Are Smart Things Really Smart or is it Just Smart Marketing?

Earlier this year I wrote about the impact of AI and ML on digital marketing. The article is called “AI and ML are Taking Digital Marketing to the Next Level.” In it, I compared the positive and negative implications of technology for customers and companies alike.  So this week I wanted to write about the impact of smart choices for business in general.

We seem to be surrounded by smart things: smartwatches, smart clothing, smart cars, smart houses and smart appliances. But are they really that smart? 

The reason for my question is that an article entitled “Taking ‘Smart’ Out Of Smart Things” by Chuck Martin made me think about whether “smart things” really are that smart, or whether it’s something else that’s making them appear smart?

So here are my views on it. Feel free to add your own opinions in the comments below, I would love to start a discussion on “smartness”.

We seem to be surrounded by smart things: smartwatches, smart clothing, smart cars, smart houses and smart appliances. But are they really that smart? Click To Tweet

 

The Age of the Customer and the Fourth Industrial Revolution

In one of their older Customer Experience reports Forrester claimed that we are now in the Age of the Customer. This was music to my ears when I first read it, because as you know I’m a customer champion. However, The World Economic Forum reported a few years ago that we are now on the brink of the Fourth Industrial Revolutionwhich is blurring the lines between physical, digital and biological spheres.

In their article, they explain that

“The First Industrial Revolution used water and steam power to mechanize production. The Second used electric power to create mass production. The Third used electronics and information technology to automate production. Now a Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third, the digital revolution that has been occurring since the middle of the last century. It is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.”

Does this mean that people are becoming less and less important as technology takes over more and more areas of our daily lives – and value? Luckily no. The author, Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum concludes the article by saying

In the end, it all comes down to people and values. We need to shape a future that works for all of us by putting people first and empowering them. In its most pessimistic, dehumanized form, the Fourth Industrial Revolution may indeed have the potential to “robotize” humanity and thus to deprive us of our heart and soul. But as a complement to the best parts of human nature—creativity, empathy, stewardship—it can also lift humanity into a new collective and moral consciousness based on a shared sense of destiny. It is incumbent on us all to make sure the latter prevails.”

So no panic; there will hopefully still be a place for people in this brave new world! But that doesn’t mean that we won’t have to adapt – and adapt quickly if we don’t want to be left behind. This will mean understanding what technology can and can’t do and then building our skills in the latter. 

 

Smart Data

In researching for this post I also found that “smart” is being attributed to many, many new areas and no longer just people. And this is thanks to the increased use of data, or as we now like to term it Big Data, and algorithms to analyse it all. 

Data gives us information about what to do, or more precisely, AI now controls many of the processes in which we are involved. Although humans are still smarter (for now?), machines can tell us things that we didn’t know, couldn’t work out for ourselves, or if we could, not as quickly.

AI and ML can recognise patterns in the data and then apply their “learnings” to future processes. You can read more about “What is Smart Manufacturing?” in this article from Industry Week.

It’s not that Big Data is smarter. While we certainly have more information and should be able to make a smarter use of it, unless we ask the right questions, it won’t make us any smarter!

Big data isn't smarter data. While we certainly have more of it and should be able to make a smarter use of it, unless we ask the right questions, it won't make us any smarter! #BigData #SmartData #Smart Click To Tweet

 

Smart Things or Lazy People?

Another aspect of smart things is that they make life easier for the user. This might suggest that people will become lazier if they don’t compensate for all the actions they no longer have to take during an average day.

Of course, those with fitness bands on their wrists, like myself, may just continue to do things manually for the increased statistics on our activity counter. We are also in constant competition to do better than we did yesterday. This article makes a good read on the topic.

But the average “Jo or Joe” will add more and more robots to do the manual work that they don’t want to do. So what will they do with all this new-found leisure time? Work more or play more? My bet, or rather hope, is for the latter!

With machines taking over the more menial tasks, we will be forced to make better use of our brains; after all, it’s the only thing that robots don’t have – for now at least! So are you training yourself to think more, improve your memory and polish up your analytical skills?

According to Korn Ferry’s 2019 CMO Pulse survey,

“As the champion of the customer, it is not surprising that CMOs cited customer centricity as their top strategic priority. What is concerning, however, is that while more than a third of the CMOs (35%) cited customer centricity as their top strategic priority, only 10% spend most of their time on optimizing the customer experience.”

Why? It’s simple:

“Customer centricity is the top priority for CMOs, but it is a significantly lower priority for the C-suite”

This might explain how CMOs are spending their time:

“67% of the CMOs surveyed said (they were) either driving revenue or driving strategy. The survey also found that 41% of CMOs see strategic thinking as the top capability gap they are focused on developing in their direct reports.”

So if you’re in marketing you’d better start honing these skills and not just your digital marketing, before the robot takes your seat! Smart people will realise and take action; the less-smart will wait and see. Which are you?

 

Smart Marketing is Responsible Marketing

If you do a Google search for smart marketing, you’ll get a lot of articles suggesting to use the old SMART objectives so popular with HR. You know, SMART is the mnemonic for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic or relevant and time-based. And while these criteria can be just as applicable to our marketing goals, I think we deserve something a little more modern and relevant for today’s world, don’t you?

It’s wonderful to see that over the past decade, we’ve seen a huge increase in businesses becoming more responsible. Whether that is by looking after their employees better, supporting the region in which they are active, or through improved ecological and sustainable practices impacting the whole planet, companies have now recognised the importance of their place in the world beyond merely financial.

The current pandemic has now provided an additional opportunity for businesses to become even more responsible and show empathy as well. A great article  on Business2Community entitled “5 Ways to Do Smart & Responsible Marketing During COVID-19” summarises five ways companies can practice empathetic marketing:

  1. Adjust Marketing Campaigns and Scheduled Content Timelines
  2. Evaluate Your Imagery and Language
  3. Don’t Capitalize on the Crisis
  4. Be Positive, But Not Ignorant
  5. Highlight How Your Brand Can Help

But the pandemic will be over, eventually, so we need to consider continuing to practice responsible marketing in the years and decades to come. But what does that mean exactly and what will it mean in the future? I was fascinated to see just how many companies claim their marketing to be responsible, but then put a different meaning on it.

Perhaps for obvious reasons, the pharmaceutical industry talks about it more than do any other industry. For Merck, it simply means being ethical. But under that title, they include a lot of actions. These include reviewing all marketing materials, addressing violations to their standards and regulations, training their employees regularly, and limiting direct-to-consumer advertising. For a pharma company, the last one is particularly noteworthy, since many Europeans find the US approach to be somewhat shocking.

Bayer takes responsible marketing much further, highlighting the integrity of its marketing and sales in term of four commitments:

  • “To Comply with Laws, Regulations and Good Business Practices”
  • “To Be Honest and Reliable”
  • “To Listen Attentively and Communicate Appropriately”
  • “To Care about People, Safety and the Environment”

I love these statements, as they clearly apply to their employees as much as they do to their customers, clients, consumers. I also believe they sum up very well what responsible marketing should be all about.

If you work in B2B then I highly recommend your reading the article “Smart Marketing during the Covid-19 pandemic.” It’s full of both ideas and examples. In fact, even if you work in B2C I still believe you will find it useful for sparking new ideas in your thinking too.

 

So that’s my take on smart and responsible marketing. What do you think? What challenges and opportunities will smart things bring to marketing and business in general? Please add your comments below and let’s start a wave of smart discussions!

 

Winning Customer CentricityThis post includes concepts from Denyse’s book  Winning Customer Centricity. 

It is available in Hardback, Paperback, EBook and AudioBook formats. You can buy a copy from our website, as well as on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBook, iTunes and in all good bookstores.

Want a discount code? Then email me at [email protected] and get the book almost half off!

 

Smart Marketing for Smart Customers (What Marketers Need to Know Today)

Our customers are getting smarter every day. But are we performing smart marketing too? I don’t think so.

When I have the chance to look at what most organisations are doing, I see that they are still living in the past of traditional media and have hardly dipped their toes into new media. Or they are using social media but still treating it as if it is traditional media! Neither plan will work. Here’s how marketers should be reaching, connecting and engaging their customers.

 

1. Don’t talk to everyone

We all know that you can’t please all the people all of the time, so why are we marketers still mass producing our messages? In the past, the annual marketing plan requirement was for us to develop a few ads for each of our planned campaigns.

Today with social media, we need a constant flow of new ads and new campaigns, each targeted at a sub-group of our audience, with individual messages. We need to not only to be mobile, but flexible, adaptable and ready to take advantage of any opportunity, the moment it happens.

One  of the best examples of this is still Oreo’s reaction to the power outage at the Superdome during the Super Bowl XLVII in 2013. The cookie’s social media team jumped on the cultural moment, tweeting an ad that read Power Out? No problem with a starkly-lit image of an Oreo with the caption, “You can still dunk in the dark.” Read more in this article on Wired.

Since then, we have seen a few more brands “stage” similar events during the Super Bowl; I’m referring to Tide and Snickers of course. What all these memorable moments have, is a deep understanding of both the audience – in this case of the Super Bowl – and their target customers.

Smart marketing focusses on understanding the customers of a targeted group of category users. And accepting to ignore those that don’t fit, even if they are currently using the brand. Are you brave enough to do the same?

 

2. Stand out from the crowd

A recent article in Forbes by Larry Myler mentioned and-out-in-a-crowd-of-competitors/#c0dbd4762fa9″ target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>7 ways for a br>and to stand out from the crowd. These were:

  1. Provide Legendary Customer Service.
  2. Admit Mistakes and Fix Problems to Build Stronger Relationships.
  3. Be Honest About Your Products and Services.
  4. Come Up With Something New.
  5. Embrace Corporate Social Responsibility.
  6. Start a Blog.
  7. Offer a Guarantee.

What I find interesting about this list is that the first four concern customer service excellence, but the last three are more about the organisation. OK so they should also impact the customer, but not as directly as the first four.

Smart marketing can counter declining customer loyalty

The other thing, for me at least, is that I don’t think any of these will actually make a brand stand out from the crowd! After all, they are the table stakes for the social world we live in today. What do you think?

A survey conducted by KPMG and industry network The Consumer Goods Forum in April this year, found that nearly four out of every 10 consumer products executives think brand loyalty will see a decline among consumers over the next two years. This is a depressing thought, especially as it comes from the very people who should be doing everything they can to build the loyalty of their customers!

For me, to stand out from the crowd, brands have to offer exceptional service and value so that they create raving fans.

To stand out from the crowd, brands have to offer exceptional service and value so they create raving fans. #CRM #customer Click To Tweet

Most products and services today are indistinguishable from each other. That’s why loyalty is at an all-time low.

And to offer such exceptional service to your customers, you have to know them deeply. Know what they value, what they want, what they dream of having, or even what they would love but don’t believe is possible! That’s how you get the raving fans, through continued surprise and delight. That’s smart marketing.

 

3. Be where your customers are

Very few customers are sitting in front of their TVs watching your brand’s commercial in the ad breaks, or listening to your radio publicity during their morning commute or seeing your ads while they read their newspaper. Today they are watching YouTube and Vimeo, or programs streamed directly to their tablets and smartphones. They are then sharing the best content they find on social media with their friends and followers. So where are you?

Now it’s true that digital media and YouTube in particular, got called out earlier this year for fake traffic statistics driven by bots. And as if that wasn’t enough, they were accused of placing some ads in sub-optimal positions alongside objectionable content. However, online is where a lot of consumers get their brand and category information today, so you can’t ignore these video channels.

It therefore also makes sense to take advantage of the content you do control, namely your website.

Make maximum use of the social content you do control, namely your website. #brand #marketing Click To Tweet

How customer-centric is yours? Does it have regularly updated content which is of interest to your customers? Does it encourage engagement and frequent return visits? Does it make it easy to contact you without going through contact forms which then disappear into anonymous hyperspace? It should.

Smart marketing is all about putting ourselves in the shoes of our customers. How often do you do that?

For more details on this topic, I recommend you read “How to Go From a Good to a Great Website: Engage and Convert More Successfully.”

 

4. Be available when your customers need you

We have become an impatient raceand its getting worse by the day!

Smart customers don't wait for sites to load
Source: Kissmetrics

According to surveys done by Akamai and Gomez.com, nearly half of web users expect a site to load in 2 seconds or less. And Kissmetrics reports that 85% of internet users expect a mobile site to load as fast or faster than on their desktop!

This is particularly important if you sell online. 79% of web shoppers who have trouble with web site performance say they won’t return to the site to buy again. And more than half of these would also tell their friends about the poor experience online. Therefore you don’t only lose your current shoppers but potential new ones too!

If you don’t have a shop, then at least you’re on social media, no? Well if so, then the picture is even worse!  showed that 42% of customers who contact a company via social media expect a response within the hour, and 34% expect a response within 30 minutes!

Have I got you worried? How do your numbers compare?

But it’s not all bad news! Do the right thing, fast,and you can turn a complaining customer into a raving fan! Convince and Convert reported that dealing quickly and effectively with customers’ complaints can increase advocacy by 25%. A brand advocate will share their love for your company, their unabashed loyalty and general goodwill with anyone who will listen – on social media too!

Do the right thing, fast,and you can turn a complaining customer into a raving fan! Click To Tweet

Smart marketing means responding to customers on their terms not ours. If that means 24/7 service then that’s what we have to provide, or risk losing them to a more attentioned competitor.

 

5. Never believe you have won loyalty

It is well known that it costs more to acquire a new customer than to keep one you already have. I have seen estimates of up to five or ten times more! But I think we all agree that it makes sense to do whatever we can to keep our customers loyal.

But in today’s world of never-ending choices, how do we do this?

No matter what business you are in, customers continuously compare on price, service and quality before making a purchase. In fact, research suggests that on average,. How does your business stand up to that sort of comparison?

One way to get a competitive edge is through supplying superior information. A study by Oracle revealed that what people want most is detailed and visual product information (37%), better search capabilities (29%), and easier access to a customer service representative via live help options such as click-to-call or live chat (20%).

People want detailed product info (37%) better search (29%) & easy access to customer service (20%) Click To Tweet

Providing what your customers want, where and when they need it, is clearly an additional role to the more “sales oriented” one that marketers have traditionally played.

Likewise the need to get comfortable with both giving and gathering data. And then analysing the data they get from their customers to effectively deepen their relationships with them.

One great example of this is from the Good Food Guys restaurant group in California who own Split and Mixt stores. They use spend data to analyze their customer-base and uncover their “VIPs.” Last Christmas they surprised these special guests with a personalized stainless steel Swell bottle that could be filled with ice tea or lemonade, for free, every time they visited. The gift makes their most loyal customers feel valued and provides a clear indication to the store employees to treat these people especially well.

These are just five areas of smart marketing that will support your business and provide a clear and positive ROI. After all, that is what marketers are being challenged to provide these days, isn’t it?

Or perhaps your priority for 2018 is in a completely different area altogether? If so, then I’d love to hear more about your plans.

If you’d like help with any of these areas then C3Centricity provides ongoing advisory sessions and 1-Day Catalyst training. Download our brochure for more information.

 

I hope you enjoy reading this blog post.

If you want me to catalyse your growth and profitability, just book a call.

Join Global Customer First Strategists!

Get our latest posts before everyone else, and exclusive content just for you.

* indicates required

Post Navigator Engineered By Premium WP Plugin