let's talk about marketing but not just
any kind of marketing let's talk about
relationship marketing you know I think
we'll all agree that the world in which
we live has changed dramatically
fundamentally since the 1960s when the
principles of marketing of modern mass
marketing were first introduced today
the internet social media smartphones
and digital technology in general have
transformed the way the world in which
we live in which we work and
particularly how we communicate today
brands have access to countless new
channels and platforms and tools and
technology to better engage with their
customers but I believe that they often
use them in ways that are perhaps best
suited to the 1960s
for example they still tell us how great
their products are and why we should buy
them they still tell us how awesome
their brands are and why we should
follow them they still say by now don't
delay have your credit card ready when
you call the problem is you know
essentially we just don't listen in this
cluttered and crazy connected
marketplace were too distracted by our
daily lives to pay attention to what
brands want us to do at the end of the
day we just don't care so if you're a
brand what do you do well I believe that
in this crazy distracted messy
fragmented disconnected marketplace
brands need to turn their focus from
product to people they need to build
wrong relationships between the brand
and the people they serve to bring
brands and people closer now brands that
get closer to the people they serve do
three things incredibly well first of
all they know their customers better
than anyone they know them individually
as people not as consumers and markets
and segments as people second of all
they know how to connect with each and
every one of them individually and
deeply and the last thing and the most
important of all I believe is they know
how to earn their trust in everything
they do
constantly all the time three simple
things simple but far from easy so let's
take a look at those three things in
detail let's start with connection for
brands to get Pleet closer to the people
they serve they need to connect with
them on an emotional level after all
people buy with their heart and then
justify with their mind so features and
functions and statistics and numbers are
not as important as we may think when it
comes to brand loyalty and brand
performance it turns out that what we
know about a brand is far less important
than how a brand makes us feel far more
important how a brand makes us feel
super important this is me at age 7 if
the picture was taken back in the time
when the principles of modern marketing
the four PS that were introduced by
Ichiro McCarthy were first presented and
and we all know them right its product
its price its place
and of course promotion but what about
people not a single word you see the
1960s were a very different time it was
the Golden Age of mass marketing and we
were pretty much all the same we wanted
the same things we wore the same clothes
watch the same shows ate the same food
we were all the same and when brands
told us to buy something to buy now we
did we did what we were told well not
everyone at least not me
as you can see I had bright red hair so
I didn't look like anyone else and and I
was a bit of a monster at least that's
what my parents told me repeatedly I
think it was like every day
my poor mother at the stories I could
tell you I was the only kid in my school
in my class that had red hair I was the
only redhead the only redhead in my
school the only redhead in the
neighborhood where I grew up so I stood
out like a sore thumb and of course you
know how kids are they teased me and
they pushed me around and in fact I was
actually bullied so I was made to feel
like I didn't fit in like I didn't
belong like I was like an outcast and a
very young age I realized that we're not
all the same that in fact we're all
different and unique in some beautiful
way that there's beauty in our
differences and that that's diversity
makes up the wonderful beauty of the
human race
now that realization served me well
later in my career as a help brands
understand how they can differentiate
themselves how they're different from
their competitors in a marketplace of
me2 brands but it also helped me
understand that these unique
organizations serve a universe
of unique customers each one with their
own their own needs their own
preferences their own priorities and
their own personalities I became aware
and obsessed with the concept of
personalization and how using our unique
differences we can help people to to
improve their lives I also realized at
the same time that brands that make us
feel like they treat us like we're all
the same run the risk of making us feel
like we don't belong like we don't fit
in like the brand is not for us which
leads us to the second the really
important thing in building a strong
relationship brands that get closer to
their customers know them better than
anyone else they understand them
intimately and individually
now of course marketers have always used
research and surveys to be able to catch
a glimpse of their customers and
understand how they're different in what
they want but of course surveys are
based on a small sample a few hundred
maybe a few thousand individuals so very
imprecise so getting to know your
customer in the old days was difficult
fortunately for marketers today there's
data to be found everywhere as we
navigate the web and engage on social
media we leave our digital DNA
everywhere we go and smart marketers
harvest that data and use it to deliver
the right message at the right time to
the right customer through the right
channel one of the projects that I
worked on in my career that I'm most
proud of one of my greatest achievements
I think is when I worked with a
cosmetics brand a few years ago to
create a unique beauty guide to help
women understand how to choose and use
makeup more effectively I led a fabulous
team of very talented people to put
together a series of guides with
personalized information that was based
on the unique characteristics of each
customer we used hair color and eye
color and eye shape and even makeup
personality there were millions of
unique content combinations no two
guides were alike each customer had
information just for them it was
technically very difficult it was a huge
achievement to be able to pull it off
but I didn't realize the power of what
we created until I started reading the
comments from women writing in saying
that as a result of that guide they were
able to use makeup for the first time
with confidence that as a result they
feel they felt more beautiful and that
we managed with the content to be able
to change their lives in some small way
and so I learned that working with
uniqueness and identifying how people
are different and communicating them as
individuals could have a profound impact
on the relationship between the brand
and the customers but of course the
combination of customer data and a
powerful emotionally charged message can
also lead to abuse whether it's getting
you to buy a product that you don't need
if it's not right for you
or changing your opinion on a sensitive
issue or even influencing the outcome of
an election which leads us to the third
and perhaps the most important component
of a strong relationship earning trust
brands that get close to the customers
to the people they serve know how to
earn their trust they know how to do it
in everything they do with every point
of contact with every single experience
after all people buy from brands they
trust but we know that Trust is fragile
and needs to be nurtured it needs to be
protected and grown brands need to have
the best interests of their customers at
heart in everything they do and they
need to make sure that the experience
that they deliver is flawless and always
delivers value and when I say value I
don't mean 50% off I don't mean
buy-one-get-one-free I mean true value I
mean a flawless marvelous experience
I mean entertaining and interesting and
engaging content
I mean valuable tips and advice and
guidance I mean a sense of shared
experience and community that will
create value now having a relationship a
personal relationship with each and
every one of your customers is difficult
today brands serve a huge universe of
customers whether it's a few thousand to
millions of customers around the world
so knowing each one personally is not
physically possible and yet customers
expect it in fact they demand it they
want to be they want to feel as if we
know them if we understand them that we
know what they want and what they need
and that we can deliver on that promise
which is why the the the platforms of
technology that use artificial
intelligence show the promise of helping
augment human ability to create strong
and lasting relationships for all the
bad press
artificial intelligence may in fact be
the best thing that's ever happened to
humans let me explain first of all
artificial intelligence beats humans
hands-down when it comes to analyzing
vast quantities of information making
sense of massive amounts of data to see
trends and be able to predict behavior
in doing so they can better understand
who we are and help us to make the right
choices and to get more enjoyment out of
every
we do it can also help us to connect
with our customers that's really the
fascinating part because artificial
intelligence actually can detect our
state of mind our emotions our sentiment
it can analyze text and voice and
natural language and images and can
detect our emotions in our state of mind
adjust accordingly
and last but not least when it comes to
trust can we really expect machines to
Excel where we humans have consistently
failed well I think that is truly the
interesting part because artificial
intelligence can be trained to
understand what creates consistent value
for customers it can ensure that
everything we do is done consistently
and we constantly keep our promises and
so this strong combination of cognitive
technology can allow us to bring our
brands and our people closer regardless
of the technology we have to keep in
mind the important things first of all
keep all your resources your energy and
your attention and focus it on knowing
each one of your customers and treating
them as people connecting with your
customers through a flawless customer
experience and last but not least
continually earn their trust
consistently relentlessly in everything
you do and when you do those three
things and you do them exceedingly well
you can build strong relationships that
bring your brand and the people you
serve closer thank you
you