If ever you find yourself in the position of having to apologize to one customer -- or legions of them -- here's a word of advice. Figure out what you're apologizing for. If the one thing you say or do is not healing for the offense, it's almost worse than not apologizing at all.
Just a few years ago, customers weren't mobilized to share their brand love -- and brand hate -- with the masses. But now they are. So you need to monitor the blogosphere for disgruntled customers and make it right with them.
This post is motivated by an incredibly bad -- scratch that, and substitute legendarily bad -- customer experience I had in Chicago while attending the Marketing to Moms conference. Here was the "service" I got from my hotel:
1). Didn't have a room for me when I arrived in Chicago, despite my reservation.
2). Put me up at a neighboring hotel for the night but insisted I return for the remaining nights due to the terms of my reservation (gee, thanks, Hotels.com).
3). Did not, as promised, fetch my luggage the next day from the "spillover" hotel while I was attending all-day conference.
4). Stuff that didn't work: card key, hallway lights, Internet, TV remote control, hotel-provided umbrella (very, very necessary the last 2 days of my trip).
5). Unrefrigerated minibar (warm drinks and spoiled chocolate).
My experience was so bad that I wondered if a new reality TV show were being launched in Chicago where folks from unrelated industries got to pretend they worked in the hospitality industry for 72 hours.
How did the hotel "make up" their no-reservation gaffe? By giving me a penthouse suite and free passes for a full breakfast. Sounds generous. But clearly no one considered what mattered to me.
Does a scaredy cat like myself value sleeping alone in a large suite with full dining room (complete with mahogany dining room table) and two bathrooms? No! Just give me a tiny room. But, please, make sure my Internet works so I don't have to return emails from the lobby of the hotel at 11 p.m.
Does a conference attendee value free breakfast? No, we're up and at 'em at the crack of dawn, eating breakfast at the conference.
So you see, they tried to say they were sorry. But they overlooked me, the customer. And all they needed to do was ask: "how can we make this right?" Remember these six words. They are perhaps your most powerful defense against an unhappy customer.
There's an admonishment in advertising: "Careful -- your marketing brief is showing." This tongue-in-cheek reminder popped into my mind when viewing the new Mommyisms campaign from McDonald's.
In fact, the heavy-handedness of the ad so clouded my experience, I found myself mentally ticking off the likely goals of the account management team:
- Make McDonald's sound in touch with moms and tap into the peer-to-peer sharing of this market
- Showcase healthier meal options to offset bad nutrional rap
- Broaden appeal to younger, hip moms
Thus, the art buyer began a talent search for a stylish 20-something, hopefully with arm tattoo: check! The copywriter penned the campaign title "mommyisms: insights from mom to mom." Check! The art director searched for a feminine font and -- eureka! -- came up with one not only hand-written but with every "i" dotted with a heart!
I could write an entire blog on the title of this campaign alone: mommyisms. First off -- and I have commented on countless other blogs about this -- no one wants to be called mommy, except by her very own, very young child. Ask the "mommy bloggers." They have repeatedly gone on record to say "I prefer 'mom blogger' or just 'blogger.'" Somehow advertisers have latched onto this moniker and use it to establish an instant bond with moms, not realizing how off-putting it is to have a corporation assume an intimacy reserved for family.
The "insights from mom to mom" adjunct adds injury to insult. These aren't insights from moms. These are corporate-drafted statements that sound fake. "Right now she loves what I love. Lucky for her, I love McDonald's." The ick factor here just oozes. Oooh, just look at that lucky little ringlet-curled preschooler, striking warrior pose just before her cool mom whisks her off to the gourmet golden arches, where she'll enjoy "an excellent source of happiness" via her Happy Meal. No matter that more than half the calories from her Chicken McNuggets come from fat, there's an apple and milk in the picture so that's okay!
And after all this critique is said and done, perhaps the most offensive thing is that McDonald's thinks moms will fall for this. They are McDonald's. When you are McDonald's you do not try to be the post-yoga lunch of choice. You do not suggest that moms secretly love the food there and the kids simply follow suit. And lastly, in an age where real moms -- and their honest opinions of your food -- are so plentiful and easy to tap into, you do not invent fake quotes to support your marketing brief. Which, by the way, is on full display for everyone to see.
For any of you who caught my last post about the M2Moms Conference, you'll recall that mobile was cited as critical for reaching moms. According to Scarborough Research, working moms spend 21% more than average mobile users on wireless bills and are 42% more likely to download mobile content. Moms are prime targets for mobile, and more and more companies are figuring out how to get their brands in her hands.
I've been reading up on mobile for a few months now, to make sure I can advise Maternal Instinct's clients well. I had the good fortune of reading an article by Ben Gaddis, Director of Mobile and Emerging Media Strategy at T3, a Top 100 agency with offices in Austin, NY and San Francisco. Rather than try to summarize what I took away from Ben's article, I asked if he'd grant an interview to Maternal Instinct. He graciously agreed.
So for once I'm not doing the writing -- but the asking -- and Ben is doing the answering.
“What kind of skills should Maternal Instinct -- or any agency -- have to meet the needs of this new medium?”
Good creative is good creative whether it’s on a gigantic billboard or a 2 1/4” x 3” screen. People focus too much on the technology and less on why the consumer will care. Technology shouldn’t get in the way of delivering valuable information to moms on their mobile devices. Find the right technology provider – someone who has figured out how to do it well – and let the technology become secondary. Once creatives know whatever parameters they’re working within, they can still fill it with the biggest idea possible. Rather than focusing on the mobile phone itself, think in terms of the audience – mobile moms – and their goals.
“What uses of mobile advertising hold the most promise for companies targeting moms?”
There are many channels within mobile. You can buy banner ads on sites that target moms. Or you can include mobile in a larger print or broadcast campaign. Think about what sites the moms who might buy your product use on their phones. That might be gaming, recipe sites, shopping sites. Kraft created iFood which is now a top-selling application for moms. You can create your own application or buy a tag at the end of news alerts.
“In a time when ad budgets are dwindling, how can companies justify adding mobile to the mix?”
I would caution you not to look at it as a “have to add” to the mix in addition to, or in place of, something else. Instead think about where dollars make the most sense. If you’re targeting moms age 24-35, 99% of the time, they have their phone with them. You simply can’t get this kind of proximity to moms with TV or Internet or radio. Yet you’re devoting 85% of your budget to broadcast? Why? Mobile is cheaper, more effective, and trackable in terms of performance. That’s why mobile ad budgets are increasing – and predicted to continue to do so – at a time when other budgets are being slashed. Knowing all this, I’d turn the question around to any naysayers in your agency and say “how can we justify NOT adding mobile.”
“How should we optimize our websites – and our clients’ sites -- for mobile use?”
Experience is the #1 goal. Make sure your site loads fast, that the images fit no matter the size of the handset, and that content is relevant to a mom on the go. Things like store locator and phone number are obvious musts. It’s unlikely she's looking for a job opportunity or your company blog from her phone.
“What resources do you recommend to people who want to learn more?”
MobileMarketer.com. Dig into the case studies, which are extensive. TechCrunch has a blog called MobileCrunch. And dotmobi has a couple of blogs that are worth reading, both for developers and creatives.
Last week I attended the fifth annual Marketing-to-Moms Conference in Chicago. Bandied about were the ever-popular stats about mom purchasing power, online habits, and social media consumption. But I consider those the price of admission for any mom marketer worth his or her salt, so I’ll skip ahead to the AP-level learnings:
Trends
Grandparents: families are living with multiple generations, with nana and grandpa very involved, both physically and financially, in their grandchildren’s lives. Dedicated sites like Grandparents.com prove the popularity of the “never empty nest.”
Return to community values: babysitting co-ops, “cook and freeze” parties, slow parenting (rest from the rat race), good manners and ethics, “unschooling” kids until 1st grade, hand-me-downing via online mothers' clubs and sites like Craigslist, Kijiji, and Zwaggle.
Nostalgic Brands: Moms love brands they knew as a kid. Companies are rejuvenating dormant brands and capitalizing on the appeal of yesteryear with retrobrands like Puma, VW Beetle, Crayola, and RadioFlyer. (The brand manager from Necco – home since 1847 to Sweethearts, Mary Janes, and Necco wafers -- was smiling ear-to-ear in the audience when this tidbit was presented.)
Mom Bloggers: Brands longing to reap the halo effect by creating relationships with blogebrities or spokesbloggers were given this advice:
● Attend conferences like BlogHer to rub elbows with the who’s who in the blogosphere
● Find a voice that aligns with your brand
● Observe how a mom blogger conducts herself online to weed out any snarky types
● Look on the blogrolls of bloggers you like to find other like-minded moms
● Make it easy for mom bloggers to attend your events by arranging carpools and providing babysitting
(Side note: In case any of you reading are the entrepreneurial type, the subtext I heard in these conversations is that brands are longing for some kind of “at-a-glance” metrics resource on top bloggers. If I had any software skills, I’d build the app myself. But, alas, I can barely figure out my voicemail.)
Cause Marketing: 63% of moms are more likely to support a brand that tells her about its charitable involvement. Susanne Norwitz of Kellogg presented about the outpouring of consumer response to Kellogg’s donation of $10 million of cereal to Feeding America. (I pulled Susanne aside at the break and suggested Kellogg challenge the Milk Advisory Board to match their donation with milk.)
Food: BFY (better-for-you) products are on the rise. So are QR codes on packaging, which allow shoppers to snap a photo with their cell phone and link to product information at the website. And any food that's both fun to eat and healthy is sure to be a winner, since moms value nutrition almost equally with “kid delight.”
Saturation, Fragmentation: Pick your favorite word, but – like all consumers – Moms are drowning in ad messages. 2.7 brand messages every minute of every day. “You don’t get 30 seconds anymore; you get 6.5 seconds.” Better make it good. Consider creating a microsite to target a particular consumer at a particular time.
Top Brands: Top 5 brands with kids are Wii, M&M, Nintendo, Oreo and McDonald’s. Top kid-brands with moms: Crayola, Disney, M&M, Wii, and Reeses.
Topics/Takeaways
Social Media: This one thread ran through every presenter’s remarks. Everyone seems in agreement that top-down messaging is shifting to grassroots messaging and two-way dialogue. “Digital is horizontal” and should be part of every department in your company. We heard case studies ranging from Ashton Kutcher’s viral video supporting Kellogg’s Feeding America campaign (nothing like having 3 million Twitter followers) to Symantec’s partnership with School Family Media to connect with moms via schools on the issue of Internet safety.
ROI vs SOI: Instead of trying to calculate an exact $ return on marketing investments, Stacy Debroff of Mom Central explained her notion of Sphere of Influence: what do consumers say about you? Where do they say it? Who’s listening to these conversations?
Advertising: Talk on the messaging side of things (my sweet spot) was slim. Gigi Carroll of DraftFCB gave a great presentation highlighting that 80% of advertisers miss the mark with mom consumers. (Later, while researching this figure online, I found it quoted as high as 90% and connected to the fact that only 3% of advertising creative directors are women. This inspired me to write a mini-rant at Examiner.com.)
Quotables: Some great one-liners
On partnerships: “Don’t look like a NASCAR race car.” – Zanny Oldman, Destination Maternity
On hopping on the social media bandwagon: “Not all brands should be in social media.” Liz Gumbinner, Cool Mom Picks
On the importance of digital: "Digital is horizontal." "If your digital shelf is empty, shame on you." Wendy Clark, Coca-Cola
On the importance of mobile: "DFMS." (Don't Forget Mobile, Stupid.) Wendy Clark, Coca-Cola
On the spending slowdown: “I love coupons. They’re my new crack.” Mom research survey participant
On advertising: "Advertising is so 2008. 2009 is all about communication and connections." Wendy Clark, Coca-Cola
On childhood obesity: “Kids spend twice as much time indoors as they used to. They’ve gone from ‘weee” to ‘Wii.’” Jaime Berman Matyas, National Wildlife Federation
By far the highlight of the conference was the speech by Wendy Clark, SVP at Coca-Cola. Wendy really drove home that "shift happens": we live in a world with more brands but less differentiation, more channels but less attention. Clark advises brands to co-create with users, integrate consumer ideas into your brand, and consider Google as your home page because most folks start at search to find you.
Perhaps the most inspiring thing about Wendy’s speech was her embracing of risk. Two of the criteria she evaluates her employees on are risk-taking and innovation, no matter the outcome. Sitting in the wake of Wendy’s incredible energy and smarts, I have to admit I was bummed she works for a company that makes sugar water. Imagine how a leader like this could shake up a deserving non-profit.
In closing, let me offer you one last takeaway. If you ever find yourself in the fair city of Chicago, do not, under any circumstances, stay at The Whitehall Hotel. Yet do be certain to meet an old friend for dinner at Bistro 110.
I am the founder and creative director of Maternal Instinct, a Palo Alto agency of creative problem solvers for marketing to moms. I am lucky enough to get paid to spend my days helping big and small corporations figure out how to make moms want to do business with them. (I don’t get paid for my nights and weekends, caring for my two boys, which is far, far more tiring.)
My 20-year advertising career spans both coasts: in New York (my hometown) and San Francisco, my home today with husband Gene and boys, Henry and Benjamin. I have peddled products for every industry -- credit cards, wine, cars, magazines, jewelry, hotels, software, phone service -- and even picked up a Clio and a few ADDYs along the way.
