Customer Stories: The Imperfect Customer Experience

No one wants to go the classroom again. Been through that. Didn’t like it the last time. So how does an experienced marketer learn something new … like how to communicate client success stories to new prospective customers.

That question is easy to answer. My colleague Steve Kayser did it on his new blog. His post "Customer Stories 2.0" will leave you laughing at other marketers (and maybe at yourself) but buried in there is an example from FedEx that is spectacular. A new best practice. Which all by itself is an interesting tidbit when you realize Steve spent a big chunk of his life working at UPS. What can Brown do for you?

While you’re on his blog, look ... Read More

The Secrets of Employee Engagement

by John I. Todor, Ph.D., author of Addicted Customers: How to Get Them Hooked on Your Company. (... Read More

The Personal Experience on the Internet

By Dale Wolf

The majority of marketers are finally working at making the personalization potential of the web a reality. Instead of treating a corporate website as a mass medium (same message for every visitor), according to Aberdeen Research, 64% of all companies will deliver personalized content and products to specific market segments.

Segmentation is a top strategy for 78% of all Best-in-Class Companies. 36% of these companies improved their conversion rates from 1-10% as a result of personalization efforts. 24% of these firms did even better at improvement rates over 11%.

In conjunction with segmentation efforts, 46% of all companies target unique individuals by building and maintaining unique user profiles. User profiles rely on information collected about ... Read More

Reconciling Negative Opinions and Advocacy

by John I. Todor, Ph.D., author of Addicted Customers: How to Get Them Hooked on Your Company. (... Read More

Tap the Audience on Other Blogs

By Dale Wolf

Do you have a strategy for using other blogs to spread the word about your brand? This is a no-brainer as a social media strategy. Let other bloggers who are already reaching your target audience do the heavy lifting for you. They create the blog. They build the audience. They post the articles. All you need to do is tap into postings that are relevant to your story and make a relevant comment that supports your brand point-of-view.

Think about where your target market is most likely to hang out when they are visiting the blogosphere. If you were them, what blogs would you read? If you don’t already know what these blogs are, they do some keyword searching on Google and set a Google Alert on those keywords that kick back the best results. Watch these ... Read More

Transcultural Customer Experiences

When creating perfect customer experiences, we all know it is critical to know what kind of experience the customer will value. After that, it is our task to make the experience one that is differentiated and delivered consistently. But it begins with understanding the customer. At one time in America, that was relatively easy because a majority of consumers fit a narrow cultural description. The great melting pot was a reality. Not so today.

African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Asian-Indian Americans are blurring the traditional symbols of ethnicity based on race, language, country-of-origin and culture. They are rapidly evolving and challenging the definition of ‘ethnic’ or ‘multicultural’ marketing. We need to go beyond the language ... Read More

Gone but not forgotten

Please excuse my extended absence from this blog. We have had a difficult and sad journey for the past several months and my mother-in-law, a great and loving friend has finally left us at age 91. Her words: "I’ve had a good life. Don’t cry. I will see you again."

So we are all now following her request and getting back to the routine of life.

But, it goes without saying, that each of us — you and me — we all have those special people who come into our lives, make us better, change our views, are there when you need them most. I suggest you go home this evening and make those people in your life know that you love them and that they are special to you.

– dale ... Read More