Monday Mornings with Madison

Category Archives:
Brand Management

October 7, 2013

Fake Reviews – Part 1

Issue #300

It’s been said that people do business with people they know, like and trust. That is considered by many to be a basic truth of business. The key ingredient of that formula is trust. Customers want to do business with companies that they trust will do a good job and treat them fairly and courteously. Long before the Internet, consumers used the old-fashioned but reliable method of identifying worthy vendors: Word-of-Mouth. It was understood that past performance was the best indicator of future behavior. From doctors to department stores and from Realtors to restaurants, people would frequent nearby businesses recommended by a family member, friend or colleague. A business that was highly recommended generally could be trusted to deliver a good product or service.
With the advent of the Internet, however, consumers had more choices of companies with which to do business, including companies that were much farther away than their neighborhood. The global village offered more choice but with it also came the challenge of knowing which businesses to trust. The old-fashioned method of identifying worthy vendors was updated for the Internet age. Word-of-mouth referrals evolved into online customer reviews. To facilitate the process, websites sprung up that allowed consumers to write reviews about their experience with that business. Sites such as Yelp, Trip Advisor, Angie’s List, Urbanspoon, Chowhound, and others, allowed customers to rate vendors; everything from restaurants and hotels to retailers and professionals. Problem solved? Not exactly. It now appears that as much as 25-33% of all online reviews are completely bogus. Called astro-turfing, the problem of fake reviews is a growing. Continue reading →

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September 30, 2013

Dressing for Success

Issue #299

While it’s been said many times that one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, marketers know that people do just that. That’s why product packaging plays such a pivotal role in product sales. Product packaging designers know that looks matter, and without a properly designed package a product is hard to sell regardless of how good its other attributes might be. Indeed, packaging design represents what the brand stands for as much as other elements of the brand visual identity do, and in certain cases the packaging is almost as important as the product itself.

This applies not only to the sale of products. It also applies to the most valuable resource any business has… its employees. Career coaches and HR experts agree that applicants should dress for the job they want, not the job they currently have or last had. Applicants are evaluated first by their appearance, which is a key part of body language. Employers want to hire someone who ‘looks the part.’ But ‘dressing the part’ applies not only to those seeking employment. Dressing for success is a personal philosophy that everyone in the workplace should adopt. While office attire has certainly changed over the years, giving rise to ‘business casual’ and ‘casual Fridays’, how employees dress for work still matters. Here’s why. Continue reading →

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August 19, 2013

101 Questions to Ask When Considering Marketing Strategies

Issue #294

The best marketers know that, when it comes to marketing, variety is necessary in order to cut through the fog of competition and the vast noise of the marketplace and be able to reach each customer where he or she lives. Regardless of the industry, there is no single marketing channel that is best. The key to successful, long-term marketing is to reach people in the myriad of ways in which they prefer to receive or are most open to accepting messages about products or services. Just as people come in all different shapes, sizes, colors, religions and cultures, so do their preferences for interaction and their receptivity to messages. Some people prefer email promotions. Others look at direct mail circulars. Still others are influenced by billboards. And others listen to radio ads. Some even look at good, old-fashioned print ads.

A marketing channel that is totally ‘outdated and passé’ to one person, such as a branded desk calendar, might be ‘old-school cool’ or just plain practical for someone else. And a new edgy marketing strategy that may make no sense to one person, such as mobile ads, may hit the bulls-eye with someone else. The key is to not fall into the trap of thinking “This doesn’t speak to me, so therefore it won’t appeal to anyone else.” The smartest marketers keep an open mind.

But keeping an open mind and embracing variety has a price. While a diverse marketing program is important, that approach – if unchecked – can also be prohibitively expensive. Given the ever-broadening number of marketing channels available, it is impossible to advertise or promote a company everywhere all the time. So how does one decide which strategies to try and which to ignore? It is a matter of analysis and assessment. The first step is to ask a lot of questions. Continue reading →

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August 12, 2013

In Search of The Best Marketing Channel

Issue #293

It’s been said that variety is the spice of life. Different strokes for different folks. To each his own. These expressions all communicate the fundamental truth that every individual has their own preferred way of doing things or approaching life. What resonates with one person may make no sense to someone else. What one person loves, another may detest.

Take, for instance, how people like their steaks cooked. Some like their steak cooked ‘medium’ which is pink at the center. Others like their meat a little less cooked, ‘medium-rare’, which is pink with a little red in the center. Still others go in the other direction and want a steak ‘well-done,’ cooked through until the meat is gray (which typically offends chefs and gourmands). At the other extreme, some prefer their steak so rare that it might still ‘moo’ on the table. So which customer is right? Is there one best way to cook a steak? When it comes to the restaurant business, the answer is that there is no single ‘right way’ to cook a steak. While chefs may have an opinion on the optimal temperature to cook meat, restaurateurs understand that they must serve it however the customer prefers. The customer – who is paying for the food — should get what they want the way they want it… and preferences vary greatly.

Is that also true of marketing? Is there one best way to deliver a marketing message to customers? Or do preferences vary greatly? If you ask most anyone in business about marketing, they likely will tout the virtues of one or two particular marketing channels above all others. Indeed, company leaders are perpetually in search of the single ‘best’ marketing channel. And they will argue vehemently in favor of the one they deem is ‘best.’ But is there one marketing channel that is consistently superior over all others? Continue reading →

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July 22, 2013

Confidentiality in the Workplace

Issue #290

A merger. A game-changing deal. A new product launch. A major policy shift. New cutting-edge technology. An acquisition. A change in leadership. In today’s world of big business and even bigger transactions, confidentiality is of paramount importance. Yet, with today’s high tech, lightning-fast communication tools – such as social media, text messages, flash drives, email, cell phones, and the cloud – hot news can spread faster than a California forest fire. In small businesses, where employees feel more like family than coworkers, private information can spread rapidly through a company and beyond. In big businesses, employees may feel even more disconnected from their employer and ignore their fiduciary responsibility to safeguard company or client information. Indeed, it may even seem at times that the fastest way to disseminate information is to tell employees that information is confidential.
However, company employees are expected to treat all the information in the workplace with care and caution… not just hot news, but any and all information that is sensitive or privy. Every employee at an organization should be prudent enough not to disclose any information that the organization considers sensitive and confidential unless and until consulting with and getting permission from a supervisor. So how can a company ensure that the private information of its clients, vendors, employees and workplace remains just that: private? There are a number of strategies companies can implement that promote the values of privacy, discretion and confidentiality in the workplace. Continue reading →

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May 13, 2013

Six-Star Service – Part 2

Issue #280

When it comes to service, customers can easily distinguish poor service from good service. Poor service is when a customer is forced to wait 20 minutes in a long line to pay for goods or services at store. Good service is when the store manager directs staff to open as many registers as needed to ensure no customer waits more than three to five minutes to pay for a purchase. Poor service is when an auto service center quotes that it will take two hours to change the brakes on a car but actually takes four hours to complete the job. Good service is when the service center’s manager admits up front that it is going take three to four hours to complete the job and offers other appointment times that would minimize the customer’s wait time. The difference between bad service and good is as obvious as night and day.

Distinguishing good service from great service is a different story. Most people consider five-star service the benchmark of great service…. “as good as it gets”. However, that is not the case. Some companies have raised the bar even further on the concept of excellent customer service. It is called six-star service. What exactly constitutes six-star service? Does it make sense for a company to want to raise the bar even higher on customer service if is already delivering very good service? Is it even possible to consistently deliver six-star service? Continue reading →

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May 6, 2013

Six-Star Service

Issue #279

Delivering consistently high-quality service to customers is the biggest challenge for many businesses. Some industries are rife with customer service complaints. In fact, in some industries, certain company names have become synonymous with bad service. For example, recently, USA Today published a list of nine retailers delivering the worst customer service. The ranking (March, 2013) was based on the American Consumer Satisfaction Index (which measures customer satisfaction with retailers). Companies that scored the worst in customer satisfaction included Safeway (which has been at the bottom of the ASCI data for 10 years in a row), Walgreens, Netflix, TJX (which owns TJ Maxx, Home Goods and Marshalls), The Gap, Sears, CVS, Supervalu and Walmart. Of course, retailers are not alone in the struggle to delivery consistently good service. The travel industry — including airlines, cruise ships and hotel chains – also regularly makes the news for its flagrant disregard for its customer’s needs.

That said, there is evidence that companies in every industry are striving to improve their service. In fact, according to the ASCI data, customer satisfaction with retailers is at an all-time high. Some companies even claim that what sets them apart from their competitors is their superior customer service. In the hospitality and travel industries, among others, they’ve adopted a star system to denote quality and service. Five stars has been considered ‘the best’, until recently an even higher level of service was denoted. So what separates bad customer service from good, and dare we say, even great service? And what is six-star service? More importantly, how does a company go about raising the bar and setting a new benchmark for its customer service? Continue reading →

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April 29, 2013

Servicing the Internal Customer

Issue #278

Customer service is a topic that strikes a chord (often a sour note) with many. Some industries, such as air travel and cable / internet providers, are riddled with complaints about poor customer service. Their reputations for mistreating customers are the stuff of nightmarish legends. Other industries or companies are known for their excellent customer service. Apple. Ritz Carlton. Mercedes Benz. These companies consistently provide customers with five-star service. In fact, Ritz Carlton prides itself on delivering six-star service! Regardless of what a company does, builds, makes or provides, the ability to meet the needs of the client or customer is key.

However, if you ask most business people to identify their ‘customers’ or ‘clients’, 99% will inevitably point to the folks spending money to purchase their products or services. Those are the ‘external customers’. Most will not identify their own colleagues and coworkers as ‘customers.’ But, indeed, many of the people who work for a mid-sized or large company don’t actually deal with the external customers or clients who are buying the products or services. Most of the staff of any company are actually ‘behind-the-scenes’, cogs in the machinery that allow companies to function, such as accounting, marketing, HR, IT, production and operations. These people seldom, if ever, speak to or meet an external client or customer. Instead, they provide services that make it possible for others in the company to meet the needs of the external customer. They service the ‘internal customer.’ Unfortunately, internal customer service is even more replete with bad service. Yet, the internal customer is as important as the external customer. Why is that and how does one go about improving a company’s internal customer service?
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February 11, 2013

Recommendations: To Give Or Not To Give

Issue #268

It used to be that letters of recommendation were typically requested only by employees from bosses and from teachers by graduating seniors trying to gain admission to college. Social media has changed all that. Today, anyone can give anyone else a recommendation and many do. Coworker to coworker. Boss to employee. Employee to Boss. Vendor to Customer. Customer to Vendor. Manager to another Manager. Teacher to University. University to Employer. Recommendations are everywhere (mostly because of the amazing power of a third-party endorsement). Indeed, LinkedIn recently added a new tool for recommendations. Besides allowing one person to post a written recommendation for another person, now LI also allows one person to endorse the specific skills of another person. This can be invaluable for someone presenting him or herself as an ‘authority’ in a particular topic or area.

Last week, we considered how to go about asking for a recommendation. However, the flip side of the coin is that there many issues to consider when giving a recommendation. Should you give a recommendation to anyone who asks? What if the person requesting one really doesn’t deserve it? For instance, what if the person requesting a recommendation is a nice person but has really bad work habits? And what about the number of recommendations requested? For the top leaders of companies and managers of big departments, giving one person a recommendation on LinkedIn might lead 50 others to ask as well. What is the protocol for deciding when and how to give recommendations? To give or not to give recommendations, that is the question. Continue reading →

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February 4, 2013

Getting Recommendations

Issue #267

It’s been said that past performance is often the best predictor of future behavior. Show me an employee who has a solid work history — effective, efficient and reliable in past jobs — and I’ll show you an employee that will probably be effective, efficient and reliable in her next job (assuming she is doing the same type of work). On the other hand, show me an employee who has changed jobs often, was regularly late for work and produced subpar work in his last three positions and I will show you a person who will likely be tardy and ineffective in his next job until he changes jobs again, which is likely to happen quickly.

That is why letters of recommendation are so valuable. A letter of recommendation from a former boss, coworker or subordinate can speak volumes about how a person’s skills, talents and training translate into the real world. A professionally-written resume might omit facts, exaggerate abilities, and even fabricate information, but a recommendation gives an employer a glimpse of how a potential candidate has actually performed in the past. A recommendation can provide insights into a person’s work habits, interpersonal skills and intangible qualities that no resume, cover letter or job interview can reveal. Likewise, a lack of recommendations or lukewarm recommendations can speak volumes too. For professionals who are offering a service – such as attorneys, accountants, bankers and Realtors — customer recommendations speak volumes about that individual’s ability to deliver results in a positive manner. Given the value of a good recommendation, it is important for most people to have strong recommendations. Yet, when it comes to getting recommendations, there is a lot of uncertainty. When it comes to asking for recommendations, what is the protocol? Continue reading →

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