“Can’t Buy Me Like: How Authentic Customer Connections Drive Superior Results” by Bob Garfield and Doug Levy (Portfolio/Penguin, $25.95).
Today’s advertisers face a choice between two devils: 1. The one they know — investing in increasingly ineffective traditional advertising; and 2. The one they don’t — putting dollars into the supposed power of social media where “likes” don’t necessarily translate into “buys” and consumers float in the ever-morphing cloud.
What should marketers do to turn both devils into ad angels? Develop a better sense of the currency of relationship marketing. Its currency devalues awareness and places value on belief, trust, quality, pride and loyalty. “Relationship Era marketers do not see purchasers as conquests to seduce, or even persuade. They see them as friends — members of a community dedicated not only to the same stuff, but to the same ideals.” Authentic connections, not individual transactions, are its fuel.
The authors’ brand sustainability map shows that as brand trust increases so does emotional engagement and sustainability (i.e. buying). But trust isn’t an end to a means. It comes from a belief in what the company and its products/services stand for. Trust translates into lower promotional costs and brand loyalty. The authors’ research shows that high-brand-loyalty companies that walk the trust talk include Amazon, Apple, Costco, Harley-Davidson and Southwest Airlines.
Trust can be broken easily. United Airlines “friendly skies” took a huge hit when a passenger posted a “United Breaks Guitars” YouTube video about his broken guitar and his myriad of problems dealing with United’s customer service staff. Since 2009, it’s garnered over 10 million views. United’s reputation hasn’t recovered — nor has its stock price.
The message: If your company wants to thrive in the relationship era, it needs to stay true to a clear purpose (profit isn’t a purpose) that inspires customers and employees to become an advocate.
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“Inside the Box — A Proven System of Creativity for Breakthrough Results” by Drew Boyd and Jacob Goldenberg” (Simon & Schuster, $28.50).
What’s Inside the Box? A systematic way to encourage creativity and innovation. The authors’ five Systematic Inventive Thinking (SIT) techniques use what you already know to do things differently and do different things. SIT’s basis involves starting with a solution and working back to the problem it solves.
1. Subtraction — Less may create more. Taking the soap out of laundry detergent created the fabric freshener. Apple’s iTouch (over 60 million sold so far) is an iPhone without the phone. Ear buds are headphones without the cumbersome, space-consuming, hairdo-messing ear muffs.
2. Division — Take a product component and reconfigure it. Using a programmable remote control eliminates the need for the array of knobs on electronic devices and makes them more user-friendly. Kraft and other food companies created single-serving packages. Oscar Mayer created “Lunchables.”
3. Multiplication — A component has been copied but changed. 3-D presents offset images to each eye creating depth of field; the technique was invented in 1861. Ben Franklin invented bifocal lenses. The three-way light bulb has two filaments, not one.
4. Task unification — Kill two (or more) birds with one stone. Facial moisturizers now contain sunscreen. Socks contain odor-control chemicals and wick away moisture. Apps for Apple and Android devices increase functionality and entertainment options. John Doyle, a theater impresario, reinvented the musical by using actor-musicians.
5. Attribute dependency — As one thing changes, its change triggers another. Windshield wipers automatically change speed with the intensity of the rain. Radio volume adjusts to offset highway noise as speed increases. Location-based apps provide suggestions about accommodations, restaurants and shopping.
SIT looks at innovation from the standpoint of adapting what you have, not trying to figure out what else you need.
Jim Pawlak is a nationally syndicated book reviewer.
