The above video interview is from the ANA Brand Conference in NYC.
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Brands spend a lot of time and money to acquire new customers, as evidenced by the hundreds of billions of dollars spent each year on print, radio, TV, and billboard advertising. Once a customer is acquired, however, the company pleads poverty. Suddenly, the same company can’t find a quarter to spare in its proverbial pocket to interact with the proud new owner of the company’s product or service. Not much time or money is spent on servicing a newly acquired or lifelong customer.
Companies think of every way possible to spend as little money as possible on customers. Voice XML must have been a god-send for companies with lots of customers (I’m looking at you airline, cell phone and cable industries). Why have customer service reps talk to a confused or frustrated customer for 5 minutes to solve a problem when a soothing robot voice with a British accent can walk the customer through a series of “yes” or “no” answers for 45 minutes. The customer’s time doesn’t cost money. A customer service rep’s time, even at Bangalore wages, does cost money.
But in a world where I can actively rant about my insurance company and its CEO, optimize the article for SEO purposes, tweet it, facebook it and publicly hold up my middle finger to Mark Wagar, CEO Empire BlueCross BlueShield, maybe its time to allocate more of those marketing dollars to servicing current customers. After all, I’ve also produced glowing video product reviews that have been watched thousands of times.
Marketing is no longer a spectator sport…it’s a contact sport. Think Roller Derby. And amidst all this chaos, the opportunities and roles for brands have never been more profound and relevant. Call it customer experience or customer service 2.0. Or flip the words and just call it servicing customers. Either way, we’re talking about a return to not just customer centricity but in fact customer authenticity.
Over the next decade, companies will be held accountable and judged no longer by “what they say”, but in fact “what they do”; no longer by the “promises they make”, but by the “promises they keep”. And in this scenario, marketing’s role will be one of collaboration, partnership and unification.
Bestselling author Joseph Jaffe spoke at the ANA Brand conference in NYC and introduced the true C.O.S.T. of marketing as a service. In his presentation, he outlined the shift from campaigns to commitments to platforms and how social media can play an indelible role in “flipping the funnel” and in doing so, transforming marketing from an uninvited guest to a welcome and invaluable one.
Below is the bow-tie concept he explains in the video above.
