Marketing 4.0:
Moving from Traditional to Digital
Concept Synthesis and Local Application:
Part 3: Tactical Marketing Applications in the Digital Economy
CH. 8 Human-Centric Marketing for Brand Attraction
In human-centric marketing, there is the need to understand Human side of both customers and brands. The following are the attributes that will allow brands to attract customers
Physicality – this is the reason why more than 170 years ago, our company chose the goddess of wise conduct to embody the values of the company. Not only is it just a face, for people to relate to, but she also embodies or core values of purpose, self-awareness and wisdom.
Intellectuality – our company has been in the forefront of product innovation. One of our most innovative product designs was unit-linked plans which was 1st designed in Europe and were the first to introduce in asia and the first to introduce in the Philippines. Admittedly, product innovation has grown stagnant as competition has started to develop tactical products whose purpose is not for profitability but for market share.
Sociability – As much as possible we try to live up to our credo “Always Listening, Always Understanding” The agency has been the tip of the speak when it comes to dealing with our customers. Although we do have a strong frontline service for clients who transact directly with the company, the agency will remain at the forefront. As a company, this is one aspect that we need to develop specially using the digital platform.
Emotionality – using emotion with others to drive action is something that is in it’s infancy with our company. On a regional level, we have posted youtube clips that invoke the need for sound financial planning. The purpose of this campaign is to move the viewer to act by contacting our company to know more about the services we can offer. So far we’ve been receiving responses but it is still at it’s early stage.
Personability – As part of our values, self-awareness allows the company to determine if we are still true to beliefs and values and yet be able to adapt and be flexible to the changing needs of our customers.
Morality – this is one reason why, we as a company, do not go into cut-throat pricing. We have competition that does this just to get market share. As a company, we have an obligation to our customers, shareholders and agency to develop products and services that is equitable and profitable. Simply put a company that does not make money, will not be able to provide financial security for their customers and provide maximum shareholder value.
Again, admittedly, our company has not fully tapped the value of a good number of digital marketing concepts. As far as as digital anthropology is concerned, the closest we’ve used is social listening and even that can still be vastly improved. As far as the human side of the brand, I know and can easily identify and relate as I am a long time employee of the company; but as far as our customers are concerned, I hate to admit it but I do not believe that our marketing efforts have effectively communicated the “human” side of our brand.
The deepest desires and anxieties of our customers is their need to achieve financial success and the definition of success will vary from one person to another but will be similar based on income levels. Simply put, for the poor their financial need is to create more. For the rich, it is to both create more and keep it so that the next generation can benefit from it.
As discussed above, I do believe that our company possess human qualities as embodied not just in our logo and other symbolism but in the way we conduct our business. I am proud of the fact that we do not go down to the level of cut-throat pricing just to make a sale. We make no apologies when people say we have expensive products. It’s not necessarily true but even so I always retort with “you pay more; you get more” My challenge is to communicate this more clearly to our customers. Not just through action, as this is very limiting to one-on-one interaction, but look for ways to use social media to allow others to share their experiences and they will embody our credo of Listening and Understanding.
CH. 9 Content Marketing for Brand Curiosity (Initiating Conversations with Powerful Storytelling)
In my opinion,
this is one component in Digital Marketing that our company is struggling
with. Since we are a multinational
company operating in 4 continents including 13 Asian countries, branding and
communication guidelines are standardized world-wide. It is difficult, if not, impossible to ad the
Filipino flare in both our traditional and digital marketing ad as the “group”
insists on the same global branding initiatives. A relevant insight is the need to create
content that is not necessarily about branding or sales but is about what is
valuable to the customer, the Filipino customer. Though it can be argued that financial
planning is a universal issue; but, the way you deliver to the Filipino
consumer (not even segmenting them yet) requires a more emotional approach.
Instead of
value proposition messages, companies distribute content that is useful and
relevant for the consumer. To my mind,
value proposition is selling, there is no relationship and is usually a one
sided conversation. Content marketing is
like conversing with a friend who understands who you are and what you need and
responds appropriately.
Love and care
for family is universal. Our company
connects the value of financial planning with values that are personal and
relevant to the Filipino family. As mentioned in previous COSALS, as a company we
are now focusing on 4 specific segments and have campaigns to address the needs
of these segments based on certain values.
One example is our OFW campaign where we address their desire to be
reunited with their family and use financial products to achieve it. Based on this, we create collaterals
including sales materials including videos that highlights this goal.
We try to connect our credo of Always
Listening and Always understanding in the content we develop. Such as our current campaign where we ask the
question “What do you protect?” where we try to invoke a response from our
target audience based on the identified segments above. The campaign is both in traditional and
digital marketing and we’ve had responses already in terms of queries on “How
to protect” We are trying to engage but
knowing what our customers want instead of just pushing our products.
Following the
customer’s path using the 5 A’s with sales as the goal, each touchpoint of the
5 A’s must have a uniform content revolving around the themes I’ve mentioned
above. As discussed in this chapter, the effectiveness of content-marketing
should also be measured and improved.
CH.10 Omnichannel Marketing for Brand Commitment (Integrating Traditional and Digital Media and Experiences)
I started with
the course with the mentality that traditional is different from digital. With this chapter, I’ve grown the realize the
value (but difficult) of the omni-channel which does not separate but
integrates the best of both traditional and digital. This is now even more relevant with trends
such as:
Important touchpoints would be process of understanding and ultimately payment for financial products and services, after sales service and processing of claims. Currently offline channels are the norm such as the agent and the service office. Our company, though behind, is focusing on transferring most of these touchpoint through digital means. It’s hard to imagine but one day there maybe no need for an agent. But with this chapter, I’ve grown to appreciate that we can merge both traditional (in our case the sales force) and digital in the delivery of our service and commitment to our customers.
On one hand, downloadable forms for purchase and claims of insurance products are now available on line; however, we need the agent to help guide the client through the process. An interesting insight I’ve gained from these past chapters is that there should be a system in place wherein a client downloads a form, which signifies interest and even intent, and then notifies their agent of the act to trigger the agent to contact the client and assist them in the process. As mentioned early, our digitization project is still in it’s infancy and there is so much potential if done properly which now includes the omnichannel approach.
CH.11 Engagement Marketing for Brand Affinity (Harnessing the Power of Mobile Apps, Social CRM and Gamification)
Going mobile
for ALL businesses, is a foregone conclusion by now. Some, if not all, business
processes should be available online and most specially through smartphones.
Put together, this allows for a hastle-free, 24/7, uninterrupted and relevant experience for customers.
Similar to traditional marketing, traditional CRM is also company driven. With the advent of social media, there is now a need to have a customer driven CRM or Social CRM.
Three Uses of Social CRM
Major difference is that with Social CRM, you want to avoid issues going viral.
Increases customer engagement through:
Gamification as a tool for engagement:
Gamification process.
With advocacy as the end in mind, engagement tactics such as mobile appls, social crm and gamification guides companies to help clients on their customer journey to move from purchaser (act) to ultimately advocates of the company or brand.
It has been a standard tactic of the company to reward additional business coming from existing clients either through high premium purchases, reselling campaign or referral campaigns. As painfully mentioned already, when it comes to mobile apps and social CRM we are just in the beginning of using technology as an important tool during the customer’s journey with out company. Mobile apps can be used to quickly address clients concerns or interests such as purchase or upgrade. Social CRM should allow the company enhance it’s branding by having a community of advocate/clients who will not only champion our products but be a source of information for others who may be interested in our products or services.
As mentioned already, it is just in its infancy. In fact, with our readings, in pains for me to admit that we are very far as integration of certain departments to allow for better customer engagement programs need to be streamlined and improved. Though we have customer hot-lines, web support for inquiries and complaints, it is not enough and there is still opportunity to improve the process and collaboration among departments concerned.
Epilogue: Getting to Wow (Enjoy, Experience, Engage)
Speechless delight as aptly described by our text. It is surprising, personal and contagious. Most of us experience WOW moments by chance. Companies on the other hand, companies should realize not to leave the WOW moments to chance.
To wow clients, 1st level is Enjoyment where companies focus on product superiority. 2nd Level will be Experience by improving customer interaction through design and blueprint. The highest level is Engagement, helping customers achieve self-actualization by designing life-transforming customer experiences.
Concept Synthesis and Local Application:
I am currently affiliated with a British Financial Services
company with over a 170 year history. We are Insurance company that
offers a variety of financial services with significant operations in Europe,
the United States and 14 Asian Countries. I am currently the Sales
Director for Visayas responsible for the strategic growth of our operations in
Visayas. I plan and execute tactical initiatives in support of the
company’s growth strategies in the Philippines. I lead, coach and mentor
1,200 agents and agency leaders across my territory. I am looking forward
to bringing back to my work place actionable strategies from digital marketing
that will have an immediate impact on our growth efforts.
Part 3: Tactical Marketing Applications in the Digital Economy
CH. 8 Human-Centric Marketing for Brand Attraction
1.
Understanding Humans Using
Digital Anthropology
Digital Anthropology explores how users
interact, behave and use technology. It
is used to discover human anxieties and desires that brands should address.
Social Listening – in our company social
listening has been used for quite sometime now though we have not maximized its
potential. For now, Social listening used to monitor instances where our brand
may be misused by the agents or employees or monitoring negative
publicity. As cited in the text, social listening can
also be used in identifying leads and understanding prospects in social
selling. It can also be used for
competitive intelligence. With the last
two, our company has not yet maximized the potential of this evolving marketing
tool.
Netnography – from passive to active,
companies engages communities. It is a more immersive follow-up to social listening. As a company, we have not used this
tool. I do know for a fact that our more
enterprising agents are part of online communities and it becomes their “spridng
board” to develop their reputation by building trust within that
community. This would be the closest
interaction in relation to Netnography but the activity does not come close to
the real definition of Netnography which is to disclose their purpose and ask permission in doing research.
Emphatic Research – involves observation and
immersion (in communities) to uncover needs.
This approach is defined by its process of involving, collaborating with
customers to gain insights. It was ironic that a financial services company was
cited in the text as the example of Emphatic Research as our company, again,
has not tapped this rich resource of insights in identifying needs of our
customers.
2.
Building the 6 Attributes of
Human-Centric Brands
In human-centric marketing, there is the need to understand Human side of both customers and brands. The following are the attributes that will allow brands to attract customers
Physicality – this is the reason why more than 170 years ago, our company chose the goddess of wise conduct to embody the values of the company. Not only is it just a face, for people to relate to, but she also embodies or core values of purpose, self-awareness and wisdom.
Intellectuality – our company has been in the forefront of product innovation. One of our most innovative product designs was unit-linked plans which was 1st designed in Europe and were the first to introduce in asia and the first to introduce in the Philippines. Admittedly, product innovation has grown stagnant as competition has started to develop tactical products whose purpose is not for profitability but for market share.
Sociability – As much as possible we try to live up to our credo “Always Listening, Always Understanding” The agency has been the tip of the speak when it comes to dealing with our customers. Although we do have a strong frontline service for clients who transact directly with the company, the agency will remain at the forefront. As a company, this is one aspect that we need to develop specially using the digital platform.
Emotionality – using emotion with others to drive action is something that is in it’s infancy with our company. On a regional level, we have posted youtube clips that invoke the need for sound financial planning. The purpose of this campaign is to move the viewer to act by contacting our company to know more about the services we can offer. So far we’ve been receiving responses but it is still at it’s early stage.
Personability – As part of our values, self-awareness allows the company to determine if we are still true to beliefs and values and yet be able to adapt and be flexible to the changing needs of our customers.
Morality – this is one reason why, we as a company, do not go into cut-throat pricing. We have competition that does this just to get market share. As a company, we have an obligation to our customers, shareholders and agency to develop products and services that is equitable and profitable. Simply put a company that does not make money, will not be able to provide financial security for their customers and provide maximum shareholder value.
3.
Summary: When Brands Become
Humans
Again, admittedly, our company has not fully tapped the value of a good number of digital marketing concepts. As far as as digital anthropology is concerned, the closest we’ve used is social listening and even that can still be vastly improved. As far as the human side of the brand, I know and can easily identify and relate as I am a long time employee of the company; but as far as our customers are concerned, I hate to admit it but I do not believe that our marketing efforts have effectively communicated the “human” side of our brand.
a.
What are the deepest anxieties
and desires of your customers?
The deepest desires and anxieties of our customers is their need to achieve financial success and the definition of success will vary from one person to another but will be similar based on income levels. Simply put, for the poor their financial need is to create more. For the rich, it is to both create more and keep it so that the next generation can benefit from it.
a.
Does your brand possess human
qualities? What can you do to make it more human?
As discussed above, I do believe that our company possess human qualities as embodied not just in our logo and other symbolism but in the way we conduct our business. I am proud of the fact that we do not go down to the level of cut-throat pricing just to make a sale. We make no apologies when people say we have expensive products. It’s not necessarily true but even so I always retort with “you pay more; you get more” My challenge is to communicate this more clearly to our customers. Not just through action, as this is very limiting to one-on-one interaction, but look for ways to use social media to allow others to share their experiences and they will embody our credo of Listening and Understanding.
CH. 9 Content Marketing for Brand Curiosity (Initiating Conversations with Powerful Storytelling)
1.
Content is the New Ad, #Hashtag
is the New Tagline
2.
Step-by-Step Content Marketing
| Goal Setting | Audience Mapping | Content Ideation and Planning | Content Creation |
| Alligned with business objectives | More specfic segments compared to traditional marketing | 1) Content has clear relevance to customer's lives. | A continuous process that requires consistency. |
| Translated into Metrics | Inclusion and emphasis on behavioral perimeter | 2) Has stories that reflects brand's characters and codes | Either done: |
| Either: | Profile the personas | Other things to consider: | 1) In-house |
| 1) Sales related | Identify anxieties and desires or painpoints and aspirations. | 1) Content format and visual form | 2) Externally sourced |
| 2) Brand related | 2) Content marketing narrative should be episodic with small stories that support the overall story line | 3) Sponsor content produced by third-party sources. |
| Content Distribution | Content Amplification | Content Marketing | Content Marketing Improvement | |
| 1) Digital | Content reaches influencers, content is more likely to go viral. | Post Distribution evaluates key content marketing metrics across the customer's path | High accountability compared to traditional marketing | |
| 2) Non-Digital | 1) Identify Influencers | Customer Path | Metrics | Able to track performance by: |
| 2) Reciprocity | Visible (awareness) | Impressions, unique viewers, brand recall | 1) Content Theme | |
| Major Media Channels | 3) Engagin in conversations | Relatable (appeal) | page views per visitor, bounce rate, time on site | 2) Content Format |
| 1) Owned - such as corp publications, events websites, blogs etc. | Searchable (ask) | search-engine positions, search-engine referrals. | 3) Distribution Channel | |
| 2) Paid - such as traditional, electornic, print, digital | Actionable (act) | click-through rate and other call to action conversion rates such as registering or purchasing | Periodic Improvement is essential through: | |
| 3) Earned - coverage and exposure through word of mouth or advocacy | Shareable (advocate) | share ratio and engagement rate. | 1) Evaluationa nd improvement horizons | |
| 2) Decide when it is time to change the content-marketing approach | ||||
3.
Summary: Creating Conversations
with Content
a.
What is the content that you
think will be valuable to your customers?
b.
How can the content tell a
story about your brand?
c.
How do you plan to execute your
content-marketing strategy?
CH.10 Omnichannel Marketing for Brand Commitment (Integrating Traditional and Digital Media and Experiences)
1.
The Rise of Omnichannel
Marketing
a.
Mobile Commerce in the “Now” Economy. Millenials said it best with their YOLO
acronym. Everything needs to be down now
as “You Only Live Once” and the mobile phone is the best channel that brings
the market closer and faster companies.
b.
Webrooming into Offline Channels. Imagine knowing who you are customer is and
what they already want to buy as they enter your store without asking a single
question. With today’s technology such
as RFIC, smartphones and Bluetooth this allows a company to already track the
behavior of a customer and allows for more personalize approach which increases
the likelihood of purchase.
c.
Showrooming into Online Channels. – with today’s busy
lifestyle, imagine the convenience of shopping for groceries while waiting for
the train through, like doing your groceries but you are somewhere else. Showrooming allows customers to shop and
explore products in physical places, use their senses (such as sight and to a
certain degree touch) and yet have human-to-human connections while shopping
but online.
2.
Step-by-Step Omnichannel
Marketing
| Mall All possible Touchpoints and Channels Across the Customer Path | Identify the Most Critical Touchpoints and Channels. | Improve and Integrate the Most Critical Touchpoints and Channels. |
| Identify Touchpoints whether direct or indirect across the 5 A's | Focus on the most popular touchpoint and channel | Evaluate and improve critical touch points. |
| An actual action that the customers takes | 20% of all possible scenarios is followed by 80% of customers. | Companies should create an organizational structure that allows inegration through collaboration or cross incentivize. |
| Identify Channels either online or offline used by the customer to interact | Create seamless and consistent experience across touch points. |
3.
Summary: Integrating the Best
of Online and Offline Channels
a.
What are the most important
customer touchpoints and channels for your business?
Important touchpoints would be process of understanding and ultimately payment for financial products and services, after sales service and processing of claims. Currently offline channels are the norm such as the agent and the service office. Our company, though behind, is focusing on transferring most of these touchpoint through digital means. It’s hard to imagine but one day there maybe no need for an agent. But with this chapter, I’ve grown to appreciate that we can merge both traditional (in our case the sales force) and digital in the delivery of our service and commitment to our customers.
b.
Have you aligned the channels
to support a seamless and consistent experience?
On one hand, downloadable forms for purchase and claims of insurance products are now available on line; however, we need the agent to help guide the client through the process. An interesting insight I’ve gained from these past chapters is that there should be a system in place wherein a client downloads a form, which signifies interest and even intent, and then notifies their agent of the act to trigger the agent to contact the client and assist them in the process. As mentioned early, our digitization project is still in it’s infancy and there is so much potential if done properly which now includes the omnichannel approach.
CH.11 Engagement Marketing for Brand Affinity (Harnessing the Power of Mobile Apps, Social CRM and Gamification)
1.
Enhancing Digital Experiences
with Mobile Apps
a.
Mobile allows for media content
b.
Mobile allows for self-service channels
c.
Allows integration of product and service experience.
Put together, this allows for a hastle-free, 24/7, uninterrupted and relevant experience for customers.
| Designing key functionalities and Interface | ||
| Determine the Use | Design the Key Functionalities and User Interface | Develop the Back-end. |
| Through market research, identify customer frustration points | Integrating: | Back office, physical outlets, other media channels and third-party partners. |
| Determine how an app can solve the problem | Social: sharing features | Integrating apps with support elements critical to the experience. |
| Location: location based functions | ||
| Mobile: on the go capabilities | ||
| User friendly, simplicity is key | ||
2.
Providing Solutions with Social
CRM
Similar to traditional marketing, traditional CRM is also company driven. With the advent of social media, there is now a need to have a customer driven CRM or Social CRM.
Three Uses of Social CRM
a.
Listen to the voice of the customer
b.
Involve brands in conversations
c.
Handle complaints
Major difference is that with Social CRM, you want to avoid issues going viral.
a.
Build Sense and Respond Capabilities – develop an
algorithm to monitor, filter and prioritize the conversations and distinguish
those that matter versus clutter or noise.
b.
Develop and Empower Social CRM agents – properly represent
the brand at a high level of empathy with the right attitude and
personalities. Must have knowledge and
connected within the system to coordinate with others within the organization.
c.
Leverage Community Involvement – letting loyal advocates
respond to negative comments; a self-help mechanism connecting customers within
the community.
3.
Driving Desired Behavior with
Gamification
Increases customer engagement through:
a.
Loyalty programs
b.
Customer communities
Gamification as a tool for engagement:
a.
Takes advantage of human desire to achieve higher
goals and be recognized.
b.
Accountability through completion of transactions such
as buying versus merely referring clients.
c.
Collects transactional and non-transactional customer
data to help companies focus on and understand customer behavior
Gamification process.
a.
Define actions to trigger such as actions to reward
with points.
b.
Define customer enrollment ( to increase submitted
personal information) and tiering (allows for companies to track the progress
of each customer).
c.
Determine recognition and rewards that assigns
privileges and rewards to customers within tiers.
4.
Summary: Mobile Apps, Social
CRM and Gamification
With advocacy as the end in mind, engagement tactics such as mobile appls, social crm and gamification guides companies to help clients on their customer journey to move from purchaser (act) to ultimately advocates of the company or brand.
a.
How can mobile apps, social
CRM, and gamification help you engage your customers?
It has been a standard tactic of the company to reward additional business coming from existing clients either through high premium purchases, reselling campaign or referral campaigns. As painfully mentioned already, when it comes to mobile apps and social CRM we are just in the beginning of using technology as an important tool during the customer’s journey with out company. Mobile apps can be used to quickly address clients concerns or interests such as purchase or upgrade. Social CRM should allow the company enhance it’s branding by having a community of advocate/clients who will not only champion our products but be a source of information for others who may be interested in our products or services.
b.
What are the challenges of
executing customer engagement programs in your business?
As mentioned already, it is just in its infancy. In fact, with our readings, in pains for me to admit that we are very far as integration of certain departments to allow for better customer engagement programs need to be streamlined and improved. Though we have customer hot-lines, web support for inquiries and complaints, it is not enough and there is still opportunity to improve the process and collaboration among departments concerned.
Epilogue: Getting to Wow (Enjoy, Experience, Engage)
1.
What is a “WOW?”
Speechless delight as aptly described by our text. It is surprising, personal and contagious. Most of us experience WOW moments by chance. Companies on the other hand, companies should realize not to leave the WOW moments to chance.
2.
Enjoy, Experience, Engage: Wow!
To wow clients, 1st level is Enjoyment where companies focus on product superiority. 2nd Level will be Experience by improving customer interaction through design and blueprint. The highest level is Engagement, helping customers achieve self-actualization by designing life-transforming customer experiences.
3.
Are you ready to WOW?
WOW is by design, guiding customers through the 5 A’s
and creatively creates opportunities to enjoy, experience and engage.
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