Craig Rentmeester's Blog

Creating Customer Value

A big thing in business is creating customer value. I used to work for a company that used the phrase "customer profit"; the customer leaves feeling as though they got more from the business than the business got from them (product, experience, service vs. money).

Example: Having a "3 Star" hotel that delivers a "4 Star" experience.

This doesn't always have to be monetary though. A customer can also exchange things like time, attention and a referral.

There are plenty of other ways to provide value. It usually deals with expectations versus actual experience.

Here are some tactics where no money can exchange hands but value can be delivered:

Trade Shows
Job Fairs
Sales Presentations
Web sites
Online Press Rooms

PR Insight from the YouTube Debate audience

While reading articles and blogs about the Presidential race and the YouTube debate held on Monday, I came across an interesting blog post by the Washington Post.

Background Info: The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza asked, "Is the media in America "just missing the boat" on the Obama craze?"

There were a few responses to this question posted by the Washington Post. Here is one that I think applies to public relations.

"One thing that the mainstream media always misses: The fact that people can tell a scripted answer from a genuine answer. That's why Barack Obama comes across as the more genuine candidate in these debates. He may not be as polished as say Hillary Clinton, but regular folks can tell what is real and what is scripted."

The Big Deal: When preparing to talk to the media, clients, shareholders, etc. it may be more important to have general responses memorized rather than canned responses. It will show more charisma and competence.

This also applies to answering questions after a presentation. Yes, it is good to predict questions that you may be asked. However, you may want to try to address those in your presentation or have a general theme for the response and come up with the exact language "on the spot". It will add to your organization's, team's or company's credibility.

Marketing, User Experience and the Details

A hot topic in marketing is user experience.

Here is a definition that I found online.

User Experience: The overall experience and satisfaction a user has when using a product or system.

In my opinion, this should also include pre-purchase experience. 

An important thing to remember when creating a user experience is that it has to work with the brand's personality.

Whether it is a brick and mortar store, a product's package or a Web site, consumers have expectations for the look and feel of brands. It's important to consider those expecations when selecting materials, design and tone.

For example, imagine your company is Pella windows and doors. It's likely that your company, Pella in this case, will have a showroom that showcases different lines of windows and doors.

So will every other company that sells windows and doors.

In my opinion, showing someone the mock home setup doesn't create a user experience, unless that same user will get a different experience at a competitor's location.

Another thing to remember in this scenario is that consumers are not just rating window and door companies on the windows and doors in the showroom. Rather, they are rating them on the first windows and doors they see on the building. A negative first impression can be a big obstacle to overcome.

Creating a user experience is especially important with goods that are standardized commodities. Soap. Stain Remover. Toothpaste.  Windows. Doors.

Here are two examples of consumer prdocuts trying to create user experiences via the Web. Shout    OxiClean.
In this case, I would argue that Shout does a better job of creating a user experience. While both do roughly the same thing, Shout's creative stays around and is more interactive than OxiClean's, which functions more like an ad than Shout's approach.

The Big Deal: Create something unique that consumers will associate with only your company, product or service. Do something that not only intrigues the user but engages them.

Podcasting Demographics and Statistics

I was researching information on podcasting today. During the search, I came across some interesting findings dealing with the compositition of podcast users.

Here is a report that was published by Nielsen/Net Ratings earlier this month.
Here is some more demographic data from emarketer, published May 21, 2007.

The Big Deal: It is important to keep an audience in mind when trying to reach people. The messages, tone and depth should always be catered at the primary users.

I'll continue to post these types of resources as I find them.

Actions Speak Louder than Words

When maintaining, or creating, a reputation for a brand (product, company, non-profit, celebrity, etc.) it is important to remember that actions speak louder than words.

It seems that the recent actions of Lindsey Lohan and Adam "Pacman" Jones provide the best examples of this principle. These two, and their PR teams, don't understand that reputation is a combination of both what you say and do, with an emphasis on the latter.

The Big Deal: It is important to establish relstionships, behave correctly in society and build trust. Then, that reputation can be leveraged into new opportunites and cited when a mistake is made. Companies, jobseekers, marketers and public relations specialists should recognize this and incorporate it into their long term strategy.

Who are You Writing For? Algorithms or Customers?

Being listed on the first page of search engines is a major component of many companies online presence. However, some companies will sacrifice the information they post just to remain at the top of search engines.

Write for people. If the content is good enough, people will come, then share the information and the cycle should continue provided the content stays relevant to people seeking it out.

The algorithms are in place to organize information so that is a relevant to a topic, not so that a business can increase their site traffic if using the most popular keywords.

When using the Internet as a communications vehicle, who are you writing for? Machines or People?

What makes Broadcast News Usually Makes Interpersonal News

The biggest challenge for startups, and companies in general, is getting thier ideas to spread without having to spend large amounts of money buying media to do it. In comes word-of-mouth marketing, buzz marketing, viral marketing and every other way to brand this phenomenon that everyone engages in, in one way or another.

Getting people to talk, about a company, is all about concept and differentiation of products, services and ideas.

For example, you wouldn't tell won't tell someone about your utility bills each month. But, when one of those bills doubles, or decreases in half, it becomes much more worthy of conversation.

This is true of both broadcast news and interpersonal news (conversation, e-mail, IM, etc.). Things are worthy of conversation when they are unique, interesting to the messenger, atypical, etc. In other words, not something that has been seen or done many times over.

When is the last time you remarked on laundry detergent to someone? When you did, what part of the buy experience did you talk about? My guess, is that is was not the function that the laundry detergent performs -- getting clothes more clean.

Exceeding people's expectations, through product, price, service or delivery, will put an organization in the best situation to be the subject of a conversation.

By the aforementioned attributes of remarkability I mean:
Price (Lowest price available)
Service (Friendlier, Salesperson walks you to the item, more knowledgable, easy return program)
Product (More Features, Easy to use, synchronizes with other devices, durability)
Delivery (ahead of schedule, product ships directly vs. in-store purchase)

The key is finding attributes for each product or service that other companies aren't offering or, better yet, can't offer. Then, it's easier to find a group of customers to purchase based on those attributes and discuss it amongst their social partners.

Remember though, it works both ways. Not delivering on people's expectations is a great way to ensure people talking as well.

Bad Press can be Bad for Business

In the midst of an SEC investigation about Whole Foods acquisition of Wild Oats, Whole Foods is back on the negative press coverage trail. Here is a link to the latest PR blunder by CEO Jack Mackey.

Summary
John Mackey, Whole Foods Chief Executive, decided to post anonymously on Yahoo! forums. However, rather than just posting about his favorite sports team or hobby, Mackey wrote about a bleak future Wild Oats, Whole Foods primary competitor and the company that his organization is looking acquire. c

This is not the first time Mackey has faltered. As you may remember, I had a brief post that included links to Mackey and Whole Foods lack of well-coordinated actions when dealing with trade media. Here is a link to that post.

The Big Deal: News is reported on action. No bad action. No bad press. No bad reputation.

No coordination of actions and communications signifies incompetence, especially to analysts and investors during an acquisition.

Bad for Business
You may recall that Whole Foods announced its plan to acquire Wild Oats in February of this year. On February 1, 2007, Whole Foods stock was at $45.75 per share. Today, Whole Foods stock is at $40.17.

Things are looking rather "bleak" for Whole Foods, in terms of public relations, right now.

No Response from Spokesperson; Why no Response is Usually the Worst Response

In public relations, and especially crisis communications, many organizations decline to comment or will not return an editor's phone calls. This will appear in broadcast and in print as a side note (The company declined to comment...The company could not be reached for comment).

Businesses sometimes view it as a potential legal threat and/or a situation that could damage their reputation. In addition, businesses do not comment because they think the story will pass by quicker if there is less drama to the story -- two sides with conflicting viewpoints having it out in the media.

These are the correct approaches to take, sometimes. Not always.

The media, analysts and organizations with opposing viewpoints, don't support the business financially -- consumers do. When consumers see organizations that they support, especially the fanatics and ones that urge others to support their beliefs, they are turned off. They want their causes to show they care, because they've invested in the company's stance and beliefs.

The Big Deal: If a company doesn't want to, or can't, respond at the moment, it's better to say something to the effect of, "We're sorting out details and getting the facts as straight as possible. We'll comment once we know more about the situation."

This type of response allows for the follow-up story -- a chance to explain the actions and shows the public what you stand for. The same journalists and editors that inquired initially will feel that you deserve the same attention that was given to the opposing side.

Don't forget to buy Ice

Last week I was at the grocery store. At each of the self checkouts was a small note that said "Don't forget to buy ice". This is great marketing for a few reasons.

1). Place. The ice is not far from the checkout, making it easy to grab a bag while in the checkout line.
2). Price. Ice is cheap, so the decision to purchase doesn't involve much risk.
3). Timing. It is summer time, making ice more necessary than any other time of the year.
4). Feeling. It makes the customer feel like the store is looking out for them rather than gouging them.

The Big Deal: Customers can be sold complementary products rather easily. The key is finding the places and times that they're willing to be upsold. Is it right as they select the HDTV that you can suggest the home theater package or when they're at the cash register with a case of beer that you can sell aspirin?

The Remarkability of Small Business

Small businesses usually have an advantage versus big box retailers, franchises and corporations because they can tell a more personal story.

The Big Deal: The more a consumer knows about a business, the more he or she can talk about that business in their day-to-day conversation.

What resources (literature, people, forums, events) do you have available for a customer that wants to be an evangelist for your organization?

Future Internet Adoption Rates

Today, I decided to do some research into what the Earth's Internet user makeup will be in the future.
Here is an article I read on Clickz that was posted a few weeks back (June 26, 2007). Below are some highlights from the article. (statistics in the article were provided by JupiterResearch).

The Highlights:
Right now, 1.1 billion people have regular access to the Internet. By 2011, 1.5 billion people will have regular access to the web.
China and India will grow the most in terms of Internet adoption rates by 2011.
17 percent of China will be online in 2011.
7 percent of India will be online in 2011.
22 percent of the Earth will surf the web regularly in 2011.
42 percent of the Earth's Internet users will be located in Asia in 2011.

What these statistics suggest is that now is the time to invest in Internet-based companies that can market products in these growing markets. E-commerce will be slower to adopt than general internet surfing. But, if a company can establish a brand and work out any service errors before the market truly comes, they'll be positioned perfectly to take off when the large growth occurs.

The thing to remember, especially with China and India, is that wealth is not distributed equally. Also,  just because there is a huge number of people, doesn't mean there is a huge market for your product.
That being said, it's likely that the first people using the Internet in those countries will be from a wealthier class, with more education and more purchasing power than their fellow countrymen and women.

The Environmental Wave (Part Two)

I was reading a great article by Thomas Friedman, columnist for The New York Times, yesterday. Here is a link to the article that is publicly accessible through the International Herald Tribune.

The point of the article is that people want to "Go Green", but without pain or sacrifice. I think Friedman has a great point.

Right now, awareness has been raised for global warming, a.k.a. global climate change.  However, awareness isn't enough. Awareness won't solve the problem; action is what is needed. Not just from citizens, but from governments and corporations.

The question for marketers is how can they position their companies as being eco-friendly even if senior management doesn't see direct benefit from doing so. Or, if the company doesn't have a plan to convert their efforts in sales and profits, how can this idea still be realized?

I did some brainstorming and came up with a few easy things any office can implement today. These items can save companies money and create a connection with environmentally conscious consumers. The monetary and environmental benefits are listed in parentheses after each item.

1). Install compact flourescent light bulbs in every fixture possible. ($20 per light bulb per year. 100 lbs. of carbon  dioxide per year).
2). Buy post-consumer recycled paper. ($0.80 per ream. 5 lbs. of carbon dioxide per ream).
3). "Carpool to Work Day" once a month. (400 pounds of Carbon Dioxide per year per pair of employees...$ depends on the car model).

The statistics provided above are from StopGlobalWarming.org.
* An interesting thing to note is that Simple, an eco-friendly shoe, sandal and bag manufacturer, produces a sandal called the Toepeeka. For each pair of these sandals sold, Simple donates $5.00 to  StopGlobalWarming.org.

The above items require, as Freidman would put it, no pain or sacrifice.

The Environmental Wave

In case you haven't noticed, the latest marketing trend is Green. By green, I mean environmental responsibility. Companies are looking to tap into people's desires for a cleaner environment by promising them some form of positive action, usually in the form of a donation to a cause. This concept works hand-in-hand with big business's general increase in social responsbility over the past five to ten years.

But, like a brand, companies should be aware that once they take a position on a social or environmental issue, consumers will want them to show their commitment to that promise year after year.

The latest example of a big company turning this direction is American Express, with its program titled The Members Project. Below is the TV ad spot that I saw with regards to the project by AmEx.

Sony Playstation 3 Price Drop

Sony, after saying it wouldn't just days ago, slashed prices on the PS3 by $100, bringing the 60Gb moel to $499. In August, an 80 Gb model will be available for $599. However, I think that the PS3 will see little movement in sales because of the price drop. I think this for a few reasons.

First, the Nintendo WIi is the mass market video game console these days. It's much cheaper, $250 vs. $500, and allows a gaming experience that excites even non-gamers. Nintendo has been the most popular gaming console in terms of sales since between Januay and May, 2007.

Secondly, PS3 doesn't have the same quality of first-party titles that others consoles do.

Thirdly, it's too little too late; the hardcore gamers have purchased systems and the price is still too high for people that aren't dedicated to gaming.

Here is a link to a great post by Matt Packham of PC World that I read. It disects the video game console, the market and the consequences of buying a PS3, not matter the price.