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Tag Archive: Customer

Cultivate Your Customer

Written on March 25, 2011 by Josip Petrusa

We have loyalty programs. Then there’s lead nurturing. Along with the many variations of permission marketing. And not to mention, the growing number of social media and app media that is a location based service. Trying to enhance the customer relationship is hardly a new idea. But it seems the more we do and advance ourselves, the more story really stays the same.

The problem with how we as marketers, advertisers, businesses and brands approach the customer is the fact that our goal and only goal is to get the sale. In the majority of cases, that’s it. That’s the truth to our pursuits. The be all and end all to our primary objective. Don’t get me wrong here, I’m a believer in business. However, we are constantly and continually pursuing a system of acquisition and reacquisition rather than focusing on retention and personal customer growth. For some this is fine. But so much opportunity is left on the table.

In a world of growing competition and at a period that’s becoming increasingly known as the age of the customer, we have to rethink our business models. We have to rethink how we approach, value, enhance and provide a mutually beneficial relationship for both the seller and the buyer. The customer will always make purchases. So why simply settle for the sale? Why not go beyond that one single event? Why not settle for continued sales from the returning customer instead?

Cultivating your customer is by no means an easy process. Like any relationship, it takes some work to make something great. It has to go beyond the mass emails, check-ins, barcode scans and loyalty points programs. It has to be real and it has to be human. It has to be authentic and it has to be meaningful. Unfortunately, the effect won’t be the same for everyone. Nor will everyones approach towards their customer base. The implications of legitimately growing this relationship could be extraordinary. While at worst, you could still land the measly sale you settled for in the first place.

Although social media attempts to create and solve the issue of enhanced relationships, it’s thinking and logic takes on a very traditional approach in more instances than it should. It’s essence is often removed as a result. Leaving the customer to be felt as if they were removed themselves. Yes, we’re all interested in great “deals” and promotions that spike our interest. And that will always work to an extent. But we would always enjoy the personal touch versus being part of the known mass audience. Luckily, technology is making this easier with there being no better time than now to differentiate and make this about you, the customer.

Great customer service has evangelised many brands and businesses. But great customer service is only concerned up to the point of the sale and maybe some assistance after. Who says the relationship has to end there? Regardless of which category and perceived lifetime value a product or service receives. We’ve been led to believe nothing exists beyond the purchase. Though, I’m hardly suggesting a courtesy call. Does the this vicious cycle merely end here? Considering you won’t purchase said item again, right.

Great customer service has had the ability to profoundly impact how we choose where we decide to spend our dollar. So much so that is has become a significant factor in many of the purchasing decisions we make. Now, think of the opportunities that exist should you expand that mentality to the point of the next purchase. After all, many of us will most certainly purchase more than one pair of shoes, continue to be a part of a growing services environment and endlessly entertain our interests.

Customer cultivation could most definitely be interpreted as methods that currently exist. That sense and understanding would be flawed. This is not about sending or providing the customer with something in order to prompt another sale. This is about saying thank you. This is about confidently giving the customer something to enjoy with no recourse other than for that something to be enjoyed by the customer. This is about going above and beyond all existing buyer and seller experiences and perceptions. This is about creating a real relationship. So, good ahead. Cultivate the customer, your customer. Deliver the happiness they deserve. And watch everything grow.

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Are You Looking for Gen-Y? Or Are You Waiting to Be Found?

Written on October 6, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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It’s becoming more obvious and apparent that traditional marketing and advertising efforts are not yielding the same traditional results. And this is something I’m been preaching for a while. We, Gen-Y, are different. It’s just that plain and simple. No matter which angle you approach it at, or what perspective you choose to believe, you would be a fool not too know that this generation is different.

For some reason, there is much dissent and debate to how strong these differences really are. And if anything at all, is Gen-Y that much different from everyone else. Truly, you would have to be blind not to understand the hurdles Gen-Y has created, both actively and passively.

The reality of the situation is that in a whole new world old tricks don’t necessarily always apply. With many aspects of the internet such as social media and video streaming, to the rapid emergence of the mobile sector and even the changing state of television, simply keeping on the same marketing and advertising path will lead you to over-expenditure of budgets compared to earlier years.

The issue at hand here is whether you are actively looking for your Gen-Y customers and consumers or whether you are simply waiting for them to come to you. Not only is this distinction imperative to understand, playing hide and seek with this generation can be extremely costly. We look where we choose to look. Not where you tell or want us to look.

We’re no longer subject to simply watching TV and waiting for the commercial to be over. If I’m not watching TV, I’m on my laptop. And if I’m not on my laptop, I’m on my BlackBerry. And if I’m on my laptop and BlackBerry, I’m not watching what’s on the TV. The most fascinating point in all of this is the only advertisement I remember is the cute one my girlfriend posted on my Facebook wall.

It’s fascinating because like most members of Gen-Y, I’m always connected with the platforms of TV, the internet and mobile. In any situation, we’re most likely on one of the three. And when it comes right down to it, I can hardly recall a time when a friend wasn’t more influential than an ad. If you want my opinion, you should hire Gen-Y to reach Gen-Y.

Nothing stands out more on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, well in any circumstance, than a personal touch. Amidst all the clutter and noise, you have no choice but to eventually become personal in your relationships. Whether you like it or not, you’ll have to make that effort. It’s never good to assume anything, but just like everyone assumes the internet provides the answers to everything, everyone also assumes that everyone else is “social”. And this is slowly catching on with in the world of apps. “How come they don’t have an app?!”

So if you’re waiting to be found by Gen-Y, there’s a really good chance you’ll slip through the cracks. It’s not about presence. It’s about engagement. With everything we have technologically available, we actually know about everything before it comes out. And we’ve already made our decision before you’ve even began advertising to us. And we’ve made our decisions known to everyone around us. It’s an interesting cycle and endless cycle.

I’m not the doom and gloom type nor am I suggesting Gen-Y is unreachable. In fact, this is probably greatest moment in time when you can actually reach who ever you like. And it’s not an issue of great content. Great content has always existed. You just have to jump into a Gen-Y frame-of-mind. You have to be interesting, different and use what we use. You have to come looking for us.

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7 Quick Ways To Think Like A Millennial

Written on September 10, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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It’s always fascinating to watch companies, products and brands trying to target Millennials. Yes, we YouTube, Facebook, text, share and connect, but just because we do it shouldn’t suggest that if you do it we’ll necessarily tag along. Just like you shouldn’t assume that if we “like” a Facebook page, it gives you permission to go beyond that and clutter our news feeds. If we wanted all that clutter, we would’ve asked for it.

With all that being said, many miss the target when going after Millennials. Simply, it’s because they’re not talking, thinking or acting like Millennials. Here are 7 quick ways to get you thinking like a Millennial. I’ll admit, they’re a little broad. But be creative. Be open-minded.

If it’s slower than a text message, it’s too slow.
We’re highly optimistic, seemingly regardless of the situation. Don’t deceive us, but do give us something to be optimistic about.
We sleep with our smart phones. We eat with our smart phones. We go to the washroom with our smart phones. Well, you get the point.
There’s some great and cool technology out there. Use it.
Chances are we’re doing more than one thing at a time. So why do you market and advertise to us like we’re only do one thing at a time.
Any situation we’re in could possibly warrant us to tell someone else about it. Give us something good to talk about. And don’t worry, we’ll make sure to tell everyone about the bad.
Don’t interrupt our daily processes. It would be the equivalent of us interrupting you while you’re speaking. It’s, well, rude. But hold on a sec, I have to send this message…

Targeting the Millennial market is by no means an easy one. Will every suggestion we give ever really be taken into consideration and put forward? I doubt it. But if you’re smart about it, there are a series of clever and non-traditional ways that can be used, aside from the over-emphasis on social media marketing along with other obvious and quickly drawn conclusions. Effort is definitely being wasted in many area’s and missed in others. Though these 7 points don’t necessarily represent all that there is to know about Millennials, but they most certainly give you something to work with. Just remember, think like a Millennial. It’s easy, isn’t it?

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It’s Not Just About Privacy, Millennials Want Trust

Written on September 2, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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Historically, information has been used to keep records of citizens, patrons, customers, employees and more. As the times evolved, this information was used to maximize opportunity, improve experiences and simply, use the information to gain any advantage possible. But as everything else evolved, methods of gathering information followed suit.

Collecting information seems like a harmless act. We’ve decided to give it to them, so they have the absolute ability and authority to use it. It’s been in the small print since the earliest days of the internet amongst other technological innovations over the last two decades. And we’ve accepted most of it without question. Even disregarding George Orwell’s concerns from 70 years earlier.

Knowingly and unknowingly, we’ve given up privacy over the years simply by surfing the web. What’s fascinating with this is the growth of social networking sites and our understanding that we’re giving up privacy for the sake of it’s use. 85% of Millennials understand that by participating in social media, they’re giving up part of their privacy. Further, 81% said their social profiles are but only a snapshot of who they really are.

Seems like a perfect trade off, doesn’t it? Alright, so we’ve all signed the “deal with the devil”, since we want to use it but we’re not saying everything about ourselves. And many Millennials have accepted this. Even with mass privacy concerns in the social media environment, users have hardly been deterred from it as a result of privacy concerns. And Facebook would be the perfect example of this. How many Millennials, how many of you have stopped using it because of its extreme privacy issues? Not many. Nothing notable to talk about out of it’s 500 million plus users.

Of course we understand, especially with social media, what we put up will be viewed by others, even by those on the back-end. It’s often been said that our lack-of-concern has made many Millennials unwary of the impact our incredible online use can have for each Millennial’s personal image. Trust me, we understand this. Some of us even want to be found.

Millennials are very willing to accept the “terms of use” in everything we sign up for. From the apps on our smart phones to the many sites we frequent, we understand our actions are monitored. Sadly, we accept it for the sake of use. But at the same time, we hope, we trust that the information that is taken from us about us will be used accordingly.

For many of us, the ideas of privacy and trust running synonymously together. However, mistakenly, we often assume one in the same for both ideas. Merriam-Webster defines them as the following:

Privacy (noun): the quality or state of being apart from company or observation. Freedom from unauthorized intrusion.

Trust (noun) – assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something. One in which confidence is placed.

There clearly is two defining distinctions. And though the notions of privacy and trust do run hand it hand, Millennials belief in trading a little privacy does not coincide with them trusting the same environments.

Of those aged 18-29 years olds, 79% “never” trust social networking sites or only trust them “some of the time”. And even though Millennials are highest amongst all users who alter their privacy settings to be more private, there’s an unmistakeable want for a sense of trust of their privacy. We want control of what we put online. And we don’t want our permissions to be dragged in to other unknown areas. But then again it’s easier for everyone to be “tricked” into participating in something unknowingly, since many users, customers, people never “opt-out” of anything. Imagine how useless things would be if you had to “opt-in”. No one would.

A distorted understanding of users-based permissions, of which are in the small print, will cause a negative-trend amongst all users. 70% of all consumers who “liked” a Facebook fan page feel they didn’t give that company permission to market to them. Getting permission from Millennials is imperative. The worst thing you can do is spam a Millennial. It’s not only useless, but it gives us something to hold against you. And trust, we’ll remember. And tweet about it. And start a Facebook page about it. It’s not good for company PR. Since 44% of us have used social media to both rant and rave about brands, companies and products. How about giving us something to “rave” about instead.

What’s interesting about all this, it’s having profound effects on Millennials in the offline world. Millennials trust offline marketing pitches 3 to 1 more than those online. Makes you wonder why there is such an emphasis in online and social media marketing if we don’t trust you. Even though we’re willing to give up some of our privacy, we’re not willing to give up our trust.

The result of this has created Facebook spin-offs like CollegeOnly, where only those in actual colleges are allowed to be users on the site. Investors are not even granted user access. Talk about privacy, trust and a Millennial orientated social networking site.

It seems that even though we’ve given up levels of our privacy, any distrust in our relationship will cause Millennials to react. As issues of privacy have become a growing case, especially with the likes of Facebook – pun intended – Millennials will ultimately not trust the online world or even social media for that matter. So what does this mean to you? It means that you shouldn’t betray us. We’ve given you our privacy but we won’t as willingly hand you our trust. That’s something you will have to earn.

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Media and the Millennials: An Eccentric Relationship

Written on August 16, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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It’s hard to miss the media explosion that’s occurring. What was once a seemingly simple paradigm of television, radio, newspapers, magazines and the internet has branched out into a plethora of varying extensions. From mobile devices and apps, tablets and pads, laptops and netbooks to DVR, on-demand videos and online streaming, pay-per-click online reading, social media and much more, the segmentation and expansion of media is truly extraordinary. A setting Millennials absolutely thrive-in and one you’ll have to wait until the end of this article to understand why.

Traditional Media

The family sitting around the radio is a distant thought. Knowing that at one time the whole country would be crouched around the same few television channels is even hard to conceive. Even the almighty print-press has fallen victim to changing times. Sadly, few of us young ones can recall the time and sounds of dial-up internet and the hours we spent on it doing the simplest of things.

It would be foolish to suggest that times aren’t changing. But this doesn’t necessarily imply it’s for the worse. It implies that, well simply, things are different. A different set of situations and circumstances. With the ongoing segmentation and expansion of media, media itself seems to be on steroids – and it’s nothing short of getting it’s own congressional hearing.

But what does this mean to everyone? What does all this “media” deliver? It ultimately depends on what side of the table you’re sitting on. And let’s be honest about it, it concerns those who deliver it and those who use it. But who will ultimately benefit from it in the end? The brands, marketers and advertisers or the people – the consumers, the customers, the Millennials? Those who now have an exuberance of media outlets to keep them occupied or those who can reach you by any means?

Perceptions and Misconceptions of Media

The introduction of the internet forever changed and shaped today’s world. You could find anything and reach anybody. The amount of information online is inconceivable. It’s almost as if the world was handed a golden-egg. And then that egg began to chip, becoming less golden as time wore on.

Even though the internet has advanced, improved a thousand times over and provided ingredients for opportunity and success a-like, it has become quite a dilemma. Especially once you include all aspects of social media into that mix. The dilemma simply begins by understanding that media itself is not social. Media is a medium in which something is communicated. Inherently, a medium which is not innately social. The idea of social media is in essence oxymoronic.

Social media itself is a strategy and one that is continually mistaken for ideas of social engagement. Equally, this strategy is one based on traditional understandings of the marketing and advertising worlds. That is why so many perceived social media strategies fall short. They follow a medium that isn’t social nor is it engaging. And you shouldn’t be deceived either. Social media takes more effort than many are willingly to admit or even provide. It has to go far beyond the bandwagon and notions of “if everyone else is doing it..”.

The effort needed even grows further when you begin to breakdown all the media available. Media segmentation is occurring at a drastic pace. As media outlets are trying to satisfy the wants of everyone, we begin to see a vast and growing network of customization, specialization and specification. The problem here is that while we’re slowly localizing everyone and understanding that location, the efforts of business have to grow at this same pace in order to match these growing segments. This is an emerging time where we will see more marketing and advertising dollars spent than those of previous years, while garnering less in return.

Millennials’ Media Use

A time where media was a series general outlets is gone. As time goes on, sub-groups begin to emerge and grow. Now there are sub-groups of those sub-groups. Covering everyone with one blanket is hardly possible anymore. And it’s something many customers, especially those young and tech-savvy Millennials, are taking a liking to.

Due to the environment Millennials are growing in and the characteristics they exemplify, they themselves will be something of a quagmire in reaching. What’s interesting here is the idea that they’re actually doing more with more. Watching television while on the laptop is becoming natural. They could even be watching it on the laptop and while doing something else at the same time. Throw in mobile phones and all other aspects of the internet and you have a generation that is not necessarily avoiding advertisements because they want to but because so much more can be done at that time in between.

Advertising is losing it’s touch, and fast. 20 years ago, you really had no alternative. You either waited through the commercial or read through it in the paper. Today, the users, viewers, the customers, the people, the Millennials control what they will and won’t wait through. Again, it’s not because Millennials hate advertisements. We highly customize, specialize and segment our environments to such a degree that it’s become extremely effective and efficient for us. Ads become a time constraint and one we turn away from to do something else.

And it doesn’t have anything to do with Millennials being attention deficit or being “programmed” in a way where they need new stimuli in short periods of time. Millennials are master mulit-taskers. And every second counts. From chats, to tweets, to online videos, BBM, texts, calls, emails, streaming music, status updates, prime television and more, we just like to do more with more.

We Want [Social] Engagement, Not [Social] Media

The more we do, the more we sub-categorize ourselves. We don’t share a whole video, we share a specific part of it. We don’t look at everything in our Facebook and Twitter feeds, we look at segments of it. We customize our lives. We control what we want and we control when we want it. It’s not because we have to, it’s because we can.

Media is no stranger to the Millennials. They are constantly engulfed in it. However, understanding the issues and characteristics mentioned above is truly necessary. As media grows in size and variation, there will naturally be increasing divides. Not only will these divides be problematic for brands, marketers and advertisers, they will at the same time provide Millennials with the control of what they want to be a part of.

The Millennial thought-process will in turn be one that is highly focused on customization and specialization, growing distinctly specific and segmented sub-groups. Ultimately, you will try to get their attention. Just keep in mind that when you try to, media itself is a medium for communication. Engagement is truly what you are looking for.

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Your Brand Has A Facebook, Twitter and Blog Page. So What?

Written on June 21, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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You have a Facebook, Twitter and blog page along with banners, ads and click-able links. Like everyone else, you know that social media is a relatively new player in the marketing and advertising game. It’s there and you’re going to use it. Why wouldn’t you? The audience is literally hundreds of millions of people. And with all this in mind, you’ve got your message and your content. You have it ready at all necessary access points. It looks good and sounds great. My question to you is: so what?

So What?

It’s a question that I don’t think is asked all that much. And it’s a question that everyone should be asking, considering the avenues of reaching people have opened up drastically in the last year or two. And even though the scene is changing, many aspects of marketing and advertising seem to have stayed the same. Except now, you have the fan page, the twitter followers, promoted tweets and trends along with all aspects of the blogospshere. There’s some definite and powerful uses for all this but what does that mean for you and what does that mean for me.

In its simplest form, it’s about exposure and the “everyone else is doing it so we should do it too” phenomena. But what does it really mean for your product or brand to be part of the social media revolution. In my mind (a Millennial mind), the few success stories are obvious, since we always talk about them and try to duplicate those efforts. Even then, what savvy individuals such as ourselves consider “successful”, it wouldn’t be all that obvious to everyone else, especially to those that make up Gen-Y. In all seriousness, what does all this mean for the customer, consumer, product and brand?

What Does This Mean For You and Me?

When it comes down to products and brands becoming “social”, many brands and products are way off the mark. What they “want” to do and what they “actually” do represents two different things. By no means am I saying this is an easy agenda. But often I wonder why some even bother to dip into the social media realm (there’s fan pages for certain products that wouldn’t give you much else than the number of people that might actually “like” it along with some interesting comments). With that, I also wonder what is considered important and what is considered to be a success after all these efforts.

With this in mind, over the last few weeks there’s been some discussion, in what’s an ongoing discussion, on the value of Facebook Fans. The article, by Retailer Daily, summarized a series of articles all drawing a similar conclusion: fans are more valuable than non-fans. Their supposed “fan worth” is higher along with greater use and influence amongst other people. But isn’t this an almost obvious conclusion. A person who is a fan of football, in a pre-Facebook world, would be more valuable to football than someone who isn’t a fan. So yes as the article says, fans are more valuable than non-fans. But again, I ask what does this mean?

The Coca-Cola Example

As of today, the Coca-Cola fan page is at 5,834,763 “likes”. The article mentioned above puts the average fan worth at about $137.84 for a Coca-Cola fan. And after I wipe the dust off my math skills and multiply the two numbers together, I get a number of $804,263,731.92. When you see a number like that, how can you not ask “what does this mean?”. Based on the average worth of a Coca-Cola fan, the Coca-Cola fan-page should technically be worth just over eight hundred million dollars. Even though admittedly this is based on crude numbers, its fan worth is definitely not representative of the same realistic value.

Alright, so now if I “like” Coca-Cola will I get $137.84? No. Will I get any kind of offer? I can’t say. At one point in time, I started a minor “like” phase. I “liked” 20 random things and then I stopped “liking” anything. Though I will admit that the last thing I did “like” was in large part to the value of “liking” it, so you possible could get something from Coca-Cola. But I wouldn’t know. And even with 5,834,763 fans out of 400 million Facebook users, Coca-Cola’s fan base on Facebook would only represent 0.0146% of all Facebook users. This “success” and/or “failure” can be multifaceted and take on different forms of its own.

What Does All This Mean To Millennials?

If you have some mixed reactions, that’s perfectly fine. It’s a lot of information to take in at once. And if you gave all that for someone to interpret and present, it definitely wouldn’t be done easily. It’s no wonder why getting users to catch on isn’t an easy proposition either. With the emergence of promoted trends on Twitter, “Toy Story 3” being the first I’ve noticed, and the “likes” spreading like wildfire throughout the web, using social media in a traditional marketing and advertising manner won’t necessarily get you the attention that the Millennials are offering.

I say offering due to the fact that a significant majority of the Millennial demographic is already socially online and they spend a lot of time online. You can find those numbers anywhere. And as receptive as we are to different forms of advertising, you might have to do something a little “extra” to really get our attention and keep that attention. Simply making a few different pages on the web will get you some results, but it won’t get you the greater results that are more than possible.

With that, I can most certainly think of a few ideas that would get you real value from your social media effort. So it surprises me that much of the social media effort is not actually investing into itself in order to get the return. It’s a case of making things more difficult than they should be. So if you have a Facebook, Twitter and blog page, remember that it’s about the value you give us, beyond the product and brand. It’s fascinating to see that “fans” are mathematically worth something. What would be more fascinating to see is the worth Millennials give to a product or brand. Maybe that’s the real question we should be asking. Maybe that’s where the real answers lie.