September 16, 2014 · 10:54 am

Can You Trust Your Customers?

It’s not news to any of you who are paying attention to media but we’re at a tipping point.

1898 advertising poster

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The cracks in the traditional patterns of media consumption have widened to a point where the foundations of those patterns are falling down. Need proof? How about this morning’s piece is the Wall Street Journal:

Hopes that TV advertising will rebound this fall are beginning to dim. TV networks have been banking on a surge in ad spending in coming weeks, ever since an anemic second quarter reported by media companies and a weaker-than-expected “upfront” advance ad-sales market for the new season. The new season doesn’t kick off until next week but already sentiment is starting to change. On Monday, Jeffries analyst John Janedis lowered his estimates for advertising revenue growth in the second half of the year for most of the biggest media companies

Or this from Kantar Media:

“Four of the nation’s five biggest advertisers,” including Procter & Gamble and AT&T, “cut ad spending on traditional media and online display in the first half of the year.”

So now what?

Millennials spend 30 percent of their time with content created by their peers. This means they’re spending more time with peer-created content than traditional media combined (print, TV, and radio).  Nielsen’s most recent study indicates that Americans aged 18-24 watched a weekly average of 19 hours of traditional TV during Q2 2014. That was a substantial 2-and-a-half-hour drop-off from Q2 2013, which in turn had been down by an hour from the year before.  Spending more heavily in those channels isn’t going to happen.  The impact of most digital display is negligible.  Where is the light at the end of the tunnel?

The answer might just be in the audience itself.  Putting consumers and their messages about the brand front and center – probably through social channels – might just be the way forward.  That’s where is the audience is spending time and the messages are from trusted sources.  As Nielsen found:

Word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family, often referred to as earned advertising, are still the most influential, as 84 percent of global respondents across 58 countries to the Nielsen online survey said this source was the most trustworthy

The real question is do you trust your consumers enough to hand over your brand?  Can you get on board with them creating content that you’ll push for them?  Are you willing to provide tools – images, logos, whatever – or to promote the products that consumers choose, not those slated for promotion in the marketing plan?

Interesting times.  What’s your take?

Leave a comment

Filed under Consulting, digital media, Reality checks

Tagged as , , , , , ,

September 15, 2014 · 10:54 am

Stupid, Not Evil

Over the weekend I was catching up on my reading. It’s way too easy to fall behind given the pace at which content – useful content – presents itself into my various methods of listening.

English: Rheinkirmes 2006, Düsseldorf, Germany...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One theme that popped up several times was that of allegedly evil actions on some company’s part. Maybe it was the revised Facebook Messenger application which seems to be gathering anything and everything about anyone who installs it on their mobile device. Other were highly suspect of Apple’s intentions as it rolls out the Apple Watch which is capable of gathering quite a bit more data than we might care to share about ourselves. I mean do I really want my pulse rate out there?

There were several more but it got me to thinking. Having worked with many clients and companies over the years, could I recall an instance where some nefarious ulterior motive was discussed as products or services were rolled out?

Nope.

That said, I have seen many instances where those sorts of evil intentions could plausibly be ascribed without stretching the facts to suit that scenario.  After all, in my mind a complete lack of care for other people or who one’s actions harm them is what separates good from evil.  But honestly, it’s more likely to be something else: stupidity.

My guess is that in most of the cases where an app or service over reaches there isn’t evil intent.  It is probably just someone being stupid.  They think it’s ok to gather data just because they can or that they might want it at some point.  They may be programmers who think they’re being helpful but haven’t had any supervision from a businessperson.  One key in my mind to great decision-making is to consider the consequences of that decision.  I suspect that thinking never happened.  In other words, stupid.

I’m not naive.  There are evil people out there.  However, before we go crazy calling for the heads of whomever released an app that gathers a lot of seemingly unnecessary information about us and our habits, perhaps we should remember that there are way more stupid people than there are those who are truly evil.  That’s my take.  Yours?

Leave a comment

Filed under Huh?, Thinking Aloud

Tagged as , , , ,

September 12, 2014 · 11:19 am

Pay In Advance

Foodie Friday at last! Here is a question for you: why is it that we pay for a meal in most restaurants after we are done and yet we pay at most quick service places before we actually even get the food? I’m guessing the immediate thought you had was that you sit and enjoy the meal in a restaurant, perhaps ordering as you go, while at a fast-food joint you’re eating and running. Is that really true though and what effect might changing that thinking have on both your experience as a customer and the restaurant’s business?

A meal at Claim Jumper which has its headquart...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Let’s give it some more thought. How often does your party order additional food (other than perhaps dessert and/or coffee) once the initial order is given? Do you usually order your appetizers alone or are you specifying your entrées at the same time? I’ll bet it’s the latter.  I’ll make an argument that changing that thinking might be better for both parties: the customer and the restaurant.  There’s a business point in here too.

First, the customer (always in this space!). By ordering the entire meal upfront and settling the bill even before the food arrives the customer is free to leave when they’re done.  How many times have you finished a meal and then had trouble getting the server’s attention?  Haven’t you ever given a server your credit card only to have them get another table’s food while you wait around?  Annoying, isn’t it?  And good luck if there is an error on the bill – that can take quite a while to fix while you’re ready to leave.

The tip isn’t an issue either.  In many other countries, service is stated upfront and tipping is discouraged.  Sure, we like to think of the size of the tip coinciding with the level of service but there is nothing that prevents you from putting some additional cash on the table as you leave if you feel the service charge isn’t enough.

Next, the restaurant.  Turning over tables is the business.  The longer people stay put the fewer meals you’re serving.  With the bill settled I’m wagering people will leave sooner.  In doing a little research on this I found that when upfront payment was tried it increased table turnover by over 80%.   Sounds like a win-win to me.  So why isn’t this the norm?

That’s the business point.  Too often we do things just because that’s how we (and in this case almost everyone else) do things.  Part of our job as businesspeople is to ask questions about our systems and processes and remember that made sense a year ago may not make any sense now.  Even if it does, maybe there is a better way that works both for your business and for your customers.

Make sense?

Leave a comment

Filed under food, Thinking Aloud