As the number of online communities grows, marketers not there yet may be temped to rush into the fray. Be careful. A headlong approach instead of a well-planned strategy can be “disastrous,” warns Dave Hersh, CEO of Jive Software. Why? A rushed approach can lead to piecemeal, siloed communities that have no integration points. Yes, a company may want to have several communities – for example, for support, feedback, affinity, developers, etc. – that have different goals, but ultimately, those communities should be linked though a holistic strategy (and probably a bit of technology…).

Imagine the potential insight from a set of connected communities that potentially link to an organization’s CRM system as well. Many of today’s online communities are about innovation, Hersh says. The potential for innovation could grow exponentially from a bit of integration.

Continue reading "The Social Side of Productivity" »

Posted by Ginger Conlon at 6:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Most people who are familiar with the term "avatar" know what one is from Second Life or video games. Most require a human to make them move, talk, and interact with others in real time, but not all avatars are representations of actual people. In today's issue of The Marketing Xfactor, we write about Gonzaga University's community ambassador avatar, Spike. Spike has an intimate knowledge of Gonzaga's Web site and internal database, and he can answer visitors' questions by speaking and typing to them, or by directing them to a page within Gonzaga.edu.

What do you think of avatars being used for customer service? Are they a valuable extension of a brand online? After interacting with Spike, what do you think of him?

Posted by Jeremy Nedelka at 7:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When Katherine Lee, the 33-year-old red-haired, blue-eye beauty, beat out 82 other Delta flight attendants to star in the airline's new safety video that will be shown on all aircraft next month, she probably didn't realize that she'd become an instant star. And Delta, maybe inadvertently, got itself a vibrant viral marketing campaign as a result.

But that's exactly what has happened since Delta posted the new video on its blog in February. Delta asked passengers to watch the video and "tell us what you think." and they did!

Continue reading "The Star of Delta’s Safety Video Creates Viral Marketing Craze" »

Posted by Mila D'Antonio at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Widget-based viral marketing campaigns are still working on monetization and measuring success, but it’s hard to argue with what RockYou! has done in this space. The San Mateo, CA-based publisher and developer of applications and other social network services is the most successful widget maker for the Facebook platform in terms of total installations.

Now developing widgets for MySpace and Bebo, RockYou! hit something of a motherlode last fall with Sony Pictures' branded RockYou/Facebook game, "Zombies," which featured Resident Evil: Extinction as the theme of a contest within the game. "Zombies" allowed Facebook players to build an army by virtually "biting" their "chump" friends and converting them into zombie slaves. Through RockYou, Sony instantly put its message in front of “Zombies” players, anticipating only 10,000 participants—but actually reaching a million contestants.

Continue reading "Night of the Living Viral Applications" »

Posted by Kevin Zimmerman at 8:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Have you ever had your personal information compromised? Most likely no, but the odds grow higher every day. Most of the time it's due to employee error -- a laptop gets left in a car and gets stolen, or personal information inadvertently gets posted to the Internet. From the company perspective, these mistakes can be prevented by teaching employees to think about customer trust.

Continue reading "Trust Breeds Privacy Protection" »

Posted by Elizabeth Glagowski at 9:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Many companies have been using inserts in direct mail pieces for years. It may be time to consider using “onserts” instead, according to Sandra Zoratti. (She defines onserts as ad or offers printed directly on a bill or account statement, otherwise known as transpromo.)

Of course she would say that, you say. Zoratti is vice president of strategic development and transformation for InfoPrint—so it’s her job to evangelize transpromo, i.e. the marriage of transactional and promotional documents.

But wait, Zoratti has data to back up her assertions.

Continue reading "The Other Direct Mail" »

Posted by Ginger Conlon at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I’ve been shopping at Amazon.com for years. I have an Amazon rewards credit card, I send gift certificates as birthday and Christmas gifts, and I’ve placed over two dozen orders in the last year. I’ve always enjoyed great service, fast shipping, and overall an excellent experience buying from the company. For the first time yesterday, I was actually frustrated with Amazon. The reason why might surprise you, since nothing about Amazon or their great customer service suddenly changed.

Continue reading "Maybe the Service is Too Good" »

Posted by Jeremy Nedelka at 7:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

While the Feds are busy cutting interest rates and deficit spending to quell the current recession (or mild downturn, depending on who you ask)—companies may feel the pressure to start cutting valuable programs such as marketing or customer service, at the detriment to customers. These areas should remain in tact in the coming months because they will not only help companies weather the mounting storm, but will give them the edge they need to emerge on top.

Here are a few suggestions for surviving the recession.

Continue reading "Getting an Edge in a Recession" »

Posted by Mila D'Antonio at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

With 74 percent of Americans thinking the economy is in a recession, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released yesterday, and Bear Stearns recently finding out just how bearish the market has become, any company that wasn't already seriously reassessing its strategy is doubtless doing so today. Not everyone's running up the white flag, however, as I found out at last week's Digital Hollywood Media Summit.

CBS Corporation president/CEO Les Moonves wasn't talking bears in the Summit's March 13 opening session. In fact, he was talking bulls, saying that advertisers focusing on 18-to-34-year-old upscale viewers are targeting "a bull[bleep] category."

"There are no upscale 18- to 34-year olds -- except my children," Moonves averred. "And they have to ask me for money."

Continue reading "Which Way to Turn?" »

Posted by Kevin Zimmerman at 9:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Back in 2001 I flew to London for vacation. I left my wallet on the counter at the newsstand in Heathrow Airport, and didn't realize it until I was back at Newark airport. I figured it was lost forever, but I called Virgin Atlantic anyway to see if there was anything they could do. Within 24 hours the airline staff had retrieved the wallet from the Heathrow Lost & Found (with all the cash still in it), gave it to a flight attendant to hold on the next flight to the States, and had a Virgin Atlantic employee drive up to my house in Connecticut to return it. Talk about going the extra (thousand) miles for a customer.

Continue reading "What Makes or Breaks Airline Loyalty?" »

Posted by Elizabeth Glagowski at 9:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

I just left Istanbul, after spending two days in that engaging, tumultuous, thriving city. Peppers & Rogers Group’s largest and most successful consulting operation is based in Turkey, and I was there to meet the CEO for one of our larger clients, address his senior staff, and talk to the press. The night before the event, around an outdoor fire on the terrace of a beautiful restaurant overlooking the Bosporus, I chatted with the dozen or so consultants on the PRG team assigned to this client, and we began discussing some of the cultural differences that change how 1to1 marketing is viewed or implemented in different countries.

Continue reading "1to1 Marketing: From Local to Global" »

Posted by Don Peppers at 9:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I’m doing a presentation next week for Gartner’s CRM conference in London on the incompatibility of innovation and operations. That is, the characteristics that make for a highly innovative company – experimentation, trial and error, creativity, diversity of opinions and resilience – are fundamentally at odds with the characteristics of a company that is capable of conducting its operations in a highly efficient manner – fixed routines, process invariability, and attention to detail.

Continue reading "Culture Rules!" »

Posted by Don Peppers at 8:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

The CEO of LifeLock guarantees that his company will protect consumer’s identities. He’s so sure that he gives out his own social security number on radio ads promoting the company’s monthly service to protect its customers from identity thieves who seek to steal their personal information and ruin their credit. How can he be so sure LifeLock can protect its customers? It uses several controversial methods to ensure its harder for thieves to get hold of personal information, and credit information provider Experian isn’t too happy about it. The company has filed suit against LifeLock for what it alleges are illegal practices that will ultimately hurt Experian’s customers.

Continue reading "Going Too Far for Customers?" »

Posted by Jeremy Nedelka at 1:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Most consumer brands are still struggling with social media and Web 2.0 technology when it comes to customer engagement and building relationships, so what chance does the B2B industry, which typically lags behind its B2C counterpart? It turns out many B2B companies are adapting to social media and starting to grasp how it can help in their market as well. In today’s Marketing Xfactor lead story we discuss the state of B2B as it relates to social media, and how the industry will embrace the new technology over the next year.

Continue reading "Social Media Finally Making its way to B2B?" »

Posted by Jeremy Nedelka at 7:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It seems like marketers these days are taking liberties with a data collection method called Voice of the Customer (VOC). While born out of the quality movement in the 80s to improve product development, the process only recently has caught the attention of sales and marketing for data collection methods.

But companies today seem to use the term to refer to almost any type of market research—and it’s a bit of stretch.

Continue reading "Setting the Record Straight on Voice of the Customer" »

Posted by Mila D'Antonio at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We here at 1to1 find ourselves regularly trading stories about customer service. Or the lack thereof. Whether it's how an online store mangled a Christmas order, or how rude and unhelpful a Best Buy manager was when a couple of my colleagues had the gall to ask for a rain check on an advertised deal, we're constantly shaking our heads at how often even the simplest tenets of customer service seem beyond the grasp of so many.

But even we were awestruck when it came to our attention that by phoning up a toll-free Verizon customer service line, people seeking a rebate were instead being routed to a phone sex line.

Continue reading "Customer Service Gone Wild!" »

Posted by Kevin Zimmerman at 8:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This year's presidential election will be largely influenced by the online activity of its supporters. In terms of individual participation, email, social networks, and online polls are the most common ways supporters are communicating about a candidate, according to the JupiterResearch report, Political Communication: Mobilizing Online Voters. Like with any customer strategy, the goal is to engender trust and provide a two-way dialog that provides value for all. McCain, Obama, and Clinton are all working online to create such a community.

Continue reading "The Making of a Cyber-President" »

Posted by Elizabeth Glagowski at 9:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Or should I say, some things just don’t change, as baffling as it may be to some of us who do.

One of our readers, and a prolific blogger, Eric Karjaluoto, recently pointed me to two of his posts that coincidently have a common thread: bad habits die hard. One talked about his buying experience with an unscrupulous and unfortunately old-time-stereotypical car dealer—the point of the post, "Blogs Can Kill Brands," was actually about the impact blogging can have on a brand. The other, "The Inversion of Advertising," examined the time warp some ad agency execs seem to be stuck in. One exec still equates “interactive” with banner ads and nothing more, Eric said in his post. Hello? This is 2008, Web 2.0, and all that. Both posts are worth a read, as are the many responses to each.

As if those two stories weren’t enough,

Continue reading "Everything Old Is New Again" »

Posted by Ginger Conlon at 11:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Last month specialty retailer Brookstone made a play for its competitors’ customers. It didn’t try to lure them away with lower prices, or create a loyalty program; it didn’t have to.

Continue reading "Adopting Orphaned Customers" »

Posted by Jeremy Nedelka at 1:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Couple of days ago in The New York Times (Monday, March 13 in the Business section) I saw an article about Wal-Mart’s new blogs, being authored without Wal-Mart’s corporate interference or editorial control, by the actual individual merchandisers at Wal-Mart. These blogs are full of their honest opinions about various items of merchandise, including quality and price value, along with a lot of purely personal observations. Real blogs, by real people, who just happen to be responsible for the products you find on Wal-Mart’s shelves. You can check these blogs out at http://checkoutblog.com/.

Continue reading "Truth in Blogging" »

Posted by Don Peppers at 4:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The success of any business can almost always be traced back to motivated employees. And when an organization is implementing a customer-focused strategy, it’s the employees who will collectively work to make it a success.

Unfortunately, motivating people is far from an exact science. Good managers and executives, however, shouldn’t be intimated to implement new and innovative methods to motivate their culture because they think employees might reject the idea or that the organization won’t be able to support and sustain the strategy in the long-term.

While at The Conference Board last week, I spoke to an executive at a well-known company about the challenge of motivating an enterprise to work toward customer-focused goals. She said her organization was stalled in this area. I gave her an example of how to start out small, telling her how The Ritz-Carlton President and COO Simon Cooper holds mandatory daily lineups with all employees around the globe in which he challenges employees to think of innovative ideas for the company. In those meetings he publicly recognizes employees who have gone above and beyond for a customer, and then reads a Service Value of the Day from the company’s credo cards. This standard practice helps to engrain the organization’s customer-focused values into each employee.

Her response was, “We could never do that at our company. The Ritz-Carlton is a world-class organization.”

I disagree. Any organization—small, mid-size, or large—can instill change in their organizations by adapting and implementing world-class innovations. All it takes is top-down commitment.

Continue reading "You Don't Have to be a World-Class Company to Deliver World-Class Strategies" »

Posted by Mila D'Antonio at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Fortune magazine yesterday published its annual list of the 20 most admired companies, and – surprising very few – Apple topped the list.

The survey, asking over 3,700 people from dozens of industries to select the 10 companies they admire most, ranks firms in such areas as innovation, social responsibility, quality of management, and quality of products/services. “It is a tribute to its CEO that Apple, which ten years ago seemed headed for the slag heap, is No. 1,” the magazine noted.

That Apple is buzzed about and admired by those outside the company isn’t exactly breaking news; 1to1’s forthcoming issue spotlighting Customer Champions finds plenty of non-Apple execs enthusing about how Steve Jobs' firm conducts itself.

What was more interesting, to me anyway, was how some other companies fared.

Continue reading "Is Your Company Admirable?" »

Posted by Kevin Zimmerman at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

"You're getting all emotional." I've heard people say this to others as a negative, but in business, it can be used as a positive. Forget sales stats, balance sheets, and inventory counts. All customers make decisions with their hearts, so the more you can understand their emotional state, the further you can go to build a strong customer relationship.

Continue reading "How to Deal With Emotional Customers" »

Posted by Elizabeth Glagowski at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)