Archives for 2012

Collaborative Marketing and the Natural Progression to Real Customer Satisfaction

I?ve been thinking a lot about collaborative marketing lately, and how we can turn co-existing businesses?more into partners and less about missed opportunities. I think there?s a great untapped market for someone that really wants to grab collaborative marketing and run with it.

For example ? imagine you?re going on a trip. You have to fly to get there, so there are a few processes you need to go through before, during and after:

Buying your ticket.
Driving to the airport.
In-flight activities.
Hotel or accommodation when you land.
Rental car.

These are just the basics ? I?m sure there are a lot more depending on what your individual needs are.

Now.

Instead of doing this all separately, what if there was some form of collaborative marketing behind it to make your life easier? I don?t know about you, but I know when my own life is made easy, I?m inclined to use the same service or product again. So.

Imagine if, when you buy your ticket (online or offline), the airline has a deal with all the major car hire firms like Hertz, Enterprise, Avis, etc. So, you buy your ticket and you have an option to hire your car at the same time. The rental firm then comes out and drops your car off. Or, better still, the airliner has a deal with airport cab firms to pick you up and take you to your flight.

Now, let?s also say that when you?re buying your ticket, you have the option of logging onto the booking site via Facebook Connect. If you?ve filled out your Movies and Music preferences on Facebook, the airline sees this. They then load this information into the media options available to your flight using something like iTunes. You can then watch your type of movies (if there?s a screen on the back of the seat in front of you), or your favourite music via an iTunes console.

With regards the hotel or accommodation, if you have to look after it and your company isn?t paying for it, again the airline has a partnership with hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts and more, and not just the big ones but of all sizes. You fill out a short cheat sheet when buying your ticket and the three most suitable?accommodations pop up.

And the rental firm that started it all off?

They?re there (obviously) at the other end. But what they?ve done when you booked initially is ask what type of trip you?re having, and?the kind of things you like to do when relaxing. So, when you pick up your car at the other side, the GPS is loaded with some destinations you might enjoy. And they?re tied in with local businesses that are part of the collaborative marketing approach of all the above.

Now, this is a pretty simple take on basic marketing 101. Yet, as an example of true collaborative marketing, it?s a start.

But it’s got to be?better than a non-starter, no?

image: Ranjith Shenoy

The Only Thing That’s Dead Is Your Crappy “Everything Is Dead” Meme

I?m a little tired. Not physically. I could always do with a little more sleep, but then so can everyone.

No.

I?m more tired about the constant ?The End of PR?, ?The End of?Marketing?, ?The End of Print? and ?The End of Advertising? missives? that seem to be flying about at the minute.

I can?t open my email subscriptions without the latest link shouting?out ?The end of?. Where now for Industry X??.

I?m an avid blog reader?and use Alltop regularly?to find interesting stories from my industry and beyond. Yet it seems?that there?s an ?End of?? blog post for every *normal* one at the?minute.

Why?

Why do we have to bang the nails into the coffin of industries that?are still very much alive? Why do we have to look at an industry that?s been around for years as ?ending?, just because there are new tools?available? Is there really such a thing as an ending, anyway?

End or Mend?

Instead of saying an industry is ending, how about we say it?s?mending instead? If an industry is really viewed as being broken, should?we be closing the door on it or helping it back on its feet?

If your pet breaks its leg in an accident, do you immediately want to? put it to sleep or do you love it back to health? If you break the?point on your trusty pencil, do you sharpen it or throw it in the bin??Even when that pencil eventually writes its last word, you don?t stop using pencils ? you start afresh. But it?s still with the same type of?pencil.

When you?ve taken your last step on a particular journey, it doesn?t mean your travels are over ? it simply means there?s a new journey to? begin.

It?s easy to say something is finished ? you don?t have to worry?about it anymore as it heads for that big garbage bag of irrelevance.?The harder part?is making irrelevant into relevant.

It?s not easy, but if there are solid enough foundations already there, isn?t it better than starting again?

image: Black Glenn

Before We Believe You

We buy products and services every day.

Some we need, some we don?t. But we?ve heard good things about them so we buy them.

Who have we heard good things from?

Our friends. Our family. Our colleagues.

People we trust.

Why do we trust them? Because they?re not a mystery to us.

They don?t wear masks. They don?t hide behind veils. They don?t try and fool us with trickery.

They simply are.

You?re in business. You have a blog. You have a podcast. You want to be popular. You want people to like you; connect with you; follow you.

You want people to trust you.

We will. Just don?t wear a mask. Be yourself. Be true. Be honest.

We know you need to occasionally have your professional head on. Your business head. But does that mean you need to trick us? Does it mean you need to be the person you?re not, the business you?re not, the people we?re not?

No.

So wear the mask, but make it transparent. Wear the hat but make it your own. Pull the veil down but let us know it?s still you underneath. Make us trust you. Let us know who you are and that it?s you each time we talk.

That?s the way you?ll get our business. Our eyes on your blog. Our acceptance on Twitter. Our recommendations to our friends.

If you want us to believe, then make us believe in you. It?s not that hard.

Is it?

Image: GALERIEopWEG

Hope, Change, Belief – The 12for12k Story and How You Can Be a Part of It

Back at the end of 2008, I had an idea for doing something through social media to help charities.

Thanks to some amazing friends and people like you that supported with your time and donations, that idea turned into a great example of how we can all make change if we really want to.

The 12for12k project has raised over $100,000 for various charities to date – an amazing figure, given the “buy-in” was deliberately low, and the project took an enforced absence during most of 2010 and 2011.

The reason for its success? You, and the power of the crowd when there’s something to believe in. Your support; ideas; donations; awareness and more were crucial in all that 12for12k achieved, and if anything was ever a true team effort, 12for12k was it.

And now I’d love for you to take part again.

I’m currently writing Hope, Change, Belief – The 12for12k Story and the Lessons Non-Profits Can Take From It to Succceed in Social Media, and I’d love for your contributions to help shape it.

Because it will be a?story that’s geared towards helping non-profits understand social media and how they can really benefit from it, the book will share the failures of 12for12k as much as it’ll share the successes. After all, we only grow from our mistakes and how we react to them.

To that end, I’d love for your thoughts on what worked and what didn’t work. What did 12for12k do right, and where did it go wrong? What was your overall experience with 12for12k, and what are your memories of the project overall?

Drop me your thoughts via the form below, and I’ll choose a bunch to add to the book’s chapters and upcoming addition to the 12for12k website, with full accreditation. Also, those chosen will receive a free copy when published later this year, and everyone else will receive a special discount code for taking the time to share their thoughts.

I’d really love for Hope, Change, Belief to act as a soundboard and guideline on how to really make the most of social media in the non-profit field, and with your thoughts and honest opinion, I think we can do that.

Thanks, guys, and look forward to reading your words.

PS – And look out for a new goal for 12for12k later this year, it’s going to be fun!

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Introducing Social CRM Insider

Over at Jugnoo, our goal is to help educate business?owners?on the social web, and really help them both understand and improve their visibilty on it.

Part of our approach is to offer resources that will act as a go-to for news, best practices, tips and awareness?for all the various parts that make up today’s business scene.

Recently, we launched the first salvo in this in the form of Social CRM Insider.

A blog dedicated to the increasingly important area of customer relationship management in the social media space, Social CRM Insider will show why this is such a key part of any company’s strategy, especially online. From the About Page:

Every week, we?ll share our insights, best practices, case studies and more on how to run an effective customer relationship program in the social media landscape, and build brand loyalty around your business in the process.
We?ll strip away the guesswork and provide you with real-world examples of who?s doing it right, and how you can adapt these methods to your own business. And we?ll do it in a way that you can understand ? no industry jargon or buzzwords here.
Social media has always been about the relationship to the sale for business owners and their customers. Consumers have known this for a while; now it?s time for you to understand better too.

To help us with our goal, we’ve employed awesome social media and business blogger Joey Strawn as our blogger-in-residence and, while I’m biased, he’s already knocking the content out of the park, with a great amount of interest and feedback coming in.

As I mentioned at the start, we’re just beginning to ramp up our activities, and the Social CRM Insider is something we’re really looking forward to grow as we help businesses understand this space we play in.

I’d love for you to check?the Social CRM Insider blog?out when you have time, and if you have any kind of customer-centric needs for your own business, blog, store or more, you might just find it’s the ideal new blog to subscribe to.

Cheers!