Touchpoint Insights, June 2010: Brand Authenticity, Customer Engagement

Insights and Influence in 140 Characters or Less…

So what are we thinking about in the early months of summer? Shopping, from the sounds of it.

Though this issue seems to have a retail bent, we know it’s not really about ice cream or shelf space or getting a sweater in the right size. It’s about brand authenticity, the art of building loyalty while saying no, and integrating customer engagement into your organization.

It’s the fact that marketing and branding isn’t trickery or smoke and mirrors, it’s actually got to start from a genuine point of truth and commitment to work well.

1.) Boudin may be the height of sensory marketing. Have you ever been able to walk by without going in? http://ow.ly/20wmM
The scent of freshly baked bread driving you to seek lunch. A touch of cashmere enticing you to wrap yourself in a new sweater. The sound of birdsong, reminding you that it’s been too long since your last camping trip. Appealing to all the senses is a neglected marketing tactic, and tough with virtual sales. But there’s no denying that banks serving freshly brewed coffee to invoke the smells of home and the Coke website opening with the sound of a fizzing beverage are going after more than our conscious bits. How long til the technological breakthrough of smell-o-web? (Tweet Score: 61)

2.) Brand managers - how has social media changed your role? You've likely gained quite a variety of hats. http://ow.ly/1VcMD
“Now, a customer service issue is a branding issue.” Indeed it is. How has your organization accommodated the immediacy of online chatter? Whether you’ve added people to your brand management team, or added tasks to your current staff, few businesses can afford to ignore what’s being said about – and asked of – them online. (Tweet Score: 59)

3.) Love it when #brands get the big picture! http://ow.ly/1Wgx6
Down with tyranny! Hooray for the little guy! Uber-organic Whole Foods Market in the role of corporate bad-guy? Now that’s a switch. But let’s call it a benevolent dictatorship, where a small startup had the tough choice of expanded shelf-space and large-scale growth, versus sticking to its values. A tough spot for any growing company to be in. (Tweet Score: 55)

4.) Can brand equity be purchased? http://ow.ly/20wl0
Extra! Extra! “Handi Wrap” available to the highest bidder! Paine Webber up for grabs. Don’t have the time or energy to build up your own brand? If you’re in home plastics, financial products or a host of other industries, maybe you can pick a brand off the shelf. (Tweet Score: 53)

5.) You've lost loyal customers. It hurts. Don't resort to desperate tactics that will cheapen your #brand. http://ow.ly/1WgbR
Before the oil disaster in the gulf, another British powerhouse was facing tough public perception: remember the recent British Airways strikes? After years and billions invested in fostering an image of efficiency and warmth, a year of strikes, dust-ups and the inability to open a terminal have grounded their brand. They’re neither having their cake nor eating it, as they veer between promos to fill seats (competing with RyanAir and other cheapies) and trying to resurrect a brand of luxury, well dominated by the likes of Singapore and Qantas. (Tweet Score: 51)

6.) Saying "No." to a customer is inevitable at some point. The key is in knowing what to say after that. http://ow.ly/1WhJI
You’re out of the special of the day but you’ve sent over a free crème brulée? The portfolio is tanking but you’ve set up monthly on-site visits to update me on ever-changing strategies? We only think we want perfection when we’re not being properly heard and acknowledged. The art of “no but…” may just be the art of loyalty building. (Tweet Score: 47)

7.) Customer Experience Data and the Bright Line Between Success and Failure. http://ow.ly/20wkC
Think customer experience is all about touchie-feelie stuff? Think again. Best-in-Class (in terms of gathering and using CEX data) have 40 percent higher performance in marketing-generated leads in their sales forecast pipeline, and their marketing teams produce 35 times more marketing-generated leads resulting in closed business. You can feel results like that all the way to the bank. (Tweet Score: 46)

8.) Rebranding takes a lot of strategy, and mistakes (big ones) happen more often than you think. http://ow.ly/20wja
It wouldn’t be the Twitter newsletter without a top-ten list, so here we go: Top 10 mistakes marketers make when rebranding. Though I’m sure there’s not one item on this list that OUR readers would ever be guilty of, maybe reading it will remind you of everything you’re doing right. (Tweet Score: 45)

9.) Reading: “Engagement Moves Up the Chief Marketing Officer Agenda” http://ow.ly/20wpM
Now that you’re feeling buoyed up and superior, it’s time to get back to the tough stuff. Customer Engagement: how do you define it, what do you want to do with/about it, how are you paying for it, and how is it paying you back? The only absolute of this study is that it’s important and most of those surveyed aren’t sure what to do about it. Yet. A great read. (Tweet Score: 42)

10.) Is the outward expression of your brand authentically aligned with the inward reality of what your company stands for? http://ow.ly/20wrD
Faking brand authenticity…by far my favorite concept of the month. And one that, I’m sad to say, is being tried every day by countless companies. But it can’t be faked (on a large scale at least) for long. Tom’s of Maine? Folded into a large corporation but still natural. Ben & Jerry’s? Still committed to being socially responsible (if only within its small segment of its larger conglomerate). What about the rest of us? Find something to make your own. Make sure it’s real, embrace it, own it. And hopefully, like Harley Davidson, you’ll get famous for it. (Take note, Whole Foods. Do you want to be known as the store that brought organic to middle America, or as the squeezer of small
startups?) (Tweet Score: 41)