Case studies


The world’s most broken marketing process

Sep 4th

15 comments

Here’s my vote for the most clueless group of marketers in the world: real estate agents.I’ve had the misfortune of buying and selling a number of homes in the past five years and have also done some consulting/research for local real estate professionals, so I’ve received a big dose of some of the dumbest marketing practices I have ever seen.

Marketing is all about the consumer. Realtors make it all about themselves. What other industry routinely plasters their faces on business cards, billboards and print advertising to sell a product? This is like marketing a new Internet service by publicizing the computer. Instead of ads and messages that promote truly helpful services and information, realtors proclaim “I’m a “million dollar seller” or “who’s who in Paducah real estate for 2005.” Is this going to sell a home? Serve a customer? WHO CARES?

Where are most of their ad dollars spent? Print. Where are most customers? Internet. In fact, 90 percent of all real estate searches begin there. One local real estate conglomerate just started a new full-color glossy magazine for home sales. What marketing genius is making these decisions?

And social media? Blank stares.

Here’s another marketing anomaly. The open house. Who comes to an open house? Nosey people who have nothing better to do on a Sunday afternoon and people scouting for a robbery. Success rate of this activity? Near zero. One realtor said in 10 years she had never sold a home through an open house.

Of course there are exceptions, but here is the marketing strategy of most realtors: “Do what everybody else is doing — which is what has always been done. And then collect a 6 percent commission.

The process of enlisting an agent, dealing with a lender and closing on a home is enveloped by mountains of paperwork and waste. Money is thrown at inspectors, appraisers and a host of other paper pushers who have no incentive to provide true value or improve their services. This is an enormous business opportunity for an enterprising person. Here’s a free “new real estate” business plan:

>> Re-focus marketing efforts on differentiated products and services that matter to people.
>> Provide value so extraordinary that nobody would even think about trying to sell their home themselves.
>> Use technology to drastically reduce overhead and non-value-adding costs to be able to make a profit on commissions of 1% or less.
>> Put 90% of the marketing effort into Internet and social media marketing, further reducing costs and improving service.
>> Re-create the role of realtors for the digital age by hiring people with business degrees, a familiarity with technology and marketing acumen.
>> Align yourself with partners, banks, appraisers, etc. who are willing to share in your vision of driving new value through technological efficiency and passing savings on to the consumer.

Now wouldn’t you sell your home through a company like that?

Illustration: Daniel Kurtzman
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A minty-fresh social media success story

Aug 30th

4 comments

I was spending a quiet Saturday morning doing some blog reading when I came across this beautiful story from my friend Michael Winn (follow!), as posted as a comment on Valeria Maltoni’s blog (also follow!). He’s given me a permission to run it here as an inspirational example of the power of friends and social media. Here’s Michael:
Some argue that the use of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter threaten the depths of our human relationships and separate society’s connection with the real world. Others argue that what began as a social interactive platform is slowly becoming a superficial sea of subversive status updates and covert spamming. I would offer the possibility that while those arguments have valid points, genuine connection is happening between both worlds. Passion is the key to any authentic connection. For me, it started with mint.
Embarrassingly, I recently have found the delicious and refreshing taste of the Mojito. Traditionally made of five ingredients: white rum, sugar, lime, carbonated water, and mint, Mojitos are the perfect blend of fresh and exciting. I was hooked. After hitting three stores trying to find fresh mint, I had to settle for the Mojito mixer. Needless to say, my first attempt to create the sublime concoction in my kitchen was a disaster ending in a shelf bought mixer and a less than top shelf brand of rum.
Here is series of Twitter status updates from between myself (TallyDigitalBiz) and RickOpp whom I had never met in real life, but follow on Twitter:
@RickOpp 2:33 PM May 1st “about to go on a mint run — essential for juleps for Derby Day and mojitos for post-golf @ poolside Sunday.”
@TallyDigitalBiz 2:54 PM May 1st “let me know where you find the mint “goods” i went to three stores and struck out, had to settle for just the mixer:”
@RickOpp 3:33 PM May 1st “Tharpe Publix was out & produce guy said other Pubs may b out 2. Got last 2 pkgs @ Tharpe WinnDixie. Try calling others.”
@TallyDigitalBiz 3:39 PM May 1st “Enjoying free WiFi and a black and white at Starbucks on North Monroe*
@RickOpp 3:46 PM MAY 1st “Raise ur hand & wave right now.”
Suddenly, while sitting in Starbucks, I hear a friendly voice ask, “Are you Michael Winn?” I reply, yes. Reaching out to shake hands, I am handed a small package of fresh mint. Stunned, I had just experienced the incredible power of connection between Twitter and real world friendships. RickOpp, who I personally know now as Rick Oppenheim, and I have a Twitter story that will be told over and over.
In less than 73 minutes, two complete strangers found a common interest. By the simple spirit of generosity and hospitality, two people now have a keystone to building something beyond Twitter updates, mint, and a 50 to 1 shot winning the Derby.
As an addendum to this story, Michael told me that he and Rick have worked on two social media consulting projects together since this “meeting of the mint.”
Through this blog I’ve related some of my own social media connection stories. How about you? Do you have a story like Michael’s?
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Your website’s radical new role in the social web

Aug 27th

5 comments

Graphic: Metro Denver’s website is built to shuttle people to meaningful content, wherever it might be.

While every marketer seems to be immersed in Web 2.0 these days, let’s not overlook the changing role of the organization’s website in this marketing mix. If you’re not re-thinking the role of your traditional website, you should be!

Websites began as digital receptacles for traditional print content and slowly evolved to be more interactive and useful. The social web is changing all that … radically. Today, there are thousands of places to store and promote company content, and not all of it is going to be generated by friends. That’s why a new core strategy must be to populate the social web with as much accurate and useful content as possible. In my classes, I refer to this as an organization’s “information eco-system,” and it must be systematically maintained, monitored and nurtured.

Your website is no longer just a “destination.” In this environment, the company website becomes a content engine and quarterback, efficiently directing people throughout the eco-system to the news, information and applications they need to meet their needs, wherever it might be.

In research I’ve been conducting on the use of social media among economic development organizations, I came across a terrific case study in Metro Denver. Denver has methodically populated its information eco-system with rich and meaningful content, including a top-notch blog. Search the social web, and it will inevitably lead you to content that guides you back to the website, which is organized into user-friendly buckets of information. Need to go back out to the ecosystem? Links to social media connections are right on Denver’s landing page. This is a brilliant example of putting customer needs at the forefront of strategy, execution and design.

As you hurtle onto the social web, don’t leave your website behind or your social media presence will be sub-optimized!

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Major brands may be reluctant to integrate social media, traditional marketing

Aug 17th

7 comments

This week I’m excited to introduce a three-part interview with Robin Frank, a marketing professional who leads the social media strategies for Gap Outlet, Banana Republic Factory Store and other national brands. Away we go …
Robin, on these powerful brands you work with, how are you integrating social media marketing with traditional marketing strategy … or are you?
The reality is that big brands WANT to do social media the integrated way, but they often seem unwilling to invest a lot upfront in content, strategy and integration. The media also doesn’t help, as it leads them to expect big things for just showing up to the party. They figure once they have “proven” social media works, they will then get in there – lock, stock and barrel.

I see some brands that are reluctant to integrate traditional marketing (website, blog, email, or offline/online advertising, promotions etc.) until their social media programs are deemed “successful enough.” For these clients, it helps to have good analytics, a focused pilot, and to plot out the integration with their marketing strategy in phases.

Other brands have jumped head-first onto the social media bandwagon because they HAD to be there, but with minimal strategy, focus, and expertise and haphazard alignment to marketing/business objectives. They’re now wondering why they aren’t seeing the returns hyped by the media. These clients are open to integrating social media into their marketing mix – they just need help evaluating the best way to go about this – choosing the right channels, campaigns, and communication strategy.

What accountability does the social media aspect of brand management have? What metrics are in place and what tools do you use to measure progress?

The social media segment is finding itself increasingly accountable. At first, there were a lot of people talking about how social media doesn’t have traditional ROI, it has all kinds of other types like ROE, and how it was impossible to quantify the monumental impacts on brand equity and community. But that doesn’t fly for long with brand management.

You need to justify and quantify your efforts and the resources spent. And you need to be smart about it. There are numerous applications and platforms out there and it can be difficult for companies to know what to use and how to put it all together in a report that is really useful. I have my own selection of favorites which I customize to report both financial and non-financial indicators and present it in a compelling, useful, and actionable format.

While measurement and analytics are carefully tailored to each client, those of you trying this at home will want to include these same elements in your reporting – financial ROI to measure sales, transactions and customers; non-financial metrics to measure mentions, sentiment, link click-throughs, exposure, virals (retweets, comments, shares, etc.), and conversations/engagement.

 

So much of the success of social media is dependent on authenticity and personality. How does personality come through on your initiatives? How is the social media brand persona determined — through standards and guidelines or is it at the discretion of the communicator?

I guide my clients in creating a social media brand persona, and we define its limits together. I usually help craft or tailor guidelines for interaction and participation for all employees/contributors.

There is a lot of hand-holding that goes on – brands are sometimes stuck in the traditional push marketing voice – you know, the one devoid of human connection. They have to be educated on how to speak with a personality that people can connect with, and one that reflects their brand values.

I usually do a lot of the content in the first months, and they have to sign-off to make sure it is “on brand.” Over time, brands learn how to have a little fun and to be all the things they should be on social media – interesting, engaging, entertaining, helpful, and participatory – in other words, they learn to be a valuable member of the community they create.

Tomorrow: Social media culture change and consumer info overload!

Robin Frank consults with a wide range of companies – retail, banking, clean/greentech, and B2B – helping them establish cost-effective social media programs that increase marketing ROI and foster broader and deeper customer engagement and education. You can reach her at @robeen, robeenf@gmail.com, or linkedin.com/in/robinfrank.
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