Manhattan Marketing Maven

3 UX Imperatives from David Bouley

David Bouley is arguably one of the greatest American chefs. He is also a god when it comes to designing a user experience. Dining at his eponymous restaurant in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan is not only a sensation for the pallet, it’s a lesson in consciously designing an experience to surprise and delight customers. 

Here’s what I learned: 

Target the Takeaway. Everything begins with what you want the customer to see, feel and take away. You can’t get where you’re going unless you have a very clear picture of where you want to end up. In Bouley’s case, he wants you to walk away feeling amazing. He will fill your mouth with tastes and sensations you haven’t had before. He’ll surround you with warmth, comfort and a sense of understated luxury that leaves you with the feeling that you are welcomed and belong in his restaurant. He’ll focus on you and your guests by providing a platform to share and converse. And he’ll send you into the night happy, satisfied and with provisions for breakfast. Bouley has built a loyal customer base by starting with the business objective in mind. 

Focus on Senses and Cadences. Most experiences have a beginning, a middle and an end. By carefully studying these, Bouley guides what you see, hear, smell, feel and taste. Nothing is left to chance. The entry way smells of warm apples. The room is warm and lit sensuously with a roaring winter fire. The chairs are extremely comfortable and the linens are crisp but not overly starched. The menu reflects seasonal tastes and locally available fresh seasonal ingredients. The people who greet you are formal but friendly. Every element is orchestrated to give you a feeling of belonging and to heighten your enjoyment in the moment. 

You are taken on a very subtle guided tour that engages your ability to process multiple inputs simultaneously. The food comes out at a pace that feels natural. You never wait too little or too long for any course. The staff watches closely to see when you pause, when you’re done and when you need more water, bread or wine.

He leverages and improvises on consumer expectations. You expect a waiter; you get a team of them. You expect bread; you get a bread cart and a doting baker. You expect a drink, an appetizer, an entree and a dessert; you get that plus an array of unexpected tastes and mini-courses and conversation and explanations from the maître d’. 

God is in the Details.  Consumers are influenced by initial impressions, comfortable design and intuitive navigation. The only way to deliver these experiences is to develop a laser-like focus on the details. Bouley thinks about ambient light, the feel of the napkins, the weight of the fish forks, the shape of the water and wine glasses and the mother-of-pearl box that the bill is presented in. The staff mentions some of these things and asks occasionally about them.  

You need to focus on where people look, what they expect to do and how we’ve trained them to scroll, to click or to download. Where you place the CTAs, how big they are, the color, the labels all make a disproportionate difference in perception and response.  You need to get feedback as you design experiences; some from pixel tracking or metrics software, other from talking to your customers and testing your work with eye-tracking and guided task testing.  

Zig Ziglar's Enduring Lessons

I love working with sales guys. But I’ve always been extremely skeptical of sales trainers and motivational speakers; most of whom are full of it. But the sales and marketing world lost a giant this week with the passing of Zig Ziglar, one of the best and pioneering sales motivators. 

Long before others turned sales motivation into a slick, multi-channel industry, Zig, who carried a bag for 25 years before he started talking about it, was able to take real-world experience, draw common themes and lessons and deliver them in a memorable and folksy way. I had the pleasure to work with Zig several times. He was a humble guy who had an incredible way with people and the ability to size up his audience and tell a story like no one else.  

He had kind of a southern accent and he could frame big ideas and punctuate them with humor in ways that you could easily relate to and think about. Unlike other speakers, you could remember what Zig said the next day. In a word of blowhards and phonies, Zig was the genuine article. I’ll miss him. 

Here are his 4  key “teachings” that stick in my head.

Be Real. People buy people. We are hard wired to spot threats and BS. Be yourself. Be comfortable in your own skin. Don’t be afraid to expose your life experience. Every sale is about making a person-to-person connection. 

Be Memorable. Zig’s real name was Hilary. He knew that wouldn’t fly so the pneumonic nickname worked in his favor. His polyglot accent also set him apart as did his countless home spun funny stories. He always had a dramatic, unexpected or startling opening line. There are zillions of people pushing zillions of ideas, products and services. Differentiation is everything. 

Be Grateful. You may not have the sale … yet. But you have a bunch of other amazing gifts in your life. Don’t take this particular sale too seriously. Don’t underestimate the inner and material resources you have going into the sales conversation. You never have to be desperate. Leverage your strengths to endure the numbers game that is sales process. Be as patient and as giving as you can be. Karma exists in the world. It will work in your favor; even when its not immediately evident. 

Pace Yourself. Selling is conversation. It’s two-way and interactive. You’re not jamming something down somebody’s throat. You are creating a dialog where each subsequent interaction reveals new information and fleshes out a picture of what a prospect thinks and needs. One-call closes rarely happen. Punctuate the conversation so that key points are said and re-stated. Use examples and humor as reasons to believe or as evidence to support your pillar points. Repetition and variation drive resonance

The New Loyalty Formula

Brands crave loyalty. That’s because loyal customers spend more and buy more frequently without the need for expensive communication or stimulation. And the most loyal customers tell their friends about their favorite brands. 

Consumers are much more ambivalent. They like what they like on their own terms. Their enthusiasms wax and wane. They want to hear from brands – but not that often. They are governed by a WiiFM (what’s in it for me) mentality, even for brands that are near and dear to their hearts. They can be swayed by price offers. 

The availability of 24/7 digital, social and mobile communications channels creates new and creative opportunities for brands to communicate and interact with loyal and potentially loyal consumers, which, in turn, creates opportunities for fans to interact, respond and share back. The trick is how, when and using which approach. 

The points based system, pioneered by the airlines and expanded by credit cards and grocery chains, seems to have limited appeal as an across-the-board loyalty solution. Few consumers care that much about many brands. Few are willing to amass points to buy Timmy a bike or trade 80,000 points for a microwave. Consumers’ appetites for a monthly statement of points accrued and catalogs of shiny prizes to be redeemed have diminished.   

The digital sensibility seems to rest on a critical consumer expectation. DiFM (do it for me) expects brands to understand what consumers do and want and to intervene with rewards and offers at the appropriate inflection points. These inflection points can be planned and communicated in an easy-to-understand way (e.g. 5% cash back) or spontaneously; which tend to surprise or delight customers usually at the point of sale.  

Similarly the DiFM idea demands that brands create or aggregate deals and offers and automatically communicate them and/or apply them in relevant circumstances. For grocery stores this means  -- find all the coupons for stuff I buy, put them on my loyalty card and automatically deduct the discounts when you ring me up.  For other retailers, it means automatically deduct deals and discounts and apply whatever rewards I’ve earned in the moment, when I’m making a relevant purchase. And while the systems requirements to deliver on this expectation are significant, consumers don’t care. If you are not proactively taking care of them, all the cards, points and promises in the world don’t matter.  

The new digital formula for loyalty programs is WiiFM + DiFM.

Alvin Ailey's Digital Dance

Modern dance is like olives. It’s an acquired taste. And in this socio-economic environment dance troupes are underfunded, searching for new audiences and competing for each and every discretionary entertainment dollar. 

What’s a company to do? 

Differentiate, target and make it easy for customers and prospects to engage with dancers and dancing. That’s what the famous Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is doing by using digital media to expose their new Artistic Director, engage new audience members and help tentative ticket buyers find the programs that might suit them best. It’s a trifecta performance that leverages promotion, apps, e-mail and search in concert. 

The promotion starts with a simple compelling idea. Robert Battle, my friend and upstairs neighbor, is the new Artistic Director. He was selected by and who replaced the legendary dancer and choreographer Judith Jamison last year and his influence and direction is first being felt at scale this season. So they start by using the news and awareness of the new face driving the company. 

Next they target artistic sensibility. On a dedicated landing page, his image fronts four questions, which assess a person’s interest, familiarity, experience and tastes in dance and with the Alvin Ailey company. Prospects are instantly included and engaged and the conversation sidesteps questions about if you’ll go and jumps right to which performances will suit you best. 

The answers to the questions are instantly mapped to four of the thirty-nine specific performances. Ideally “Robert” recommends programs that a person is most likely to enjoy. The interface is easy to use and graphically interesting. The whole experience takes 45 seconds. And the prospect then has a simple choice to make. 

The five key lessons here are …

• Understand the consumer mindset
• Anticipate your audience needs
• Take the message to those most likely to respond
• Do the math for them
• Make it easy and fast. 

It’s a muscular, agile, inventive and bravura performance in a category that is often sleepy when it comes to digital marketing and innovative thinking.

4 Mobile Messaging Scenarios

The explosive growth of mobile media combined with growing adoption of Internet TV creates new complications and new opportunities for marketers. While we are just beginning to understand who uses which device for what tasks and when; its time to start thinking about how marketers can intersect or intercept consumers with commercial messages in ways that are welcomed, interactive and acceptable. 

We are beginning to reach a critical mass of consumers owning and using multiple devices. People like me have smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops and Internet TV. In some cases we use them interchangeably. In others, we do distinct tasks on each device. So far, we haven’t discerned any usage patterns that are predictable by psychographic or demographic variables. 

This fundamentally changes the way we think about creative and content development. Rather than thinking up and designing  a TV spot or a rich media banner, we now have to come up with a big idea. Then we have to efficiently develop ways to expand, parse and interact with it. It’s less about filling a media unit with content and more about creating a brand experience that suits mobile consumers.

Some emerging data hints that form dictates function and that individual devices are being used by default or by preference to undertake specific tasks. For example, it’s becoming clear that tablets are primarily being used for entertainment, information seeking and e-mail. Similarly complex tasks, like filling out mortgage applications,  are being done on laptops and desktops while smartphones are emerging as a fast-acting utility tool for on-the-go tasks. 

Assuming that marketers still want to efficiently target high probability customers with the right message, at the right time and on the right device, this opens up a number of new possibilities for creating and transmitting integrated campaigns. But it requires us to consider a broader array mobile and digital devices with expanding technical capabilities in-tandem with TV, cable, print, out of home, email and other traditional advertising channels.  

We know that more email is now read on mobile devices that static devices. The incredible consumption of video is moving in the same direction. Mobile search is becoming an increasingly important factor, especially for retailers. So who is using which device, when and to accomplish what become critical to defining creative direction and success. 

Consider 4 new mobile-driven messaging and media options. 

Frequency. Impressions and exposure equal awareness. This is a marketing and media maxim. Given multiple devices crafting a single impactful message and communicating it often will yield greater awareness sooner.  The same message, more times on more devices equals higher reach and potentially more persuasion. 

Imagine transmitting a solo message at roughly the same time using an array of devices synched with TV, radio or online roadblocks or page take-overs to create a super-roadblock that could blanket a target audience and potential earn added viral distribution. If you could synchronize a persuasive offer and communicate it within a defined time window (think SuperBowl), in theory, you could create a surround-sound of messaging that could penetrate and persuade a target group faster than ever before. 

Sequencing. A variation on the frequency idea would be to sequence a brand’s key message by parsing it out over time. This takes the Burma Shave OOH approach, circa 1940s, and applies it to the post-digital world. Using the same mass media/all device tactic, a brand could communicate a series of short messages over time using the roadblock tactic. The additive value of sequential messages over a imited time period can expose a broader impression of a brand. 

For brands with complicated messages or a series of products, sequencing could build awareness and momentum. Alternatively, a brand could assign different parts of the message or different offers to different devices at the same time. Maybe the brand promise goes on tablets while product messaging is placed in online media, but the offer, the coupon or the interactive CTA is assigned to smartphones. 

Fractal Messaging. The opposite of frequency and a variation on sequencing would be to acknowledge different facets of a brand’s appeal and expose different facets or offers at different times to different people using different devices.  

This tactic assumes that consumer moods, mindsets and tasks are different by device. So while prospects may resent ads on their smartphone, they might be willing to watch pre-rolls or other video formats on a tablet or a laptop.  By understanding how consumers use devices both in terms of the mechanics (who, what and where) and the sensibilities (openness to being interrupted or interacted with) brands can optimize engagement and satisfaction by aligning with consumers’ workflow and life style patterns.  

Orchestration. Another approach is to assign specific marketing tasks to specific devices in the same way that Bach, Beethoven and Brahms assigned specific roles to specific instruments. One plays the base theme. Another adds the variations. The third, fourth and fifth infuse the experience with complex harmonies or contrapuntal sounds. In this media and messaging scenario, TV lays down the basic message, while tablets or online media amplify or expand the message and smartphones become the channel for consumer reaction, interaction and response.  

And this is just the beginning. Mobile, new digital channels and social media are expanding our choices and expanding our thinking about messaging and media. Its time to start thinking and experimenting with creative and media options.

The Case for Creating a Marketing Playbook

In recent survey of 104 marketing executives from around the globe, conducted by my friend and former colleague Leighton Jenkins, 63% of responders either didn’t have a marketing playbook or didn’t know if they had one. 

Maybe we collectively suffer from the “shoemaker’s son” syndrome or we don’t take the time or trouble to standardize, document and share our work processes. But a marketing playbook that spells out the go-to-market strategy, operational assumptions, internal and external assets and partners, brand and graphic guidelines, step-by-step planning parameters, timelines, suggested budgets, key learnings and best practices quickly becomes the family jewels of a marketing organization. 

Creating a marketing playbook for your company is critical for three compelling reasons.

 

Continuity. Knowing what you do, how you do it and how you’ve done it is critical to bring new players on-board and to continuously improving marketing performance. Given the turnover in marketing teams, a playbook is critical for orientation, training and coaching. It also expedites planning, insures a measure of quality control and avoids having to re-invent the wheel with each new communications need. 

Institutional Memory. Similarly knowing what’s been tried and how is important to assess new or repeat tactics. Far too many of us do not document or archive campaigns and initiatives or their related analytics. In many cases, we defer to the staff member with the longest tenure who usually says something like, “Yeah. We tried that four years ago and it didn’t work.” 

Peak Performance. Documenting marketing programs expedites assessment and learning. A playbook spells out the recipe for mounting each and every type of program. It suggests the operational steps, timetables and applicable budget considerations. It should also illustrate the resources needed, dependencies and contingencies and sequential steps and approvals necessary to get a campaign out the door. 

Understanding who did what and how well they did it is imperative to doing it better next time. Baking this into a living, breathing playbook insures that learning is shared across siloes and that critical questions are continually being asked. 

A marketing playbook shouldn’t be an after thought or a “nice to have.” Rather it should be a core asset for every marketing team.

3 Imperatives for Creating Your Own Online Community

The intense growth of social networking is driving interest in gated private and online communities. This is especially compelling in highly regulated sectors like pharmaceuticals and financial services, where brands have been mostly sitting on the sidelines watching as communities grow and converse without them. 

And while it’s easy to imagine how great it might be to focus your customer's attention on your vertical, to connect your brand advocates and to observe and mine the rich dialog among the faithful, it’s much harder to pull off than it seems.

Marketers should think carefully about what kind of unique customer experience an online community can offer and what kind of business result is likely to come about as a direct consequence of an investment of time, technology and resources necessary to bring a community to life. 

The availability of software tools plus the desire to integrate a community into an existing website doesn’t necessarily make the prima facia business case.  With all the existing communities and social network options, it’s unlikely that even your best customers are desperately waiting for you to create a platform for them to interact with. And don't forget, even if you build it; they might not come.

But if you are dead set on creating a community and you can convince management to invest, bear in mind three critical factors for success:

1. Have a Solid Business Plan. A gated community has to drive brand loyalty, stimulate purchases and re-purchases and develop referrals. If it doesn't, it’s not worth the effort or the cost. And even though it’s hard to accurately forecast revenues produced by online communities, plan to make money and set up metrics to gauge the fiscal impact on your business.

2. Focus on Content. Run it like a Cable TV Channel. An online community lives or dies on programming, usually narrow, niche, unique programming that speaks directly to specialists and helps them connect the dots. Picture your users and super-serve them. Everything you do and every feature you add has to provoke tune-in and time spent with you. If the content isn’t plentiful enough and compelling enough to drive this level of engagement; don't do it.

Assume your community members have a small amount of precious time to spend. And assume they are mercenary in allocating it. If they don't get value every time they tune-in, they stop viewing. Give them what they want. Reward them for taking the actions you want them to take.

Keep a tight focus on content. Police the comments. Provide expert advice and interventions. Expose the brand's insights, expertise and point of view. Share with the community the kind information you'd share with a trusted client during a quarterly business review or with a high value prospect on the third sales call. Give them a sneak peak at future products or services and/or an offer member’s early access or better pricing.  

3. Have One Person Run it. Nothing says its real than the allocation of one fully loaded full-time employee. Find the programmer on your team and make customer engagement and business results their reason for being. Make their raise or bonus dependent on KPIs like repeat visits or time spent per session. When authority and responsibility are shared, there's no one to blame and too many shoulders get shrugged. And unless you are a very small shop, coordinating all the moving parts that go into an effective online community and keeping the lawyers at bay is easily a full time gig for an up-and-coming marketer.

Marketers across verticals have a persistent fantasy about mobilizing customers and prospects online in carefully curated communities. It’s a terrific fantasy. But it’s much harder to pull off credibility and with positive ROI in the face of established and growing social networks. You need a compelling reason for being and the willingness to invest in software, content and at least one dedicated FTE to make a serious stab at it.

Jerry Lewis: The Original Social Media Marketer

Labor Day will never be the same without Jerry Lewis, not only because of his comedic legacy but because he was an original social media marketer. 

Consider these four legacy lessons. 

Create Own-able, Original Content. The schmaltz, the cheesiness, the kids in wheel chairs, the has-been performers singing long-forgotten big-band songs, the B rolls of guys in white coats holding test tubes, the drum rolls and the tote boards, the ghost of Ed McMahon, the lame local anchors and the tear-wrenching appeals all signal Labor Day and MDA. Jerry consistently used original content to claim significant year-round mind space and to drive a singular and differentiated brand message.  There are thousands of charities and celebrity do-gooders, but there’s only one Jerry Lewis and his kids.

Make a Personal Connection. We all genuinely know Jerry. He’s been a part of our lives since the 1950s. There was a great national catharsis each year as the telethon kicks off that focuses on Jerry. It’s about his humanity, his health and his connection to all of us.

But even before he created a Facebook page or a Twitter account Jerry was engaging us by leveraging his comedy antics and by singing those signature songs – “Smile”, “What the World Needs Now” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” Jerry understood, maybe better than anyone that people buy people. Emotion, humor, shtick, flattery and frank talk were the tools of his trade; the tools that resonate with social media audiences.

Persistent Positioning. Jerry and MDA staked out a position and delivered on it. Together they raised more than two billion dollars to fight muscular diseases. MDA owns Labor Day. There was nothing better and nothing more reliable and nothing more comforting than watching Jerry, on the Love Network. The predictable and familiar parade of firefighters, convenience store owners, letter carriers, realtors, oil companies, Harley Davidson executives and other random sponsors presenting those over-sized checks was a unique customer experience. Jerry understood that brands must plant a flag and stick to it. Marketing fads come and go but audiences rally to the familiar.

Network Your Networks. Jerry and MDA put together an incredibly potent series of partnerships and alliances that consistently delivered results. The lesson is -- connect the dots. Use your networks and all your brand assets to extend your reach.frequency and engagement with your customer base. Don’t be bashful about mashing things together or cross-pollinating ideas among your allies.

So this Labor Day remember Jerry, whose 44 year run taught us how to connect with audiences and optimize social networks. Happy Labor Day. 

Confusion Beats Showrooming

The bedding industry has the best hedge against showrooming. They respond to  consumers visiting and inspecting the merchandise in a store and then comparatively shopping in real time via smartphone by making it all but impossible to make head-to-head product or price comparisons. 

Bedding retailers and their national brand partners simply refuse to standardize models. They consistently confuse consumers while virtually eliminating showrooming. 

This isn’t a new tactic. It’s as old as retailing itself. It’s a stocking strategy supported by Sealy Simmons, Serta and their competitors to create faux exclusives for high value or high volume retailers. It trades off consumer annoyance for peace within the distribution system. But, as evidenced by the weak financial performance of the mattress majors, this inefficient product system comes at a cost. 

Beds are an infrequent considered purchase. Most last 10 years or so. The most popular sizes are Full or Queen and consumers expect to pay between $500-899 for a good enough set. You can buy beds in stores, online and by phone from a wide range of retailers or through Amazon and eBay. Given the dimensions and weight, long distance shipping is possible but rarely worth it. 

Mattresses and box springs are an assembled, rather than manufactured, product. There are only a handful of coil, foam and ticking makers in the US. Everyone buys the principle components from the same set of manufacturers. Models are distinguished by coil count, foam density and quantity and the color and composition of ticking. It’s a finite number of variables. Competitive and brand differentiation beyond these factors is hard to create. The major brands have strong name recognition but they are generally perceived to be the same.

 

And while the product naming and features hierarchies in bedding feel deceptive and drive consumers crazy, it prevents showrooming and gives each retailer a much better chance to close the sale. It’s a last ditch effort to control the price, the process and the margins by retailers who are unafraid to confound their every-so-often customers.

 

Rethinking Storytelling

Does the medium dictate how the story is told? That’s a question of increasing urgency as brands develop assets and orchestrate experiences among and between channels and platforms. 

As online video replaces thirty second spots and games influence our expectations about how stories unfold, Latitude 42, a research consultancy, surveyed 158 tech forward people (heavy smartphone and tablet users) aged 12-65, about experiencing stories in the future. Titled “The Future of Storytelling: Phase 1 of 2” the responses reflect the current state of consumer expectations about media integration and hint at where we’re heading. 

Stories are the fundamental meme of human communication. From ancient times, stories reflected the outlook, sensibilities, hopes and dreams of the storyteller and the audience. Stories that were remembered and retold and stories that motivated thought or action were tales that connected the individual to the actors or the action. The same holds true today. Consumers want to be part of or connected to the stories and experiences that brands are creating. 

The survey found four important ways in. 

Immersion. Consumers want to go deeper into the story world. They want apps and websites or ancillary campaigns to fill them in on the back-story, add context, define terms or help them feel or sense the feelings or sensations in the story. They don’t want channels to simply duplicate the content. They want channels to compliment and enhance the experience. 

Interactivity. Consumers, familiar with participatory experiences and gaming want to influence elements of the story, become part of the story and share the experience with others. This probably reflects the influence of online communities dedicated to genres and discrete content where fans write biographies for characters, create alternative scenes and endings, develop new characters and invent storylines then share, discuss and debate all of these things with others who are equally involved and committed to the experience. Think of the variety or intensity of content-oriented communities on Fan Fiction or 4Chan or consider the intensity and dedication of Star Trek fans and you’ll get the point. 

Integration. Consumers expect integration between the real and digital worlds. They are interested in experiences that bridge both. Brands need to think about the real world as another platform. Many have used off-line events, promotions and appearances or even check-ins as content and interactive fodder for social media. Evidently this resonates with consumers who are eager to use their devices to enhance or advance online experiences. 

Impact. Content has to matter to be impactful. Consumers want to be informed, motivated, encouraged, empowered and directed to act. The story has to relate to the audience and touch a personal nerve. Stories aren’t passive. Consumers want an active experience where they do meaningful things. And they are willing to reward storytellers who touch them with longevity of attention and interaction and loyalty.