CHAPTER 1
WHAT IS MARKETINGâS GOAL?
Relationships. The goal of all organizations is a better relationship with their constituents.
We (marketers) are all looking for long-term, mutually beneficial relationships. We want relationships in which our constituents overlook our minor imperfections, appreciate our subtle differences, and commit to us as much as we do to them. Sounds sort of like the ideal spouse, right?
It is impossible to do a better job explaining how we should view our marketing relationships than Seth Godin did in his amazing book Permission Marketing (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999). With all due respect, Iâll paraphrase him: As marketers, we usually donât approach our customers like we would approach a potential spouse, do we? No, weâre more like a drunken frat boy at his first freshman mixer. Most marketers approach customers and prospects more intent on the one-night stand than the long-term relationship. We know itâs wrong ⌠but we do it anyway.
A lot of good things happen when you build better relationships. People tend to stay around longer, they become more engaged, and they tell their friends about the great relationship that theyâre in.
Want to argue this simple premise? Do you think marketingâs goal should be customer acquisition? Higher sales? Lower turnover? Successful campaigns to sell more widgets?
Guess what? If you focus on the relationship, all of those good things will happen.
The funny thing is that relationship marketing has more traditional roots than many of us care to admit. Itâs mass marketing that is the recent corrupter.
In a letter from Rory Sutherland, vice chairman and creative director of OgilvyOne, he states: âIt is the intervening age of broadcast, interruption-based communication that is out of step with todayâs consumer controlled media world, and it is the people whoâve grown up in that world who find themselves most wrong-footed.â
Excellent point. Our grandfathers knew the value of relationship marketing, whether it was door-to-door selling or acting like Sam (the butcher) from the Brady Bunch. Take the time to get to know your customers as individuals. Pay attention to them. Talk to them like human beings (and show them you are a human being rather than an institution).
We know that these tactics work because each and every one of us is also a consumer. Who doesnât appreciate being called by name or having the right drink put in front of him or her without having to ask? We all want to be recognized and appreciated for our contribution and the value we are bringing to the relationship.
But mass marketing is so ingrained in our practices, despite having the most revolutionary tools ever available to us, we still measure success around analytics that should be tertiary at best (i.e., impressions, visitors, opens).
Like any addict, we as marketers need to take a step back and analyze our behavior. The goal isnât based on âhits,â is it? The goal needs to be something that really drives your business. The goal is to build long-term relationships (Lifetime Value).
At this point, you really have no choice but to change your ways. You can keep blasting away, hoping that if you yell loud enough, a few people will actually pay attention. The problem is that itâs getting harder and harder to yell and be heard. The audience is gaining more control; consumers have the upper hand in the relationship. They have multiple choices for almost every product, service, nonprofit, religious institution, and more. Why should they choose you? Lower prices? Better location? A higher level of service? Maybe you can establish those as real differentiators, but how long until a similar product or a lower price or a better-located competitor comes along?
As your constituents gain more control, they are turning away from mass marketing tactics and learning to ignore them. Instead, theyâre talking to each other; going to social networking sites, emailing their friendsâyou know, good old-fashioned word-of-mouth.
Whatâs really funny to me is the fact that when you talk to organizations about what makes them different (worthy, if you will), this answer always lands somewhere in the top three: our people.
So why do you hide your people behind the facade of a brand or an institution? At the end of the day, people associate themselves with other people that they like. Your constituents want to like you and have a relationship with you.
As a marketer who focused on people, you wouldnât run âcampaigns.â You would build better relationships. You would treat every conversation as if it were critical to the future of the relationship. You would try not to do anything stupid and would be quick to apologize and make it right if you did.
Valentineâs Day should be the national holiday for all marketers. After all, as marketers, our job is centered on playing the cupid between our organizations and our constituents. You want your constituents to love you, right?
This special time of year gives us all an opportunity to reflect and focus on what is really important in our (marketing) lives. So, in the spirit of the season, I offer the following five ways to bring love to your constituents:
- 1. Make them feel special. People donât fall in love with people who make them feel ordinary. We all want to hear things that make us feel original and unique. This goes beyond calling your constituents by the right name and extends to everything you can find out about them.
If youâre serious about a relationship, you weave your significant otherâs likes into your conversations. If he loves football, you would try to learn something about the game. If she likes fine wine, you would take her to a great restaurant and show off your vast knowledge. The same goes for your constituents. - 2. Be human. People donât fall in love with institutions, and they are not inclined to fall in love with a brand (Apple and Starbucks excluded, perhaps). Your chance of landing in a great relationship increases exponentially when you show a human side. Introduce your constituents to a real person. For 60+ years, we marketers have focused on institutions, which is an outdated approach. This year letâs focus on person-to-person.
- 3. Donât smother. Just like a real relationship, you have got to be respectful of the proper pace. I love the commercial where a woman cooks her dateâs favorite food, knits him a sweater, and introduces him to her parents ⌠all on the first blind date. (I have no idea what this commercial is selling, by the way.)
All relationships develop at their own pace. Some people will only want an occasional date for a period of time before things really heat up. Come on too strongâand theyâre gone. Other people want to get married right away. Move too slowly and they are going to find more promising relationships.
As marketers, it is up to us to sense the right pace for each and every one of our constituents. This is referred to as frequency control and itâs a critical element for marketers to get right. - 5. Acknowledge when you make a mistake. Apologize. Be humble and sincere. Ask for forgiveness and offer some token to win the person back. In a relationship, you learn the signs that tell you something is wrong with your partner. Whether itâs the cold shoulder, silence, or yelling treatment, youâre probably sensitive to these indicators and take steps toward forgiveness if youâve done something wrong. Most of us are forgiving of others. We recognize that people make mistakes and an apology goes a long way.
Smart marketers learn to recognize the problem and alter their communication to get the relationship back on track. - 6. Accept that relationships end. It is a sad, sad fact: Some relationships do not last forever. Sometimes, they never should have started in the first place. If football is critical to your existence, and she hates it, you may have to acknowledge that perhaps this relationship isnât in the cards and let it go.
Other times, you make a mistake and the apology isnât accepted. Or your significant other might just find someone he or she likes better. If step four doesnât work, then you need to let it go.
As marketers (like all desperate lovers), we keep coming back. We canât bear the loss or the thought of rejection so we call, show up unexpectedly, and hang on to the relationship. In the real world, this is called stalking.
The problem is that rather than leaving the dumping party with a fond feeling about how mature we are, we become the subject of cocktail party jokes or of a restraining order. Either way, itâs bad.
When itâs over, itâs over. Let it go. Adjust your attitude or find someone else who is more receptive to your communication style. In relationships, there are no guarantees. But there is hope that we will learn from the past and resolve to build a better relationship that extends far into the future.
What are some other aspects of a relationship? How about dialogue or respect? The ability to tell the other party the truth?
Are you afraid of your constituents?
Iâve been getting a lot of questions about a comment I recently made about companies (and people) being afraid of their customers. Itâs easy to deny, but true.
There are two facts about your constituents:
- 1. They are people (some even think of themselves as individuals).
- 2. You usually know more than they do.
Point 1 is obvious, but ignored. We know our constituents are people, but we donât want to communicate to them on that level. We are afraid they will ask a question we canât answer or afraid they might not like us.
The eviden...
