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What happens when the relationship you have with your consumer is so solidly built that there is enough trust in your consumer to let them choose. You recognize when they need the space and support the opportunity to browse the competition.

To have this kind of relationship you would probably always deliver on the promises that you've made. You probably try to communicate to these consumers with a glimpse of what's to come. You're more than passionate about your business, you represent the industry. And you just do it better.

I was reminded of this when I happened to search "search" in Google. No Google ad spend for keyword "search". By the look of the rankings, Google doesn't get searched too often (It's 6th) It doesn't have to. It has a remarkable relationship with its base. Maybe not the kind of relationship you would want. Some people still think Google is a trend. Google has currently proven them wrong.

In this context we can compare this relationship to that of the local shoe retailer. Once unable to find the shoe they were looking for, a customer asked the sales associate where else one could purchase shoes in the city? The sales associate responded absently "I don't know of another place to buy shoes".

No trust. Probably no repeat opportunity to sell to this customer again. A sales associate (brand experience) that doesn't project helpful, genuine, or relationship worthy.

I'm sure I heard that analogy from Seth, but I can't find the post. In the meantime, here's one of his archived posts that explores this customer relationship further...a different take on my post, but something to think about.

10 Reasons To Use New Media

Here's a quick list for those of you looking to use new media. In this context I'm talking about blogs, SEO, micro-blogging (twitter), social networks, social media - that all have the goal of generating a consumer connection.

When to use new media:

1. You have something to say that people actually care about – in their current context. This would be something that they are interested in before they even hear your message. ***New price doesn't count. Neither does "Our company is on twitter". Remember – its not the tools that we have, but how we use them.
2. You can identify a group of people who would personally benefit from sharing your message. Not a short-term benefit like winning a contest...
   
3. You can identify an emotion or activity that would personally tie your customer to your product.
   
4. Your product is scarce and relevant.Your message is simple and self-explanatory. Your story is truly different.
5. Your product works best the more people who have it. (LinkedIn is useless with 1 user)
   
6. You care about micro-measurement (in the case of online ads and direct response)
7. You’re in it for the long haul (in the case of social media, blogs, consumer community, and brand leadership)
8. You care more about keeping customers than getting customers
9. Your company is built to keep customers (happy - sounds like a no brainer, but look around and see who actually cares about keeping you as a customer)
10. If the product, service and related brands don't "live" in the real world, no amount of Facebook Fan Pages is going to help" - Mitch Joel (see original post)

Any thoughts? Add your own here...

Secrets to branding - 20% off.

I just spent 90% of my marketing budget telling you that our relationship is built on good customer service and customized solutions, rather than the bargain basement pricing of my competitors. Then I spent 10% of my budget to advertise a discounted price. Did I just waste 90% of my budget?

Or how about...

If I ask my customer to pay a premium for a best-in-class product (lets say $100), and then discount the same product a month later and sell it to a customer who would only pay $80 - which customer do I really want in the long run?

Which one feels I have more value?

Which one would be easier to convince in the future that my time is worth $100? or even $150?

Which one is less likely to jump ship for the next $80 deal?

Regardless of our economic time, a great brand competes by building its price to reflect the promise, story and experience it will provide. Every other brand competes by offering its reputation to the lowest bidder at a discounted price.

Who wants to be friends with Palmolive?

There have been a lot of conversations recently about the relevance of brands connecting to customers online. Some are saying "Who really wants to be "friends" with Proctor and Gamble on facebook?" and "What good does a viral video do when it potentially deceives the consumer?" On the otherside, we have a wave of other marketers, twitter fans and bloggers who encourage the brands they interact with to use the social tools available. Regardless of what side of the debate you're on, Peter Kim has made your life a bit easier. You can easily scan through the best (and worst) branded social media examples on his Wiki of Social Media Marketing Examples. It started out from a master list he was researching to analyize the relevance of social media. In just a few months the list has over 218 crowd-sourced entries - all of brands who are using the social media space to connect or promote to consumers. Some of my favorite examples:

• Ikea's Online Community - not for the community, but for the attempt to help thousands of people connect to assist each other in assembling furniture.
• Rubbermaids Flickr account - is it just me or is this a bit of a stretch. Apparently those who love Rubbermaid, really love it.
  
• Popeyes Chicken - on twitter. I can actually see that working. A brand in front of the consumer at a possible point of relevance/pain.
• This isn't on their but Sony just launched a relevant blog - just in time for CES 2009. This is scalable and has legs.
• One more nod to Verizon. It may not be the best company for customer service, but someone had their friendly hat on when they launched their Policy Blog. Unfortunately, we usually see this from companies as a tactic to lower the costs of customer complaints...
  

The results of viewing a list like this really exemplifies the infancy of this marketing tactic and how little is known about the triggers that will connect a brand to a consumer.

This isn't Cinderella's slipper.

What would you do when faced with this scenario?

1. There are millions of people who wear shoes.
2. There are millions of people who want to make a difference in the world (a growing trend).
3. There are millions of people who need shoes.

Sell shoes? Buy stocks in shoes? Probably not. Maybe you would support a cuase that gave people shoes. But sell them? The industry is dominated by the big players right? Plus, there are an endless lineup of stores and online retailers where shoes are the order of the day - like the Long Tail superstar Zappos that carries 1,196 Brands and over 3 million products.

So why shoes? There's no point.

Unless...you look at the situation differently. Unless...you have the experience and insight that tells you otherwise. Your response would be different. When you can look at business differently - not by how others do business, but by why people connect to a product - you can deliver a different result.

The result in this case: TOMS Shoes.

After traveling to Argentina, Blake Mykoskie noted that the large population of people living in poverty tended to have two types of footwear. Traditional footwear called alpargatas, or nothing at all. The latter was even more prevalent among children. Upon his return to the U.S. Blake thought the low cost alpargatas may have appeal to a wider audience, as was seen with the soaring popularity of other traditional simply styled footwear.

But remodeling the alpargatas was never really the point. Blake regonized that millions of people, like those in Argentina, needed shoes. He also knew that the internet has been a driving force behind the rise of social responsibility and that connecting to people who want to make a difference has never been easier. Finally, Blake recognized that when it comes to any brand, the story sells the product. Connect all these factors together and the spark has been lit for a phenomonon.

For every pair of TOMS shoes that are purchased, TOMS sends a pair to Argentina or Africa. In two years TOMS has gone from a shoe company with a story, to a brand leading a movement around the globe. To date TOMS has delivered over 200,000 shoes to children in Argentina, Africa, and other countries in need. The story of the shoes has been written dozens of times (here and here are great examples) and the community of loyal and excited TOMS fans tell the story for their brand.

When you purchase a TOMS shoe you help another human being. It's an easy concept. It's genuine. And it's just another example of how world of consumer connection is changing business.

Say the same thing - but differently.

I've been catching up on my reading and came across this post by Mark Earls. I've written about him once before as he explores one of my greatest interests - consumer behavior.

Mark brings up another article that supports the notion that people migrate towards their perception of normal or ideal when faced with decision making. Although this sounds like a simple concept, it reaches far deeper into the reality of what influences our decisions versus what we believe influences our decisions.

This strikes me on a few levels - maybe because the holidays just finished and I was trying to buy another original gift, or maybe because I'm back to work trying to re-frame the decisions I will make in 2009. Anyone who is trying to convince somebody to support their opinion (product sales, PR, social marketing, politics, etc) is impacted by the findings of the UK governments study: a person makes a decision based on what they believe other people do.

We've seen this in smoking research (something like youth who smoke think the majority of people smoke, versus youth who don't smoke think few people smoke), obesity, internet trends (who doesn't love Google), and every other trend that has ever surfaced in the history of humankind.

So why don't we take notice?

Why do we continue to market a different story?

Why do we scare and bait people into listening to our story/opinion/brand?

The research is showing us that people can be persuaded in an easier way. I'm not saying its the only way, but it's worth exploring further in 2009.


Excerpt from Mark's blog and the Guardian article...

"Mockery is an oblique way of enforcing social norms, but it can be done more directly. American social psychologists have done experiments in hotel rooms where they have alternated signs asking guests to reuse towels for the good of the environment, with others simply pointing out that most visitors reuse their towels. The second, observational, notices were 26% more effective."

And again, it underlines the relative importance of the gestural/behavioural rather than informational in shaping change:

"Rather than make injunctions, public service announcements can be more effective if they play on our herd instincts. This is a kind of normative judo, using the human desire to fit in for good. Cigarette packets could swap the signs about how smoking kills for ones that point out that three out of four people do not smoke at all. It is time public officials added peer pressure to their portfolio of persuasions. The private sector has found it helpful enough. What was that about eight out of 10 cats ... ?"

'Tis the season

Happy New Year. I've been shoveling snow for two days. I've also been enjoying this time with friends and family. I hope you have been as well [not the snow shoveling].

2009 promises to be tremendous year. Three things I'm hoping for:

1. To learn a lot
2. To be better
3. To continue with the things I enjoy - like this blog.

Let me know what's on your list. Or let me know how much snow you've been shoveling.

Happy Holidays.