"Commit acts, not ads" for InSites Consulting

1 Conversation readiness © In

Site

s C

on

su

ltin

g

Commit acts, not ads. How R&D, customer service and conversation-worthy products are the key success factors for the companies of the future.

Polle de Maagt for InSites Consulting

2 Conversation readiness © In

Site

s C

on

su

ltin

g

Hello. I am Polle de Maagt.

I create impact through

conversations at a pretty cool

company called InSites Consulting.

We work mostly because we’re

committed to take research

forward, but brands like

Ben&Jerry’s, Telenet, Danone and

Philips agreed to pay us for it.

“ “ Advertising is the fee for being unremarkable.

Robert Stephens (GeekSquad)

Honestly, sentences like the world has changed, power has shifted to the consumer, increase your share of conversation, consumers trust each other most, shifting power from marketers to consumers, marketers are no longer in control, social media strategy and learn to lose control make me puke in

my mouth a bit.

While it is really really simple.

People out-converse brands. People are more authentic, more passionate and have lower overhead cost. Period.

Everything a company does is communication. Products, packaging and customer service are more genuine than marketing. So leverage that, like KLM did with their KLM Surprise campaign.

Conversations are just a part of the consumer journey. Traditional advertising still works, past experience is really important and real interactions are the dealmakers/dealbreakers.

Create products that make a difference. Don’t confuse consumers with advertising, put a spotlight on great products.

Company culture makes a difference. Every company has it’s stories and ambassadors, like Nike’s Ekins. Capitalize on these stories and turn your employees in an army of ambassadors.

People out-converse brands, so you better start create stuff that is conversation-worthy. Product development, R&D, customer service and company culture overtake advertising as the most important way of communicating with customers.

This is a radical change and asks for radical changes in the way brands and organizations communicate. It is about acts, not ads. It is about creating stuff worth sharing.

Think stories, not technology. Stories stick. Wouldn’t it be awesome to cut out all advertising and replace it by art? That is exactly what Timessquare to Artsquare is about. More at http://ts2as.org

Think service, not product. Do more than customers expect.

Start with observing: listening to your consumers. Observing consumers made them realize some consumers don’t think in weight, but in calories. So act on that.

Use your customers to help you make the difference. Ben & Jerry’s uses an online platform with brand fans to co-create their marketing plans. 50% of consumers wants to co-create. More at http://polle.me/ISC-BJ Photo by jason.dsilva

Create products that actually nudge behavior. Nike used their Nike+ platform to actually change the way people run.

Capitalize on the people and products you already have. Kay Mook gained the Antwerp Zoo 300K extra visitors and almost became product of the year 2009. More at http://polle.me/ccjSNL

Manage expectations. Under-promise. Over-deliver. Do more than customers expect.

What do you want your consumers to tell about you? Is it about how cool your advertising was? Do you want them to talk about deals? Or is it about something else?

Monetary value versus conversation value. What are your best customers? The ones that spend the most money or the ones that bring in the most new customers? Plan for both.

Give your customers something to talk about. Ambassadors just want to tell other, so help them! Choqoa support fans by giving them chocolate bars and highlighting them in their newsletter.

Use your ambassadors to promote your business. Think how you can make your customers talk about you.

Connect with your consumers and use them for reach. Think how you can make your customers talk about you.

Helping people helps. Exceeding customer expectations builds loyalty (81% repeats, 63% recommends) and falling below customer expectations erodes loyalty (5%/71%).

Create things worth sharing. Think about small things worth talking about.

Make it extra-easy to share or to subscribe. Make it easy to subscribe of share your content via twitter, Facebook or other social buttons. Example: http://polle.me/ij19j4

Measure. Measure views, clicks, but even more important: your return on investment. Extremely simple, but effective: the Net Promoter Score.

Not convinced yet? We wanted to know how connecting with consumers actually drives revenue.

You can forget most of the silly things I said today. But please, remember these 3 things.

Offline WoM Road map

WoM

Product improvement

The best performing marketers do three things that make them stand out. * Conversation Readiness research amongst 500 European marketers

1) They start to implement Word-of-Mouth right away, applying it to their current products. * Conversation Readiness research amongst 500 European marketers

Offline WoM Road map

WoM

Product improvement

2) They realize Word-of-Mouth isn’t only online. * Conversation Readiness research amongst 500 European marketers

Offline WoM Road map

WoM

Product improvement

3) They approach Word-of-Mouth strategically. * Conversation Readiness research amongst 500 European marketers

Offline WoM Road map

WoM

Product improvement

You can forget most of the silly things I said today. But please, remember these 3 things.

People out-converse brands. So you better start creating stuff that is conversation-worthy. R&D, product development, customer experience and company culture make the difference.

1)

To drive conversations, exceed expectations and create stuff worth sharing. Don’t plan only for life time money value, but for life time conversation value.

2)

Start with observing, but start with simple ways to engage consumers and drive conversations. Start monitoring, start with pilots and learn while doing.

3)

Read the manual.

Seriously.

Read it.

I hope I was worth sharing.

Send me an email at

[email protected] so I can help you

remind of the 48 hours.

Find the presentation at

http://polle.me/actsnotads