Clients ask us all the time. Our answer: depends on what you’re trying to do and whether you’re committed to an ongoing honest dialogue with your markets. If you’re trying to sell a story in social media, we’d advise you not to bother. If you’re up for learning what your buyers want, imaginative in finding creative ways to reach them, and capable of articulating how your product or service meets those needs…or not…then it’s a potent channel, to be nurtured and nourished like any other powerful medium. But marketers beware…marketing was once about creating a dream, and now it’s about being clear, concise, transparent and relevant. Without these, you’ll do more harm than good.
Category Archives: Retirement and Benefits
Sun Life advertises no government bailouts
A couple of weeks ago, Sun Life announced the launch of a new advertising campaign (“Get to Know Sun Life”), designed to raise Sun Life’s brand awareness in the U.S. (See http://www.gettoknowsunlife.com/)
At the same time Sun Life is also running online advertising that emphasizes the fact that it have never received a government bailout in its 144+ years of existence. The advertising is a counter of how long Sun Life Financial has gone without bailout money. In addition to emphasizing Sun Life’s financial strength, it also highlights its longevity.
Many banks, insurers and investment firms have highlighted the fact that they have not received government funding–or have repaid the funding–in investor and analyst presentations, but very few financial institutions have launched advertising around this topic.
Dashboards: Measure what Matters
The increased attention on marketing ROI and the customer experience has produced an increased interest in the development and use of dashboards in the marketing/CRM environment. The article “Dashboards: No Longer a Luxury” from 1-to-1 Magazine clearly points that out. The fact that everyone wants dashboards is positive, since measurement drives more informed—and therefore better—decisions, but the reality is that few succeed in creating dashboards that are truly valuable management tools. The pitfalls of most dashboards are that they measure too much which creates information overload and/or they measure the wrong things.
To be effective, dashboards should comprise no more than five or six measurements, which should be a blend of results metrics (e.g., sales, leads) and operational performance metrics (e.g., call resolution statistics, outbound call volume).
- Results measurement should focus on the two or three numbers that will provide a “snapshot” of the health of the business/functional area. The numbers should be able to provide either an early warning of issues requiring intervention or reassurance of the state of the status quo.
- Operational measurements should focus on quantifying the operational activities that drive positive results. For example, if you can correlate customer training attendance to customer satisfaction and repeat business, you should be monitoring training attendance rates.
Dashboards can and should be a valuable tool for management to understand at a glance the state of the business and the progress towards goals, but only if it’s focused on the right measurements.