Three decades later, I feel the same way about losing Steve Jobs, suddenly and at a young age.  There is a lot of stuff out there lionizing him.  Where we held a candle-lit vigil for John that one night in December, the Internet and digital world that Jobs helped create has resulted in a 24/7 outpouring of the love, admiration, and acknowledgement of his impact on all our lives.  I will miss him.  Without him, who will create great innovations?  Who will integrate design and technology to change how we experience content?

Both Steve and John have created legacies that will continue to inspire and define the world we inherit.  The kind, giants do, a few times each generation.  How do they do this?

A lot of Steve’s quotes are being used by people.  The one from his commencement speech at Stanford University in 2005 provides great insight into what made him successful.  He said “remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose”.  A poignant point-of-view, that clearly shows his lack of fear – of consequences or of failure.

This lack of fear is the one common factor that enables people like John and Steve to create gigantic legacies.  Can we find a way to do the same?

Given the vast amount of data becoming available on customers and their behaviors, successful marketers, are beginning to collect this data on their customers’ experience with the brand and analyzing it to learn how they can create what I call a “brand ritual”—a branded behavioral bond with their customers.

A recent Forrester Research report exhorts marketers to make friends with their outer geeks—the people in their IT Department, especially the CTO.

It’s true: marketing and IT have traditionally clashed. CMOs often perceive IT as those who say “no, you can’t do that” or take too long to create the technological underpinnings of a campaign that needs to launch quickly. And CTOs frequently experience marketing professionals as those who “shoot from the hip,” want everything right now, and aren’t interested in using a solid process and creating a clean architecture for gathering data.

Did we say CTOs are from Mars while CMOs are from Venus?

Forrester has some suggestions. After interviewing a number of CMOs and CTOs, they propose using the following approach to unlock value from the customer data flow:

One, make sure CRM systems deliver business value. Your aim is to get a 360-degree view of consumers.

Two, combine the data you get from disparate sources: contact centers, websites, third-party providers (such as BuzzMetrics), etc. Then determine a limited number of customer and value metrics that deserve to be tracked. The last thing you want is to be buried in meaningless and unactionable data.

Three, share relevant customer insights throughout the organization—not just in marketing and IT. This will allow other areas to make better decisions on ways they can support the brand.

Four, use the information to continuously improve the brand experience. As you spot customer trends—or complaints or good ideas—have a system in place to quickly act on them.

Based on the above, I do believe, tt’s past time for a truce, because neither IT nor marketing can achieve its goals without cooperation from the other. Technology and marketing have to integrate in the marketing eco-system of today to prepare the brand for the future.

SolutionSet is one of the few agencies that actually speak to CMOs and CTOs together. With our deep technology capabilities and strategic brand and marketing competencies, our people are very comfortable with both groups. I’ve seen the geometric progress that can be made when this happens—and even the strongest brands stumble when it does not.

It’s time for Mars and Venus to play comfortably together. And, make the term “geek” fashionable.

Along with others in younger generations, Aamir’s world view is scarcity rather than abundance. This week, he started making his own lunch to take to school—rather than buying it there. When I noticed and asked him about it, he told me, “Gas prices are going up and will continue to in the foreseeable future and lots of things will get more expensive. This is one place where we can save some money.”

Of course this was thoughtful—but it also reflects a larger trend. Consumers are more aware of the world around them and concerned about the future. And it’s changing their behavior.

As marketers and business owners, we need to be mindful of how this will affect the perception of our brands and how consumers interact with them. Here are three questions you should be asking.

How can I make sure my value equation remains relevant? The airlines are a perfect example—and on my mind because I spend a lot of time in planes every week. Over the past year, airlines have raised their ticket prices over four times. And they’ll likely have to increase these again soon, since fuel costs have doubled from a year ago. This will color my perception of their value equation. Will I be willing to pay $2,000 to ride in an older plane where I can get a seat assignment—or would I rather pay $1,000 to fly on Southwest, which has newer planes and more amusing flight staff but a cattle-call seating process?  What can United Airlines, my preferred airline do to ensure that I stay loyal to them?

Am I creating more innovation to remain top of mind? Of course this needs to be innovation that gives consumers something they really want—rather than something we would give them anyway or we think they should want. They are sophisticated enough to know the difference.  Relevant innovation is a critical driver of preference.  This will be more important as consumer get choosier.

Am I approaching consumers with empathy? Food prices are going up along with gas. And most people’s income is not rising fast enough to keep up with this. As a result, consumers will experience deterioration in their lifestyles. If your communications show that you understand and have empathy for their situation, this can be an opportunity to build stronger brand ritual behavior with your customers.

Get in their shoes.  They are uncomfortable.  Brands that can empathize, understand and respond in a meaningful and relevant manner will continue to stay as part of their lives and possibly move up to become part of their brand ritual.

Make your brand be one of them.

CMOs will Become “Friends” with Data

A lot of us entered this field because we’re right-brained “creatives” who see numbers as the province of left-brained “bean counters.”  To be successful, we’ll have to use both sides of our brains.  We’ll need to mine the data for the insight it gives into customer behavior, then use our new-found understanding to drive attitudes about the brands we shepherd.  We need to develop and implement whole brain capability to be successful.  Behavioral insights from data can provide the guidance needed.

CMOs will Lead in Real Time

Gone are the days when we’d launch an initiative and then wait to see what customers thought of it.  Now they react instantaneously—and we get immediate feedback.  Not only will we have to cozy up to the information they generate, we’ll have to quickly digest and evaluate it.  And then we’ll have to use it to strengthen our brand strategies.  The velocity of change has never been higher, and we’ll need to act quickly on our customers’ needs and desires to remain relevant.

CMOs will Love Customers—Not Just Prospects

Everyone who knows me knows this is a pet peeve.  Marketing in the last century was totally focused on acquiring new customers, often ignoring current ones.  And there’s still too much residue of this form of thinking.

CMOs focused on customer acquisition ignore two very important points.

• In the digital environment, it’s never been easier for customers to switch brands.  If they’re not getting what they want, another product or service is just a click away.  We need to focus on creating brand rituals, not just habits and routines—because these are easy to walk away from.  And we’ll never do that if we’re always chasing the next customer.
• Keeping current customers happy is also more profitable: “it’s cheaper to keep her.”  It takes $17 of new business to replace $1 of lost business.  And the average spend of a repeat customer is 67% higher than a new one.

CMOs will use Ideals to Rally Customers

Powerful ideas capture customers.  It used to be about “value”—offering a quality product or service at a fair price.  Now a brand must have “values”—ideals its customers share.  Being green.  Local sourcing.  Giving back to the community.  Customers are loyal to brands that mirror their values (and this is an important way to build brand rituals).

CMOs will Target Individual Customers

We’ve been so good about reaching homogenous groups: the coveted 18- to 35-year-old demographic, for example.  But every customer believes that he or she is unique—and expects to be treated that way.  And with the rise of data on each customer, we’re now able to see them one at a time.  This has made 1:1 marketing campaigns viable—and they’re another strategy for creating brand ritual.  Treat each customer as a distinct person with unique needs.  They will appreciate this by making your brand a part of their lives.

Bonus: CMOs will Love Multichannel

I only had room for five trends, but here’s an important sixth.  The infatuation with digital will be replaced with the reality of a multichannel approach.  Some customers will want to do everything online.  Some will want to go to a store.  Some will want to speak with a person on the phone.  A 1:1 approach will accommodate all of them.

Of course the future already is here.  Smart CMOs are using tactics in some if not all of these areas.  Make sure you’re among this group—and you’ll be forecasting the direction of marketing in five years!

Yet I find the same conversations and perspectives also are happening in retail.  More people are saying that the new digital channels will replace traditional analog models.  I say digital needs to be an important part of your marketing program, maybe the most important based on your business model, but it can’t replace real world products, services and stores.

What could be more fun than some lively discussion of this topic?

If you agree, then join me at the National Retail Federation’s (www.nrf.com) Retail Innovation and Marketing Conference (http://events.nrf.com/innovate11/public/enter.aspx) in San Francisco on March 10.  You’ll experience a panel of CMOs who have three very different takes on digital:

• Lee Applbaum, EVP and CMO of RadioShack Corporation (http://tinyurl.com/4ftmshh), takes a multichannel approach. The company has more than 5,000 retail stores plus a robust ecommerce site. He can speak to how these two approaches complement each other.
• Brian Beitler, EVP and CMO for David’s Bridal (http://tinyurl.com/4pu8d4g), is responsible for all digital, mobile and social marketing activities (among others) in an industry that will always require a physical environment.  He can speak to how listening to customers is driving digital brand innovations.
• Anna Fieler, VP of Marketing at Tiny Prints (http://tinyurl.com/4v9d227), operates within a digital model – developing stationery online.  She can speak to how this performs, and the ways that digital allows for product customization in a mass market platform.

I am lucky enough to moderate this general session, called Fact or Fiction—Is the Digital Ecosystem the Future of Retail? (http://tinyurl.com/4u43kkj).   Come and participate in this discussion.  Send me questions via this blog or on my twitter page.

Look forward to a robust discussion.

They really got it right on three important points:

1. CMOs can have a tough time justifying their existence, which leads to ever shortening tenures with a firm (anywhere from 18 months according to CMO.com to 34.7 months from Brandweek).
2. CMOs report to multiple constituencies inside and outside the company: investors, executives, customers, etc. You can’t please everyone all of the time—and often you can only make one group happy at the expense of another.
3. CMOs have the least direct influence on shareholder value of nearly any corporate department. It’s easy to quantify the effects of trimming expenses, but much harder to show the benefit of longer term branding actions.

I also agree with the authors that large customers and stakeholders can lead the agenda for both B2B and B2C companies.  If you’re a supplier to Ford or GM, they’ll tell you what kind of product to offer and at what price.  We all know the power Wal-Mart and Costco wield with brand marketers. 

What’s Missing…

A clear definiton of the marketers’ customer.  In my opinion, this is Mrs. Smith who shops for her family and has been buying your product consistently for a while.

This is the person a large number of CMOs routinely forget.  They are so focused on acquiring new consumers that they don’t pay enough attention to the customers they already have. 

Check out the metrics traditionally used to assess CMO performance.  New acquisitions.  Traffic.  Customer counts.  Number of prospects converted into customers.  Of course these are important to monitor.  But why do CMOs so often forget that it’s almost 17-times more efficient to retain existing customers than it is to acquire new ones?  That it takes $10 of new business to replace $1 of lost business.  That the average spend of a repeat customer is 67% higher than a new one.

So if you’re a CMO, having a customer-centric view of marketing is the best way to positively affect a company’s current and future performance—and lengthen your stay there.

What was this debate about? What could get two fairly relaxed professionals excited enough that they would consider having a food fight at a respectable Italian restaurant?

A simple question. Is a loyalty program needed?

There is a belief that loyalty programs are critical in today’s undifferentiated marketing environment. That without some way of rewarding customers continuously, they will defect. U.S. Cellular just launched the Belief Project, a loyalty program, where they give their customers points for their regular behavior with the brand. Pay your bills and earn points.  Change your phone and earn points.

Is this loyalty? I beg to disagree.

This is frequency marketing, where marketers provide their customers with incentives for the behavior they seek. Nothing wrong with this. In most cases a smarter marketing approach than developing an expensive loyalty program.

Jos. A Bank Clothiers proves this model. They use frequency marketing principles overlaid with a high-low promotional approach to continue growing their business, even in this challenging economic environment. What also makes this work for them is that Jos. A Bank has good quality products, good assortment and good customer service. All, at convenient locations.

Most customers do not behave loyally in many categories. As I wrote in one of my earlier blogs, a high number of “loyal customers” are suffering from the Stockholm Syndrome. They seem loyal, but in effect are held hostage by the brand.

So, what most marketers call loyalty, is nothing but consistent frequency from their customers. If you come regularly and buy frequently, then by the current paradigm, you are considered to be a loyal customer.

Are you? Really?

Just because you use/buy the same product regularly, doesn’t necessarily mean that you have deep emotional feelings about it. All it means is that the product is fulfilling its promise consistently and therefore you, the customer continue to use it. The day it doesn’t, is the day you will look for an alternative.

My advise to marketers, in most categories, is to not get seduced by the whole idea of a loyalty program. If all you need is more frequent visits from your customers, execute a simple frequency marketing program.

It is easier, cheaper and will deliver positive ROI very quickly.

Now, if you have similar lunch partners, this belief may result in some lettuce with vinaigrette on your shirt.

Interesting question. Troublesome conundrum.

To be honest, I decided on United versus some of the other airlines because of my status with them. I am Global Services with them. I believe they will treat me well, as befits a top tier traveler with them. I paid more for this trip on the assumption that my continued patronage with them would result in a pleasant travel experience.

Is this an indication of loyalty or a symptom of the Stockholm Syndrome? Do I as a customer really need status to be treated well? Should I be fearful that if I am a “nobody” with the airline, I will be treated poorly? Does it really make a difference?

Yes it does.

I am allowed to carry 3 bags weighing 70 pounds each, plus 2 carry-on bags. Ordinary travelers on the other hand are allowed only 2 bags each weighing 50 pounds each.

I can board early in the process. They have to wait until their boarding group number is called.

I get upgraded. I get more legroom without paying extra. I feel special.

The airline says because I’m loyal to them.

I believe that’s because I am so used to these benefits that I am a sufferer of Stockholm Syndrome.

A hostage.

Flying American Airlines for this visit.  Flight number 3844.  Leaving O’Hare at 8.15AM.

Just for context, I travel a lot.  This past year, I will have been on the road over 225 days.  I have premier status on both American and United Airlines.  I am an Executive Platinum and Global Services member, respectively.  Not something I’m proud of, but believe that this status should result in some level of courtesy and consideration from the airline when I travel with them.  Obviously, I spend a lot of money with them.

So, here’s how I got treated this morning at O’Hare by the staff at American Airlines.

About 5 minutes before we’re ready to board, I hear my name called over the PA system.  When I get to the counter, the lady there says, and I quote, “you have been downgraded, here is your new seat assignment.”

I go from seat 1A (in first class) to seat 16C (last row window, by the bathroom).  All without an explanation.  I reminded them that I had a first class aisle seat and as I suffer from claustrophobia, I could not have the window seat in the back and would like an aisle seat, which is always my preference, somewhere near the front.  At this, one of her colleagues came around and asked me why I was complaining.  “It is not our fault, it is Operations. You will get a refund for the difference”, he said.  We resolved this when they changed my seat to 4A.  A bit better, an aisle near the front of the plane.

Then, as I was getting ready to enter the plane, the pilot, Diego Pena, stopped me and threatened to “throw me off the plane if I so much as made a peep during the flight”.  He was extremely rude, threatening and unprofessional.  All because he did not think i should have asked for a different seat assignment from the one “operations assigned to me”.

Well, I do not like being mistreated.  I do not like being taken for granted.  And, I for sure, do not like being threatened.

Especially by a business that I have flown multi-million miles over the past few years.

And, the steps to avoid this are very simple.  Here’s what they could have done:

One, if the folks at the counter had made an announcement that there would be changes in seating assignments due to an equipment change, I would not be wondering how I went from the first row to the last.

Second, if they had assigned new seats based on status and preferences of their frequent fliers, I would have been given an aisle seat.  This would have managed my personal needs and reduced my anxiety at the change.

Most importantly, if they had just treated me as a person who has specific needs and addressed them in a professional manner, I would not be spending 30 minutes of my plane ride writing this.

I do know one thing.  I am going out of my way to avoid flying American.  I’m not sure if they can continue losing travelers like me, but they just did.

Hello, United!

 Flying American Airlines for this visit.  Flight number 3844.  Leaving O’Hare at 8.15AM.

 Just for context, I travel a lot.  This past year, I will have been on the road over 225 days.  I have premier status on both American and United Airlines.  I am an Executive Platinum and Global Services member, respectively.  Not something I’m proud of, but believe that this status should result in some level of courtesy and consideration from the airline when I travel with them.  Obviously, I spend a lot of money with them.

 So, here’s how I got treated this morning at O’Hare by the staff at American Airlines.

 About 5 minutes before we’re ready to board, I hear my name called over the PA system.  When I get to the counter, the lady there says, and I quote, “you have been downgraded, here is your new seat assignment.”

 I go from seat 1A (in first class) to seat 16C (last row window, by the bathroom).  All without an explanation.  I reminded them that I had a first class aisle seat and as I suffer from claustrophobia, I could not have the window seat in the back and would like an aisle seat, which is always my preference, somewhere near the front.  At this, one of her colleagues came around and asked me why I was complaining.  “It is not our fault, it is Operations. You will get a refund for the difference”, he said.  We resolved this when they changed my seat to 4A.  A bit better, an aisle near the front of the plane.

 Then, as I was getting ready to enter the plane, the pilot, Diego Pena, stopped me and threatened to “throw me off the plane if I so much as made a peep during the flight”.  He was extremely rude, threatening and unprofessional.  All because he did not think i should have asked for a different seat assignment from the one “operations assigned to me”.

 Well, I do not like being mistreated.  I do not like being taken for granted.  And, I for sure, do not like being threatened.

 Especially by a business that I have flown multi-million miles over the past few years.

 And, the steps to avoid this are very simple.  Here’s what they could have done:

 One, if the folks at the counter had made an announcement that there would be changes in seating assignments due to an equipment change, I would not be wondering how I went from the first row to the last.

 Second, if they had assigned new seats based on status and preferences of their frequent fliers, I would have been given an aisle seat.  This would have managed my personal needs and reduced my anxiety at the change.

 Most importantly, if they had just treated me as a person who has specific needs and addressed them in a professional manner, I would not be spending 30 minutes of my plane ride writing this.

I do know one thing.  I am going out of my way to avoid flying American.  I’m not sure if they can continue losing travelers like me, but they just did.

 Hello, United!