I very seldom forward links or emails to people in my office. Something really has to make me sit up and take notice before I’ll inflict it on unwilling victims. But this morning, when I read Christopher Penn’s blog entry, “No longer lend your strength to that which you wish to be free from”, I felt I had to share.
So many times when I’m reading online, the content and comments are so full of vitriol, it’s almost physically painful. Don’t you get tired of all the “nattering nabobs of negativism” yourself? If so, here’s my challenge: read Penn’s blog entry and take it to heart. Social and online media have so much power that they really can make a difference, in peoples’ lives and in the world. It’s a shame to give it over to the dark side.
Remember, all you Peter (and Peggy) Parkers out there: with great power comes great responsibility. Use yours wisely. (And forgive me for mixing my sci-fi references.)
One thing we like to stress to the clients we work with, is the importance of cultivating brand loyalty.
Consumers are spending more and more time on the social web, and are becoming increasingly savvy over which brands are truly listening, engaging, and paying attention to their needs. Smart brands will recognize their consumers loyalty, encourage it, and ultimately reward it.
This is the new marketing value of Social Media.
People can now passionately share their love for a particular brand. Take the following “commercial” a fan of Trader Joe’s made.
Doing some quick browsing, it appears the fans do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to the online presence for Trader Joe’s.
There is also a Twitter account and blog that appears to be managed by a loyal fan.
Trader Joe’s would be wise to incorporate the fan’s content into their existing marketing efforts. At the minimum, they can provide a micro site or landing page highlighting their community. They have incredibly loyal customers who literally act as ambassadors for the company. Such equity doesn’t come over night, and what happens if it goes away?
The takeaway: Reward your ambassador’s brand loyalty. Welcome them to play in your space. It will pay off in full and elevate your presence both online and off.
We have spent the last year acquiring staff and technical resources to provide our clients with new media and marketing resources in the area of digital as well as social web expertise.
Social Media Marketing
The reality is that in business you can no longer ignore social media. Whether you choose to engage or not, you will be a part of the social media community. And, for most marketers, developing a strategy is now a part of an integrated media presence in this rapidly changing environment. Within a comprehensive consulting package, we can provide you the following Social Media Marketing services:
Brand and Reputation Monitoring
Listening and monitoring of your customers’ behavior and brand engagement online. This extends into providing documentation of their behavior and provides a solid plan of attack for any social media campaign or customer engagement.
Campaign Development and Execution
Suggested strategies focus on an overall social media marketing strategy as it relates to your business. It then expands into the appropriate communication channels and applications, available to your customers and stakeholders.
Implementation of Social Media Marketing Strategies
We can assist you in implementing social marketing campaigns within current marketing and advertising initiatives. We believe an integrated marketing approach of both traditional and social media is essential.
Content and Communication Strategy
This includes overall strategy, creation, and management of all content initiatives. This would also include content optimization and determining successful communication channels where your customers engage.
Campaign Management
We can oversee and report on any social media campaign. This would include online socially-driven campaigns, contests, mobile app campaigns, email marketing and even offline events.
Continual Client Education
The social web is organic and is in constant change. We continuously keep abreast of the latest trends. The strategies we suggest are built on our knowledge of these trends and current consumer behaviors.
We would love to share our expertise with you, or just update you on emerging trends. For more information, contact Carey Jernigan at 734.327.6630 or carey.jernigan@regroup.us
Heading back to Michigan for its 3rd year is Brand Camp University, an event that focuses on business and personal brand development.
The subject of personal brand inevitably brings up a long and heated discussion. Some feel brand can not and should not exist within the confines of online identities. That the pursuit of personal brand is nothing more than a platform to feed the ego. Many defend it. Recognizing that brand, personal or not, is a vital foot print in one’s overall marketing and communication strategy.
This year, BCU focuses on “Awaking your Inner ‘Prenuer’.
More than just a “this is how your brand yourself” workshop, BCU brings in some big names who share how businesses and individuals can reinvent their own professional brand identities. The speaker lineup is stellar, and range from hometown business owners, to industry experts across the county.
Marketing, business, communications, PR, SEM, SEO, Social Media, regardless the tactic; we can not deny that the web has changed they way we work. More and more, it has become important to adopt the flexible and innovative entrepreneur mindset regardless if you are small business or major corporation.
As we start to reinvent our own business mindset, we in turn empower ourselves to help reinvent our communities. If we are going to turn the corner, new ways of doing business are required. Innovation and brand development will go hand in hand. This will lead to new marketing solutions that will ultimately reinvent Michigan’s brand.
Brand Camp University is October 8th, 2010. 9am – 5pm at Lawrence Tech University. You can follow BrandCampU on Twitter, Facebook, and on the Blog.
re:group is happy and proud to be a sponsor of this great event.
Last week, on the suggestion of good friend and business associate, Rob Falls of Falls Communications, I drove to Cleveland to meet with a couple interested in expanding their franchise business. So I did some homework on the company, put together a basic introductory deck on our capabilities and point of view on branding, hopped in the car and headed for Cleveland not knowing really what to expect.
On arrival at the first store of this small but growing franchise, the founder and his wife shared their story and their treated me to a sampling of their product (which was great). We then did a brief reconnaissance of several other franchise locations and settled in to talk about their situation.
They are at a critical point in their development where they have a solid, differentiated concept, they have successful stores open and people interested in buying their franchises. Now they are considering what is truly required for exponential growth. Does it require additional people? Capital? If they seek outside investment does it mean loss of control?
It was pretty clear they could use some help. But not help developing marketing materials or even marketing strategy. They needed help determining what their options were and what they personally wanted to do. My advice to them was to join the International Franchise Association or at least attend the IFA conference in February. I offered to introduce them to successful people in their category and my friends at Focus Brands, Dwyer Group, Service Brands and Service Master who have built successful multi-franchise systems. They understood immediately that it would be a good thing to talk to others who have been where they are and have done what they are trying to do, and were grateful for the advice.
Driving home I felt really good about the trip. I was profoundly grateful that 30+ years of serving franchise companies and 25 years of IFA membership have created this incredible network of franchise professionals I can reach out to and help others connect with. No, the day will probably not directly result in any immediate revenue for re:group, but I hopefully made two new friends in the industry and look forward to helping them determining how best to grow their business. As my friend Scott puts it, it was a deposit in the Karma bank that ultimately will be repaid in kind.
Originally owned by someone else, they didn’t want it and gave it to me for free. Not wanting to give up a free car, I took up the offer. Come to find out the only thing that worked on this car, were the roll up windows. I discovered that this Ford Taurus was the true definition of a lemon. Mechanics told me it wasn’t safe to drive. So it was sent to car heaven, and the original owner was sent… well, let’s just say I never accepted any gifts from him again.
Again, I fell for the free ride. I was headed to Minnesota so why not put miles on a car that wasn’t mine?
This was a superior machine.
I don’t geek out on the latest gadgets that today’s automobiles are equipped with. However, I will say I am more and more impressed with the creature comforts now available.
This was a vast improvement over the last Ford Taurus I drove.
Getting your hands behind a vehicle like this puts a lot in perspective. You get a better appreciation for the work it takes to make these types of vehicles. It also brings back the notion of travel comforts that we all crave regardless of the mode of transportation.
So thank you Ford for the test drive. It was a lot of fun, and I’ll let you know when my next road trip is!
*disclaimer – Ford is not a client of re:group. Any promotion of their products is kept strictly to test driving their vehicles. No monetary compensation came with the test drive or this blog post.
One of the frustrations of what we do is that everybody seems to think they can do it. Instead of allowing people who have years of education and experience do what they think will work, many clients think that they need to rule with an iron hand. Well, here’s a cautionary tale of what happens when we try to do a job we’re not the experts at:
I arrived early at my office one day last week to try to get through a number of important tasks before the official work day started. No such luck. When I pulled in, a gentleman in my building informed me that four baby ducklings were trapped in the storm drain in our parking lot. Being an animal lover and an efficient account person, I volunteered to handle the matter. I called the City. Fortunately for the ducklings, it was a slow crime day and both a police car and a water department vehicle arrived in ten minutes to rescue the adorable black and brown babies, whom I dubbed Donald, Huey, Louie and Dewey. They were quite vocal and it was clear they were happy to be free. The policeman wasn’t too sure what to do with them, so of course, I volunteered to act as real estate agent and relocate them.
My coworkers weighed in and it was agreed that I should take them to Gallup Park, by the Huron River, where ducks and geese hang out. I set them free at the edge of the pond and they swiftly paddled off together clearly enjoying their freedom. I returned to the office feeling like I had done my good deed for the day.
My euphoria quickly vanished when I returned to find the Director and a volunteer from the Bird Center of Washtenaw County who had received a call from the City about the ducklings. They had come to collect Donald, Huey, Louie and Dewey, as they have a volunteer who specializes in taking care of baby ducks. One of the women tearfully told me that their hours were numbered as other mother ducks aren’t keen to take care of babies that aren’t their own - wish I’d known this before I had willy-nilly set them free in a good sized pond. Of course, I felt totally guilty, so I offered to go back and see if I could collect them back.She handed me two small nets and a small bucket with some towels to keep them warm should I be lucky and recapture them.
I recruited some friends from the office and off we went. We searched around the edge of the pond and there they were. As we positioned our nets they high-tailed it into the middle of the pond far from our reach. We spent 45 minutes attempting to coax them to shore. They were clearly happy as clams paddling about and would have nothing to do with us.We returned unsuccessfully to the office where I called the Bird Center to report on my failure.
Next morning, I arrived early at their small building on Mary Street. I walked into this amazing space with tables covered with small buckets that held over 100 injured birds of every kind. There were five volunteers busy with eyedroppers feeding them various concoctions. It was a sight to behold. Until the day before I had no idea that this place even existed much less all the great work they are doing to take care of these injured or baby birds.
Having seen the efforts these volunteers go to for their birds, I suddenly didn’t have the heart to give up the hunt for the ducklings. I was given yet another larger net and some duck food with the hope that this time I could capture them. I will keep you posted on the outcome.But the important part of this story is that if you find an injured or baby bird or duckling or gosling in the Ann Arbor area, call the Bird Center of Washtenaw County 734-761-9640. They are the experts, and they are the ones who should be allowed to do their jobs.
In a world of Google Business reviews, Angie’s list, personal blogs and countless restaurant reviews on sites like Urban Spoon, I simply don’t understand why ANY business would not try at least to provide the best customer service as possible.
There is a huge amount of power and importance that comes with a referral, more so than any amount of advertising or promotional materials can achieve. Everyone who interacts with your business could potentially talk about you to someone they know, or post a review online - so why not make that reference a positive one?
Customer service does not have to be large gestures, more often, it’s simple courtesies. You’d be surprised how much it means to simply acknowledge a customer or to thank one for his or her business. You can offer free samples, email an update on a project, follow up to get input, or just offer advice, whether or not it results in a sale.
Internal customer service is important as well, because happy employees make customers happy. Treat your co-workers as you would a customer. Offer to help when they are busy, cover a shift, stay late with them to finish a project on the deadline. By having a strong internal customer service, it will result in a stronger external customer service.
No one can make everyone happy all the time - you will receive a bad review. Once you find these bad reviews, respond immediately and decisively. Contact the reviewer to see if there is any way you can fix the problem. If there is no solution, acknowledge the problem and tell them how you are going to change things so that problem will not happen again.
Good customer service is ultimately good for business no matter what business you are in. So make sure it is a strong part of your business and your culture. In a world driven by reviews and referrals you can’t afford not to.
Recently I came across this presentation by my friend and social media/marketing professional, Scott Stratten.
Scott has a style all his own when it comes to talking about the social web and how we all need to start thinking differently when it comes to communicating online. Check out his presentation as he talks about:
Getting people to your door
Making it easy for them to open that door
Using social media only if you are going to be there too
How social media is an extension of customer service and communication of your brand
How too many companies are faking passion and authenticity
Selling Social Media as Influence
Why social media doesn’t cure sucking (think BP)
Why emotion is the new vehicle
The three pillars of the social web: Know – Like – Trust
How ROI is not the point
Building relationships and creating life long value
In agency searches some obsess about agency size. But I believe our agency is the perfect size.
When you’re our size you are selective about your clients - the expectation is a long-term relationship. We want to work with clients whose business we can be successful in building. We have not ever resigned a client to attain a larger competitor.
When you’re our size you can tailor the working relationship for each client. We don’t force our clients to use a proforma process, rather we tailor our working relationship to meet our clients’ operational needs.
When you’re our size you can adapt to changing needs more easily. We’re not a tanker, slow to turn around. We’re a speedboat. So, if your needs change, we can do what is needed quickly.
From an agency our size, you get strategic thinking and lots of resources for execution. But, you only pay for the resources you need.
When you’re our size you don’t spend a lot of time managing “staff.” Instead we spend our time to find experienced, versatile and curious people who can add value to your business. At re:group we are all accountable to our team, there is no place to hide, so a bad hire is gone in weeks not months.
At our size, we still can all fit in one large conference room. In fact, we all have lunch there every Monday and talk about our business. It is a part of our culture and it keeps us all on the same page. So if our client has a problem, our entire team is thinking about its resolution.
And, when you’re our size and are privately held, shareholder expectations do not dictate our expectations. We do. Our expectations are that we will engage in your business, use our professional skills to help you achieve your goals, be paid fairly for our efforts and have a good time doing it.
