When you belong, the community does your marketing for you. That’s the insight I want to consider in this post, and address the parallels to small town values, when applied to marketing. I grew up in a little town in Ontario called Sutton. It was the kind of place where everyone knows everyone else by name, there’s a lot of shared history, local pride, shared values, bonds … [Read more...]
Opening doors to customer delight
In an era where customers now control 2/3 of the messages about our brand or company – through reviews, word of mouth, customer created content and social media, it is critical to view customer interaction and the opportunity to delight as a major part of marketing. This week I took a deep dive into this concept with JD - the guy who puts a smile on everyone's face each morning … [Read more...]
Customer service as marketing
This week I’ve been preparing material for a couple upcoming workshops and client presentations about customer service as marketing. In an era where 2/3 of marketing is now in the hands of consumers - through reviews, word of mouth (both online and off), customer created content and social media, seeing customer service as part of marketing is critical. In fact, it’s no … [Read more...]
What makes cult brands special?
This past week I attended the Cult Gathering marketing conference in Banff, a meeting of CEOs and marketing directors from global cult brand leaders. Cult brands don’t just have customers, they have fans and brand evangelists who do much of their marketing for them through word of mouth online and off, and through earned media and publicity. In fact, most spend very little on … [Read more...]
Influencers versus thought leaders
There is a fundamental difference between influence and “thought leadership.” I’ve been spending some time this week getting a better grip on the social media platforms for my new travel writing blog, CarryOnQueen.com. I registered the names back in March, and had the basic visual identity created in June, but I’m still very much flushing out content and gaining a following on … [Read more...]
