Tag Archives: Marketing and Advertising

March 19, 2012 · 10:27 am

I Need To Call Dunbar – What’s His Number?

How many people do have in your Rolodex? Actually, do you even have a Rolodex or is the contact list on your phone your go-to list? How many friends on Facebook? How many LinkedIn connections? How many Twitter followers? How many folks do you know from the golf club or the gym or the playground where you take your kids who don’t fall into any of the above categories?

English: present model of Rolodex card file, c...

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For me, the answer is a lot, as in thousands, and I don’t even consider myself to be as socially connected as many folks I know. I also do have a Rolodex – actually four of them – that’s filled with business cards of people who, for the most part are not in the other databases.  Obviously, I am not trying to maintain on-going social relationships with each and every one of them.  That’s where my buddy Dunbar comes in.

Dunbar’s number is an estimation of the number of people with whom one can maintain a stable social relationship.  This theorem was developed way back in the digital dark age of 1992, before interacting with hundreds of your high school friends, and chatting to another hundred college buddies was something you did every five or ten years, not daily.  Dunbar set the number around 150.  Other studies have set comparable numbers at 231 and 290, a fraction of what any college kid has as Facebook friends alone.

Since this is a business blog, I’ll throw out the obvious question.  If we’re trying to engage our customers in conversation as we would friends, are we limited to the Dunbar number with respect to having those sorts of relationships?  Are we kidding ourselves if we believe that an individual will use one of their 150 or even 300 relationship slots for a business entity instead of a cousin?  Or maybe there needs to be another study on how businesses fit into the social ecosystem.

I think Dunbar was right.  When I think about it, the folks to whom I’m truly connected is a small fraction of those connections I have.  I know a network like Path is trying to create that subset by limiting your connections to 150.  What’s your take on that?  Is there an opportunity for a business to create a 150 person VIP network?

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March 13, 2012 · 10:36 am

Trust Me

You might have read the book “Trust Agents” by Chris Brogan.  It deals with the need to become a resource to your customers.  The book was relevant when it was written (2009) and is even more so now, as the results of a recent study show.  According to the research, conducted by Brightlocal.com and reported here:

  • Approximately 72% of consumers surveyed said that they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, while 52% said that positive online reviews make them more likely to use a local business.
  • Only 15% of consumers said that they had not used the Internet to find a local business (vs. 21% in 2010)
  • 16% of consumers said they used the Internet every week to find local businesses (vs. 9% in 2010)
  • More consumers are reading online reviews now than 15 months ago, with 27% regularly reading online reviews when looking for a local business to use.
  • Just 28% of consumers cite location &/or price as main decision-making factor

The takeaway is that local search is being used to research your business and positive online reviews are a bigger factor in your success than location or price.  That’s amazing but not surprising to me.  After all, the behavior of asking friends, family, or others about impending purchases isn’t a new phenomenon.  The technology and ease of finding that information is a relatively recent thing, and becoming easier every day.

There has been something in accounting called “goodwill” which is that value of a business above and beyond its assets.  Call it reputation, call it trust, but it’s definitely something that has value even if it’s intangible.  This piece called ‘Why Trust Matters More Than Ever For Brands” lays it out beautifully and this is the key quote:

We’ve all been taught that trust and reputation are important elements of branding. Today, though, trust is not simply a nice thing to have, but a critical strategic asset.

So what are you doing to make sure everyone in your organization conveys that your firm can be trusted with a customer’s business?  How actively are you watching your company’s reputation?  Maybe something for today’s (and every day’s) “to do” list?

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March 7, 2012 · 10:36 am

Mess Effect

I don’t know if you’re a gamer (in the video game sense, not the hockey sense) but even if you’re not you might be aware that the latest installment in the Mass Effect video game series is out. It’s going to be one of the biggest releases of the year and the buzz has been good.  More importantly to Electronic Arts and Bioware (the developer), pre-sales were big.  It’s the third game in a series that has many passionate users who’ve been immersed in it for five years.

So why would I call this post “mess effect?”  Because despite all the success to date, EA and Bioware have created a release that’s precipitating a mess that has already alienated a substantial potion of their most loyal customers.  It serves as a reminder to us all.

In Mass Effect 1, gamers were given the option to create their own customized version of the main character, Commander Shepard.  Obviously, if a gamer made Shepard in their own image, they felt a bit closer to character.  At the end of the game, they could bring the character forward into Mass Effect 2, continuing the close attachment.  One might expect the folks who took the time to modify the character as well as to carry it forward to be hard-core.  Another name for that is “best customers” or “brand advocates.”

So here is ME3 (as it’s known) and although it’s a few months late, it’s met with great anticipation by those folks who’ve seen Shepard through many tough times, have helped save the Earth and have done so with an avatar that’s near and dear to them.  Except ME3 won’t import the previously created Shepard.  That’s right: for folks who are just entering the series now, it’s not an issue but for the folks who have been most loyal and brought their character with them, perhaps for five years, they have to start over.  Apparently, it’s almost impossible to replicate your existing Shepard on the new system, even from scratch.

Bioware says they’re working on a fix but will this take days?  Weeks?  Months?  Meanwhile, the gamer message boards are filling up with complaints about a peripheral issue and not with praise for the meat of the game play.  It’s a mess.  I know it probably won’t impact the overall success of the game, especially once it’s patched, but why would a company not take into consideration their best customers first?  Some of the folks who played ME1 and 2 used the defaults; others made tiny mods that are easy to replicate.  But the people who spent hours tweaking Shepard, the customers most immersed in your product, are screwed, at least for now.

As we’re implementing new versions of existing products – web sites, apps, new recipes, whatever – we need to start with those who’ve blessed us with their patronage before we worry a lot about attracting new customers.  After all, if the hard-core is happy, they’ll help spread the word.  If they’re not, no amount of marketing can totally overcome it.

Thoughts?

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