By now most marketers (effective ones, anyway) have moved beyond a Mad Men "brand = logo (or advertising - read From Mad Man to Superwomen) view of the world, and are focused on behaviors.
And with good reason. Viewing marketing as communications (only) is like viewing sales as cold calling or finance as accounting - necessary, but no where near sufficient. A logo or ad may catch your attention, but the customer experience results in the sale, and repeat business. Great companies define and build the experiential aspects of the brand into everything they do, creating a competitive advantage that can't be replicated.
But there is a fine line between definition and prescription.
My wife and I just finished a cruise. The company has gone to great lengths to prescribe in detail exactly what behaviors the crew must exhibit, undoubtedly a perceived necessity given that they hire from multiple countries.
Example: every night at dinner, halfway through the main course, the waiter would lean over each diner's shoulder and ask "How is your meal?" The intent, of course, is admirable.
The result was annoying. The waiter, rather than observing that we were involved in conversation (part of a dinner experience - heck, we could've ordered room service if we didn't want to socialize), only knew that he had a task to complete. Which is what happens in applying industrial process control techniques to service requirements.
The focus was on the behavior, not the experience. In other words, a failure of marketing: the task was defined absent an understanding of the customer need.
What are you focusing on?
Experience matters.
And with good reason. Viewing marketing as communications (only) is like viewing sales as cold calling or finance as accounting - necessary, but no where near sufficient. A logo or ad may catch your attention, but the customer experience results in the sale, and repeat business. Great companies define and build the experiential aspects of the brand into everything they do, creating a competitive advantage that can't be replicated.
But there is a fine line between definition and prescription.
My wife and I just finished a cruise. The company has gone to great lengths to prescribe in detail exactly what behaviors the crew must exhibit, undoubtedly a perceived necessity given that they hire from multiple countries.
Example: every night at dinner, halfway through the main course, the waiter would lean over each diner's shoulder and ask "How is your meal?" The intent, of course, is admirable.
The result was annoying. The waiter, rather than observing that we were involved in conversation (part of a dinner experience - heck, we could've ordered room service if we didn't want to socialize), only knew that he had a task to complete. Which is what happens in applying industrial process control techniques to service requirements.
The focus was on the behavior, not the experience. In other words, a failure of marketing: the task was defined absent an understanding of the customer need.
What are you focusing on?
Experience matters.
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