MARKETING & CUSTOMER SERVICE NEWSLETTER
ISSUE
03 MARCH 2012
this issue Marketing P.1 Customer Service P.1 Tool, Tidbits, and Trends P.2 The WOW Factor P.2 Upcoming Events P.3 Web Hits P.3 Key Marketing Dates P.3 Sponsorship P.4 TEAM FMWR P.6 Professional Development P.6
CUSTOMER SERVICE Earning Customer Loyalty Starts with Loyalty to Employees The customer experience is about human interaction. If you want your employees to deliver the best customer experience, give them a good reason to do it. The best reason is delivering to your employees the best experiences. OPEX & OPEX REFRESHER TRAINING DATES
27 MAR - OPEX 0730-1630 AMCC 29 MAR - OPEX Refresher 0800-1130 or 1300-1630 AMCC Remember space is limited to 28 per session so please get your staff registered now. The Refresher is for front line staff. Anyone who is a rater is to attend the Sustaining the Covenant Management Workshop – date TBD. TEAM MEMBER ORIENTATION
14-16 MAR -0730 AMCC 10-12 APR -0730 AMCC TMO is required within the 1st 90 days of hire. Contact Ruby O'Dell to sign up your new staff for training!
Customer Service isn’t a department, it’s an attitude!
LUCKY IN MARKETING Las Vegas has a slogan, “You can’t win if you don’t play,” It’s hard to argue with that logic, bystanders don’t reap any rewards. Only those who are willing to put up the cash and potentially lose it, have the chance to win. The same is true when it comes to marketing. Without it, you are like those bystanders, watching your competitors play. With it, you are risking your company’s precious resources in the hopes that the message you communicate motivates purchases. Marketing is not a sure thing, if it were no company would ever fail. Marketing is the willingness to risk company resources; the tenacity to not give up; and the confidence to play like you’re in it to win. So how do you win the game of marketing? It’s a Risk The first lesson one must accept and embrace when marketing, is that risk is involved. Parting with lots of money will not guarantee success in either situation. One of the biggest and most expensive marketing failures was that of the launch of “New Coke” in the ‘80s. What’s important about losing though, is taking to heart the lesson that comes with it. Today Coca-Cola is one of the most well-known brands in the world. Success Improves with Practice When you hear “just do it”, I’ll wager you know what brand that is. Nike didn’t get to that level of brand recognition by placing an ad here and there. No, they inundated us with messages from advertisements, PR, packaging and more, all working together to reinforce their message and positioning. The key here is the consistency in the message as well as the consistency in the frequency with which it was delivered.
OR
PLAY TO WIN!
Hope for a Little Luck It would be remiss to negate the influence of luck on business success. We tend to think that some companies just have it all together and therefore their success is directly related to their superior business management and marketing skills. While these skills certainly work toward success, a little luck never hurt anybody; and for those companies that planned for such a scenario, the rewards are even richer. A favorite example is Ugg. This footwear company enjoyed modest success for over two decades before being featured as one of Oprah’s favorite things several years in row beginning in 2000. It was that stroke of luck that took Ugg from a brand enjoyed by surfers and select celebrities to a household name. Thankfully, Ugg had the infrastructure to respond to the “Oprah Effect” on their brand and were able to take that notoriety and run with it. Luck favors the prepared. So What’s Your Wager? Want to win in the game of business? You need to play. One ad here or there, one press release a year or a neglected Facebook page will not work toward success for your business. Remember, consistency and frequency will hedge your bets. And while you can’t make luck, you can certainly plan for it. So, if you find yourself in a position to realize a rare opportunity, grab it with both hands and run with it. Penny Redlin (Contributor to the “Business Sense”)
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