Tag Archives: Dell

The Three Laws of the Marketing Chain of Being

Friday, December 7th, 2007

Quick Summary: Read about the five levels in the Marketing Chain of Being, and the three laws that govern how brands move between them.

- X - X - X -

In an earlier post, I had written that, like the Renaissance Chain of Being, there is also a Marketing Chain of Being.

The Marketing Chain of Being

In this post, I’ll explain the five levels in the Marketing Chain of Being, and the three laws that govern how brands move between them.

- X - X - X -

The Five Levels in the Marketing Chain of Being

There are five levels in the Marketing Chain of Being –

1. Commodity Hell, in which brands basically focus on price and channel promotions to sell more (think groceries).
2. Differentiation, in which brands highlight product features and benefits to command a price premium (think automobiles).
3. Engagement, in which brands use service (in both its customer service and conversation meaning) to develop relationships with customers (think Dell).
4. Cultural Currency, in which brands become shared social objects and help customers define their individual and group identities (think Nike+iPod).
5. Meaning, in which brands become the tools that customers use for self-realization or restoration (think Google).

Read More

Filed in Graphs, Marketing, Noteworthy, Trendspotting | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comments (6)

Is Customer Service the New Marketing? Of Course Not!

Friday, December 7th, 2007

Quick Summary: Read about how engagement is only the middle level in the ‘Marketing Chain of Being’ and how social media and customer service are only tools to create engagement.

- X - X - X -

The topic of the week in the marketing and public relations blogosphere is whether customer service is the new marketing, so much so that there’s even an upcoming event on the topic.

Most of the posts on the topic have focused on how social media is causing customer service and public relations to merge into each other to form the fabric of a new marketing paradigm.

I’m a brand manager, not a PR practitioner, and I can’t but feel that the above statement is rather simplistic. Yes, customer service is important. Yes, word of mouth is important, and, by association, public relations is important. Yes, good (or bad) customer service is an important factor in creating favorable (or unfavorable) word of mouth. Yes, social media gives customers the tools to amplify word of mouth. Yes, yes, yes and yes. But that’s only part of the story. Let me tell you the real story by going back to my post on the Marketing Chain of Being.

Read More

Filed in Graphs, Marketing, Noteworthy, Social Media | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comments (14)

Dell Blogs Its Way Out of Bad Buzz Hell

Sunday, October 28th, 2007

Two years back, Dell faced serious negative word of mouth from bloggers, but responded by solving their problems, starting its own Direct2Dell blog, asking for customer feedback at Dell IdeaStorm, seriously realigning its customer service processes and metrics, and finding new ways of engaging customers in a collaborative relationship (Jeff Jarvis in BusinessWeek via Rajesh) .

The Dell example is the exception rather than the rule - most companies still haven’t understood the concept of leveraging social media and engaging the customer in two-way conversations - but it serves as a powerful case study of what is possible if they did.

Also see: Mack Collier and Paul van Veenendaal.

Filed in Marketing, Novice Blogger, Trendspotting | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comments (3)

Six Levels of Web 2.0 Participation

Monday, April 30th, 2007

According to the the Forrester Research Social Technographics report, social technology, or web 2.0, behaviors can be categorized into a ladder with six levels of participation (via ZDNet) -

- Creators (13%): Publish web pages or blogs, upload videos to video sharing sites.
- Critics (19%): Comment on blogs, post ratings and reviews.
- Collectors (15%): Use RSS, tag Web pages.
- Joiners (19%): Use social networking sites.
- Spectators (23%): Read blogs, watch peer-generated video, listen to podcasts.
- Inactives (52%): None of these activities.

The percentages don’t add up to 100% because, apart from the inactives, the other five levels of participation overlap with each other.

Forrester recommends that instead of looking at Web 2.0 as a list of technologies to be deployed on an ad hoc basis, marketers should first analyze where their customers are on the Social Technographics ladder and then create a Web 2.0 strategy to transition them to the next step.

Here are my top of the mind thoughts on the Social Technographics report -

Read More

Filed in Internet, Marketing, Novice Blogger | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comments (0)