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Look over the shoulder of any digital native using their phone these days and as a marketer you can’t help but be alarmed. There they are, earbuds fi rmly implanted, eyes glued to their screen, scrolling, tapping, swiping, all at a frenetic pace, messaging their friends, checking their newsfeeds, sharing their pictures, maybe even watching a short-form video or playing a game, lost in their own mobile world.
Now just think of the chasm between the media usage of that person and the way most performance marketing campaigns work, jamming digital ads in between all of that manic thumbing. Good
luck with that.
Which is why marketing as a discipline is going through an identity crisis. Just about every marketer is schooled in the practice of sandwich board tactics, shouting out at passing traffic. Marketing
has always had one job that takes precedence over everything else: to drive growth. And that means moving products off shelves. But people’s buying behaviour has changed so radically – due to price
transparency, instant access to information, lack of brand trust, endless distractions, shrunken attention spans, ad avoidance and more – that even CEOs realize their marketing methods are obsolete. This past
year some notable global brands have actually “ditched the CMO title” in favour of Chief Growth Offi cer or Chief Experience Offi cer, leading
to speculation that marketing is on a path to extinction.
There is no doubt the marketing battleground has shifted from winning “share of mind” to “share of heart”, not by pandering to people, but by creating a distinctive, friction-free, “sharable” customer experience that makes them go “Wow!”. But often businesses struggle to satisfy even the minimal expectations of customers. To fi x what’s wrong takes a willingness to invest in the future, with payback measured in years. And as long as the CMO position remains a revolving door, there is never any continuity. Taking time to climb the NPS ladder – by making life easier, convenient and more enjoyable for customers – will never soothe impatient investors. That’s why maximizing growth is always the top corporate priority, making customer experience a secondary concern.
Jay Baer has an answer to this paradox, something he calls “talk triggers”. In fact, he’s written a book about it, full of case studies of how companies achieved fame by taking simple steps to generate “word of
mouth” through the creation of unique experiences. Another book he wrote called “Youtility” argues that companies can only win attention these days by asking: “How can we help?”. And his latest book “Hug
Your Haters” shows how to turn customer complaints into opportunity.
A key practice area in Jay’s consulting business is helping brands design signature experiences that can lift them above the “sea of sameness”. I started by asking Jay if brand advocacy is the best and easiest pathway to growth.