MBA Geek

We spent a weekend at Butlins in Skegness recently and it was interesting to see some of the things their marketing team and strategy have put in place. Here are some great things I saw:

• Focusing on the target market: First of all, who are the target market at Butlins? Well, they have a number of segments they attract, but each of these was catered for individually. If you’re a kid, there’s a whole selection of things to do. If you’re a parent, there are loads of things to keep your kids amused and give you some space. If you’re into live entertainment, there’s something new every evening. If you’re into gambling, there’s a whole selection of slot machines and bingo you can lose yourself in.
• Deliver: The delivery of the service Butlins provide is excellent. Do they provide accommodation? food? entertainment? In part, yes; but the real deliverable is a complete holiday experience. Everything I saw was aimed at delivered a great experience to the holiday makers, from the hassle-free check-in, through the selection of entertainment options, all the way to the cordiality and approachability of the staff. For example, when there’s entertainment put on in the evening, a number of staff members are present who’s sole role is to entertain the kids. This means that the kids have a great time, and so do the parents because they don’t have to hassle about keeping their kids in check or worry what they are doing.
• Leverage the great experience: I think the greatest takeaway though was the fact that Butlins will try to keep their customers engaged and encourage them to book their next holiday while they are still there. There’s no better way to sell something to a client! There are reminders around the complex offering incentives if you book your next holiday and I could have sworn that these changed on the last day to “If this is your last day, you might want to book your next holiday”

All in all, an enjoyable stay at Butlins, and some great lessons learnt.

How do you communicate with your clients? Your suppliers? Your stakeholders? If you take a look at your organisation, you’ll see a very different picture to the one you would have seen 10 years ago, heck, even a couple of years ago. The world around us is changing and the way we view and consume information changes even more rapidly than ever. I came across a really good post that talks just about this information consumption pattern with respect to consumers and the different channels they have been using to consume information. Here’s a graphical view of what the post talks about:

One particular aspect is the prediction of how things will change over the next 10 years with a greater push towards social channels and the demise of traditional media. The net effect, however is that organisations need to take a long hard look at the ways they disseminate information to their stakeholders and how this trend is going to affect them. It doesn’t matter if you’re selling garden planters or ballet shoes or golf clubs, interacting with your customers on the channels they inhabit is critical to the success of your company, service or product. That’s why this information is so poignant, which is put quite succinctly in the opening paragraph of the piece:

These days, everyone is trying to figure out how to connect with other people. It used to be simple, you just placed some ads in whatever newspaper that was most suited to your product, but now that world is becoming ever more irrelevant. So how do you connect with other people today? And more importantly, how do you do it tomorrow?

Read the complete post here: Where is everyone?

What’s the best way to get people to talk about your services and products? Provide something that creates a buzz about the service you provide. I’m not talking about a company trying to sell blackhead remover by tapping into the celebrity market; but rather using something new and innovative that makes people talk about you. I was lucky enough to see something like this happen quite recently here in the Isle of Man.

My current Internet Service Provider, WiManx put together a great service for people who are here for the TT races. One of the attractions on Island is a massive Beer Tent that is set up by Bushys; they have live music ever night and provide a meeting and drinking venue for all the bikers who come to the Island. WiManx set up a free service providing streaming video over the web from 3 different points in the tent, as well as free WiFi for everyone present.

So, how has this worked to Wimanx’s advantage?

• It’s created a massive conversation item around the Island. Bushy’s Tent is an icon that anyone who visits the Island for TT knows about, and WiManx have linked their name with the success of the tent. This goodwill flows down to users of their service who’s behaviour is reinforced through this action.
• It puts WiManx in the forefront of people’s minds when talking about advances in technology. Previous webcam exploits around TT on the island involved static cams that refreshed every few seconds. WiManx has blown that out of the water with a choice of live streams at a great resolution
• It shows off products they offer. One of their products is the provision of a WiMax connection which offers broadband over-the-air at speeds comparable to SDSL. It’s a valid showcase to show potential clients what can be done with their products.
• It opens up a new market to them. In the future; when someone wants to offer streaming media services, they will be perceived as the leaders in the local market based on their success over TT.

I’ve been using their ADSL service for a couple of years now and I’m more than satisfied with the service and support they offer, so I wish them the best of luck. In the meantime; if you want to watch what’s happening down at Bushy’s Tent, check out the live webcam feed.

I was reading an article called A Business Marketer’s Guide to Social Media which has some interesting thoughts. It’s almost a year old, which is a very long time in an emerging market, but it puts forward an interesting point. Social Media helps businesses get more granular in their approach to customer service.

This increased granularity is extremely important in today’s marketplace. There’s no debate that the market has moved from mass markets to mass customisation to personalisation of products and services. Social Media takes marketing down the same route. The article raises 4 questions that marketeers need to ask to any social media site they plan to target:

• What proportion of the site’s content is community generated versus content generated by the site operator or third parties?
• Does the community create quality content and how is that quality guaranteed?
• Will my existing online campaigns work on a social media site?
• What technologies or services does the site offer to help marketers target specific demographics or sub-groups?

The wholesale adoption of social media without the necessary analysis and introspection can carry a significant risk of failure. These questions need to be addressed and answered before any successful campaign can be launched.

Interesting post about how simple measures to keep your customers engaged can work wonders for your business. Here are some options to keep in mind:

• Actively promote recommendations
• Promote your business through networking
• Build ‘host relationships’
• Create a newsletter

These are all relatively cheap options that can help you give your business a boost in the time it needs it. Remember, you don’t need anything sophisticated like live video streaming solutions to get people interested in what you do. All you need to do is remind them every now and again that you’re still around.

Excellent article on WSJ about marketing in a Web 2.0 World. It’s a distillation of conversations the researchers had with a number of key people involved in leveraging the new social tools available on the Web. Here’s what they recommend:

• Don’t just talk at consumers - Work with them through the marketing process – The new paradigm is all about engagement. The audience isn’t passive any more, involve them in your process, from idea generation all the way to product feedback.
• Give consumers a reason to participate – Motivate consumers, an incentive (not necessarily monetary can go a long way). And make sure there are no barriers to their participation, things like a toll free where they can speak to someone can go a long way
• Listen to, and join, the conversation outside your site – Keep an ear open for conversations around the Web, and participate wherever word springs up about your company.
• Resist the temptation to sell, sell, sell – Don’t forget, you’re trying to build a relationship here. Forget short-term wins and you can build a long-lasting loyalty.
• Don’t control, let it go – This is a hard one for most executives. Solicit feedback wherever you can. Negative comments can help you grow and improve even though your initial reaction may be purge.
• Find a ‘marketing technopologist.’ – That’s a person who brings together strengths in marketing, technology and social interaction. These people are worth their weight in gold.
• Embrace experimentation – New ideas are generated all the time; some die some flourish. You need to participate wherever you can to be part of this growing ecosystem and reap the rewards.

There’s some great stuff in there, some of which isn’t immediately intuive. The article has a number of cases and real-life examples, so head off and read the full article