Marketing with Technology and More

Sealed for Your Protection

I am in Columbia Missouri this week for an exciting occasion.  My daughter is graduating from The University of Missouri (I’m one proud father).  Anyway, the trip necessitated a stay in a local hotel.  Having visited her numerous times, we knew what the area had to offer, and opted to try a brand new Hilton Garden Inn that had just opened on the outskirts of town. 

By today’s road warrior travel standards, it was pretty nice.  Free Internet, breakfast, coffee in the room, soap, shampoo, an alarm clock.  But the alarm clock is where it got oddly strange.  At about 10:30 PM, when my wife and I were ready to turn in, I looked at the alarm clock and it said 5:20AM.  So I looked at the clock for the “set time” function and could not find it.  So I called my daughter over, the new college graduate (figuring she would be pretty smart) and she could not figure it out either.  It was easy to set the alarm, but there did not seem to be a way to set the time.  In frustration, I called the front desk.

I simply said, “could you tell me how to set the time on the alarm clock in my room?”  His response was, “you can’t, it is sealed for your protection.”  He told me he would be happy to come up with the tools required to reset the time if I wanted or, he could arrange for a wake-up call.  I told him that this was pretty ridiculous.  I think he somewhat agreed, and had grown tired of telling clients that they could not set their own alarm clocks.

What am I being protected from?  My guess is the hotel is hoping no one will steal an alarm clock they can’t set (although the time has to be off in order for someone to figure that out, so a thief probably would not realize this until after they had stolen it and taken it home).  Sometimes we do things in business that are designed to serve our own best interest (not the customer’s) and then try to disguise it with some lame explanation that does nothing but frustrate a user or consumer even more.  Put as much control in the hands of the customer as you can (especially when it comes to setting their own alarm clock).

Marketing's Philosopher

When I was out at TED this year I ran into Seth Godin.  I wish I had more time to spend with him as I think he is a marketing genius.  He's often referred to as a guru.  I think that is the wrong moniker.  I think he is really a marketing philosopher.  Sometimes he makes simple statements that boil things down to their essential nature.  Today he posted the following:

"Persistence isn't using the same tactics over and over. That's just annoying.

Persistence is having the same goal over and over."

If more salespeople and marketers paid attention to this advice, the world would definitely be much more enjoyable (and less annoying).

More on Great Customer Service from ProFlowers

If you read my earlier post about customer service at ProFlowers, and the great way they handled it when they goofed on one of my orders, there is an update.  Today, I received the following:

The Art of Fresher Flowers' is not just a motto, it's our mission. That's why we want to take this opportunity to offer our most sincere apologies that the bouquet you sent did not meet your standards - or ours. Our goal is to ensure every last bud, leaf, and stem is delivered just-picked-this-moment fresh, and while mistakes will occur with such a fragile and perishable product, we very much regret that we failed to live up to your expectations.

We hope you'll give us a second chance. To make your next purchase with us even better, we'd like to give you 20% off your next ProFlowers order*.

As you know, all of the bouquets at ProFlowers are delivered direct from the fields to guarantee freshness, which is why we offer a refund or replacement, no questions asked, if you are not completely happy. We are able to offer our unique 7-Day Freshness Guarantee as a result of our comprehensive three-point Quality Assurance Program, including:

Careful screening of our growers to ensure the quality of their flowers meets our uncompromising standards, Thorough inspection of our flowers to confirm each one meets strict criteria for appearance, quality, size, freshness, and vase life,
Continuous research to find innovations in flower foods, flower heredity, environmental acceptance, packaging and shipping processes, and other areas,
We put the same care into our flowers and plants as you do in selecting them for friends and family. And, with your 20% discount, why wait? You can browse our current selection of fresh flowers and plants, including seasonal favorites, by clicking here.

Or, save your 20% discount for a special event or holiday - it's your discount to use anytime in the next month, so be sure to save this link!

Please accept our sincere apologies for your unsatisfactory experience; we look forward to serving you again. And, remember, we're always just a click or call away.

There is nothing better than a company who stands behind what they sell, and deliver when they fall short.

Last week when I was at TED, I noticed all of the flowers were provided by ProFlowers, and they were breathtaking. 

 

YouTube Marketing Power

TED had one last minute addition to the speakers list.  A young fellow by the name of Johnny Lee.  Lee is a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University brilliant young technologist, who on his own, without any funding figured out that there is more power in a WiiRemote than simply helping your backhand in a video game.  Lee presented two ideas he developed using the WiiRemote.  The first allows a user with a computer, LCD projector, remote and white-board to turn their regular cheap white-board into a digital capture white board.  He also showed how it can be set up to do heard tracking.  Both of these ideas are explained in the video clips below. 

What is significant is two fold.  First he has definitely developed some cool interactive technology.  But more importantly is the fact that his idea has spread far and wide through the power of YouTube.  A total of 3.9 million people (more viewers than many network television shows) have downloaded the video on head tracking.  Another 1.2 million have downloaded the white board video.  If any marketer has ever doubted the power of a viral message, this should eliminate any doubt.

What I love about the age of the web, is that an old adage has become a truth.  Build a great product and the world will beat a path to your door.  Just ask Johnny.

Order Takers and Realtors - Seth says Quit!

Everyone in marketing knows that Seth Godin is the father or permission marketing.  His post today takes his discussion of permission one step further.  He was speaking to a group of Realtors.  Knowing Realtor’s, I’m sure he really got there attention when he told them to “quit now.”  He’s right on the money however.  His point is that a massive swath of the Realtor world (and other worlds too) are nothing more than order takers who pass out business cards with their picture on them and wait for the phone to ring.

It is interesting when you look at markets how few Realtors ever stand out beyond the standard Real Estate magazine advert, or open house sign.  I’ve vacationed often in Maui, where Realtors are as abundant as tourists.  It is difficult for anyone to stand out above the fray, yet over the past couple of years, there is a pair of Realtors there that have caught my attention because of their outstanding use of digital marketing. 

Tom Muldoon and Sean Crowley are like everyone else on the island trying to sell a little piece of Paradise to the visitors to the 50th state.  However, they have become the property experts in an area know as Wailea.  Instead of just sending out listing, they produce full-color, digital reports with detailed market statistics, area information and resale information.  They have a blog that talka about more than how great they are with new listings.

A friend of mine owns a condo on the island, and when they decided to put it on the market, they selected Tom and Sean.  They have created a fantastic web site for the property, and are using 37Signal’s Base Camp to communicate with the owner.  Tom and Sean are definitely not Realtors that are going to be impacted by a downturn in real-estate sales like others in the market.  All they need is a SubscriberMail newsletter, and their marketing will be perfect.

Going back to Seth for a moment, he points to Daily Candy as a great model to follow if you are looking to “talk about what matters” to your audience.  See my posting about Daily Candy’s CEO Pete Sheinbaum at the EEC on how they do this.

We Can't Always Be Right

Everyone makes mistakes, it is how you handle them that is important.  One company I dealt with today did a really stellar job.  You can be the best marketer in the world, but how your company handles a problem or mistake delivers more marketing clout than anything you and the world’s best agency could put together.

The company is ProFlowers.  I started dealing with them after I received some flowers sent to me by my friend and business colleague Zane Safrit at Conference Calls Unlimited.  The flowers were so nice and well delivered that I asked him about them.  He sang the praises of their support and quality.  So I gave them a try, and have been pleased with their work. 

Last week I sent some flowers to a colleague as a thank you for something.  They were scheduled to arrive on the 19th.  Today I received an email from the company that stated:

We're writing to let you know that, due to quality control issues, the Star Struck Beauty you ordered will not be arriving on the date you requested and will instead arrive on 2/20/2008.
         
We are terribly sorry for this change. This shouldn't have happened, but it did and we take full responsibility.
               
Please let us make this right for you. Call us today at 1-800-ProFlowers (800-776-3569) or email us at wecare@proflowers.com and let us know what we can do. We will do everything in our power to make sure you're happy with your entire ProFlowers experience.
         
I want to personally assure you on behalf of the entire team here at ProFlowers that we're working to get to the root cause of these problems you experienced—and any problem that stops us from meeting your expectations.
            
When mistakes happen, it's disheartening for all of us, because it means we've let you down. And our whole goal, our entire purpose, is to serve you and help you make the special people in your life feel all the more special.
         
If you have already spoken with a customer service representative about this, disregard this email and—more importantly—rest assured that progress is already being made.
         
If there’s anything else we can do for you, please call us at 1-800-ProFlowers (800-776-3569) or email us at wecare@proflowersc.om and let us know.

Wow.  What a way to handle a problem.  Step forward, admit it and see how you can make it right.  They are only off by a day, and in this case it doesn’t matter, but if this was a birthday or something, it would be a big deal, and they let me know in time to make a change.  Great customer service…great marketing.

Data Point - Reviews on the Web

Back in December I blogged about what I called The Power of The Customer’s Voice.  Reviews on the web have completely changed consumer’s buying process.  In data just published by eMarketer, this phenomenon is confirmed. 

According to the data, assembled by PowerReviews and the etailing group, nine out of ten consumers read online reviews at least some of the time before making an on-line purchase.  Additionally, most consumers check multiple reviews.

My Friend Steve, The Dali Lama and The Torch

Three years ago I met a man at TED with an incredible vision.  He had set his mind on a goal that many would say is impossible.  He doesn’t hear them.  Steve Varon is a businessman from New York with a vision and a goal of having the Dali Lama carry the Olympic torch during the Beijing Olympics later this year.

If you know even the slightest bit about world politics, you know that the concept of the Dali Lama participating in an Olympics being held in China is difficult to conceive.  Yet Steve pushes forward, having obtained the green light from the Dali Lama himself, as well as positive feedback from many world leaders. 

From a marketing perspective, Steve has an incredible job, but his goal is noble.  What iconic image could say more about world peace than the Dali Lama participating in this event.  Today, Steve sent me a great video about his dream.  Please watch, I know that you will smile as I did when you see his passion behind this goal.  I also hope that you will want to help him achieve it by passing the word along, if anything deserves to go viral – it’s this.

A No-Tan-Line Bikini and 70 Passionate Women

What would valentines day be without some candy, but this candy is a bit different. I had an opportunity to hear Pete Sheinbaum, the CEO of Daily Candy speak at the EEC conference yesterday. For those of you not familiar with it, Daily Candy is an email newsletter that is a must-read for women (and some men) who want to be in-the-know about fashion and trends in leading cities. What makes the newsletter unique is the amazing subscriber growth and success it has experienced.

Pete gave a wonderful presentation. He shared how the newsletter got started when one of the founders heard about a no-tan-line bikini that was very cool, and sent it out to the initial 70 subscribers. In almost no time, the subscriber base grew to 35,000. There was one key to growth. Find really cool stuff, and write about it. Whether it was fashion, restaurants or food, if it was great, and you told your audience about it, they were bound to pass it along to friends, and a community formed. Not an online one, but a thriving, vibrant, real community. One where the retort, “did you read about X in Daily Candy,” is as common as “Hello.”

It is very easy to try too hard to sell online, and not realize that online media can sometimes be used much more effectively to fuel passion (and the community can then do the selling). While this is no small task, sometimes with the right combination of smarts and luck, someone really hits a home run. Daily Candy did.

Talk About Your Niche Market

I happen to be in New York City this week for some business meetings.  At the end of a long day, I stopped off at the bar in the hotel I am staying at to have a drink.  I found another business person at the bar, and we started chatting about business.  It turns out that he owns a company that produces spray paint.  Not your everyday spray paint however, this is spray paint for graffiti artists.  Talk about your narrow market segment.

It turns out this is not some small back of the paint store market, but a major niche with many competitors, a large number of targeted magazines, even conferences.  It really started me thinking about how the web has really been a boon to these micro segments. It has created entire marketplaces for products that once would rarely have never made it into distribution because of their lack of a critical mass of customers. It also got me to thinking how many more of these microsegments exist out there just waiting for someone to come along and serve them properly.  The nice thing about web marketing is that the segment will often identify itself, long before we as marketing people might find it.  It just takes keeping a keen eye on the horizon for these types of opportunities.

Now the best part about this story.  It turns out that the graffiti paint this fellow’s company makes is so far superior to the standard Rustoleum type of stuff you pick up in your average hardware store, that the hardware stores are now embracing the products from the micro segment, and turning them into mainstream product.  True Value and other leading hardware stores will soon have his product (Plutonium G) on stock for your more serious home projects.  You should definitely check out the company’s web site to see how serious marketing graffiti paint is.

By the way the image above is of graffiti painted by famed artist Bansky.  He is famous for his beautiful and sometimes attention grabbing work.  Check in out on his web site.