bwagy, the blog of Ben Young

That tactility, once you pick it up you can’t put it down.

Apple stores purposely tilt the screens just enough so you can’t quite see it, so you reach out and adjust the screen. Then you can start playing with it and you start to get a sense of ownership.

They’ve all been loaded with games, apps and of course internet access. Heck just pop in and use the internet for free.

How do you create a sense of ownership? Getting your customers involved so they can actually take ownership of what you’re offering.

Kind of like what Michael Gerber was saying when I meet him, the best companies allow their customers to create.

Do you do a Microsoft and ask what customers want? Or do you do an Apple and tell them what they want?

These are two sides of the equation that people often flip between or have difficulty deciding on what’s right.

The thing you need to take into account is the market state.

What is the state of the market?

If you’re the big player you want to listen to your customers, keep them happy, you have a lot to cater for.

If you’re the small guy you can’t compete on that basis, you need to figure out tangents which you can take the customer that help make you big.

Everyone has a voice.

Whether you hear it or not is another thing BUT you can decide who you listen to.

The 1% rule online dictates that 1 in 100 people will place a comment.  As a blogger these are the people you tend to listen to.  However what about the other 99?

The same goes for negative comments, if you hear 20 good comments and one negative you tend to focus on that one.

Remember to make sure that you are listening to the right people.

What motivates you? What motivates your customers?

Two hugely insightful questions if you can answer them.

If you can find these motivator points, then keep pressing the button, things will change dramatically.  And I mean dramatically!

No I’m serious do it.

The biggest barrier I find operating at the edge is executives who don’t want to do something new because they don’t know what is is, they would never read a blog or engage with brands on twitter.

All I can say is, put yourself in your customers shoes, in fact wear them for a day.  Get some real perspective, you can’t go on assuming that YOU are your customer – that’s stupid.

Consequently I don’t work with those people…

A while back as a Monday Ideas Post I shared my idea for a quick feedback form, you can view the original post here and the republished post on the NZHerald (where it was hugely controversial).

As a quick summary I suggested that stores add a device to collect quick feedback on your experience.  You could even integrate into the eftpos machine to hasten the process.

I was delighted to be greeted by this in a duty free store whilst away on holiday.

How neat! A quick screen to let me provide some simple feedback.  From the state of the machine I could tell it was well used.

Airports are a double sided coin as customers are only likely to visit a few times, so it’s harder to collect feedback (but you have a location monopoly so average service can prevail).

Some readers mentioned they had seen some in the original post but just wanted to share…

Isn’t exactly insightful (if that’s all you do).

It’s good – but people do get tired of it.  Have you read mainstream media?  People do like answers.  People find reassurance in answers.  People BUY answers.

But remember your answers get better with asking questions.

Catch 22 – but isn’t everything a paradox…

A gift to take home.

A token to show their friends.

A reminder of how much they enjoyed your product.

I enjoyed this wine on a recent flight, St Hallett – Poachers Blend.  It was really good, so I read the label.

On the back you can see is a little tab that you can pull of the label.  It has the name of the wine and more information on the back.

Very neat – now I know which wine to get!  I didn’t check but they could take it one step further and on the back have a coupon (so only those that have taken it off find it) – 10% off if you buy in Duty Free once you jump off the plane.  Just a thought but I think they are already doing enough.

So why not give your customers a gift?

Of recent there have been posts around Do What you Love, Life Marketing, Those that turn up

What do these have to do with Marketing?

Simple they are all marketing.

If you as a person, are doing what you love, turning up where others are not, thinking of the bigger picture, what do you think this says about you?

What is the conversation going on in people that surround you?

The conversation is going to be much more engaging than otherwise.

Now imagine:

• Your company is built up on people that do all of these
• Your customers deal with these kinds of people day to day
• In rough times what kind of people are going to stick it out?

This is on the tip of everyone’s tongue at the moment.

How do you turn your customers into fans?

Fans will rave about you.  Tell their friends.  Sell your product for you.

There is no perfect mix, but some questions I would be asking myself are:

– Who are the key influencers whom use my product?

– How can i excite them about my product?

– Am i excited about my product? Why?

– Are you the best? or the worst? Either way.  Pick a spot at each extreme.

– Am i selling the sizzle? do customers know what the sizzle is?

– Have i provided a platform or catalyst for customers to become fans?

– Have i provided tools for my customers to become fans (blogger kits, graphics, competitions)

– Is my product actually making their life better? am i helping them?