Customer-centric Communication

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Transcript of Customer-centric Communication

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Customer-centric Communications

Who are you? Who cares?

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Your Speaker

Amy KenigsbergPrincipal

Consultant

Bachelor of Journalism, magazine & newspaper journalismMBA20+ years in PR, marcom, and content marketingExperience ranges from the first Internet agency to GEindustries from alumni relations to telecom, internal and external commCo-founder, K2 Global Communications, international PR, social media, marcom, and content marketing

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The Critical WhoYour Customer

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The Customer Isn’t Always Right

The customer just IS

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What’s in it for me?

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If you cannot answer that question from your customer’s perspective, you won’t be in business very long.

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Customer-focused Messaging• FIRST• Needs • Desires• Role within the organization• Role across industries

• THEN THE PRODUCT

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Building Internal Consensus

Everyone must know “What’s in it for me”

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The Internal Audience

• Employees

• Every employee

• Every department

• Clerical to CEO

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Buy-in & Collaboration• Every single stakeholder MUST be included

• Every member of senior management and department heads

• Decisions MUST be made – What is the overall corporate messaging?

• Decisions MUST be implemented – This is the hard part.

• Whoever manages the process must be ready for the blame

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Requirements

•Consistent messages

•Buy-in

•OPEN communication channels

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Delivery Channels

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Be Aware of “Telephone”

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You’re NOT DONE• Need SYSTEMATIC, ongoing communications

• Daily/weekly newsletter• NOTHING formal

• Two-three sentence status updates from each department, e.g.• Sales lists potential customers

• Tech support lists issues for the sales engineer

• Marketing provides link to new version of product brochure

• Regular “Stand-up” meetings

• Ongoing communication to department heads regarding management initiatives

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All customer-facing team members need to be on the same page

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The Failed SaleInside sales rep has the customer ready to

buy – Based on information he received from the product manager

The inside sales rep schedules a follow-up call with the CTO. The CTO disputes every spec made to the customer by the sales rep

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Communicating with Your Customer

Make that first impression over and over and over and over and over and over again

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What Do You Want to Achieve?

• Drive more sales

• Too general

• Drive sales in markets A, B & C

• Too general

• Drives sales in markets A, B & C from C-level and project managers

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You all know the cliché

You only get one chance to make a first impression

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It’s a Lie!

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No one is going to notice your first impression

• They just got a text

• They are in traffic

• They are using What’s Up

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Pay Attention! (Not!)

Statistic Verification

Source: National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of

Medicine, The Associated Press

Research Date: April 2nd, 2015

The average attention span in 2015 8.25 seconds

The average attention span in 2000 12 seconds

The average attention span of a gold

fish9 seconds

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Customer Communications Channels• Website• Social media• Blog• Analyst report• Analyst blog• RSS• Newsletter• Print

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All Communications Should Appeal to Clearly Defined Audiences

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Reaching Your Targets

• You have your goal

• You know your audience

• Find out who is influencing them

• Journalists

• Bloggers

• Analysts

• Peers

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Multiple Audiences

•Clearly define the messages for each

• Separate efforts

• Separate materials

• Two landing pages/website sections, etc.

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Your Content Needs to Focus On

•News You Can Use

•Objective statistics that help the industry

•Content that adds to the conversation

•Controversial

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Social Media

• Friend-to-friend communications channels

• The medium is the message

• Social is political, commercial, promotional, self-indulgent

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Content Marketing

• The Ultimate “What’s in it for me” focus

• What information can you pass along to your customers that will

• Make their jobs easier

• Reduce the hassles they face

• Improve their lives

• Increase their wealth

• Reduce their stress

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Newsletters

• Still the #1 means of communications, with highest ROI

• No more than two per month – don’t want to be spam

• Headlines are critical – Free, sale, etc. filtered out

• Google

• Separate email boxes

• Recycle

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Conferences

• Make appointments in advance

• The ONLY time to meet journalist and analysts in person

• Make your booth fun

• KISS

• Export Institute - MWC & others

• EXPENSIVE

• Targeted

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Public Relations, K2 Style

Building relationships with influencers to create third-party endorsements, attracting customers to buy and/or repeat purchase

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Paid Opportunities

•Banner advertising

•Retargeting

•Newsletter sponsorship

•Video ads

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The ProcessGetting it Done

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Retarget with your content, not just your latest sale

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What’s in it for me??

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Everything needs to follow…

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Reduce: Get Down to Tachlis

•What information do you possess that can create objective reports for your industry?

• Use cases

• Customer statistics

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Reuse Your Content

• “Sell” it as a blog to a targeted media outlet

• Promote their usage on social media

• Put a link to their site on yours

• Send the content in your newsletter – with an “As seen in”

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Recycle• December comes every year

• Predictions

• Holidays

• Back to school

• Are the same people reading your blog?

• Do they even remember what you wrote?

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The Real Secret: Don’t Be a One-Hit Wonder

The Sales Channel Depends on LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIPS: Persistence, persistence, persistence

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A Bit More on Content Distribution

• Exclusivity v. “the masses”

• Type of impact v. quantity

• Check with your SEO expert (un-indexing, etc.)

• Target, target, target

• If published: Always post their link your website

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Measurement• Higher website traffic

• Consider quantity v. quality• Six visits – One registration

• Thousands of visits – Nothing

• More downloads

• Increase in newsletter subscribers

• Growth of conversion rates

• Incoming media inquiries

PR trade industry associations are still debating measurement standards after 30+ years

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Bonus SectionThe Little Things Mean a Lot

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What is News?

• Industry specific

• General

• Product news

• Corporate data

• Deals with major partners

• Company news

• Reputation building• Expertise

• Analysis

• Opinion

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NOT News

• We’re going to a show (unless…)

• We met with a potential investor

• We’re taking it on the road

• We’re joining 20 other Israeli companies at…

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The Press Release• Newsworthy only!• Be clear about your key messages

• What’s in it for me? Journalist/reader

• Inverted pyramid – get to the point• Who, what, when, where, why , how• Compelling writing gets read• Generate interest/tease, don’t bore or be overly granular• Human-sounding quotes only• Streamline the approval process

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“Local” Coverage• Israel

• A LOT OF COMPETITION

• DO NOT expect local coverage

• Foreign media based in Israel

• Approach on a one-to-one basis

• Potential success only on a slow news day after much persistence

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The Relationship with the Journalist

• She IS doing you a favor by speaking with you

• NEVER cancel unless a dire emergency

• Be prepared, especially for curves

• Most communication occurs by email• NEVER attach anything

• Get to the point, keep it short

• Use bold/underlining

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You are an Israeli Company…Or Not?• You ARE an Israeli company

• Politics

• NEUTRAL: “I don’t feel it would be fair or appropriate to use this as a political forum. Our focus is on sharing our technology to everyone’s benefit.”

• You AREN’T• R&D is in Israel

• Stick to the story

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Present a Professional Face• Have a professional, native English speaker review

your website

• While it may appear to be English, many Israeli sites are in “Heblish”• The cow brown that jumped over the moon.

• The brown cow jumped over the moon.

• He is getting into the place.

• He entered.

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Spelling Counts

•Any typo in a website or marketing material significantly reduces your credibility• If you cannot be bothered to spell correctly or have

your materials proofread, you’re undermining confidence in your company and products

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And Your Name Is?

• רוני

• Ronny

• Ronnie

• Roni

• Ronni

• Ronie

• Ronney

NEVER misspell anyone’s name• Ask how his/her name is spelled• Check LinkedIn, etc.

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Questions?Thanks!