Social Media University, Global (SMUG)

Wedding marketing was the substance when Veronica Smith Katz of David’s Bridal presented “Enhancing the Customer’s Experience by making the Most of Multi-Channel Strategies During a Major Life Stage Event.”

They have something like 30 million unique visitors a year (or 10 percent of the US population), and because people spend more money in the five years after getting married than they do during the rest of their lives, David’s is in good position to introduce partners to people who are about to spend a bunch on honeymoon trips, opening bank accounts, buying houses, and much more. Wedding marketing leads to all sorts of other marketing opportunities.
The wedding dress is typically the first purchase in the bridal cycle, and the gateway to lots of other purchases, such as photography, catering, tuxedos, bridesmaid dresses and much more, as I recently learned first-hand with my daughter’s wedding.

We did things in an understated way, but as I heard in this presentation, we’re in the distinct minority.

Veronica spoke on enhancing the customer’s experience by partnering with “best In brand” companies. For example, they have partnerships with Sandals to host Caribbean nights, for brides and grooms to learn about various islands. A high proportion eventually convert to buy a Sandals honeymoon.

Brides are looking or this kind of information on associated needs. Veronica quoted a customer email that said: “All the discounts and goodies included when you purchase your wedding gown go beyond what you could ever imagine…” Customers see this as a benefit to them, a bonus that they get while buying their dresses. So, it’s a case of David’s doing well by doing good for their customers.

Clearly we have something of a relationship like this in Rochester, with restaurants, hotels and other organizations in the community providing services to Mayo Clinic patients and their families when they come to town. I believe Mayo tries to be neutral and not pick one community vendor over another, so the benefit from these community collaborations are indirect. But without community service providers it would be impossible for Mayo to serve the number of out-of-town patients we do.

To what other kinds of major life events might this approach be applicable?

Technorati: Marketing, wedding, Frost & Sullivan, liveblog

Liveblogging the first Frost & Sullivan keynote by Pamela T. Miller, Esq. She is Vice President, Market Strategy and Development, Medco Health Solutions, Inc. Her presentation is entitled “Creating a Consistent Customer Experience and Driving Customer-centric Thinking throughout the Organization.”

Pamela defines customer-centrism as “Focusing a company’s strategies and operations around customers rather than products, services, markets or internal structure.” She says customer-centric strategies can increase customer satisfaction, loyalty, retention and ultimately, the bottom line. (This is in keeping with Dr. William Mayo’s dictum that “The best interest of the patient is the only interest to be considered.”)

In a study of 2,500 telecom customers, a 10 point increase in satisfaction increase retention by 2 percent. In a study of 200 Fortune 500 firms, one percent increase in customer satisfaction was associated with a similar increase in market value. This seems pretty intuitive and common sense, but it’s nice to have hard data to confirm.

Pamela says a differentiated customer experience is an essential strategy for attracting and retaining customers, and people are willing to pay more for it. She told the story of Starbucks and how someone did a blind taste test with Dunkin Donuts and other coffees, and people couldn’t tell the difference. But the Starbucks atmosphere with quick service, comfortable seating, music, wireless internet and other customer experience differentiators has led to slaes growth and EPS growth that is double the industry average.

Key factors to her holistic approach to creating customer-centric organizations are (and I’m going to relate these to Mayo Clinic as a patient-centric organization):

Leadership – Commitment at the top. See the quote from Dr. William Mayo above. That quote has been boiled down over the years to: “The needs of the patient come first.” Pamela says leaders need to share financials and map them back to customer-centered goals.

Infrastructure – Need customer research and development, to make marketing and branding strategies customer focused. Mayo Clinic’s mission is to give the best care to every patient, every day. Hiring and training are hugely important; that’s why she recommends behavioral interviews in the hiring process (which is something Mayo does.) Other elements include reward and recognition (not necessarily financial), measurement and continuous improvement of key business processes, and analysis of competition and the market. “Once a customer is lost, it’s hard to get him or her back.” Starbucks believes in paying front-line employees well because they are the first line of exper

Process – Design processes to provide consistent branded customer experienceacross the organization.

Culture – This is, she says, the hardest part. People either have the basic behavior of liking to serve others, or they don’t. You have to hire the right kind of people, or as Jim Collins says in Good to Great, get the right people on the bus. Again, this is a Mayo Clinic focus through our behavioral interview process. We also work to “imbue” our vendors and consultants with our culture so they understand how seriously we take patient centricity.
Other companies Pamela used as examples include Commerce Bancorp, Nordstrom, Lexus, and Berkshire Hathaway.

Technorati: Frost & Sullivan, liveblog, customer service, Starbucks