Bloghound

I’ve been collecting examples of companies’ beliefs, values, guiding principles and the like. All are meant to serve as a sherpa-like guide to the organization’s culture, decisions and behavior. The ones I like best go beyond the usual blah blah — quality, integrity, customer-first — and connect with people in their guts and in their heads. Here are The Container Store’s six principles:

1. Fill the other guy’s basket to the brim. Making money then becomes an easy proposition
2. Man in the desert*
3. One great person equals three good people
4. Intuition does not come to an unprepared mind
5. The best selection anywhere plus the best service plus the best or equal to the best price in our market area
6. Air of excitement

*Container Store employees are told the story of a man crawling through the desert gasping for a drink of water. He finds an oasis, where an ordinary retailer gives him water. If it had been a Container Store retailer, employees are told, he would have been told “Here’s some water. Do you also want something to eat? And I see from your wedding ring that you are married. How about we call your family and let them know you’re here.” The principle is that you’re cheating the customer if you are not offering them the opportunity to buy more.

Save the Honey Bees

As a partner in a company named Beeline Labs, we always get ribbed about bee related topics.  Here’s a bee video worth watching.

For the past few years IBM has been inviting its employees to be part of 72-hour online innovation jams, brainstorming about everything from IBM values to new product and service ideas. It’s a great example of the business value of social media, which at its core is a platform of participation and sharing.

The Fall 2008 issue of the MIT Sloan Management Review has an in-depth article about IBM’s experience: “An Inside View of IBM’s Innovation Jam.” IBM brought 150,000 employees and stakeholders together to help move its latest technologies to market. Both the difficulties it faced and the successes it achieved provide important lessons.

Hillary’s Clinton’s speech last night was intended to unite the Democrats, persuading those who voted for her in the primaries to support Barrack Obama. As a communications analyst I can tell you that the speech did not succeed.

The intent of Clinton’s speech was not to garner support for Obama. Instead, Hillary talked about Hillary. The speech largely recanted her experiences on the campaign trail. It was Hillary’s swan song to Hillary and her almost-successful campaign.

While her style was articulate and strong, it failed to affect behavioral changes because it was too controlled and too clinical. Her gestures of support for Obama were clearly stated, but not deeply felt. Reason without genuine emotion rarely succeeds in changing people’s minds, never mind their actions.

Michelle Obama’s speech on Monday night, on the other hand, was effective. She was articulate, passionate, accessible, and aspirational. Unlike Clinton’s detachedness, Michelle Obama combined reason and genuineness. No wonder there are so many Tweets and posts flying around that say: “Michelle Obama: 2012.”

This is a sweet television ad from United Airlines that is totally disconnected from its business. Why is United romanticizing the flying experience at a time when planes are dirty, seats are cramped, food is terrible, and staff is grumpy? The disconnect between the promise of the ad and the actual experience is huge. Why promote an experience that you can’t deliver? That’s just dumb marketing.

Then there’s United’s new tag line: “It’s Time To Fly.” What is that suppose to mean to the customer? How does it build preference or loyalty? And doesn’t United realize that actually it’s a bad time to fly in view of greater overbooking, flight delays, rising costs, and the need to reduce our energy footprints?

At a time when airline business is bleak, this expensive and irrelevant campaign is especially appalling. What were the marketing and agency people thinking?

Southwest gets that marketing is the customer experience

Fortunately there is one airline that understands that marketing is the customer experience, not a new ad with a Robert Redford voice over or a tag line.

It’s hard to work while traveling, but Southwest’s new seating in gate areas makes it easy for me to plug in and have a little workspace to get things done. The children’s seating area is also a nice touch.

“Campaign 2.008: Politicians Have Yet to Realize the Full Potential of New Media,” featured in the current issue of The Public Relations Strategist, offers some diverse perspectives on how social marketing is effecting the U.S. Presidential campaign. Written by former political reporter Ed Cafasso, managing director of MS&L, the article includes views from:

• Randy Kluver, communications professor, Texas A&M University
• Bill Rice, president, Web Marketing Association
• J. Barbush, associate creating director at at ad agency RPA
• And yours truly, Lois Kelly

Unfortunately the magazine, published by the Public Relations Society of America, isn’t available online, but if you click here and scroll down to Articles you can get a PDF.

Understanding segmentation as it relates to online communities can help us gain insights from our most loyal users and influencers; prioritize community features, content and functionality; and possibly create ways to help customers become more loyal.

Back in 1999 Professor Rob Kozinets published a much-cited academic paper, “E-Tribalized Marketing?” The Strategic Implications of Virtual Communities of Consumption,” that provides some insights that are highly relevant today.

Community involvement: two factors

Two non-independent factor influence how involved a person will become with a community, says Rob in the article.

1. The more central the consumption activity is to the person’s psychological self-concept, the more likely the person will pursue and value membership in the community.

2. The intensity of the social relationships the person has in the community.

Segmenting four types of community members

Community members can then be segmented into four types; two of which matter most to marketers, believes Rob.

1. Tourists: lack strong social ties, maintain only a superficial or passing interest in the consumption activity.

2. Minglers: have strong social ties, but aren’t all that interested in the consumption activity.

3. Devotees: maintain strong interest for consumption activity, but have few social attachments to the group .

4. Insiders: have strong social ties and strong personal ties to consumption activity.

Implications to marketers

Insights: Primary research shows that heavy users and loyal customers are represented in communities by the insiders and devotees. Invaluable business insights from these influencers can be gained from observing community.

Brand relationship development: Tourists and minglers can sometimes be “upgraded” to insiders and devotees as they become involved in the community. The community itself may propagate the development of loyalty and heavy usage, says Rob, by culturally and socially reinforcing consumption. To do this it’s important that the visitor find value and spend time in the community to see ways the consumption activity may be more relevant than she or he had realized.

Different content, activities: Different community member segments want to get different things from the community, which helps guide the community management strategy. In Rob’s view tourists and devotees want to get factual information from the community, while minglers and insiders tend to be much more social and relational, answering people’s questions, adding content. Since insiders are the most loyal customers, it’s important that the community appeal to what they want in information and how they want to socialize in the community.

Do you need a community? This point is mine, not Rob’s. If the business consumption activity is not central to your customers’ “psychological self concept,” do you need a community? To what percentage of your customers is the consumption activity central — and is that percentage large enough to justify the investment required in managing a community? I’ve been collecting communities that are largely abandoned, despite being beautifully designed with great functionality. The reason? People just aren’t into the issue/topic/business category all that much — it’s not central to who they are or what they need to be successful in their job. Sometimes all that’s needed is a souped-up Web site where people can get and share more kinds of information more easily.

All strategic social media initiatives require change management to some degree. To figure out an organization’s social media “readiness” and how much change management will be needed – and in what areas – SAP’s Steve Mann has developed a “social quotient” test/analysis. Where does your company score?

“I don’t want any more friends. But I do want your knowledge. That’s what’s really motivating people to use communities, “ says Tilak Mandadi, VP of Interactive and Travel Technologies for American Express.

Talik – one of the most entertaining IT execs I’ve ever heard in a long time– said seven things matter the most for effective online communities:

1. Social intelligence – learning what other people know — vs. social networking.
2. Specialized context of community
3. Exclusive content
4. Ability to transact
5. Moderate moderation
6. Participant defense of the brand (Let other AMEX customers defend the brand if someone says something negative)
7. Speed to market

The ability to transact is especially important. Tilak said customers using American Express’ “Members Know” travel community have expressed frustration at not being able to act on what they were learning about in the community, which Amex is going about changing.

Many companies are creating communities for awareness, loyalty and word of mouth, but they may be missing a big opportunity for transaction revenue — and frustrating customers in the process.

The farm up the road has started selling fresh eggs, but they have signs posted everywhere that say “Beware of the Dog.” Now there’s an example of scrambled marketing messages — promoting something people want, but deterring them from buying.