We’re big on helping organizations (from the top down) walk their talk. If you’ve worked with MCorp Consulting or have been reading this newsletter for any length of time, you know how we feel about walking the talk. This month, it’s clear we’re not alone -- our Twitter readers have been drinking the Kool-Aid as well, pushing “walk the talk” tweets (how to, why to and reasons why some don’t) to the top of the August Twitter hit parade.
As budget planning hits its stride, we suspect the “soft side of marketing” is taking a beating, as line items are scoured and justifications made. And while there is a real place for emotion in this business, it must be considered, and delivered, through a lens of business objectives such as acquisition, retention and increased revenues.
As summer comes to a close, it’s time for a little “tough love” as we look at our organizations from the bottom up AND the top down to see where, how and why we should close those gaps between “reality” and “the ideal.” Have fun!
In the meantime, keep the tweets and forwards coming, and take a look at favorites from the past month. For a change, mostly articles and commentary this time (vs. the lengthy dissertations that seem to garner interest most months!). Best,
Michael Hinshaw Managing Director MCorp Consulting
How do we define a popular Tweet?
In brief, this is (and will continue to be) an evolutionary process. For now, we’re looking at a combination of:
Our baseline (0) is a Tweet that has reached only my approximately 3000 followers, and opened (read) only an average number of times.
It seems to be working pretty well so far......
MCorp Consulting is a research, brand and strategy consultancy that maps and improves the touchpoints between organizations and their customers, delivering better brand, marketing and customer experience.
Insights and Influence in 140 Characters or Less... Reviewing which Tweets are most popular in any given month is yet another example of how social media has the potential to drive insights…and communication. Certainly it helps us -- as it can help most organizations -- understand current interests and trends, and the “temperature” of our market.
As far as finding ways to understand and integrate brand and customer experience into day-to-day operations? The temperature looks warm. And we see it getting warmer, as you all look for practical ways to make integration happen. Maybe that’s what accounts for the sense of, “just get to work and don’t be daft” that seems to permeate the stories behind August’s Tweets. Let’s see if it continues…
1.) Your #brand isn't necessarily behind the wheel, but it is in control of the map customers use to navigate. http://ow.ly/2qgul Part driving lesson part personality profiling, this is a great read whether you want to “type” yourself, your colleagues, or your boss. (Your CFO as a “naïve”? Author Denise Yohn says it’s likely.) More than just a party trick, these patterns can help you work more effectively with your team…and your clients. (Tweet Score: 87) 2.) Your customers seem to have a different opinion of their experience than you do. Solution? Design, Deliver, Develop. http://ow.ly/2hWdr You’ve heard the saying, “Lead, follow or get out of the way”? Well this Harvard Management Update promotes the idea of leading and following. Be led by -- and follow -- your customers’ voices, and then lead the charge by designing the right offers and experiences to keep them satisfied and loyal. (Tweet Score: 54) 3.) The one thing your customers shouldn't need is customer service. http://ow.ly/2mLHn Customer service as a standalone department is still the way business is done in most organizations. But I like the position of this piece (maybe because it’s how we like to frame client engagements?). That is: push the idea that client service -- read: customer experience -- is the responsibility of every person in every department at every level. It’s not that “providing service to your customers” goes away, but the silo mentality of a single group providing service in a vacuum goes away. (Tweet Score: 47) 4.) Clarity, Consistency, Constancy http://ow.ly/2n8op Get the message refined (with the 3-C’s noted above), drill it into -- and throughout -- your organization, and then get your brand champions to go forth and conquer. A little message-centric in this age of diffuse and diverse channels, but as we learn new techniques it’s good to remember and replay the old lessons, too. (Tweet Score: 46) 5.) When bad things happen, companies need the right strategy for talking their way out of a mess... http://ow.ly/2n8Ev Crisis-management communications have played a starring role in the media lately, starting with Toyota’s runaway woes and morphing into the Gulf’s chemical ooze. Whether you think BP is a villain or just the one to get caught by a deep-sea disaster, no one doubts their PR department has been burning the midnight, morning, and noon err, oil. Here’s a great roadmap for your brand if you need to manage that unexpected crisis: deny, vilify, rebut, apologize, inoculate…or a combination therein. Let the tap-dancing commence! (Tweet Score: 45)
6.) Are you responsible for your brand's poor customer experience? http://ow.ly/2bixD "Today I'm going to make it harder for my people to get things done."…now that’s what I’d call a rallying cry! A great case study and a 12-step mantra complete this piece exhorting each of us to take responsibility for our actions, ask questions, and communicate our goals before diving into a new initiative that innocently spreads chaos among the rank and file. (And if you’re in “the rank and file”? You’ll gain some insights and love this example.) (Tweet Score: 42)
7.) I say brand; you say ___. If you responded with logo or tagline, you're wrong. http://ow.ly/2rkFJ “Wrong” may be a little strong; let’s say “shortsighted.” I love a good definition, and this one’s a doozy: “brand is a claim of distinction supported by evidence.” Nice, right? This whole list is a good reminder: about the difficult-to-pinpoint but real $ value of a brand; aligning business models and brand strategies to support one another; ensuring touchpoints and brand are working towards the same ends; that a strategy drives a brand and not the other way around… (Tweet Score: 39)
8.) A culture [that values customer experience] cannot be wished into existence. http://ow.ly/2pgbf Old news: brands and values developed by a marketing department or CEO do not a culture make. New take: what if you’re not sure your organization is what it purports to be? Or, what if you know it’s not, and you want proof? Take the Indiana Jones test…not the whip-cracking part, the archeological dig part. If your physical offices, training manuals and other internal collateral had to tell the whole story, without the benefit of a narrator or customer-facing materials talking an archeologist through the dig, what conclusions would they draw? (Tweet Score: 39)
9.) Reading: "Real consumers don’t have ‘brand conversations’. They use search." http://ow.ly/2rXhU van Wyck throws down the gauntlet right out of the gate. To paraphrase his buying philosophy: if we’re talking? Something’s gone wrong. Read this. I have to admit…that’s the kind of buyer I am most of the time. And in the B2B arena where most of our clients live, we think that it’s truer than ever. Yes, we often need rational support for an emotional buying decision. But are we really having a “conversation” about it? For more of my take on the “Lovemarks” discussion, check out the number 10 “top tweet” for last month, revisiting my December 2009 blog post entitled “The New Language of Brand Experience: Can we (Pillow) Talk?” (Tweet Score: 36)
10.) It seems that love is in the air again, and I'd like to revisit this post: http://ow.ly/2qQus Reading Post #9 reminded me I’d thrown off my warm and fuzzy mantle last year, revealing my discomfort with (and/or disbelief of) the ever evocative (provocative?) levels of “brand intimacy” some authors-slash-brand consultants have been pushing. So thanks again for forwarding your ideas, comments and opinion; we’ll end this month’s issue with a reminder not to get so carried away trying to establish emotional connections that the art and science of delivering an ideal customer experience gets lost in the shuffle. After all, it’s not a love triangle people, it’s a marriage. (Tweet Score: 35)
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