Marketing Technology Blog

My husband, the fabulous and talented creative director Steve Nealy (shameless plug), and I spent a few days this week at the historic West Baden Springs Hotel in southern Indiana. Let me say before I get into the meat of this that if you live within a drive (or even beyond) of this hotel and the rest of the French Lick Springs Resort and haven’t seen it (or even if you have), you should make a visit. It is gorgeous.

As a marketer and brand strategist, I was most impressed with the attention to their brand. Both hotels have storied histories that include visits by dignitaries of all stripes, including Presidents of the United States, who came to this opulent playground in early 1900s. Recently restored to their original splendor, they spared not a detail in underscoring the historic elements of the brand while catering to the needs of modern travelers. For instance, the wireless delivery throughout West Baden Springs Hotel was spotless. I didn’t have to give a pint of blood or offer up $10 a day to sign on. I just had to agree to terms of usage once and my little happy MacBook Pro was recognized time and again through the building.

Best of all, my brand strategist’s heart was warmed by the ongoing brand adoption I experienced at each turn. Every single employee we came into contact with was a walking talking ambassador of the brand. Each offered some tidbit of history and was more than happy to show us around as well as tastefully make additional suggestions so that we wouldn’t miss the seemingly endless array of things to do.

I could go on and on about the many details that tied together this well done brand. My point is that they are doing a fantastic job with their brand, looking in every tangible and intangible nook and cranny to reinforce who they are and what they stand for. They didn’t just do it before the sale or at point-of-sale. They lavished us with the brand after the sale…setting themselves up for viral marketing, return purchases and a greater lifetime customer value. Seems there’s a lesson in there for all of us.

I left relaxed, enchanted and ready to return at the earliest possible chance. Beautiful branding, West Baden Springs Hotel and French Lick Springs Resort. Bravo!

A friend was telling me a story the other day. She’d felt she’d been burned by a company she’d been doing business with and needed to vent about it. Several months ago, when the relationship began, they’d sat down and agreed on how they’d work together, outlining who’d do what and when. Things looked pretty good at first. But as the honeymoon phase began to wear, she saw signs that all was not as it had been discussed. In fact, the other company wasn’t keeping specific promises they’d made. She addressed her concerns with them and they promised to not let it happen again, to keep on track. I’m sure you can see where this is going. Recently they did it again – and this time in a big way. They agreed to approach a situation a certain way and then one of their guys completely and knowingly blew it. She walked away from the business.

What does this have to do with marketing? Everything.

Everything you do is marketing. Not just your ads and your blog posts and your websites and your sales pitches. Everything. And when you make promises explicitly or implicitly, you’re asking for someone to trust you. If you’re lucky, they’ll grant you their trust. If you don’t uphold your promises, you’ll lose their trust. It’s that simple.

If you imply that your product is the fastest, it better be the fastest. If you say you answer calls in 24 hours, you’d better answer calls in 24 hours. No ifs, ands, or buts. People can be forgiving. You can make a mistake. You’ll have to earn back that bit of trust that you lost.

But, you cannot intentionally deceive. Not allowed. Say what you’re going to do and then do it. Mom always said, “if you make a promise, keep it.” Who knew she was talking about business, too?

I have fallen into a rather nasty habit of putting some emails aside for action for a month or more. I have a triage system for incoming emails. If they don’t require my immediate attention or action within a period of time to avoid pain of some sort, I just let them sit. Maybe that’s a bad thing. Or maybe not.

This whole topic got me musing with a friend (victim of my “waiting period”) about how the use or purpose (or both) of email is shifting. I have no scientific study to reference here. This is all based solely on my own observations as a business communicator and as someone who has, through the years, adopted relatively quickly to new technologies. (I’m not at the leading edge of the curve, but I’m in the early part of the gentle slope.)

Think about the shift in the way we communicate via writing. I’m talking about the masses, not the tech savvy, by the way. Back in the day we sent postal letters or the occasional telegram. We figured out how to move those faster with couriers and overnight services. And there was fax. When email came along, we wrote what looked like letters – long, correctly punctuated, capitalized, spelled and otherwise structured communications. Over time many of those emails have become swift one liners. Now, things like SMS, Twitter and Facebook give us the brevity and immediacy that allow us to hop from one thing to another.

What is to become of email? For now, I still look to email for longer form, meaningful, one-to-one content – something that is meant for me or the receiver personally, but can’t be expressed in a mere 140 characters. I also still use it to look for news that I’ve requested. And, of course, I still use it to talk to people who haven’t made it to other messaging or social media.

If I’m anywhere near right with my observations, our communications evolution has a big impact on email marketing. So, what do you think? Where is email headed? Please comment below. Or, hey, send me an email.

A headline this morning on a press release about the 2009 Cone Consumer New Media Study reads, “Four-out-of-Five New Media Users Interact with Companies and Brands Online, up 32% from 2008.”

This isn’t so much shocking news as it is confirmation of what we marketers already logically believe. If you’re online, you probably want to interact with the brands you’re buying in some way.

Mike Hollywood, Cone`s director of new media, is quoted in the release, “There is still an opportunity for forward-thinking companies to establish a presence and earn a competitive advantage. Based on the growth of user interactions with companies, countless purchase decisions are being influenced by new media. It`s imperative to get on board now that the train has left the station.”

Other figures cited:

• 95% of new media users believe companies/brands should have a presence in new media
• 89% believe companies/brands should interact with consumers
• 58% seek out companies/brands on traditional web sites
• 45% seek out companies/brands via email
• 30% want to interact in social networks
• 24% want to interact via online games
• 61% feel companies/brands top priorities with new media should be to problem solve and provide information

I have to admit that sometimes I feel like an old dog. That’s why I giggle a bit when I remember I write for a marketing technology blog. But as a student of human behavior, I know that we all have two things in common: we crave connective communication and we love to innovate. And so, we’ll continue to look for new ways to talk, to tell stories, to share information. If, dear marketer, you aren’t taking advantage of these new communication channels as they arise simply because you think they’re just fads or useless frivolity, then don’t be surprised when you’re left behind, standing at the train station with all the other long-faced marketers who wished they’d just stepped one foot on board the high-speed train.

To read more about consumers feelings on corporate responsibility and new media as well as causes and new media, see the release at Reuters or go directly to the Cone study.