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Posts Tagged ‘brand development’

February 22, 2010 | Melissa Eggert

Is Twitter right for everyone?

I read Brandweek this past week and have been thinking over the feature article titled “The Tweet Hereafter – Just how effective is Twitter as a marketing tool?” The argument in the article is rooted in the lack of participation on Twitter, the decline of new users per month, and the disconnect between large brands and their audiences on Twitter.

I bring up this article because I see validity behind the points. I think it’s something to consider when suggesting Twitter to clients or for your own company. One director of social media strategy stated that Twitter was effective for only a few areas of marketing:

customer relations management

deals and promotions

conversations for smaller, lesser-known brands.

The statistics also prove a point. Large brands, such as Verizon and Target, have 5,000 to to 10,000 followers. Smaller “organic” brands like Woot and Someecards have almost 2 million followers. And some celebrities? 3-4 million. Why? Because the smaller brands and the celebrities have distinct personalities that larger brands simply cannot have on Twitter (unless it’s the CEO or a customer service help-line like Best Buy’s Twelpforce). Think about how many checkpoints corporations have to go through if they want to get their tweets approved, etc. It takes a long time, and the personality gets lost in the process.

The CEO of Someecards, which has 1.7 million followers in a little over a year, credits his success to his ability to express his creative personality within his brand on Twitter (snippets of wisdom, random links, etc). Twitter matches with the company mission – their cards are all short-form communication. They are known for great one-liners. Twitter works.

Bottom line: No one is really certain how long Twitter will be around. But what I am learning is that before we jump into these social network tools, we need to be thinking about what purpose they serve us. Does Twitter really work for your company? It’s easy to set up an account, it’s easy to acknowledge that everyone in involved in it currently – but are you asking: Why is it good for me?

Being on the cutting edge is crucial in this industry. Equally so is our ability to evaluate these cutting-edge trends and decipher whether or not they align with our brands’ goals. I would love your feedback.

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December 18, 2009 | Jeff Cohn

A “fish story” of a different type.

Some companies understand that every customer transaction (we call it brand touchpoint) is an opportunity to build that brand with the customer. One of the key ways to get this done is through internal brand strategy whereby everyone within the organization understands their role in living the brand. No one understands this more than Southwest Airlines with their empowered brand of travel. Their people are trained to understand the brand and live it everyday. From rapping flight attendants to gate agents who make the inexperienced nervous flier comfortable, they are well versed in the brand and have the freedom to create fun and efficient flying experiences for their customers.

This went through my mind last night as I dined at Bonefish Grill, a national chain of fish and seafood restaurants. Our customer experience was minor but it does speak to the power of empowered brand trained employees who live their brand and those that don’t. Bonefish is in the latter category.

My friend ordered the sea bass. This item is offered in 6 and 8 ounce portions. He ordered the smaller portion. The waiter, who offered exceptional service in every way, came back and told us that they had run out of 6 ounce portions and that he could order something else or accept the 8 ounce portion. My friend said he would accept the 8 ounce portion, but didn’t think he should have to pay for the larger order. The waiter agreed that this was something they should be able to offer and said he’d go to bat with management. That was that. Until his order was placed on the table that is.

My friend was given a piece of fish no more than 6 ounces. We were all somewhat surprised by this. He asked the waiter, “so…did they find a 6 ounce piece of fish” and the waiter said that they had taken a larger piece, took off 2 ounces and served what he ordered.

We all looked at each other in amazement. Someone in management would rather throw out 2 ounces of fish than unexpectedly delight the customer. We asked about this and the waiter said he was just as surprised and would get the general manager. Apparently the kitchen manager made the call.

The manager came over, was very apologetic about what happened, and handled it well.
But this was a huge missed opportunity to build the Bonefish brand with some regular customers! Rather than bring the customer a small extra serving at no additional cost, the kitchen manager only saw his job to live to the order. He had no understanding on his role in creating a memorable experience for the customer, and thereby building the Bonefish brand with us.

We were filled to the gills, but our brand experience of Bonefish Grill was certainly, well, fishy…all because of two key missing ingredients. First, the waiter should have been empowered to do what it takes to satisfy the customer and build the brand. And second, the kitchen manager needs to know that, despite being behind the scenes, his decisions can impact customer’s brand touchpoints everyday. Will we go back to Bonefish? Probably. But our expectations of their brand are definitely lower.

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November 5, 2009 | Jeff Cohn

Narrative Equals Consistent Brand Activation. Even in The White House

Thomas Friedman’s thoughtful and spot on op/ed in the New York Times Op-Ed Columnist: More Poetry, Please hits the nail on the head. But I’ll keep my political views to a dull roar for now and shift to the brand message lessons within the article, something I’m more comfortable speaking about. Mr. Friedman speaks about the need to weave all of the Obama administration’s programs and initiatives together into a single voice or narrative. For example, the link between health care reform and economic vitality for the U.S. are inextricably linked, but rarely is this communicated when his surrogates are talking about healthcare. This message linkage across initiatives forms the activation of the administration’s brand. It’s a great example and way to understand the distinction between brand strategy and brand execution (or activation).

Brand strategy is the hard work of defining a brand’s distinction in the marketplace. In the case of brand Obama, there was a clear focus on “Change” – change from the policies of the past, change in who is driving policy, change from a new generation of voters, etc. But rolling out that brand through our complicated political process is a much more difficult challenge. This is also a challenge for CEOs at companies of all sizes. They first have to find their brand distinction and bring that brand to life through internal and external brand activation. A single voice for the brand should manifest itself through advertising, human resource communications, websites, public relations, corporate social responsibility initiatives, etc. The idea of the narrative in governing is the same thing and Mr. Friedman totally gets this as reflected in his piece. Read the rest →

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April 20, 2009 | Kate McDaniel

The Business Case for Twitter

It seems like everywhere we turn, people are talking about Twitter. The recent increase in use by celebrities has created even more of a buzz. All the hype may be causing you to wonder – should my company join the ranks of Nordstrom (@nordstrom), Whole Foods (@WholeFoods), The Red Cross (@RedCross) and even Oprah (@Oprah) and build a presence on what appears to be the latest communications phenomenon?

The answer? Maybe…and likely, yes.

With 9.3 million visitors in the U.S. and 19 million worldwide, actively participating on Twitter enables you to spread your messages far and wide.

Read the rest →

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