Jeffrey Rosenberg

Does social media say more about human behavior or marketing practices?

I think a lot of what is written about social media and promised by so-called social media consultants is bogus, but I still strongly believe what I’ve always strongly believed, which is at the very least social media is a way to humanize a company. My standard premise is that we’ve gone from hiding employees behind automated phone lines and non-descript buildings with security guards to anyone being able to a) identify and b) interact with employees / executives. To me that’s a really cool thing. And to the extent that an employee’s presence humanizes the brand, builds a little brand equity, generates a lead, fulfills a service request, great – hopefully those are the outcomes of social media investment.

But to me social media is table stakes. It’s no longer a competitive differentiator – no one cares anymore that Comcast uses Twitter for customer service. Instead, social media sparked a completely new paradigm in the baseline practices of businesses. It’s amazing that happened as quickly as it did. Absolutely amazing. So to me it’s more of a study in human and social behavior than in marketing.

The elusive 'connected home'

Does anyone want it? I maintain there are very few consumers pounding the table demanding that their TVs, cell phones, tablets, refrigerators, and thermostats be connected. If it just started appearing in homes I'm sure no one would object. But the fact remains that years after we started hearing about the notion of the connected home (well, for me it would be 1998 when I toured NCR's lab in London where they featured a concept called the Microwave Bank) it still hasn't happened. But John Biggs suggested in TechCrunch yesterday  that Samsung has "finally cracked it" ("Why Samsung Is The Next Apple"). As I state in my comment to his post, I don't think there's a code to crack yet. The connected home will happen. But it's on a slow (but escalating) path. Have to look at the nature of consumer behavior and proxy adoption before declaring a winner in a space that doesn't even exist yet.

A body blow for customer research

The other day a NY Times article quoted Steve Jobs as saying, when asked what market research went into the iPad, "None. It's not the consumers' job to know what they want." Classic Steve Jobs. And it works for him, and it's worked for Apple (although it didn't work so well for Apple when Steve Jobs wasn't CEO). I suspect this quote will embolden those who do not place a mission-critical value on customer research.

I would ask those people one simple question: Do you have people lining up overnight waiting for your next product release? Steve Jobs does. Just about every other company doesn't. You need the input of customers.

I've written about the need - no, requirement - for weaving customer research into the marketing process. It doesn't have to be a massive study. Sometimes all you need is a single day with 6 - 8 customers. Sometimes you need more.

Is a customer going to hand you your next disruptive innovation? No. But they will hand you a window into their psyche such that you and your team can come up with the next disruptive innovation. Make no mistake, all of Steve Jobs' innovations have come from consumer insights. It's just that they came from his own sense of customer needs and behaviors. Us mortal business people need the input of customers.

An example of relevant QR code usage by Home Depot

Came across a great use for QR codes recently. Home Depot (beginning around March/April of this year, from what I can tell) began rolling out QR codes in print ads and at retail. The example at left is from their Garden Center. Using a QR reader from my smartphone I was able to instantly explore just about anything I would need to know about care and maintenance for these flowers. And as you can see by the screenshot from my phone (right), I could also discover other flowers that would make good companions (to the flowers, not to me - that's another app).

This isn't a solution looking for a problem (as can be the case with technology). This is effective use of a tool to bring relevant content to consumers during the shopping experience, in context, to facilitate and accelerate sales.

The mission critical nature of customer centricity

Excellent article in AdAge (via Response Media) about the importance of being customer-centric across the business, not just in the marketing department. By focusing on customers (as opposed to erecting barriers to switching, for example) companies can be better positioned to withstand inevitable disruptions in their industries. The customer-centric orientation should drive operations, sales, marketing, technology. It shouldn't be a downstream layer of activity, but rather woven into the fabric and DNA of the company.

This is not easy for most companies, and those that resist will pay a steep price. Most companies have an intensely internal industry/company perspective. They focus on making and selling products, and on what the competition is doing. They confine themselves to established industry structures. Very few have the kind of laser focus on customers that allow them to break through conventional approaches and stay attuned to emerging customer needs. At a time where innovation and disruption can come from anywhere at any time, being customer centric is mission critical.