Silver Fern Marketing

The Villain – the big brand plays an unwitting role

As I mentioned in my previous post 'Is your business a Storymaker?' it is important to remember that word of mouth can take the form of a story.

Whilst a short narrative will sometimes accompany a positive tale of service brilliance, you can rest assured that a negative experience of your business will generally be wrapped into a delicious storyline ready to entertain friends and family over the following months if not years!

To illustrate this point a friend came to stay this weekend and she was telling the story of the theft of her handbag. A horrible experience her bag was stolen, late at night and with it her money, wallet, keys, diary and phone. She was fine but obviously shaken at the time.

Here starts the tale, summarised but you can still get a feel for the plot;

Act 1. A good old taxi driver who would not accept money for taking her to her father’s house when he heard what had happened.

Act 2. The police (who are cracking down on theft in the area) apprehend the criminal and recover her money, phone and card that night.

Act 3. A stranger finds her bag and precious personal items and returns it.

Act 4. Here is the moment for the big Customer focussed brand to make it’s entrance. My friend called her mobile phone company to notify them of the theft and to arrange a replacement phone. All went well until she asked them what she should do when she gets her original mobile back from the police (as it was being treated as evidence and wouldn’t be available for some time). At which point they refuse to issue a phone and rudely explain “you know where the phone is, I know where the phone Miss X is so it clearly isn’t missing and we won’t replace it.”

Now companies need to have policies, but sometimes for a moment of truth of this type surely common sense, and not rudeness, should prevail. They made no attempt to deal with her temporary need for a phone, nor resolve her complaint, and because of this her story will continue to have a sting in the tail for this brand on each telling.

Is your business a Storymaker?

Word of mouth, recommendation and references. Each business I’ve worked with has, quite rightly, held their level of Customer advocacy as a key objective. But take this a little further and think about what you actually want to be recommended for.

For many businesses the majority of recommendations happen in the first month. This is understandable when someone is admiring the builders handy-work on their neighbours new extension, however is a little surprising when a Customer has not yet experienced the service they are recommending, for example in the financial services industry.

In the most part these Customers are recommending a price point, a rate or competitive premium. Don’t get me wrong these are still great leads, probably achieved at a low cost, but you may find these “recommended” customers behave very differently to those attracted by your real advocates.

So value these leads but don’t just see these volumes and stop looking for ways to create real “talk about factors” for your business. If you pride yourself on your businesses service, expertise or design skills, keep striving for ways to deliver these - consistently. Aim to create a memory for a Customer, a story that they will continue to tell for far longer than when their paperwork is filed in the kitchen drawer.

Customer Marketing From The Inside Out - Introduction

My name is Caroline Pearce, I have worked in marketing since the large volume mailing (and hair) days of the late eighties and have loved every moment of it.

I have worked with some great brands, some brilliant people and gained many useful consumer insights along the way.

Customer Marketing is my speciality and through this blog will try to share both my experience and enthusiasm.

I have always approached Customer Marketing from the inside out – not just focussing on developing great marketing communications - but also by creating consumer focus across a whole business. By maintaining this focus within your service, your products and your people you build a fantastic springboard for marketing, making that campaign jump further than you could ever have imagined.

Some of my Posts will be handy hints based on my business experiences and some based on my tales as a consumer.

Finally I would like to introduce my three rules for great Customer Marketing – obvious but so often forgotten.

1. Retention - most people will stay if you don’t give them a reason to leave
2. Cross-selling - earn the right to provide more – don’t just take it and hope for the best
3. Advocacy – give people a memory, not just a voucher, and let them share this experience through word of mouth marketing (WOMM)