Marketing Booster Shot - Online Reputation Killers

6 Sept, 2012
Issue # 89

Paul Writer Marketing Booster Shot

Yo!

The plight of the bloggers stranded at IFA, Germany due to a misunderstanding of their terms of engagement with Samsung has been hogging marketing headlines. Which raises the bigger debate of what kind of freebies a blogger can accept without disclosure to their readers. This is an even bigger concern in countries like India where even journalists with mainstream publications do not have to disclose whether they went on a company-sponsored jaunt before writing the story, though many do. Yes, yes, this is an old issue, but now that more and more companies and individuals are becoming publishing houses with their digital properties, it might make sense to have a simple, public code on what are the policies followed by their editorial team. What do you think?

Teachers' Day was yesterday and much tweeting happened thanking teachers. My list included teachers up to grade 6 and then college professors and professional mentors. But perhaps I should also make a mention of marketing teachers who have triggered some great ideas through their books - Philip Kotler, Jack Trout & Al Ries, David Aaker and Seth Godin.

Have a great week!

BusinessWorld: Online Reputation Killers and How to Handle them

Chitra Narayanan & Mala Bhargava

Do read this piece on how the internet can be a graveyard for corporate reputations and how to avoid online death.

Jessie Paul has been quoted in this article as well as several of our Leaderatti Club CEOs and CMOs.

"With social power showing that it has the muscle to engineer revolutions, fight proxy wars, and amplify the teeniest of things into a viral phenomenon, companies now have no choice but to be where their customers are: online, and active"

Although Jessie Paul, CEO of marketing consultancy Paul Writer, grumbles that "only a tiny proportion of companies in India have an active social media strategy that extends beyond using the medium for sales", the good news is that Indian businesses are fairly sensitised to the need for ORM

Also, it is now imperative for companies to articulate a comprehensive social media policy. "Every employee has to be trained on what is appropriate conduct on each of the social channels." says Jessie.

Read the complete article here...

Incorporating Organizational Change into your Solutions Marketing Approach

by Charles Born - Solutions Insights

Good solutions solve complex problems and often evolve into highly complex company offerings with complex value propositions. They need to be effectively communicated to potential buyers so that sales are successful.

A solution marketing approach also requires a need for collaboration throughout the organization so that solutions development, marketing and sales are all aligned. This change in organizational behaviour is often minimized or even overlooked.

In my experience everyone understands and generally succeeds in some measure in the external parts of the solutions equation -- communication to the external stakeholders, including potential customers and industry influencers (analysts, bloggers, press, etc). But, when solutions sales targets aren't achieved, the source of the problem is often internal alignment issues. As solutions marketers, we must effectively plan and manage these collaboration and communication complexities. Moreover, successfully solving them means understanding where you and your stakeholders are in the change process for selling and supporting solutions.

Read on for the 4 Steps for Transformation Success...

Experience the Experience

by Sangeeta Sundaram

Over the years I have been part of a few corporate branding and rebranding exercises. The classic approach is to do a lot of discovery interviews with different stake holders to understand the history, the differentiators, relationship with customers, competition etc. Then come up with what is termed as the 'brand essence'. This is translated into a visual identity- a logo, and a tag line- which is meant to explain what the brand stands for. Eventually the brand management team prepares a communication strategy that strives to convey the brand essence. However most of the organization only looks at this as another exercise that is going to cost money to change all the signages and stationery!!

I always wondered if we should be approaching this in some other way...

When one is working on a brand exercise, the important question to ask is "what is the experience we want to create? What is the experience we want people to experience?" Not how can we explain the essence of our brand. Defining what the brand "stands for" appears like a very inside-out approach. Whereas defining an "experience" is a more outside-in approach. It is much more real and has all the senses associated with it. Once all aspects of the experience to be experienced are detailed out, it becomes easier to translate that into a strategy that can be executed consistently. It will not limit people to think it is just a logo change, or a new brochure. It also involves the whole organization.

If done well, it can actually bring about a change in the way we communicate the brand- by living the essence of the brand, bringing about a change in attitude and behavior.

Read on for more...

Letting Your Customer Show You Growth

By Anurup Sengupta - Aegis

Today's customers expect and appreciate superior, personalized experiences across every interaction with a brand. This has led to the emergence of customer engagement and customer experience as equally strong drivers for growth, as much as the linear and non-linear aspects. With the growing popularity of social media, micro blogs and a host of other networking platforms, delighted customers today have instant access to hundreds of friends and followers. They express opinions, share views and serve as critics or ambassadors for a brand - making it all the more critical for organizations to effectively engage with them and offer them the right customer experiences.

With organizations considering customer experience as a key growth driver, besides the traditional linear and non-linear methods, there is a fundamental shift in business outlook. Businesses are focused on aligning their solutions to meet customer needs today and on keeping their offerings relevant tomorrow.

Read the blog here...

Why It's Vital to Develop a Converged Media Strategy Right Now

By Anna Ritchie - Content Marketing Institute

In order to meet changing "multiscreen" consumer behaviors (i.e., the people who read on their tablet, watch TV, have one eye on their laptop and check their mobile phones constantly... sound familiar?) companies must find a new way to be in the right place at the right time, with the right kinds of media. New combinations of paid, earned, and owned strategies must be uncovered; ones that blend the perfect combination of these methods to meet your company, and consumer, needs.

How can this be achieved? This report reviewed more than 70 case studies and conducted interviews with industry experts and corporate practitioners to share insights, best practices, data, and inspirations for starting this challenging - yet necessary - initiative.

Your journey begins in the "Converged Media Lab."