The 543 Group

Building Stakeholder Consensus for Marketing Initiatives

In building any significantly new interactive or online brand experience, part of the challenge to ensure success of the initiative is to gain stakeholder consensus before anything is created.  This is not always easy, and is often overlooked during the strategic planning process. 

If we are conducting formal branding exercise or brand planning sessions, there is usually good participation from those with a significant stake in how their brand is perceived.  However, when it comes to participating in customer-focused research, stakeholders are often nowhere to be found, preferring to review the results in a nice PowerPoint presentation.  However, if you really want them to look past their departmental responsibilities and see how their customers really interact with their products or services, get them to be 'in the room' and observe that interaction first-hand.  There is no substitute.  Third-party findings can always be disputed, but if they see and hear what customers have to say first-hand, reaching consensus on recommended responses usually follows.  Suddenly the needed budgets free up, the value of customer research is no longer questioned and, if you are lucky, a stronger sense of urgency exists to respond with the right solutions.

This isn't brain surgery.  It is, however, creating the proper rationale and atmosphere for stakeholders to see the truth, and then act on it.  For some, those that regularly interact with their customers, results may not be breathtaking.  But for so many executives, who seldom have any direct contact with live customers, the revelations can lead to major shifts in brand marketing and advertising.

There are also many forms of such research.  Assessing all the options and choosing the right method is paramount to make sure that the research really fosters insights on true and unbiased needs, attitudes, and behaviors that lead to predictable purchase behavior.   

Playing Small Ball

"You can't just buy people's attention anymore.  You must engage them."

This is the word from BBDO New York CEO Andrew Robertson in a recent article updating the activities of David Lubars, their Creative Director.  I couldn't agree more, and it is why I enjoy interactive media so much.

It's very name - "interactive" - tells it all.  It is not passive.  It assumes the visitor is engaged in some sort of behavior, be it for education, commerce, or just communicating with friends or colleagues or family.  For corporate marketing, the traditional thinking that the 30-second TV spot is king is so outdated that I have never even considered it so in my almost 30 years in this business.

It has, and always will be, the touchpoints that matter.  Whether that is a banner ad you clicked through, a YouTube video you forwarded, a customer service encounter, a buzz event you experience on the street, or any other form of message communicated from company to customer, it is how it touches you on an emotional level that matters.  What is important is not how cool or clever or even entertaining it is, but how well it motivated you to spend more time with the brand or, more importantly, how well it compelled you to part with some of your hard earned money, or your company's money.  And how quickly.  That is what has always mattered.

And one of the best attributes of interactive media is that its impact is all measurable.  There is no guesswork or interpretation of impression value needed.  Results are finite, and can be available in real time.  What's not to like when you need to know true ROI? 

It used to be that online and interactive marketing should be a component of any strategic marketing plan.  The larger long-established agencies call it 'playing small ball' because of the relative production budgets and lower commissions. It's actually a big-league game, with serious stakes and opportunity for winning streaks for those who get it and do it right, leveraging the knowledge of those who have been in the 'league' a long time.

Should You Go To Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 and other often called 'social media' technologies is today's buzz phrase for all things new that are online.  Many market sector industry leaders and upstarts are becoming expert at leveraging such new technologies as blogging platforms, RSS feeds, Wikis, and mashups.  If you have not thought about what such technologies might be able to do for your own company, consider Gartner's advice.  They suggest that your company may need a Web 2.0 strategy if:

• Web 1.0 has already had a transformative impact on your company
• Your products or services are largely information-based
• Your products or services are highly customized and personalized
• New products or services are rolled out on a regular basis
• You employ lots of home-based or widely dispersed workers
• Your workforce is comprised of younger workers
• Customers or suppliers could potentially exploit Web 2.0 technologies to become competitors

Good advice - especially that first point.  Ask yourself if your company has already leveraged every established Web 1.0 capability to enhance growth, reduce cost, or gain market share.  Odds are there is plenty left that should be considered or improved when it comes to staff, prospect, customer, and supplier communications, e-commerce, and online marketing and promotion of your goods and services. 

In our experience, there is generally no shortage of ideas that could be developed into opportunities.  The trick is having the proper strategy to determine which are the right ideas and initiatives that will return the greatest ROI and are in synch with overall corporate goals and objectives.  That makes it much easier to leverage not only Web 1.0 capabilities but also consider which Web 2.0 opportunities will be good investments of company resources.  Then the trick is getting all internal stakeholders in IT, sales and marketing, and operations to agree on the best specific tools to leverage, and who will put it in their budget.

Who Is Using Who?

With over a 100 billion clicks to Websites every day, the Web 'machine' is learning about us, all of us, and more so each day, each minute.  We cannot even fully comprehend all the changes that user-generated content will bring about in the global society, but one professor has made a good attempt at explaining where things are headed, and some of the issues that need to be faced by all those with content-rich online experiences.

The Web is Us/ing Us

Michael Wesch at Kansas State raises the core legal, ethical, and even moral issues that are going to be more in the mainstream in the next few years as we all are challenged to understand all the data, information, insight, and knowledge available to those who seek it.  As we all begin to be the authors, or shared authors, of more of that content, what we learn from each other will surpass most of what we have learned elsewhere.  Hopefully, much of it will be the truth.

Lessons from 'Walt'

In my early days with Walt Disney, I learned a key mantra important to all products and services companies:  "Know your audience.  Know your audience.  Know your audience."  It may be location in retail, but it's audience understanding no matter what your business.

The Web was built to learn as much as to tell, and your customers and prospects will supply feedback with a passion when properly motivated.  Their online activity throughout their Website visit can also tell a great deal about their interests and their passions.  Since almost every action online is measurable, it becomes intuitive over time how best to solicit, track, and understand behavior as well as interest in specific products and services, in ways that can offer meaningful insight.  Driving to underlying needs and attitudes is also part of the equation.

Disney would change an entire entertainment experience if there were ten letters of complaint about it.  This is because that usually meant there were two orders of magnitude more guests that felt either exactly the same way or were similarly bothered by some aspect of the experience.  They just did not feel compelled to provide that feedback. 

When you listen, consumers will tell you exactly what they think about your brand.  And that feedback can can be instantaneous online, allowing brands to react to the market in real time.

Ken

Don't Let This Happen To You

If you've ever had the feeling that you are simply pushing a boulder up a hill all day long and getting nowhere, you are not alone.  Many organizations get so bogged down in process and who sits where on an organizational chart that they forget they are trying to move the ball forward, not just move it around and around.  Yes, the ball may actually get somewhere, but is it somewhere useful?

   Little Blue Balls

Earthbounder's 'Something Awful' image on YTMND.com (that's for 'you're the man now dog!') beautifully captures what I am talking about.  The music from "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" adds the right level of chaos.  If you feel this is happening to you... run!  Far, far, away!  If your company is this far gone, it's unlikely you wil be able to save it. 

Or, simply bookmark this page - it comes in handy when you might be having a bad, blue ball kind of day!