Target Marketing

If you can believe it, I still have this thing called a telephone on my desk. No, really. You would be surprised how much my clients appreciate when I use it to engage them, which is more frequently now for the reasons Chris mentions above. I’m turning to social media to connect with all of you smart people, but my trusty-old big-button phone for the revenue-driving relationship stuff. I’m sharing some of the questions I asked yesterday in conversation with one of our consumer products clients. Other good questions to ask?

1. What is your company’s outlook for 2009?
2. In a word, what does the year ahead hold?
3. How do you think this economy will affect you vs. your competition?
4. What are you hearing from your retail and professional channels, suppliers, employees?
5. Did you agree with our conclusions regarding the product’s Buzz/blog report we emailed to you the other day?
5. What did you think of the strategic recommendation/brief we sent you about re-aligning your messaging with the changes we’re seeing in consumer spending?
6. Are we still on for lunch next week?

If you can believe it, I still have this thing called a telephone on my desk. No, really. You would be surprised how much my clients appreciate when I use it to engage them, which is more frequently now for the reasons Chris mentions above. I’m turning to social media to connect with all of you smart people, but my trusty-old big-button phone for the revenue-driving relationship stuff. I’m sharing some of the questions I asked yesterday in conversation with one of our consumer products clients. Other good questions to ask?

1. What is your company’s outlook for 2009?
2. In a word, what does the year ahead hold?
3. How do you think this economy will affect you vs. your competition?
4. What are you hearing from your retail and professional channels, suppliers, employees?
5. Did you agree with our conclusions regarding the product’s Buzz/blog report we emailed to you the other day?
5. What did you think of the strategic recommendation/brief we sent you about re-aligning your messaging with the changes we’re seeing in consumer spending?
6. Are we still on for lunch next week?

I agree, although I hope people don’t call it relationship marketing 2.0. The whole 2.0 craze needs to end. But I do agree with the philosophy. Basically it’s proactive customer service is how I would describe it. Instead of waiting for users with issues to come to you, go to where your users may be, and flat out ask how they can be of assistance. It’s the same in retail stores where workers come to you to see if you need help, instead of you finding them.

Craig
http://www.budgetpulse.com

Targets may help you extend your reach but I agree that taking care of the people already in your “tribe” is key to building a sustainabile business. This is a time when you find out who your real “friends” are. It is also a time to show your clients just how much you care about them. It will be well worth the investment.

I am new to the social media world, but can already see how powerful the tools, paradigms and practices are in bringing relationship back into the forefront. Yet I continue to be challenged by just how to create the kind of bonds that last a lifetime in a virtual world. Still a foreign concept to me.

Agree totally, but we are the proverbial choir aren’t we…those of us responding read your blog, follow you on Twitter….how do we convince the rest of the world?

Agree totally, but we are the proverbial choir aren’t we…those of us responding read your blog, follow you on Twitter….how do we convince the rest of the world?

It’s time people started treating people like people instead of wallets.

It’s time people started thinking about their business in terms of people and not in terms of the next big cash in.

It’s time people started listening and stopped shouting.

Great post!

It’s time people started treating people like people instead of wallets.

It’s time people started thinking about their business in terms of people and not in terms of the next big cash in.

It’s time people started listening and stopped shouting.

Great post!

@Craig – start calling it 2.1 to get ahead of the mob (he he he)

I’m based in Melbourne, we are currently enjoying the Spring Racing Carnival with colleagues in Events reporting that spending on Corporate Marquees is down. In part due to the economic times, and in part because spending $1000 per head (+) to have someone send their P.A. and her new boyfriend does not seem to make sense (no disrespect to the P.A. or Prince Charming).

Maybe they will start to focus on relationship building by value adding instead of thinly veiled bribes, and, treat this as a process not an event. Oh, sounds a lot like Social Media.

I am a recent convert to ‘new world order’ of social media and have embraced it wholeheartedly in my business, the wine industry. What I’ve discovered it that this medium is really a return to an older environment, when ‘dialogue’ was the key to learning about wine. That era disappeared as the industry became more self service & pundits preaching became the norm. With Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc, we have returned to actually talking again, albeit using technology as the conduit. It is a great thing.

How you communicate who you are and what you do is as important for personal relationships as it is for business.

It is the experience that one anticipates to receive that inspires further inquiry whether it is boy meets girl or girl meets purse.

The projected experience is the catalyst for the beginning of the relationship. The actual experience (customer service/product quality) is what determines buyers acceptance or buyers remorse (a recommendation or a complaint)

The creation of media allows for the experience to be initiated by the seller. The more the media (the experience) speaks to or connects with the buyer the better the potential relationship.

A mindless pitch to the girl at the bar usually leads to a one nighter. A well thought out introduction might lead to a long lasting relationship.

Of course the guy can blow it if he doesn’t empathize, participate and share after the honeymoon is over as with any business with their customer.

We need to move away from simple pitch advertising and short term conversion tactics. It is all about the relationship which starts from the first “impression” and into the future as long as attention is paid to whom you value.

The tools offered through Social Media interaction are just what the doctored ordered for businesses large and small. Those who use the tools with “relationships” in mind hold the key.

I can’t agree with Chris more.

How you communicate who you are and what you do is as important for personal relationships as it is for business.

It is the experience that one anticipates to receive that inspires further inquiry whether it is boy meets girl or girl meets purse.

The projected experience is the catalyst for the beginning of the relationship. The actual experience (customer service/product quality) is what determines buyers acceptance or buyers remorse (a recommendation or a complaint)

The creation of media allows for the experience to be initiated by the seller. The more the media (the experience) speaks to or connects with the buyer the better the potential relationship.

A mindless pitch to the girl at the bar usually leads to a one nighter. A well thought out introduction might lead to a long lasting relationship.

Of course the guy can blow it if he doesn’t empathize, participate and share after the honeymoon is over as with any business with their customer.

We need to move away from simple pitch advertising and short term conversion tactics. It is all about the relationship which starts from the first “impression” and into the future as long as attention is paid to whom you value.

The tools offered through Social Media interaction are just what the doctored ordered for businesses large and small. Those who use the tools with “relationships” in mind hold the key.

I can’t agree with Chris more.

And we all nod, and say yes absolutely, relationships are what it’s about.

But with customer trust and loyalty fragile at best, how many of us are really following through? I keep finding that we all engage in rousing applause for the “build relationships” mantra, but clearly some of us go right back to doing things the old way.

So I’m with KT – how do those of us that are doing our best to live and breathe this every day carry that torch to others? How do we bridge the divide of talk vs. action, put meaning behind the mantra? Talk is cheap. Losing trust is brutally expensive.

This post hits home on the purpose of target marketing which sometimes gets lost. Building a successful business is about building relationships. Target marketing can help because it allows companies to focus on specific people or companies and develop relationships with them. since it’s impossible to be an expertfor everyone or at everything, narrowing your focus and building relationships with few is much more effective than marketing to the masses.

John P. Kreiss
MorganSullivan, Inc.
http://www.morgansullivan.com

This post hits home on the purpose of target marketing which sometimes gets lost. Building a successful business is about building relationships. Target marketing can help because it allows companies to focus on specific people or companies and develop relationships with them. since it’s impossible to be an expertfor everyone or at everything, narrowing your focus and building relationships with few is much more effective than marketing to the masses.

John P. Kreiss
MorganSullivan, Inc.
http://www.morgansullivan.com

*Amber Naslund Nails it!!*

No offense folks,
but the comments this time are the same old same old!

Oh don’t whine! Tough love is still love!

No one even realizes what a critical post Chris wrote here.
If he wasn’t so busy and exhausted, it would have included more of his hallmark wake-up lines and questions.

Yes your BMW was still in the driveway this morning,
and you can afford a new Blackberry.
You voted for Obama and despite the massive evidence
contradicting all the campaign promises, (and the instant justification by the voices), you’re going to play ostrich,
and *hope* he’s Santa, and *hope* it just automatically gets better.
But it’s going to get worse instead.
I’ve never been a doomsayer, but if you don’t:

Listen to the people you’re engaged with, you’re done.
I said ‘people’, not prospects, not ‘peeps’
not ‘clients’.
They’re on the same Titanic as you.
Under the same pressure as you.
If you’re not listening, and helping them into a lifeboat
you’re done.
We are in a trust economy.
All the people I described a reputation monitoring tool to
who laughed at the necessity, are now emailing frantically to sign up.
Why?
Because they can’t afford any question of their word right now.
You think feel too burned out to really care about your peoples’ needs? Well to them their needs have to be addressed more efficiently than ever.
You must hear them, think, care like you’re on the same team (cause you are!),
or someone else will eat your lunch.
But they’ll also have your contact next year when things start to rebound.
It is actually easier to do a better job, right now,
than to think you’re spread too thin and slide.
Because they can’t let you be on autopilot.

Remember to see each transactional step in your relationships as though you are in their shoes.

See every interaction from your vendor, and customers point of view. If they feel you don’t ‘get it’, you WON’T!

*Amber Naslund Nails it!!*

No offense folks,
but the comments this time are the same old same old!

Oh don’t whine! Tough love is still love!

No one even realizes what a critical post Chris wrote here.
If he wasn’t so busy and exhausted, it would have included more of his hallmark wake-up lines and questions.

Yes your BMW was still in the driveway this morning,
and you can afford a new Blackberry.
You voted for Obama and despite the massive evidence
contradicting all the campaign promises, (and the instant justification by the voices), you’re going to play ostrich,
and *hope* he’s Santa, and *hope* it just automatically gets better.
But it’s going to get worse instead.
I’ve never been a doomsayer, but if you don’t:

Listen to the people you’re engaged with, you’re done.
I said ‘people’, not prospects, not ‘peeps’
not ‘clients’.
They’re on the same Titanic as you.
Under the same pressure as you.
If you’re not listening, and helping them into a lifeboat
you’re done.
We are in a trust economy.
All the people I described a reputation monitoring tool to
who laughed at the necessity, are now emailing frantically to sign up.
Why?
Because they can’t afford any question of their word right now.
You think feel too burned out to really care about your peoples’ needs? Well to them their needs have to be addressed more efficiently than ever.
You must hear them, think, care like you’re on the same team (cause you are!),
or someone else will eat your lunch.
But they’ll also have your contact next year when things start to rebound.
It is actually easier to do a better job, right now,
than to think you’re spread too thin and slide.
Because they can’t let you be on autopilot.

Remember to see each transactional step in your relationships as though you are in their shoes.

See every interaction from your vendor, and customers point of view. If they feel you don’t ‘get it’, you WON’T!

Hasn’t business always been about customer relationships? Or am I just a difficult consumer.

I have had friends suggest that my expectations of companies are too high, but now that times are tough, we’ll see what kind of expectations bubble up.

When consumerism is at its peak, people blindly accept the target marketing, but when the wallets are suddenly empty, consumers take off the blinders and remember who really gave them what they wanted and catered to their needs.

Am I missing something or was not the title of this post Target “Marketing”.

How can you build a relationship before you have met your target. Many of the comments on this thread are discussing after the relationship has started which is certainly one of the most important things a business should focus on but how do you effectively invite and “target” your audience to kick off the relationship seems to me to be more of the discussion.

One thing I will say about Social Media and the conversations I have been following for the last year in the ether is the concern and almost distrust of the word “advertising”.

You want to talk about the impending economic slowdown and the effect it will have on small and large business alike then we need to have a conversation about advertising, discovery, awareness, participation, enrollment, education and delivery of a product, a service or an event.

It is advertising and it is attached to products and services that need to be sold. And hell yes businesses need to wake up and be more productive, accountable and more willing to develop long lasting relationships.

But if they can’t get them to the door then nothing else matters.

Create better experiences, educate, enroll and invite, utilize the tools that are readily available to empower an audience to discover you and get to work.

Sounds like advertising to me. Just more organic and much more effective.

Am I missing something or was not the title of this post Target “Marketing”.

How can you build a relationship before you have met your target. Many of the comments on this thread are discussing after the relationship has started which is certainly one of the most important things a business should focus on but how do you effectively invite and “target” your audience to kick off the relationship seems to me to be more of the discussion.

One thing I will say about Social Media and the conversations I have been following for the last year in the ether is the concern and almost distrust of the word “advertising”.

You want to talk about the impending economic slowdown and the effect it will have on small and large business alike then we need to have a conversation about advertising, discovery, awareness, participation, enrollment, education and delivery of a product, a service or an event.

It is advertising and it is attached to products and services that need to be sold. And hell yes businesses need to wake up and be more productive, accountable and more willing to develop long lasting relationships.

But if they can’t get them to the door then nothing else matters.

Create better experiences, educate, enroll and invite, utilize the tools that are readily available to empower an audience to discover you and get to work.

Sounds like advertising to me. Just more organic and much more effective.

Chris:
I understand your point related to direct marketing but I use this tool often for products that are better marketed this way. I do not feel this is a zero/ one situation. Either your are involved in social media or not. It seems to me that what you want to achieve is the two way conversation. It is like a teacher once told me. You want to sell, you have to be belly to belly with someone each day. The same occurs with social media only that this time is virtual belly to belly. Anyway, I believe the response to those marketing adds is what is most important. What does your customer receive in terms of service, confidence, knowledge, committment. Reaching him or her through social media or targeted marketing is just the beginning. You can have the personnal touch both ways. Is just a matter of using one or the other marketing tools or both.
Thanks,
Giselle Martínez

I think the goal of selling product is for people to develop a connection to that product so they become repeat buyers. If I really like a product and feel connected to its brand, it is a no brainer when I am standing at the store. I think in order for companies to do this in the current economy is to create a personality for themselves through social media channels. Once people grasp the companies personality, they will become more connected to the brand, and therefore become the item they grab for.

I think the goal of selling product is for people to develop a connection to that product so they become repeat buyers. If I really like a product and feel connected to its brand, it is a no brainer when I am standing at the store. I think in order for companies to do this in the current economy is to create a personality for themselves through social media channels. Once people grasp the companies personality, they will become more connected to the brand, and therefore become the item they grab for.