Remember your business… and keep it real.
It is a sad state of affairs, but the more we rely on the internet for business and communication, the easier it is to forget that we are still interacting with human beings. One of the earliest tenets of good business was that if you wanted customers to keep coming back, good customer service was really important. Just because the world has changed doesn’t mean this no longer applies. In fact, when considering your online reputation, I would suggest that it is more important than ever. Your offline reputation and online reputation are not mutually exclusive in any way. You lose one, you lose the other, and vice versa.
In working for a marketing agency, and for customer experience management clients like Satmetrix, I couldn’t agree more.
Unfortunately, like any marketing strategy, all too quickly marketers have begun to find ways to ’shortcut’ the system. Just like they did with search engine marketing, new strategies are coming out to get more Twitter exposure or increase the number of friends you have on Facebook. There are thousands of widgets out there to mass submit yourself to social media sites. People are thinking up ways to force others to talk about them. It won’t be long before there are white hat and black hat social media marketing techniques, just like SEO. And guess who loses out, again? That’s right. The customer.
Why do marketers assume that the only way you can actually get results is to buck the system? I know we live with a culture of instant gratification and overnight results, but why does this have to be at the expense of actually providing customer service, customer value and going the extra mile occasionally? With all of the time and effort spent mass submitting your blog, you could have done something genuinely good for a customer, who is so happy that they can’t wait to talk about you. Surely that is what it is all about?
Just last week, James Baggott at Car Dealer Magazine was offered a spare car from Skoda, complete with lunch in the boot when he mentioned he was without a working runabout and didn’t have time to get lunch. Granted, VW Group spotted an opportunity for a great story in offering a ‘random’ act of kindness to an automotive journalist – but it’s clear they understand what being social all about. And a long time before the whole Girafe Bread thing from Sainsbury’s, Julian Metcalfe from Pret A Manger may have started it all back in 2009.
I think Seth Godin really hit the drawbacks on the head in his post about trust and reciprocity, Trading Favours. Thankfully, the social web is self-policing for those that don’t. Unlike the search engines, which need to constantly re-write their algorithms to ensure that the results returned are the most relevant ones rather than the ones that some clever marketer out there has managed to cheat to the top, social media is continually monitored by the masses. If people don’t like what you are doing, or think you might be using the system for your own ends, they can just as quickly bury you. Or worse, ignore you.
Eventually, if all you do is get-rich-quick marketing without backing it up with some good, solid service and value, the only reputation you will really achieve is a surface one. If you want to build a reputation that is lasting, you have to remember that you are dealing with people, not a bot or machine. And in that respect, despite the advent of the internet, nothing has really changed.
Leave a commentHow valuable is Facebook as a B2B marketing platform?
We’re often asked by our clients about the value of Facebook as a B2B marketing platform. Most recently, B2B Marketing asked us to comment on their article, “Facing Facts”.
Facebook can be as useful a tool for B2B marketing as much as it is for B2C. However, companies often fail by putting the horse before the cart, creating Pages before fully understanding their business goals behind a Facebook presence. It’s littered with orphaned profiles that have fallen short of audience attention.
It is human nature to want to feel part of a community. On the other hand, brands often forget the fundamental elements that make social networks work. Whether you’re a major manufacturer or a village solicitor, success doesn’t come from having lots of Likes. It comes from remembering the things that make good conversation: being interesting, relevant and valuable to whomever you’re engaging with.
Listening is just as big a part of communication as contributing. Social media activity should be divided between listening to what others have to say and contributing your own expertise, thoughts and ideas. Don’t just talk and ignore everyone else, as you may find yourself quickly being ignored by the community or worse.
Take the design community for example. It has a natural affinity with the tools Facebook provides to discuss design, talk about the challenges they face, inspire each other, and ultimately gather around a shared interest. For businesses in that sector, the benefits of having a presence on Facebook to draw them into the brand space are crystal clear.
In five years time, we may not be using Facebook. Chances are, we will be using something that has evolved from it. The tools will develop, but the actual process of online interaction and networking is here to stay.
Google+ is an interesting anomaly in the social media sphere now – it has clear benefits to brands and business use, because it has a much clearer delineation between what users do ‘socially’ and what they do for ‘business’ on the site. However, slow uptake is still its biggest limiting factor. It means brands need to spend more time researching if the people they want to target are on Google+ before committing to any time/spend. But if they are, it’s as easy (if not easier) to find them and communicate with them on Google+ (or LinkedIn) in a professional environment than on Facebook. It’ll be interesting to watch the development of Google+ as it opens up to more people and businesses especially.
In summary, it is very easy to have 1,000 subscribers, but a lot harder to have 10 that are actually valuable to your business, let alone maintaining good networking skills that keeps them coming back for more.
Although Facebook has many great facets to make it an interesting space for brands, one must be open to the fact that commercially, it may not the right arena for an online persona. It may well make more business sense to get involved with blogging, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ or even a combination of many. As with any well-integrated marketing campaign, the first thing to do is search out the most relevant routes that will ultimately get the message to the right people.
Leave a commentTeam Quick as a ‘Tache raise £1,159 for Movember
After a gargantuan team effort at growing poor facial hair, Quick-Thinking’s five Movember pioneers (for QT anyway) have managed to raise a fantastic £1,159 through the very kind donations of friends, family and co-workers / business colleagues. Gareth, Tim, Kris, Will and Andy would like to say a huge thank you to everyone that sponsored them and made all the bad photos, bad jokes and, overall, bad moustaches worthwhile.
Leave a commentQuick-Thinking win Best Limited Budget Campaign at B2B Marketing Awards
A runner-up in 2010 for “Best Integrated Campaign”, Quick-Thinking has this year scooped the gold for the 2011 B2B Marketing Awards Best Limited Budget Campaign for our Zoopla.co.uk “We Love Estate Agents” campaign.
Quick-Thinking were finalists in two categories (Best Creative and Best Limited Budget) for three different campaigns; our Simpson Carpenter “Bloodhounds” campaign, Experian Hitwise “Five a day” and eventual winner Zoopla.co.uk “We Love Estate Agents”.
Attended by as many Quick-Thinkers as could make it, the wine was poured, the (very good) food was served and the tension mounted as we waited for our categories to be announced, with laughs along the way courtesy of Jack Whitehall.
Our brief for the campaign was to deliver 200 leads per month for our client, while retaining current agents and communicating Zoopla’s core values of empathy with estate agents, property developers and letting agents. They needed it quickly and economically. Working with Zoopla, Quick-Thinking took a universal and simple truth: ‘Everybody hates estate agents’ and turned it on its head. The juxtaposition became simple: Zoopla – We love estate agents. The campaign was delivered with cost efficiency in mind, but delivered an 87% uplift in leads immediately, directly attributable to the advertising, direct mail, property shows and e-mail campaign and more than doubled the client’s projected results in the first month alone.
We were all very proud to receive the accolade and top last year’s outing at the prestigious industry awards. The dodgems were pretty fun too.
At Quick-Thinking we like to do just that. Think quickly. And intelligently. Oh, and creatively. And hopefully come up with more award-winning campaigns for our clients.
Leave a commentTeam “Quick as a ‘Tache” near the end of their moustache-growing Movember
Quick-Thinking is all about doing good things for other people, so it was a natural fit for some of the men of the office to get involved in Movember – the new name for the month of November when men around the world grow a moustache to raise money for research into prostate and testicular cancer.
It’s been a veritable feast of follicular-aimed joviality, not least at those perhaps slightly less-able to grow facial hair than others, but with a determined sense of team purpose. So far, the team has raised over £700 and counting. So please, enjoy the hilarity of badly-grown Mos and if inspired please do donate to the team at http://mobro.co/quickasatache
If we reach £1,000 in donations I’m sure we can come up with some funny and likely painful ways to remove all the hair in December!
Leave a commentQuick-Thinking taking part in mo-growing Movember
Five members of Quick-Thinking will be casting their self-respect aside for the whole of November as they take part in Movember: the charity that promotes health and well-being for men and raises money for research into prostate and testicular cancer.
All for a good cause, the normally clean-shaven quintet will be looking to grow all sorts of weird and wonderful mo-styles in a bid to raise money for the team: named “Quick as a ‘Tache” (see what we did there?)
For any and all donations please donate to the team at http://mobro.co/quickasatache
From left to right: Gareth Jordan, Kris Chay (12), Tim Chamberlain, Andy Hunt, Will Chaplin
Fattoria La Vialla: Passion for Print!
Since my last entry, I’ve been showered with Fattoria La Vialla brochures and catalogues. Not least a beautifully presented taster bottle of olive oil, which is, the best I’ve ever tasted. I’m blown away by the passion and effort that they commit to each and every person on their mailing list. When was the last time you received an individually numbered brochure?
Having worked with quality stocks over the past few years, and more recently with our clients at Arjo Wiggins Creative Papers, I’m always pleasantly surprised at the level of investment La Vialla puts toward the paper and print to ensure the depth of colour and saturation (not to mention that lovely fresh-off-the-press smell we all know and love!).
Recently, the Autumn/Winter catalogue and the Christmas brochure arrived (I have Book no. 14). With an embossed cover and a sketch detailing animals, produce and the farm all in a festive setting, the Christmas 2011 catalogue is a treat in itself. The inside doesn’t disappoint with full page, beautifully framed photographs. But this time, something is different.
“Opening up these catalogues, you are bound to think: but what happened here?”
Fattoria La Vialla are experimenting with a change of their handwritten style to an ‘easier to read’ font which I have to say works. I’m deeply impressed at how they have taken comments and suggestions on board, and made a fundamental change to suit their customers. Yet, it’s still very much part of their home-grown brand.
If you are not on the mailing list of Fattoria La Vialla, I strongly suggest you get on it. If you’re in our industry, you’ll be relieved to see that high production values in print still exist. And if you do order the odd jar of olive oil or pasta sauce, you’ll see that they put as much heart and soul into their products as their gorgeous catalogues. It really is something I look forward to every time it comes through the letterbox.
Leave a commentAbout Quick-Thinking
We ’get‘ stuff. We understand what‘s required and just get on and do it. We hate long meetings, we get irritated by fuss. We‘re clever. But not clever-clogs.
On this blog, you'll find our musings about what we do, and just about everything else about life in the advertising industry. Welcome. Stay as long as you like. Enjoy.
Recent comments