Connor Brooke
“Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does.”
This quote is often credited to Dr. Steuart Henderson Britt, author of Marketing Management and Administrative Action in 1973. However, there is evidence of a much earlier origin of this quote.
As advertising evolved and became more accessible to a multitude of smaller businesses, its traditional methods arguably became less effective in moving the sales needle. Advertising professionals have been working very hard to re-invent themselves, but the majority of efforts were invested in the areas of medium, media channels, and ubiquity/relevance of content. However, the fundamental premise remains “let US tell THEM how great our brand is.”
The future of advertising in the age of Social Customer takes a different direction. I think the Customer Experience will become an even more critical force in influencing consumer choices than it is today. That means advertising people need to figure out the best way to help happy customers tell their authentic stories in the ways and places these stories would make the largest impact.
The girl (i.e., the Consumer) referenced in the iconic quote is no longer in the dark. In fact, the light of information available about the brands is so bright and plentiful that your winking is not noticeable to her at all.
A growing number of consumers are better informed about the products they are considering than advertising copywriters. Consumers learn by researching relevant websites, reading pundits’ reviews, and exploring customer experiences of their peers available online. Advertising used to be driven by “clever” messaging. In the age of Social Customer the new “clever” is “clear”, and it starts with a great product.
It appears that the effort of growing a brand social footprint is a much better investment than attempts to create an emotional connection with the consumer, one consumer at the time. The social footprint of a brand is an aggregation of customer experiences with the products associated with the brand, available to consumers online. You can think of it as a brand reputation, as it has two dimensions: how positive it is and how well known it is. These dimensions can be measured and benchmarked, as you can see in the example below.
Data source is On-Demand Social NPS® Monitor, September 30, 2013. Based on analysis of 54,549 online customer reviews of their experience with smartphones during Q3 2013. Social NPS® is an algorithmic estimate of customers response to the question “On the scale of 0-10, how likely would you recommend this product to a friend or a colleague?” It is produced by applying Opinion Mining technology to online CGC (customer generated content). Social Engagement is the percentage of CGC found online for a specific brand/product compared to all available CGC for this market segment.
A positive and growing social footprint correlates consistently with increased market share and is more effective than the best collateral a company can create.
NPS, Net Promoter, and Net Promoter Score are registered trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company and Fred Reichheld.
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Connor Brooke.
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To stay competitive, businesses should pattern significant attachments with the people who matter most: those who find worth in their emblem.
Weird wording, Sagar, stay out of advertising unless your job is to be confusing or learn english.
My 2 cents: this is a great article and very relevant! Ads are increasingly present in every form of media. I personally can’t remember any of them b/c there is just too many. Quality of quantity should the mantra of future ad campaigns. Getting quality products to people who would want them. The more active medium of social networking requires more active ads. The days of broadcasting TV ads to millions of viewers, including Viagara ads to teenage girls, or diaper ads to single men, should be OVER.
Great post, I definitely agree advertising is so important. I’ve seen so many businesses fail because they didn’t advertise. And it really is not hard to advertise in this age of technology. There are so many avenues you can take to advertise that are cheap and easy.
I agree advertising is a key to help businesses grow in the future and create awareness of what they are about. The marketplace can be thought as a dark room filled with many different companies. When you are advertising you are basically shining a light on your company and helping people understand what you and your company is about.
Great post, Gregory. It really is about the customer experience and how opinions on your company and product are shared. With the wide reach of social media (and the ability to promote your personal post through advertising on social), anyone can have a big impact on a potential customer. I think brands also need to focus on how customers are connecting with the brand’s social media content on an emotional level. They need to speak to them in a more genuine human form to gain their attention in the first place.