bwagy, the blog of Ben Young

#11 of the bwagy marketing manifesto:

“You are always wrong, you just need to be less wrong than your competitors.”

It is so true – no matter your stance someone can always come up with a solid reason why you are wrong.

Don’t stress about being 100% right, you just need to be less wrong than those you compete with.

(And take action.)

You really have to hand it to them for looking after their customers.

Many years back my Dad told me the first time he ordered from Amazon (pre-2000 days) that they sent him the wrong book.  He let them know and they said hey can you donate it to your local library and we’ll send you the right copy.  Neat huh? He has told that story over and over for well probably about a decade now.  (Good Experiences compound!)

Also as I have found out – they provide a huge amount of detail in their tracking of orders.  See below:

This is amazing! I have been able to track my package from the moment it left to the moment it has arrived in New Zealand.  I have never seen that level of detail in tracking.

They realise that if I want to track it may as well expose as much data as possible.  No reason to hide behind (we don’t know where it is) but that’s where it is – if it’s not where it’s meant to be we will have to take responsibility.

Now who says customer obsession isn’t a winning model?

One of my points in the bwagy marketing manifesto (download pdf) was that:

“We have all heard, a bad experience results in 64 people hearing about it, a good experience leads to 8 hearing about it.  Sounds out of whack right? Wrong.  If I have a good experience with you I will repeat my purchase, if you keep looking after me, I will keep telling 8 people forever…. and everytime I make a purchase.  Marketing & Business is all about the long term.  If you can get a customer and keep them forever they will sell your products for you.  Easy.   Never forget this.  A good customer experience compounds over time.”

This came from the realisation, that when people talk about a brand they love (or a lovemark) the real thrill and enthusiasm from which they speak from is the continual experience they maintain with this brand.  The fact that they get looked after over and over again.

Karen is one such lady, now Karen is a super mum, she all week as a Theatre Nurse, still finds time to do the cooking, baking, washing, looking after the kids, taking time to really help her friends and family, we all know a Karen in our lives.  They are all absolute legends (and the cornerstones of society).

She absolutely loves Jack Lums, the local fruit and vegetables place, she has been going there for 15 years and she can name all the bad experiences on her fingers, that’s how rare they are! She recommends them to everyone, their price, the freshness, the quality of their produce and they stand behind it.  This consist experience has only compounded her loyalty, in turn she has also spent 15 years raving to them to everyone.  Now if they had tried to take a short cut to make a quick buck they would have lost Karen.  But they haven’t.

You see providing a good experience does compound and pay off over time, the key is it’s a long term strategy, but it’s a solid one.

This is all about you, you are doing what you do, you know you can do better, but need some ideas that you can take the ball and run with.  

This is what I do all the time, it is second nature, it is automatic, so it’s my pleasure to share it with you.

(Note since this is possibly my longest post ever! I have got a pdf download so you can print it out)

1. Fundamentally you need to realise (and always focus) it’s all about people.  People like you and me. Telling others and ourselves stories.  
2. A good story enhances status, creates enjoyment, and benefits both the storyteller and the receiver.  It is not zero sum, a good story everyone benefits.
3. Word of mouth is the best referral a consumer can get.  No really, the BEST!
4. You are a storyteller, whether you want to be or not, in what you wear, how you speak, how you walk.  You are communicating to someone at some stage something.  (Stop and reread this).
5. Forget about parasite marketing, sustainable businesses are built on building products that help the purchaser.  If you can help your clients enough to create a worthy story you have an endless chain of word of mouth.
6. We have all heard, a bad experience results in 64 people hearing about it, a good experience leads to 8 hearing about it.  Sounds out of whack right? Wrong.  If I have a good experience with you I will repeat my purchase, if you keep looking after me, i will keep telling 8 people forever…. and everytime I make a purchase.  Marketing & Business is all about the long term.  If you can get a customer and keep them forever they will sell your products for you.  Easy.   Never forget this.  A good customer experience compounds over time.
7. Expecting a sale on the first interaction is short sighted.  Consumers like to wooed, taken for a dance, candlelight dinner.  If you can expose them to your brand several times in different avenues you are more likely to build a satisfied customer.  Remember every exposure is an opportunity to help explain your value proposition.  (Now reread #6).
8. Put yourself in your customers shoes, what am i gaining from this? what is the story i am telling myself? why am i motived to talk to others about your story? 
9. If it doesn’t feel right it often isn’t.  If you are too ashamed to tell those around you what you do, or people you admire, you probably shouldn’t be doing it.
10. People like you, people like the team behind your products, your loyal customers actually want to be their friends (although they realise they can’t) but utilise that.  Get your people to talk with customers, over the phone, twitter, blogs.  Expose the people behind the scenes.  The cross pollination between customers and staff is only going to benefit both parties.  Hint: it also creates a new ‘exclusive’ story for each of those loyal customers.
11. You are always wrong, you just need to be less wrong than your competitors.
12. Forget magic answers, they don’t exist, you know what you need to do.  So do it.  Obsess about customers, drive insane value, your marketing is sorted, now collect the cheques.
13. Cut back, you don’t need 20 channels, cut back to what you do exceedingly well, then get better at it, being the absolute bleeding edge best is far more important than scrapping a few extra dollars.  You will doubt yourself, but hang in there.
14. Bring the whole team together, encourage diversity, open discussions, new ideas, get them to take listening courses, involve them in strategic visions, they define your company to the outside world, so make sure they know what they are defining.
15. Mass advertising builds subconscious brand recognition, but word of mouth demands a purchasing decision.
16. Chase things that scare your organisation, chances are they scare your competitors too, that is signal enough that you at least need to explore it.