Kyle Coolbroth thinks we are part of a movement. Gosh I sure hope so. Kyle shares my belief that managing the customer experience has really become the essence of marketing; is in fact changing the practice of marketing quite fundamentally because it is very operationally intensive. You actually have to change the experience, not just the messaging.
Kyle discussed some of these ideas in a recent podcast available on his blog, The Experience Journal. The attached blog post highlights some of the more interesting sites on this topic, including this blog (heh, heh, thanks Kyle!)
If, like me, you're still crossing the chasm on podcasting -- click here for a simple explanation and great graphic)
Some of the more interesting points made:
- Customer Experience is about what you do, not what you say you do.
- If you want word-of-mouth, bring a more holistic approach to your brand, so that people have a reason to share word of mouth. Don't create artificial events that create short-term buzz -- build a relationship with the brand experience.
- In a 2005 study on marketing receptivity, Yankelovich found that 70% of consumers say they are interested in products that enable them to block out advertising.
(As I have been saying for some time, the trend towards spam in every communication channel is simply an opportunity for someone to create and sell blocking technology.)
- But, Yankelovich also found interest in advertising as a form of entertainment is actually increasing.
About halfway through the Experience Journal podcast they interview Peter McClellan about his financial advisory firm, 401k Latte company. Inspired by Seth Godin's Purple Cow approach to making yourself stand out from the competition, Peter meets people at public events and offers them a free latte from his backpack. This is just a tactic of course, but expresses his core brand value about the need for feeling comfortable with your financial advisor. Peter says:
It is an invitation to have an open, informative, friendly conversation about you, your retirement plan choices, and your financial future over a warm cup of delicious coffee.
He has supported his mission with a new office environment designed to capture the comfort of a coffee shop, lacking the sterility and serious feel that characterizes the financial advisory business.
Peter says his existing customers like the new look and the new expression of the core values they already were experiencing from their advisor. Peter knows this because he talked to a lot of the customers individually, he tested logo designs with them, he put together a questionnaire, and took anything but a small business approach to this change:
"We didn't just do this and hope it worked. We talked to a lot of clients ahead of time."
And yes, his clients like the new image and the new company name. It's all about creating that take-away, that feeling of well-being when they leave". (Just like that Peak-End rule we told you about).
