CaliberPulse
Caliber Group has launched CaliberPulse.com to help businesses stay abreast of the latest consumer behaviors, opinions and marketing trends to survive and thrive. Our agency excels at building brands and relationships. We’re well versed in the use of both traditional and social media to educate, influence or persuade audiences. To deliver an effective message, we know you have to understand your clients/customers: what they want and what they need.
What can you expect to find on CaliberPulse.com?
- National, regional and local consumer behavior trends and opinions.
- Insider marketing, public relations and Web marketing trends and tips.
You are viewing our Customer Service posts.
Last Night, a Tweet Saved My Life
As social media becomes more popular in practically every demographic group, so is its ability to communicate directly with companies and agencies. This trend extends to reaching out through platforms such as Twitter for help, whether to properly fix a customer service issue or to relieve a true emergency. The American Red Cross recently conducted a survey that concluded about one in five adults in the United States would use social media to contact emergency responders in a disaster. The immediacy of social media enables it to spread information about an ongoing emergency as people want or need help. If 911 systems are inundated with calls or phone lines are down, it’s reasonable to expect use of available communication tools and expect a prompt response. Thus, tweeting and posting can be a matter of life and death.
Recalibrate Your Competition – Now
Do you know who your competitors are? Would your customers provide a similar response if asked the same question about you? Have the fluctuations in the economic climate changed the competitive situation for your company? Theodore Levitt’s landmark article “Marketing Myopia,” first published in 1960 in the Harvard Business Review, implores us to think of our competitive set in terms of the need we are filling or the problem we are solving for our customers, as opposed to an orientation towards the products and services we are offering. One of Levitt’s examples — rail companies that incorrectly considered themselves as being in the railroad industry rather than in the transportation industry— demonstrates the shortsightedness that made railroads ill-equipped to handle challenges from the airline and automotive sectors. It is an ideal time to start asking questions to ensure that your company doesn’t succumb to a similar fate. Consumer decision-making seems to be shifting from wants and toward needs.
Repositioning Your Business for the New Normal
My business partner and I attended an Agency Management Roundtable (AMR) meeting in early November with some pretty savvy marketing and public relations professionals who own small agencies across the country. These entrepreneurs meet semi-annually to share best practices designed to improve the performance of their businesses. After two days of swapping new ideas and advice about their agencies and doing business in a recession, it became clear that most of these agency owners face many of the same business challenges I do. Our discussion also reaffirmed that we need to plan for what likely will be the new “normal” way of doing business, even long after an economic recovery. Here are a few of what we marketing types call the BGOs, or “Blinding, Glaring, Obvious” takeaways from my AMR experience. Many of these BGOs are not new concepts. But all are worth revisiting as we adjust our business plans for 2010:
How Do Your Customers Really Feel About You?
It's pretty common knowledge in the business industry that building on existing customer relationships is more cost effective than trying to attract new customers altogether. But before you start trying to upsell your existing customer base, it might be a good idea to find out how they really feel about your business. Such information could help you come up with a winning strategy that entices them to buy more of your services. However, asking a customer at the counter what they think of your business is kinda like asking your significant other if he or she thinks you've gained weight. Some couples have the kind of open and honest relationships that allow them to successfully navigate such a sensitive topic. Other couples might squirm and feel awkward.
Business Down? Give Away Money!
I've experienced two great marketing campaigns in the last two days - both resulting in money for me! First up, my favorite local lunch destination when I need fast, comfort food: eegee's. They're giving away coupon cards for every $5 donation customers make. The coupon card gives you half off your lunch purchase once a month for a whole year. Not a bad exchange rate since I paid around $7 for my lunch yesterday. And in two months - my coupon card will have paid for itself. And the icing on the cake? The $5 donation benefits the CareGiver Training Institute, a nonprofit that trains individuals to be nursing assistants and caregivers. So not only do I get a once-a-month lunch discount, I get to feel good for helping pay for someone's education. The second impressive marketing campaign arrived on my Blackberry via e-mail yesterday - Starbucks credited $10 to my Starbucks Gold Card for being a valued customer. Now granted, I probably spend more than that in a week at Starbucks and should really have stock given how much I've single-handedly held up this company.
Don’t Think Customer Service Counts?
Desperate times call for desperate measures. And good customer service (see our earlier post from account director Dana Robbins-Murray) is one of the easiest ways to market your business. These customers went to great lengths to track down the help they should have received on a first phone call to the business. http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/personal/05/28/lw.customer.service/index.html