March 18th, 2010
Social Media appears to be now stabilising as a Marketing channel with the six key players e.g. Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Google, LinkedIn and Twitter consolidating their position in the marketplace.
Obviously there are lots of other platforms – and new social media sites – but the main players continue to dominate the social media space.
That said, as the market stabilizes it is time to use the tools more strategically and concentrate on the message rather than the shiny new medium.
At Cerco we are increasingly being asked to devise a social media strategy for clients. Only this week we advised on the use of a private Twitter group for passing information around a group of multi-national and multi-discipline salespeople.
The client was astonished at the versatility of Twitter and how the real time information would supplement their intranet – all free of charge.
For an excellent article on Twitter best practice see: http://blog.spurinteractive.com/2010/03/07/twitter-best-practices-for-social-media-marketing/
Author Steve Latham makes the valid point that too many tweets are about me, my thoughts and my status.
If you are using Twitter for business, do not tell us that you are standing in a supermarket queue. Your (business audience) does not care.
We have recently witnessed two cases of ‘careless (Twitter) talk costing sales’ – to paraphrase the old WW2 saying.
In both cases the Twitterers forgot they had potential clients following them and made totally inappropriate comments, losing themselves future work and attracting much negative ‘buzz’.
So the old Marketing adage of the message being as important as the medium still holds good!
Posted in CRM, PR, Uncategorized, branding, facebook, marketing, public relations, social media, twitter | 1 Comment »
March 24th, 2009
As a marketer, I love the opportunities that social media platforms have brought to businesses of all sizes.
I enthusiastically embrace all the new social media tools and we encourage our clients to use them too – where appropriate.
Just because a tool exists does not mean that a business has to use it!
Twitter is a case in point. Used correctly, it is a very powerful CRM tool. Used badly, it will make a company appear ridiculous.
For an amusing video that makes this point very well see http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8puil_twouble-with-twitter-soustitre_creation
For an easy guide to Twitter (by the excellent Commoncraft) see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o
Posted in CRM, marketing, twitter | 3 Comments »
March 12th, 2009
A trip along Oxford Street yesterday at lunchtime showed in ‘real time’ the shift in retail spending.
The street was very crowded with shoppers, many of them tourists from France and Italy or from Eastern Europe, enjoying the reduction in sterling’s value.
Yet many of the lunchtime shoppers were clely locals who had ‘escaped’ from nearby offices to enjoy the early spring sunshine and to browse the rails.
What was interesting from a marketer’s perspective was what the shoppers were buying.
A quick review of the carrier bags that shoppers were carrying yesterday showed that the clear winners were Primark and Selfridges. Certainly both stores were very busy with queues at tills, particularly at the former.
The carriers that were glaringly absent were from the ‘middle market’ – Next, M&S, Bhs etc.
This was a physical demonstration of market positioning with consumers shopping at the top of the market and the bottom.
While these observations spring from two hours one lunchtime, it does show that is being reflected in market share and share prices – the middle market is finding the going tough.
Retailers in the middle ground need to create a reason why we should shop there. Differentiation is the key! Give us a reason to spend money with you!
Oxford St image courtesy of The Guardian
Posted in CRM, marketing, retail, sales | No Comments »
February 28th, 2009
Listening to a recent Radio 4 Today programme interview with Geoff Cooper CEO of Wickes (and the Travis Perkins Group) it appeared that company was well-placed to ride out the current recession.
He was later quoted as saying ” We took early action in 2008 to deal with the increasingly tough trading environment and have set our business ready to manage continuing difficult market conditions in 2009. We have already taken decisive action, and stand ready to take further steps if necessary.” (Source www.diyweek.net)
However, on the radio he added that high staff turnover was a feature of their business and appeared to view it favourably as a way of managing staff costs.
It made me think. Usually businesses want to keep their staff since recuiting and training new employees is costly in both temporal and financial resources.
Making working conditions as appealing as possible in order to retain staff has always been a ‘given’ in management terms.
So could the current market conditions be leading to a new model in which companies welcome staff departures as a way of controlling costs?
This may look appealing to the accountants but has big ramifications for Customer Relationship Management!
It is no co-incidence that John Lewis is performing well in difficult market conditions. Their staff actually know something about the products they are selling – unlike the average salesperson in Wickes or B&Q.
Staff knowledge as a Key Performance or Profit Indicator? Why not!
I know in which store I prefer to buy my everyday DIY products!
Travis Perkins underperforms but Tile Giant sales up
Posted in CRM, management, marketing, profits, public relations, sales | 1 Comment »
Contact Us
Home 