Focused Light

Timing is everything

2012-03-16T17:28:13Z

I joined the Washington Sports Club last month. From a brand touchpoint experience, they have considered their customers. They have the latest equipment, and it is in excellent working order. The facility and locker room amenities make the experience enjoyable.

Every morning, the locker room is full of women hurriedly getting ready for work.

The customer-facing staff consistently greets customers in a warm and helpful way, so it seemed like an aberration last week when a person began nudging people out of the way to vacuum the locker room at 7:45AM. Again this morning, the vacuum interrupted 15 women’s efforts to get dressed for work.

There was a message to the customer here: My work to clean the floor is more important than your getting to work on time.

Are you sending unintended subliminal messages to your customers?

Have you asked your customers when they prefer to buy?

Brandvizion now opens their doors at 8AM instead of 9AM to meet the needs of their construction customers.

Are you communicating with customers when they are paying attention?

Facebook reported that engagement increases by 20% when posts are made outside of business hours. Thursday and Friday reaps an 18% engagement increase vs. other days of the week.

Do you know the subliminal messages your staff is sending to customers?

Women Count

2012-01-26T15:38:52Z

Over 10,000 Egyptian women protested against the military's violence against women on December 20. Women are no longer willing to be silent. Welcome to the rise of the Sheconomy.

Although U.S. women earn 77.4% of men, yet control 51.3% of wealth (2010 U.S. Census). Time Magazine reports that women make 85% of U.S. household buying decisions and Harvard Business Review stated that "women control $20 trillion in worldwide consumer spending, which is more than China and India combined.

We women need to be understood. What are your female customers:

1. Demographics
2. Life-stage interests
3. Psychographics
4. Buying behaviors
5. Favored communications channels

Women are more wholistic in their approach to life. As a result, they appreciate a wholistic approach to marketing. The most successful brands marketing to women integrate their marketing:

Product: Women want a high-quality product that they can trust. Plus, the product design should be aesthetically pleasing. Think how your target defines chic, not pink.

Place: Give her back her time. Customize the product experience, brand, and messaging based on women's interests. For example, mothers may need products that come to them. The Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) augmented their annual conference and Leadership Institute educations programs with webinars available any time and programs in members' cities through APAP/On the Road.

Price: Price signals quality. Build an array of products at varied price points, defining the value proposition at each purchase level. Coach launched Poppy in 2009 to achieve their goal of selling 50% of their handbags under $300.

Promotion: Personalize offers by in space and time. Key questions to ask your women customers are: Where and when does she want to hear from you? How does she communicate with others now? Are there certain times of the day when she reads emails, Facebook, or Twitter? If so, make sure that is the delivery time. Does she take public transit to make out of home a logical choice? What publications does she subscribe to online or print?

Egyptian women demanded to be heard. Are you hearing your women customers?

SOURCES:

Time Magazine, Woman power: the rise of the Sheconomy, by Belinda Luscombe , 11/22/2010
The National Post, Police beating of ‘girl in the blue bra’ becomes new rallying call for Egyptians, by Michael Higgins 12/20/2011
Forbes, Don't take this personally, but you take things too personally, by Molly Cain, 10/13/2011,
Harvard Business Review, The Female Economy, by Michael J. Silverstein and Kate Sayre, 09/01/2009

Welcome to Focused Light

2011-12-08T17:22:02Z

Welcome.

Customers experience companies like your friends experience you. It’s personal.

Your friends’ brand experience of you is the accumulation of feelings, thoughts, memories, and experiences about you. The same is true for customers’ relationships to organizational brands. Personal and organizational brand experiences stem from one-on-one connections through social media, phone calls, emails, the written word– and a sea of visual experiences. Your most loyal customers see you as a personal friend.

Loyal customers spend more money. They recommend you to their friends.

I love surfacing what customers love about brands—and why they leave them. While it’s hard work, it’s also fun to develop strategies that build on strengths and mitigate what customers won’t accept.

In Focused Light, I’ll tell stories and reveal the science behind winning brand strategies. I’ll write about research, consumer experience, marketing, sales, communications, management, and culture – all as they relate to brands. Plan on reading about how your brand and other brands’ employees, operations, and communications contribute to customer loyalty or defection.

Today, Apple moved my satisfaction score from a 9 to an I’m-in-love. Their website allowed me to easily view and consider a large selection of travel cases for my new 13” MacBook Pro. After I mistakenly ordered iWorks along with a new case, I easily found a telephone number on Apple’s website to correct my misstep. Ansley answered within a minute. She not only fixed my order, but thanked me via her personal email, and shared her telephone extension. I have a personal shopping concierge at Apple.

According to Exact Target, 41% of customers choose the telephone as their first choice in solving customer service issues (just like me!), 33% relying on the website and 20% choosing email.

I hope you will join me in the dialogue.