end of the day.
3.Honesty: The social community in this case is honest. Kogi delivers an amazing product, people want to talk about, and others want to experience it and Kogi facilitates this. Kogi’s goal is not about selling or hyping, at least not yet, and let’s hopes it stays that way.
4.Word of Mouth: WOM is the best advertising around. This is as old, as the hills, and still true. Kogi couldn’t buy the brand awareness it has now, and is getting through the facilitation of communication across its tribe. Social Media can help any small business if the intent is to converse with the community of customers and prospects; not sales or advertising.
5.With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility: Kogi must now realize the importance of its brand experience, and promise that its customers have come to expect. Any degradation in service and experience will travel at the speed of light in Kogi’s social universe.
6.Innovation: While Kogi’s responsibility to its brand experience is now much greater it has an amazing community of people to listen to, and engage with, and in doing that develop new innovation in its business.
This story shows how small businesses can take advantage of building and tapping into their community. Today, McDonalds and Burger King do not have Twitter accounts and Domino’s only recently started one to help combat the recent wave of bad publicity. Why haven’t the brands, with all the resources in the world, tapped into the tools that help them engage with their customers? Probably because they are still strategizing, and trying to figure out the ROI of a conversation. Nuff said.
Dan Schawbel recently launched his new book Me 2.0. In it, Dan introduces the reader to the idea that in the 21st century you really need to think about building, and enhancing your personal brand via online and offline methods. Dan participated in a blog interview I did last year, and you can read that here.
One of the reasons for introducing this concept to people is that everything you do, or don’t do is indexed on the web. What’s the first thing you do when you’re looking to hire a new employee? Most people these days “Google” them. Everything that person has done, or not done, online is instantly brought forward. In this environment, with an extremely competitive job market, its time to start managing your reputation more as a brand, and not letting your name be defined by others.
Don’t get me wrong. Most of us will never truly have a brand with the equity of Oprah, or Bill Gates or Beyonce. However; we all need to start taking a more professional approach to building, and managing our online persona more like a brand, especially in a digital world.
Tom Peters first introduce the concept of personal branding in an, article called “The Brand Called You”. In it, he remarked “The real action is at the other end: the main chance is becoming a free agent in an economy of free agents, looking to have the best season you can imagine in your field, looking to do your best work and chalk up a remarkable track record, and looking to establish your own micro equivalent of the Nike swoosh. Because if you do, you'll not only reach out toward every opportunity within arm's (or laptop's) length, you'll not only make a noteworthy contribution to your team's success—you'll also put yourself in a great bargaining position for next season's free-agency market." (Fast Company, August 1997). I think we can all agree that we are in the “next season’s free agency market”, and that our personal reputation is what matters most.
While most of us think that all we have to do to build an online brand is to have a Twitter, Facebook, or Linkedin account, however we will have not done anything to build our personal brand equity with just these sign-ons. My belief is that, just as in the business world, the same is true for our personal brand in that we must build equity, and reputation. In a 2.0 world that means conversing, sharing, and participating in your relevant communities, while adding value and proving your personal brand promise. It does take work and effort to build a personal brand.
My blog is really targeted to those over 40 marketers, and to that audience I can’t stress enough the need to get engaged within relevant communities, and to start managing your personal persona offline and online more as a brand, with the goal to build equity in that brand. If you don’t, you will not be as competitive as someone who does. In a world that is increasingly outsourcing talent we all need to be cognizant of our personal brands, and manage them in a serious and astute way especially in the context of a digitally networked world.
Me 2.0 provides a framework on how to start on that endeavor, and in how to track, and build your online reputation. Me 2.0 goes a step further by bringing in the offline world through networking and relationship building that must take place in an integrated approach to building a sustainable personal brand. Dan has a great blog loaded with information that I recommend everyone read. Nuff said.
Recently I have heard several of my professional colleagues across small and large companies, but all over 40, commenting that they didn’t get twitter, thought it was stupid, and didn’t have time for it. I have heard these same musings from work colleagues, and other marketing professionals. In fact I think it’s a badge of honor for some us to say that we just don’t get the social media thing and all its hype, and that we like to do it old school.
I can understand these feelings. Most of us are managing departments, have huge pressures, and we were brought up in a different marketing age, operating under different rules. However; we must begin to understand the paradigm shift taking place in how we communicate, and how we need to market going forward. I won’t go into a long diatribe of all the changes, but I do want to focus on twitter as I believe it to be one of the more significant tools, that we over 40 marketers really need to understand. We need to understand, why our customers are using it, and how it impacts our brand experience and marketing strategy.
To start things off twitter is a communications platform or, as some would call it, a micro blogging platform with over 4M users. It allows its users to send short text messages, about 140 characters in length, on anything they wish. These text messages are called “tweets”. If you like someone and their message you can choose to follow them. The more people that follow you, then the more people you ultimately communicate your messages to.
Twitter can sometimes get a bad rap as most people new to twitter start off by tweeting about their day, as in “I just ate breakfast”. However there are many communities that exist within twitter. For example, I follow people related to social media, marketing, demand generation, and b2b marketing. These people tweet on points of view, and even share linkable information within their tweets. So every time these folks tweet, I get an alert, and I can see what they are saying or simply look at the feeds later in the day. Today, twitter has now become my #1 source of news across my professional peer group.
Why should marketers care about twitter? There are many reasons, but here a few that may get you thinking:
1.Twitter enables your brand to have voice. I started a branded twitter feed about 5 months ago. You can check out it here at http://twitter.com/_Lumension . I did this, as I wanted to communicate on key news and events across Lumension and in the IT Security industry. We now communicate on Lumension news, blog posts and our own commentary on industry events. We have over 250 followers of IT professionals that share a passion on all things information security. We have also learned a few things within the industry that enabled us to respond ahead of the curve. There is debate about whether brands should tweet or if individuals from your company should tweet. My answer is yes. Just start doing it, and you will learn and find what works best for you.
2.Twitter enables your brand to be conversational. Now that we are “tweeting”, people can converse with us. This is where we really want to expand our use of twitter, in getting more conversational with our community. We’re not there yet, but we know that’s where things will get exciting for us. Imagine real-time communication with your brand and customers, partners, prospects, analysts, press etc. Here’s an example of how a major brand like Whole Foods is using twitter to connect with their base.
Here are some of the major brands found on twitter today:
3.Twitter enables you to listen in on your Brand. In my view this is the single most powerful feature of twitter. In the past we had to conduct research to see what people we’re thinking or saying about our brands. Today, twitter now gives us a real-time snapshot into what people are saying about our brands, products, and their perspectives on the experience they have when dealing with us. This is incredibly powerful to marketers. Imagine seeing and knowing what people are saying, and their feelings, complaints, all in near real-time. Then imagine being able to converse with those people in real-time. Starting to get it now? Here’s a video from Gary Vaynerchuk on this and I recommend you watch it.
4.Twitter enables you to extend your brand experience. Imagine being able to see that someone has a question about your product and immediately extending an offer to help. Or more importantly, let’s say you see a complaint. Instead of letting it linger you reach out, and offer additional support or an explanation. No other platform out there can scale this type of brand engagement for so little cost. Twitter is free for now.
In another announcement twitter, Federated Media, and Microsoft announced a Brand sponsored twitter aggregation platform called ExecTweet. Basically ExecTweet aggregates all major CEO tweets into one place, with some community features, while Microsoft sponsors it. Now imagine the opportunity to be the sole brand sponsoring aggregated tweets from key people on topics within your industry.
So how do you get started? A Few recommendations:
1.Get Started. I’m sure that several companies are still trying to figure out who owns social media, what the strategy is (or rather what new power point deck looks best), and how they should get started, let alone deal with the cultural shift on how to deal with open and honest feedback about your company. The point is to get started. Start a twitter feed today. I don’t pretend to be some expert on all this, and we are evolving our thinking everyday in how to best use social media, but at least we are evolving and getting more enlightened. Get started now no matter what your company’s size is.
2.Start Listening: As I mentioned this is the single most powerful feature of twitter. It’s easy to do and I’ll show you Ed’s budget way to aggregate tweets about your company or any topic into one place. First go to http://search.twitter.com/. Enter the brands you want to follow (your own, products, competitors, or other topics). When you get the results then click on the rss “feed for this inquiry”. You will be taken to the rss page where you can then click on “Subscribe to this feed”.
Try it. You will be amazed and see the real power behind this platform.
3.Get Educated. Educate yourself on the changing rules of marketing, pr, and technology. Here are a couple of great twitter feeds that I would recommend you get started with:
Yes, we as marketing leaders are in a new environment where the rules we once knew are changing rapidly, but the fundamentals are still the same. The worst thing we can do is not to educate ourselves, and understand the impact of the changing marketing paradigm. Start opening up today, and I guarantee you will begin to see things in a new light, and with a different perspective. Feel free to share your thoughts, comments and ideas with me on twitter at http://twitter.com/cedwardbrice
First let me start off by saying that I love Arizona. I love the Phoenix metropolitan area and after living in the NY/NJ area I’m thankful everyday I’m here. Where else can you put the top down on your drive home, and watch the sunset in March?
However the city of Phoenix has an identity crisis. It has had an identity crisis ever since people left the central core of cities all over America in the 50's to move to the suburbs. While several cities have had an amazing resurgence in their downtown areas of late, Phoenix has failed to materialize a strong identity with an emotional perception or experience associated with it.
In attempts to rebuild downtown and draw back its audience downtown Phoenix has built a basketball arena, and a baseball stadium. Then came “Copper Square”. Copper Square was a campaign to brand the 90 block district in downtown Phoenix with an identity. This “branding” was an attempt to help revitalize the urban core of Phoenix, as the stadium building didn’t really entice people to stay after the game was over, let alone move into the area.
Copper Square didn’t work in my view because there was no Copper Square. It would have been too logical to carve up some parks and make a real “Copper Square”. No it was a mythical place in a lonely prospector's mind. Now we have coming to downtown, in yet more attempts to revitalize the area, Arizona State University, and the new Light Rail system.
Will those work? I doubt it, but to ensure success the business consortium (Downtown Phoenix Partnership) came up with the bright idea to launch yet another branding effort for the 90 block area. They partnered with local company SHR Perceptual Management to come up with a new brand strategy. Here’s what the brand gurus came up with:
Phoenix. Arizona’s Urban Heart
Logo: A Big Green X
Wow! Doesn’t that just want to make you get up and come to Phoenix? If you lose your way, make sure to find the big green x so you know you’re in the right place. I mean who wouldn’t want to go to the Urban Heart of Arizona. You don’t really come here for the natural, scenic and cultural wonders of the state, do you? No, you come here for the Arizona Diamond Backs, The Phoenix Suns, and the unfilled high-rise condo towers in downtown right?
What Should Phoenix Do
The challenge Phoenix has is that its downtown lacks character. No one goes into downtown except to see a game or work and then everyone leaves to surrounding locales like Scottsdale, Tempe, and Glendale. Here's a video of downtown shot at 8pm that captures the challenge:
For a brand with a city to work there must be some type of emotional connection or experience associated with the town, and this is where I think the latest attempt at branding Phoenix goes awry. Downtown Phoenix is pretty boring when you get right down to it. So if the brand brief objectives were about attracting locals and tourists to downtown we need to have some reason to attract them downtown in the first place. Here are some ideas that might have a more sustainable effect.
1.Get More Grocery Stores: My personal belief is that if downtown Phoenix wants to have a vibrant and self sustaining city center life then they need to start with grocery stores. That’s right grocery stores. For a vibrant center you need people first, and to have people you need grocery stores. Go to downtown Phoenix and you will be hard pressed to find decent grocery stores within walking distance of the unfilled condo towers.
2.Stand For Something: Now assuming that you have grocery stores what does Phoenix want to be known for? Scottsdale has Old Town, Tempe has Mill Ave and University, Glendale now has City Centre. The Urban Heart? That doesn’t sound very appealing, does it? How does this stack up with “What Happens In Vegas. Stays in Vegas.”, which, by the way, is a very bold brand position. Or Austin’s “The Live Music Capital of The World”. I remember when it used to be Seattle. Of course there is the ever omnipresent ‘The Big Apple”. So what could Phoenix stand or be known for? Here’s a few free ideas from yours truly:
a.Phoenix. The Heart of Arizona. This State revolves around Phoenix and it's better than Urban Heart of Arizona.
b.Phoenix Rising: Admit that you’re not where you want to be and then develop a campaign around that. Build a campaign around people and feature the unique individuals and experiences that downtown has to offer.
c.Phoenix. The West’s Original City. Okay just a thought but you get where I’m going.
3.Create a Center of Community: This is more of a development concept. Copper Square never really worked as there never was a Copper Square. X won’t work as there is no X or spot to go to and congregate within a vibrant downtown community. Why not get bold and develop a “Central Park” in downtown, and then promote unique festivals, conferences, etc. The city needs something to be really proud of, that no other city has. We don’t have a waterfront as other cities have, so we need something else.
4.Get Serious About Branding Phoenix and Not Just 90 Blocks. A brand is more than just a slogan or a logo. It’s a promise, an experience that you expect to receive. Currently this “brand” effort is lead by an independent group of business people in downtown and is not really focused on the city itself, but rather a 90 block area. This is the first problem. How can branding a 90 block area be successful when the perception of the city itself is lacking? The city needs to take ownership of this effort and craft a long term brand and marketing stragey around Phoenix. What experience do you want a local to have when they come to downtown? What experience do you want a tourist to have when they visit? I bet this vision has never been developed, and as a result I guarantee that this slogan and logo won’t last two years. Wasting $160K (the cost quoted with developing this new slogan and logo if you can believe that) on a tactical approach focused on a slogan and logo is not the answer. A real marketing and brand campaign needs to be invested in, year in and year out, if you want to change perceptions and beliefs.
So I hope Phoenix and the Mayor learn from this feeble attempt again to reposition the 90 blocks within Phoenix. If Phoenix is going to be successful in repositioning itself it must first define a vision, and then offer a different and unique experience to visitors to the downtown area. This will be the only sustainable brand strategy in the long run. Nuff said.
I came across a blog post by Matthew E. May this week that really intrigued me. As a marketer I have a keen sense of understanding in how hard it is, or can be, to make the complex simple, and that in many ways is our primary job.
In this age of challenging business times there is no doubt that we will or have already been pulled into multiple meetings to discuss our customer experience and what we can do to make it better. Usually I find these discussions to gravitate towards what more we can do or how much price can be cut or what products can be packaged together(sorry I work with a lot of sales guys).
In Matthew’s blog post he calls out a strategy utilized by Apple. They have a stragey that they call the “Stop Doing Strategy”. In this strategy instead of asking what more you can add, or bundle you would ask some very different questions:
·What would our customers love for us to eliminate, reduce, or stop adding and doing in our current business model and engagement?
·What is it that our competitors would struggle with if we were to stop doing several things?
I found that when thinking about my business and customers and prospects in this context that my eyes opened to a much larger landscape potential of what we could do if we could stop doing things.
So maybe the secret to a great customer experience is less and not more. Nuff Said.
