Marketing since 2011

In 2011, we covered  Grant Leboff’s “Sticky Marketing”. A client wanted to reinvent their marketing approach. A good book to get people talking.  “Sticky marketing” describes how companies will only attract customers by providing value and becoming ‘sticky’.

The funnel model is broken

It is a book, that explains how the traditional funnel model of marketing is broken. That in today’s experience-based economy, you need to engage with your customers by adding value to whatever they do.

Creating value

You need to think in the language of the problems you solve for your customers, and not the benefits and features of what you sell. You need to add value each time you are in contact with them. You should NOT just try to overtly sell. By engaging with people before they need to buy, you will be the first supplier they seek when they are ready to buy. To truly engage with your customers, your priority must be value creation.

Stop shouting, have a conversation

If you want to win the battle for the customer’s attention, you need to stop shouting and start a conversation. We live in a new world where people have become empowered. Consumers can contact companies directly. They can have a dialogue with anyone about your brand, without your company being able to control the conversation.

Social CRM

 Which is why they invented social CRM in 2015. A few tips from “Delivering effective social customer service”:

• Channels multiply, they don’t die (expect a telex)
• Simple is best. Focus on one channel first and become very good at it.
• Use FAQs
• Watch Twitter
• Happy staff, happy customers
• Consider creating a community
• It is when not if
• Sentiment analysis is only 50% accurate
• Empathy is everything

Return on engagement

“Sticky marketing” concludes that a new set of rules is required for effective communications in a world transformed by new technology. It is no longer ‘return on investment’ that should concern you, but ‘return on engagement.’

ESP instead of USP

 You should stop your obsession with unique sales propositions (USPs), and focus on your emotional selling propositions (ESPs). Or what Bernadette Jiwa, in 2014, in her book “Difference” calls the emotional point of difference. It’s not about your products and services. It’s about the customer event. Every purchase is triggered by an event. If you can understand the event, you can generate content around that context to better engage with your customers. Which why they invented circular marketing.

ZMOT, FMOT, SMOT, UMOT

• Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT): Introduced by Google, this the moment when people are searching for what they want, which Google has a great interest in, given that online search is such a common way for them to do so.
• First Moment of Truth (FMOT): This concept was introduced by P&G and is the moment when people see your product and form first impressions about it.
• Second Moment of Truth (SMOT): This is actually more than a moment; it’s the collection of moments when people feel, think, see, hear, touch, smell, and (sometimes) taste as they experience your product. It’s also how your company supports them in their efforts throughout the relationship.
• Ultimate Moment of Truth (UMOT): This is the instant when a customer creates content based on an experience with your product or service and publishes online, in apps, on YouTube, Amazon, and so on, in their social communities and networks for others to find

Experience design

Brian Solis goes even further in “X: The Experience When Business Meets Design“. The question he asks is why companies still tolerate mediocrity at the expense of the experience, even though it’s been clearly demonstrated that consumers will pay a premium for a better experience? In his view, shared experiences will become the new search.

Marketing

Sticky marketing, social CRM, emotional points of difference, circular marketing and experience design. We have come a long way since 2011. Or have we?