Recently I was asked what I consider the most important aspect of a good marketing campaign. A simple enough question at face value – but really a very complex debate beneath the surface. I wanted to give a clean, precise answer but one does not really exist. It could be argued that the most complete answer to this question is my favorite answer – “It depends”. However, in this situation I wanted to be more specific than that. So, after a few minutes of thought I said that I thought the most important thing in any marketing (whether it be a complete marketing campaign, a single advertisement, or a direct marketing message) is good messaging.
Why do I consider good messaging the most important aspect in marketing?
Marketing is about persuasion. And it is about communication. The goal of every marketer is to convince the audience to either change – or continue – a certain behavior.
Buy this product. Eat at this restaurant. Shop here again. Read this newspaper. Watch this television channel. Drive this kind of car. Wear that brand. Go to this salon. Take this drug. Aspire to look like this. Vacation in this country. Visit this museum. Drink this brand of bottled water. Register to vote. Get this credit card. Save your money at this bank. Look more beautiful. Attend this school. Report crimes to the police. Serve your country. Go to this church. Read this book. Believe this philosophy. Want this object. Shop at this store. Spend your money here.
People all over the world receive many different – and often conflicting marketing messages every day. The goal of the marketer is to create a message (or advertisement) that will cause his or her audience to do what he or she wants (change – or maintain – a certain behavior). In other words, the marketer's goal is to create a message that is memorable and stands out in the noise. So, he or she must create a good message, one that resinates with the audience. That brings us to this question –
What makes a marketing message (or advertisement) good?
Answer? The right words and / or pictures. Sounds so simple, but in practice is extremely difficult. The right words form a unique message and communicate the idea clearly without any confusion or possible misinterpretation. Finding the right words and tying them together to create the right phrase is challenging – but it is essential for excellence in marketing. The right pictures create a spark in the mind of the viewer. Together good words and pictures create lasting memories.
October 29, 2009
October 1, 2009
Customer Service via Twitter
In most cases customer service is the most important part of a business. This has always been true, but now with the internet it is even more so. Satisfied, happy customers are not only likely to be repeat customers, but they may also make positive comments about and support a brand both through word of mouth and online. On the other hand, unhappy customers will spread the message about their discontent. The internet has empowered customers to share stories and experience of poor customer service easily and quickly. That said, customer service is very challenging and few organizations get it right.
A quick web search for “bad customer service reputation” brings up lots of contenders for the worst offenders list – airlines, telephone companies, cable companies, grocery store chains – in the first few pages of results. There are lots and lots of blogs sharing horror stories or rants about bad experiences in great detail. However, a search on the term “good customer service reputation” brings up many articles analyzing why good customer service is important, how to articles for improving customer service, and consultants promising to have the magic key, but few mentions of corporate brands or industries. And when I read these articles I noticed that they generally contained more lofty ideas than concrete details. I thought about this a bit and deduced it down to this:
I want to share a story (with concrete details) about an unique way to provide good customer service from a company with a not so good reputation. Last Wednesday evening my husband and I tuned our cable to the Travel Channel to see what was on and instead were confronted with a message:
I had called Comcast customer service in the past and the experience had almost always been frustrating. But, more recently I had heard about the @ComcastCares team's efforts to improve the company's customer service reputation using Twitter. (Here is an article about the company's use of social media to help customers – BusinessWeek: Comcast's Twitter Man.) So, I decided to give it a try. Before going to be Thursday evening I posted this tweet from one of my Twitter accounts (@Jessica_Travels):
So, what can I learn from this? I think it is a great example of a customer service team that really wants to turn around their company's reputation. Rather than trying to change the whole system, this team has decided to started communicating with customers and helping solve customer's problems via social media. While this may not replace or negate the need for improvement of the traditional contact channels for customer service (like telephone or in person), it is another way to help customers and companies that really care are starting to catch on.
An interesting side effect of solving people's problems on Twitter comes from the public nature of the forum. Except for the direct messages I sent to @ComcastBill containing my account number, most of our communication was in public. This allows other customers and potential customers to see how employees communicate with and help customers. And, most importantly, the public can see that my problem was resolved and I thanked @ComcastBill for his help:
So, thank you @ComcastCares and @ComcastBill! If I need customer service from Comcast again I will definitely contact you via Twitter!
A quick web search for “bad customer service reputation” brings up lots of contenders for the worst offenders list – airlines, telephone companies, cable companies, grocery store chains – in the first few pages of results. There are lots and lots of blogs sharing horror stories or rants about bad experiences in great detail. However, a search on the term “good customer service reputation” brings up many articles analyzing why good customer service is important, how to articles for improving customer service, and consultants promising to have the magic key, but few mentions of corporate brands or industries. And when I read these articles I noticed that they generally contained more lofty ideas than concrete details. I thought about this a bit and deduced it down to this:
- good customer service reputation search – lots of advice, few examples
- bad customer service reputation search – lots of examples, little explanation
I want to share a story (with concrete details) about an unique way to provide good customer service from a company with a not so good reputation. Last Wednesday evening my husband and I tuned our cable to the Travel Channel to see what was on and instead were confronted with a message:
- ONE MOMENT PLEASE
This channel should be available shortly.
I had called Comcast customer service in the past and the experience had almost always been frustrating. But, more recently I had heard about the @ComcastCares team's efforts to improve the company's customer service reputation using Twitter. (Here is an article about the company's use of social media to help customers – BusinessWeek: Comcast's Twitter Man.) So, I decided to give it a try. Before going to be Thursday evening I posted this tweet from one of my Twitter accounts (@Jessica_Travels):
- @ComcastCares - The Travel Channel has been out at my house (94107 area) for 2 days - Can you please check why? Thanks!
- @jessica_travels dm me acct phone number [For non-tweeters, dm is short for direct message, a private messaging feature on Twitter.]
So, what can I learn from this? I think it is a great example of a customer service team that really wants to turn around their company's reputation. Rather than trying to change the whole system, this team has decided to started communicating with customers and helping solve customer's problems via social media. While this may not replace or negate the need for improvement of the traditional contact channels for customer service (like telephone or in person), it is another way to help customers and companies that really care are starting to catch on.
An interesting side effect of solving people's problems on Twitter comes from the public nature of the forum. Except for the direct messages I sent to @ComcastBill containing my account number, most of our communication was in public. This allows other customers and potential customers to see how employees communicate with and help customers. And, most importantly, the public can see that my problem was resolved and I thanked @ComcastBill for his help:
- @ComcastBill -Yes! It's much better now! Thank you!!!!
- @jessica_travels woohoo
- @ComcastBill - Thank you so much! You guys do a great job here!
- @jessica_travels we try :-)
So, thank you @ComcastCares and @ComcastBill! If I need customer service from Comcast again I will definitely contact you via Twitter!
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