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Snow Job

January 5, 2010 By davidebowman 2 Comments

I heard a great story by Jeff Brady on NPR while on the way home yesterday.  It was about the work of two researchers from Dartmouth who found it odd that ski resorts seemed to report more snowfall than surrounding areas and and steeper increases in snow amounts on weekends.  They also found that resorts close to major population centers exaggerated figures even more.  These scientists were skeptical about this “weekend snow” effect, and started collecting data about it.  Turns out that ski resorts were in fact inflating the snow fall amounts quite a bit, falsely using extra snowflakes as a marketing tactic to get people to come out and hit the slopes.

Michael Berry, President of the National Ski Areas Association, said that ski resorts had often been “optimistic” with their past reports.  However, he went on to say that this practice is quickly dying.  Why?  Two reasons  – the iphone (or any mobile device) and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.  These tools and technologies are rendering snow reports obsolete, as users report conditions to their friends in real time.  The researchers stated that the number of exaggerated snow actually reports dropped off sharply with the release of numerous iphone apps enabling users to document conditions.  Mobile and social technologies are growing fast and empowering people to better understand the world.  Many of the techniques and tactics that “optimistic” marketers could get away with in the past, are now becoming problematic.  If you are not working on building trust as a core part of building your business, you are simply lying to yourself about your future prospects.

Berry had a great quote in the piece – one that transcends skiing.  “If you try and create a reality that you perceive to be the truth, it had better be consistent with the reality on the ground, because the consumer will remind you of it instantly.”

Service truly is the new marketing.  Every consumer is a researcher.  Every customer is a journalist.  Everyone is now what Mike Wallace or Consumer Reports once was – armed with flip cams, iphones, and 24 x 7 communication networks.  People trust the advice of their friends. so work hard to make friends, earn trust, and dazzle your customers.  Real people and their tweets, posts, and updates either represent your next great new ad campaign or a damaging expose on the truth about your company.

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A Great Service Encounter Courtesy of Cincinnati Bell

March 11, 2009 By davidebowman 3 Comments

Cincinnati Bell WirelessCustomer service is marketing.  In fact it is one of the most important elements of marketing.  You may not initially think of it that way.  Many equate marketing to advertising.  I would bet that if you asked most people about Cincinnati Bell’s marketing, they would say “who is Cincinnati Bell?”  Those who actually know  of Cincinnati Bell might likely mention recent ad campaigns featuring Nick Lachey as a either a kind of Santa like pitch man handing out phones or running around town being chased by screaming girls like something from an old Beatles movie because he has wifi enabled on his phone.  Their advertising, like most advertising,  is good, not great.  It is not something that you would feel compelled to remark about.  Their customer service however, is remarkable – hence my post.

A few days ago our Cincinnati Bell Wireless bill arrived in the mail.  Normally, I don’t pay much attention to bills, but it seemed a lot heavier than usual, so I opened it.  It turns out that we went over our allocation of minutes by quite a bit.  The added weight was due all of the extra pages detailing the numerous calls we made last month.  While there were several logical reasons for this anomaly in usage, the bottom line was that our monthly bill had nearly doubled.  AAAGGHHH!

I reviewed the bill with my wife, and it looked as if it checked out.  Yes we had some valid reasons for the extra calls, but we clearly went over our allotted minutes.  It looked like we were going to have to suck it up and pay the higher amount.

I decided that it might be worth making a call to Cincinnati Bell’s customer service line to see if they might be able to help us out.  Based on my experiences with other cell phone providers I was not very optimistic about what was about to happen.  I figured that I would be given the run around, passed to a manager, and told TOO DAMN BAD – but I am a glutton for punishment so I called anyway.

To my pleasant surprise, I was treated to the best customer service I have ever experienced from a mobile phone provider.  My call was quickly answered by a nice young woman named Jennifer.  I explained my situation to her, and that I was clearly at fault.  I said I know that you don’t have to help me, but I was hoping that you might be able to do something.  She could have easily said no, and I would have paid.  Again, I was at fault.  This would have been a satisfactory response.  But because Cincinnati Bell apparently views this as an opportunity to market their services, they did something remarkable.

Jennifer did a little research and informed me that Cincinnati Bell had a new program that would increase my minutes and LOWER my bill.  Because she valued my business, she said that she would apply this plan retroactively – lowering my old bill too!  No hassle.  No passing me to a manager.  I had a problem.  She fixed it and actually improved my situation without me having to ask.  That is great marketing.

I then asked Jennifer to connect me to her manager.  When her manager got on the line I took a minute to compliment Jennifer and the service offered by Cincinnati Bell.  I told her that now I understand why Cincinnati Bell does not require customers to have contract – because they take care of their customers.  I finished the call by informing her that I would be writing a post about the entire experience on my web site and telling everyone I know about how wonderful Cincinnati Bell Wireless is to work with.

So back to Marketing.  The most powerful form of Marketing is Word of Mouth marketing.  By creating a remarkable service experience, one that is so different from the competition, Cincinnati Bell Wireless gave me something to talk about.  I am now spreading the word for them – free of charge and in a way that resonates more than any advertisement.  Bottom line.  If you are shopping for cell phone providers and customer service is important to you, I encourage you to check out Cincinnati Bell Wireless.

Thanks to Jennifer and the Cincinnati Bell Wireless team for fixing my bill and making my night and giving me something to write about.

Cincinnati Bell Customer Support Overview

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2 for 2 on IBW

March 10, 2009 By davidebowman 2 Comments

ibw242How do you generate positive word of mouth?  How about if you decided to give away free stuff that people wanted each and every week.  That is precisely what the smart people at 800ceoread.com do on their site InBubbleWrap.com – one of my favorite sites on the web.

I have mentioned the site on this blog numerous times, as well as on social networks, in conversation, and at just about any opportunity I get to share it with others. For those who don’t know, InBubbleWrap.com gives away free books every week.  These books are some of the best business books ever written, and all that is required is to answer a couple fun questions.  It is truly brilliant.  The site went away for a while, but recently made a triumphant return to the web. I discovered it was back about three weeks ago.  In the time since I have entered in two give aways and have won in both!

Last week my latest prize from InBubbleWrap showed up in the mail – Sam Walton’s Made in America.   I am looking forward to reading it, although I have not yet read the last book I won from them.   The site is doing a great job of motivating me toward my goal of reading more this year.  I need to get busy so that I can keep up.

Why is the site so great?  Well I am an avid reader and now plan to order several books on my wish list from 800ceoread now as opposed to their numerous competitors.  I am not saying that I won’t pick up discounted books at B&N or Borders, but my first stop on the web is now going to be 800ceoread.  Why?  Well, Dr. Cialdini would explain this in terms of the basic principal of reciprocity.  It is why back in the day, Amway reps would give you tons of free samples of their products to try.  It is the same reason religous sects sometimes hand out flowers at the airport, and then ask you for a dollar.  They give value first.  Because they did something nice for me, I now want to return the favor.  I would guess that this principle was probably part of the inspiration for the inbubblewrap site.  Certainly I am not obligated to buy from them, but I just want to support them now by sending them my business – and telling you about them on my site.   Perhaps you will soon be doing the same.

What can your business learn from InBubbleWrap.com ?  For me it reminds me of something Seth Godin so brilliantly said in a recent blog post – Interact first, sell second.

Thanks to Dylan and the IBW Crew for hooking me up yet again!

InBubbleWrap: Made in America

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The Physics of Marketing – Huygens’ Principle

September 26, 2008 By davidebowman 4 Comments

Christiaan Huygens

You would think that if you did something like discover the rings of Saturn, discover Saturn’s largest moon – Titan – and then go on to invent and patent the first pendulum clock, that you would be a household name.  Now assume you not only did all those things, AND also collaborated with Robert Hooke, Isaac Newton, and Rene Descartes during your career.  Pretty impressive resume to say the least.

The person I am describing is 17th century Dutch Physicist Christiaan Huygens.  To say this guy was smart and influential is like saying Jimmy Hendrix was a pretty good guitar player who had a few good songs.   Huygens was a thought leader of his time, with a very impressive body of work.  One of his primary discoveries was that of Huygens’ Principle which predicts the progression of waves.

Huygens stated that “every point on a wavefront acts like a new source of wave energy, with matching frequency and phase.”  Thus when you drop a pebble in water, the wave front each of the ripples that spreads out in a circular expanding fashion represents a new set of waves.  Another example of this is observed when you hear someone in an adjacent room shouting, the sound actually enters the room you are in through the doorway.  So to you the sound, the vibration of air via soundwaves, originates at the doorway.

In Marketing terms this seem to equate nicely to the concept of word of mouth marketing.  Suppose you were to have an awful service encounter with a business, the initial wave would then be created.  If for example, this were in a restaurant where the food was bad, the service poor, and the experience was very disappointing, the initial wave might begin with those seated at your table and others within the restaurant.  If the experience were bad enough, this wave would quickly spread as you left the restaurant and told your friends “Don’t Eat At That Place!  Listen is what happened to us!”

Now all of those friends you told about your experience represent a new source of wave energy, spreading the message outward yet again. God forbid this is not an isolated incident.  In this case, as waves continue to spread and touch consumers, the results to a business are devistating.  Imagine when you told your friends about the bad experience if they responded “you are the 10th person I have heard from who had a bad experience at that restaurant.”   Now think about what happens when you get on the web and voice your complaint to the world.  Your experience is viewed by others, Google picks up on a new trend, and the wave continues onward…

Pete Blackshaw articulates this scenario brilliantly in his book, Satisfied Customers Tell 3 Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000.  He brilliantly describes the importance of word of mouth in a digital age, how to monitor and participate in what is being said, and ultimately why companies need to realize the fact that angry customers can make Tsunami sized waves that can literally destroy a business.

Returning to Huygens, it is imperative to realize that the transaction transcends the immediate and present set of circumstances.  It radiates outward.  No, losing one sale due to poor service might not cripple a business, but the resulting wave that this dissatisfaction generates might – especially if the event is systemic as opposed to an isolated incident.  The interconnected world in which we live makes it nearly impossible to do people wrong and live very long.

Conversely, the little extras that make a customer experience great might not immediately translate into huge profits, but over time, as the waves spread, these differences can create a ripple effect that builds deep customer loyalty and lasting success.

How would you apply Huygens’ Principle to Marketing?  Please share your thougths by leaving a comment.

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The Physics of Marketing – Conservation of Energy

May 3, 2008 By davidebowman 2 Comments

This week’s Physics of Marketing post is about energy. It is clear when someone has energy and more clear when they lack it. Starbuck’s has made a fortune on regularly selling me cups full of energy in the form of caffeine laden black coffee.

Energy takes many forms, and is probably best thought of in terms of change or motion. Both are forms of kinetic energy. Potential energy is less intuitive, but equally important. It is the boulder at the top of the hill, which if nudged would descend with tremendous momentum, crushing anything in its path. While at rest, it is potential energy.

Conservation of Energy means that energy is neither created or destroyed, but rather that it simply is transferred from one form to another. There is a finite amount of energy, but seemingly infinite manifestations of that amount. Energy is the E in Einstein’s famous E=mc2.. Energy is a fundamental part of the universe, and again is neither created nor destroyed.

So, how does the conservation of energy relate to marketing?

Immediately I was drawn to the idea of the interaction between a company and the consumer. The product or service offering of a company is designed to address some unfulfilled need of the consumer. “Wouldn’t it be great if that were bigger, faster, better, cheaper, more, easier, smarter, less, …” You get the gist. The consumer chooses if the need is important enough to act upon, and if so, can choose to seek help from a particular company. This all represents potential energy. The goal of marketing is to convert this into kinetic energy – initially this is a sale. But it does not end there.

If the initial sale goes well, there is a good chance that more of the consumer’s potential energy is converted to kinetic energy. This may take the form of repeat business. If things go exceptionally well, the consumer may choose to actively participate in the conversion process by spreading the word to friends and family. This positive word of mouth can deliver more kinetic energy. This should ultimately result in cash for the company – potential energy. At which point, the company might choose to invest in future innovation – potential energy.

Conversely, if the sale goes poorly, the conversion of energy from potential to kinetic follows a different path. If the experience is mediocre, most of the potential energy will likely remain unconverted, or will be converted by another provider. The consumer goes away, and the transaction is a one-time experience. If things go very poorly, large amounts of potential energy will be converted – this time to the detriment of the company. An angry consumer in the digital age can spread negative word of mouth far, wide, and fast. In instances where others share a similar negative experience, the result for the company can be devastating. . Consumers will move to competitors, and the company will struggle to survive.
According to Abraham Maslow, all people have needs. These needs constantly change form but always remain present. Thus energy is always present in the marketplace. Marketing seeks out potential energy. Great marketing maximizes its conversion to kinetic energy, and then back to potential energy again.

What do you think? Draw your analogy between Conservation of Energy and Marketing. Join the conversation and leave your comments.

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