We are all marketers now! That’s what McKinsey recently declared. Their logic is simple: the intertwining of “people as product” is relevant in every business model today—from fast food to high tech. In order to create a customer experience that is meaningful, exceptional and authentic, people must be prepared and motivated to deliver. Your employees must buy into all of those carefully crafted expectations that marketing is creating (and touting) in their ads and “make it happen” whenever the customer tests that promise.
Here at Madison we have been talking about this connection between the actions and attitudes of people and marketing’s “moment of truth” for quite some time now. When customers intersect with employees the brand either comes alive or dies a sudden death. In the eyes of discriminating customers there is really no in between. People either miss the opportunity or deliver on the “value” in the value proposition. Their behaviors ultimately drive customers to spend more and feel good about it…and do it over and over again.
Companies that employ people who are committed to the brand’s mission are more successful than those that don’t. In “marketing-speak” these businesses enjoy lower customer acquisition costs and higher lifetime customer values because; their buyers don’t leave, they tell others that they are delighted and they spend more without much prodding on the part of the marketing department.
HR is still in the employee engagement game, but in today’s economy they are also close allies—partners, if you will—with the marketing team as well. Engaged employees—and the companies that consistently recognize them—get better results. Marketing needs HR to deliver a steady supply of them—and that is where Madison can help. No matter what team you are on—HR or marketing—you will need a partner—one that gets the connection. If that describes you give us a call.
Trust. It’s a word that’s always had a dual meaning in the financial industry. The business definition relat
es to mortgages, loans and collateral. In that context it refers to a legal title to property held by one party for the benefit of another.
But in the context of customer relationships “trust” is much bigger than that. It means you can expect to get treated a certain way. It’s the cornerstone of the brand/customer relationship.
Daniel Diermeier author of Reputation Rules: Strategies for Building Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset offers this observation; “Trust is an essential part of business success. Yet trust in businesses has dropped sustainably in the last decade.” He points his finger primarily at the big disaster s that make headlines—a product of our 24/7 news cycle—but he doesn’t overlook how the actions of a few people can damage the brand’s legitimacy within the micro marketplace.
Employee behaviors have a definitive and material impact on the brand’s legitimacy and, of course, their economic value. Recognition programs that focus employees on behaviors that define and illustrate the “brand in action” pay dividends for those organizations that sponsor and implement them. When a customer is satisfied they are destined to spend more, and they are less likely to defect for lower priced alternatives. And when customers go beyond satisfied—and become pleased or delighted—their values rise exponentially.
If you are looking to strengthen or even rebuild the ‘trust’ customers should have in your company, a program that focuses employees on doing just that may be the best investment you can make.
Share of Voice. It’s your brand’s advertising impact across a defined market (or market segment) in any given time period. The measure is what it sounds like. It addresses the issue of How visi
ble are we? And it factors in the totality of your marketing spend and compares it to rivals to also determine how efficient the efforts where at getting (and staying) noticed.
For the most part Share of Voice is an analysis of consumer directed tactics; billboards, print, commercials, etc. But what if you also thought of your “voice” as those messages emanating from your rep and directed at dealership sales and service personal?
That concept is not that farfetched. In fact, its why some of the more progressive manufacturers—especially those who are constantly competing for mindshare within multi-line distribution centers—are actively implementing new recognition platforms designed to raise their (and their reps’) profiles within targeted dealerships.
Reps cover a lot of geography. It’s part of their job. And they can’t be everywhere. They can’t always sync their physical presence (and conversations) around important events. A properly designed recognition program can help increase their voice. Driven by a database that’s linked to a host of variables—including individual incentives that are meaningful to each person within the dealership—today’s incentive tools generate ongoing communications that seem to come directly from the manufacturer’s rep. The messages—automatically triggered by specific results and outcomes—help your reps speak directly to recent achievements. The platform helps them sustain interest in the line, encourage better results while expanding the brand’s voice within the dealership.
We have often talked about recognition and incentive planners needing to think and execute more like marketers. Using advanced incentive platforms to capture a higher Share of Voice among dealership personnel is just one example of that.
Marketing HR Messages
Jan 2011
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In my latest Performance Perspective I asked this question; which discipline, HR or Marketing, is better prepared to manage employee engagement? My point was this: Although the concept of HR Marketing is not new, it has not advanced beyond a mostly information and compliance based function. To excel at building the type of emotional connections that drive long term value and loyalty among employees, HR will need to start thinking and executing like marketing does.
It seems that Felix Wetzel, the Group Marketing Director for Jobsite and author of the People, Brands, & Random Thoughts blog would agree. He posted a guest blog on HR Ring Leader where he predicted that HR and Marketing will move closer and closer, eventually overlap, and consequently merge. His rationale is simple: people are the brand and every human interaction (with colleagues or customers) defines the perception of the brand. He says that HR & Marketing need to work together to communicate and execute the brand internally (employee brand) and externally (employer brand) within the employment market.
Some have wondered if HR is up to that task. I think it is. And I have good company in Howard Schultz the Chairman, President and CEO of Starbucks. At BusinessInsider.com he reiterated a strong belief in the role (and relevance) of HR as “employee marketers” saying, “it is the most important function for setting up the kind of values that are going to endure.” He also admitted, however, that often “the head of HR does not have a seat at the planning table.” I see an opportunity for a change.
I believe that HR leaders, especially those within knowledge-based enterprises, that embrace the additional role of “employee marketers” will not only get invited to the planning table, they may even be looked upon as more critical than their marketing, manufacturing or finance cohorts.
