Customer World

Open Social - The platform for customer aggregation

I have often wondered( when I receive mails from different folks inviting me to be a member of several social networking sites they were members of)oops, hear comes one more social network membership!  I was always left overwhelmed. Where is the time for me to become a member of one more social network and interact. Being an active user of linked-in, I have always felt, what if I had a way to get everyone of my contacts across all social networks into linked-in, be it professional and personal.

I think Open Social from Google just does that. Open Social provides a platform for aggregation of Social networks into the social network site of your choice. It's Google's solution of a connector like app for social networks. There are some lovely business application demos from Linked-in & salesforce.com there. I am sure there will a lot more applications, more than just business applications, which will help me get connected to my contacts and connections in Linked-in, wherever they are in any social network.

At the start of the year, I had read 2007 will be the year of Widgets and it's coming alive with this innovation from Google. I am sure there will be a lot more application development around this code but this is according to me is just the beginning. I believe this is going to have some profund impact on how data, information & interests about consumers will get shared and also how businesses will get a lot more collaborative in the future.

Take a look at the launch video:

Engagement and experience are your new 30-second spots

Don Shultz had done a review of the book "Profitable Marketing Communications: A Guide to Marketing Return on Investment," - A topic that's gaining attention among CEOs today. He picks-up 8 tips - 8 investor tips to marketing communications- from the book:

The eight tips are:

• Concentrate on outcomes, not outputs
• Forget consumers, target customers
• Manage your communication investment portfolio
• Differentiate in any way you can
• Engagement and experience as the new 30-second ads
• Apply a "focus investing" approach
• Establish a measurement culture
• Leverage your employee capital 

I quite liked two tips here.

1. The one on engagement and experience as the new 30 sec ads. This requires a lot of processes and breakdown of silos in the organization. But, it is a critical factor, if marketing has to make business impact.
2. Establish a measurement culture is also a great tip as it is a culture often missing among marketing fraternity. It's always the output that's the focus. Once the output is complete, one tends to forget to continously measure the business impact across all marketing investments not just TV ads only.

Accountable Mass Media

Well, don't these words - Accountable & Mass media present an irony of sorts to you? 

Yes, surely this has been the way things have been happening for last 3-4 decades. Mass marketing has never been accountable. It's never been addressable 'one household at a time' too. Either, it was not possible or it was too expensive to do it. Technology is surely breaking down these myths and introducing possibilities like never before. Take a look at how this happening or expected to unfold in the near future:

"Since May, Google has been selling ads on the 125 national satellite channels distributed by EchoStar Communications’ DISH Network. Cable networks routinely provide distributors with a few minutes each hour for local commercials; Google is responsible for a portion of EchoStar’s local time and creates an online auction market for it.

Google then analyzes the data from set-top boxes to determine exactly which ads were watched or skipped, with a second-by-second breakdown. With Nielsen’s help, Google will begin to take that information and overlay sampling-based ratings, adding a rich demographic layer to the raw numbers that EchoStar provides."

The reports from Google can pinpoint the moment when viewers most commonly changed the channel, potentially helping marketers shape the creative work on their commercials. For instance, if viewers are turning the channel after seven seconds, the agency might revisit the opening of the ad.

“We see a future in which, when you sit down in front of your television set, you will see ads that are more relevant for you,” said Mr. Steib of Google. “When we make advertisements more relevant to viewers, inventory becomes more valuable and the return on investment is much higher for advertisers.”

Marketing is content - Part II

Continuing with my thinking on this topic, NY Times has interesting article that further reinforces this thought:

Behind the shift is a fundamental change in Nike’s view of the role of advertising. No longer are ads primarily meant to grab a person’s attention while they’re trying to do something else — like reading an article. Nike executives say that much of the company’s future advertising spending will take the form of services for consumers, like workout advice, online communities and local sports competitions.

“We want to find a way to enhance the experience and services, rather than looking for a way to interrupt people from getting to where they want to go,” said Stefan Olander, global director for brand connections at Nike. “How can we provide a service that the consumer goes, ‘Wow, you really made this easier for me’?”

Traditionally, the “service” provided by advertising was cheaper media content for consumers. But the services of the future may be virtual workout coaches, map applications for cellphones, health advice and matchmaking services.

I think this kind of content fused with enriched data( on what customers use as a service, which will arise out this content) will drive the future of marketing. 

Marketing is content

I just love this thought by John Jantsch on how marketing today is all about content.  I can't agree with him more. Marketing is no more about messages, no more about offers, no more pushy about sales messages. It's transforming into a world of content. That's really what consumers want to read, enjoy and absorb.

While he has focussed on small business and their needs, I think there is a bigger thought for even large companies.

If you have a product, find out what content can you create around it?

He talks about the concept of creating mixed media content and how businesses need to adapt to provide such content to their prospects. He writes" Now when a surfer goes to a search engine looking for content they may find local directory results, images and video mixed into the organic results. If you aren't producing these types of content you may find it tougher to compete."

To me again, this is just not restricted to the web. It's applicable to every form of media - TV, Radio, DM, E-mail, telemarketing etc.

Next time , if you don't have content around your product, don't start marketing!!

Managing the multi-channel paradox in retail banking

Frost & Sullivan has released a report on managing the multi-channel challenges that retail banking is faced with today. According to the report, multi-channel banking has increased the potential for diminshed sales opportunities despite the expanded number of distribution channels!

The report says:

"...the number of bank channels and touch points have proliferated and so has the complexity of the service delivery which has added to the overall cost structure. Rather than lowering the overhead, the greater number of touch points actually prompted customers to increase their transactions - resulting in higher overall costs...."

Some of the best practice recommended are:

1. Meet and exceed the needs of the high value customers - Find ways to creatively service the needs of these customers.
2. Provide "consistent" quality of multi-channel  experience - Don't create a fragmented feel of interactions across multiple-channels.Create an organization-wide customer experience strategy.
3. Integrate across channels.
4. Provide action-oriented intelligence - Integrated data can provide proactive customer interaction measures.
5. Employ Event-based selling

I believe the key point here is getting different silos of retail banks to work together with a common customer experience strategy across mutiple product offerings, agreed metrics around different channels( for acquisition, retention, cross-sell and customer service issues) and drawing-up proper handshake processes between channels when customers interact with banks.

Google Phone and push advertising - Is it still old world marketing?

Business Week has an article on Google Phone and its impact on targeted push-based advertising:

Imagine your cellphone as a mini marketing machine. As you head into your car after dinner, a text alert pops onto the screen of your handset announcing the 9 p.m. lineup at a nearby cineplex. You choose the Jodi Foster flick The Brave One and a promo video for the next Warner Bros.

That kind of 24/7 advertising engagement--on a phone, no less--may sound like a nightmare. But what if you could determine the kinds of products you get pitched? Or, when your flight gets canceled in a faraway airport, text messages pop up for the best hotel deals in town? No random insurance ads or airline deals for trips to places you never visit. Best of all: Watch or read the custom ads, and your phone minutes are free.

Google and advertisers drool over the growth potential in wireless. The more than 2 1/2 billion phones in use worldwide exceed the number of PCs and TVs combined. On Sept. 17, Google announced a Web program aimed at advertisers who have created sites for display on cell phones and other handheld devices. Like its online ad network, Google's AdSense for Mobile delivers ads relevant to the advertiser's mobile audience. "The sheer volume of users across the globe makes mobile the next channel for information," says Dilip Venkatachari, director of product management for Google's mobile team.

Doc Searls has a fantastic point of view on how this is just getting no where and is becoming extremely customer unfriendly. Take a look at his view on this:

Here’s my nirvana scenario,...:

No damn advertising at all. I don’t care how warm and fuzzy Google is, I don’t want to be tracked like an animal and “targeted” with anything, least of all guesswork about what I want, no matter how educated that guesswork is. Tools on my phone that let me tell sellers what I want, and on my terms – and not just on theirs. Whether that’s a latte two exits up the highway, next restaurant that serves seared ahi, or where I can buy an original metal slinky. I want to be able to notify the market of my shopping or buying intentions without revealing who I am, unless it’s on mutually agreed-upon terms.

Even when we study customer wants and needs, our perspective is anchored on the sell side. We ask “Which company (or product, or service) will serve them best?”, rather than “How can we as customers best express our wants and needs so that any seller can fill them?” The ironic distance between these two perspectives is deep and immense.

I agree with Doc totally, after sometime only advertising funded business models(around which there is so much hype) sound a bit far fetched to me. It assumes that customers are wanting every product or service free or subsidized in exchange for ' targeted'  advertising messages!!! Also, the other huge assumption that I am willing to give up my privacy and personal information for all of this, also sounds quite impossible to believe and not just there waiting to happen in the immediate future.

It needs a new model keeping the customer in the centre of all this rather than sellers!

Future of Marketing

Here's a nice quote from Todd Watson of IBM:

"Trackable, slicable, diceable, inferenceable, correlative, targeted digital advertising and communication based on explicit consumer expressions (search queries, online viewing, online shopping behaviors, etc.)  is the future of marketing. It's not just about the eyeballs anymore.  And increasingly, it's going to be all about the data"

Nokia - From selling phones to selling services

Nokia has announced the launch of digital music service.

NY Times reports the Nokia Music Store, to open this year, will let users download songs from the Internet to their computers or directly to mobile phones over wireless networks, which Apple’s recently released iPhone cannot do.

Nokia said it would price music downloads at 1 euro for each song, or 10 euros for each album, in the same price range as many existing mobile music services. In addition, customers would have to pay for the use of phone networks for the download, though many operators are starting to offer monthly flat-fee packages.

What does it take to succeed as a marketing professional in the future?

If you want succeed as a marketing professional today, there are a new set of skill sets that you need to learn and practice. Ad Age has a fantastic article on this. While it is focussed on the CMOs, it is relevant to every marketing professional at any level .Here's the topline:

Here are the top five things you need to do now:

• Immerse yourself in direct marketing, CRM and database/analytics, so you can manage your personal transition from a mass marketer to a one-to-one marketer.
• Immerse yourself in the internet and understand best practices in website design, e-mail marketing and e-commerce (online sales and lead generation), both within your industry sector and in other sectors.
• Learn everything about new media, including search-engine marketing and optimization tools, because these are becoming drivers of future integrated-marketing and media efforts.
• Do a deep dive in mobile marketing -- the iPhone and other mobile devices are the future communication hubs for receiving just-in-time communications and incentives -- at the point of sale. The mobile phone is also rapidly becoming a payment system where funds can be automatically transferred at the point of sale.
• Hire people at the VP levels and below with different skill sets -- for example, more engineers with Ph.D.s -- people who understand the numbers, who focus on ROI. In other words, surround yourself with VPs who have the relevant skills in database/analytics, online marketing/new media or e-commerce that you may be lacking. Then learn from them.

Remember, the future is now.

What's the next big thing on the mobile?

Kate Lips is a social media strategist. Here's her take on what's the next big thing on the mobile?

"Well the network operators and handset manufactures losing a little control of course.The previous model was that you had to create an app which would work on a handful of phones, then work really hard to broaden your appeal. Then your market was narrowed anyway by the fact that even if people had compatible handsets you were asking them to download, install and run software, often not knowing their (data transfer) cost implications. It severely crippled the market reach of mobile services. No longer, if you can just make a web app!

....I believe Apple is going to fast forward this with iPhone. Talk about reinventing the phone; they also took a pretty good look at the mobile industry and seem set to reinvent some of that too. By making it possible for any developer to create applications (because they are web baed), they are offering a level playing field. It’s like a breath of fresh air.

Roomware is about a bunch of developers getting together to build an open source server that enables other independent developers to quickly build mobile apps. “Software running in a defined physical space” - using SMS, and also RFID, and potentially using other connectivity.

Agency of the future

"The agency of the future will be half a software company and half an entertainment company because that's the new landscape." according to Ajaz Ahmed, chairman and co-founder of independent digital marketing agency AKQA.

Micro Marketing

Keith Pardy, Sr.Vice President, Strategic Marketing, Nokia says  in an interview to McKinsey’s Trond Riiber Kundsen says:

• "Our experience is that consumers hate confusion, and maintaining relationships is much more important than flashy, big-burst marketing."
• "It’s not about pushing out messages any more. You have to initiate interesting conversations and build meaningful relationships with consumers."
• “First we observe, then we design.” We have teams of anthropologists, ethnographers, psychologists, and consumer insight experts observing and understanding people’s behaviour.

How to build customer interaction

Maria Mandel' s Breakthrough Summit keynote address provides directions for how marketers need to build interaction with consumers:

Become a better storyteller
Consumers are more likely to pay attention to campaigns based on solid and entertaining storylines. As an example, Mandel referenced the Jerry Seinfeld-Superman-American Express campaign, which was widely successfully because of its integration of online and offline promotional tools and its amusing resurrection of one of America's favorite comic book action heroes. Another example she presented was the "Brawny Academy" campaign and its tie-in to reality TV, as well as its success at integrating Brawny paper towels into the storyline.

Create interaction
Instead of trying to draw the consumer to a campaign, engage the existing community where they are in an interactive experience. For this point, Mandel used Ogilvy's IBM Codestation campaign as an example. Based on research that a high number of people that engage in Second Life are software developers, Ogilvy integrated the campaign into the Second Life environment to tap into that a consumer market most likely to respond to an IBM product.

Get them talking
The success rate for viral campaigns can skyrocket a brand to success like never before. Mandel used the "Shave Everywhere" campaign as an example. She also used a Dove spot, Evolution, that had originally been intended for a self esteem workshop that ended up on YouTube and proved more successful than Ogilvy's Super Bowl ad. The Dove spot also spawned numerous spoof videos, proving that a great campaign can experience extended brand recognition when it spurs interaction with consumers.

Leveraging Mobile Marketing @ Mobile Monday, Mumbai

I spoke at Mobile Monday in Mumbai yesterday and shared my thoughts on how brands could leverage the power of mobile marketing. With over 2 billion mobile phones worldwide and 200 million mobile subscribers in India( and growing!), mobile as a marketing medium is reaching a tipping point. Marketers, publishers, aggregators, application providers, mobile operators and agencies have to unlearn a lot of old marketing principles and adopt new marketing rules for mobile marketing to gain widespread acceptance.