The notion of differentiating a customer from a prospect is dead.
Well, not really. The "notion" still exists. But what used to be considered two entirely different pool segments in marketing, is now merging into the larger single pool of the "interactive audience". The world of social media blurs these distinctions in dramatic ways. There is lots of information out there, including from me, about the strategy and tactics of going into that relationship model. But I thought I'd focus briefly on some of the business operations aspects. Moving from monologue to dialog or from direct sales/marketing to relationship sales/marketing inherently breaks a lot of the models that we've built our companies around.
Let's look at marketing for a moment. Virtually all measurements of success today are derived from a campaign mentality. There is a expected conversion cycle that is measured against the conversion rates at the various audience stages (prospect to customer conversion process). And prior to the campaign there was a great deal of filtering taking place to narrow the audience pool down to those you wanted to be exposed to your marketing message. Lastly there is a finite end point at which campaign operations cease as well as the end points for whatever call-to-action was used. What would that look like in a true relationship marketing mentality if executed in social media? First and foremost, in the traditional direct marketing campaign orientation you started with a pre-selected audience. That could have been very general (top line demographics for example) or very specific (high-end list purchase, or existing customer database). And while you can roughly target a few demographics within social media, there is an additional upfront stage of trust building exercises necessary if you want to optimize your ability to build and communicate with an interactive audience. The notion of building and nurturing this interactive audience pool is really what changes everything. Where would your campaign begin? Where would it end? I'm not saying that campaigns are dead, I *am* saying that campaigns in isolation are either dead or need to die. There will have to be relationship oriented umbrella programs that span the corporate silos, and within those there will be additional programs at the silo level, and within *those* perhaps you'll still be able to run activities that look similar to campaigns of yesterday. The funnel stages however will look very different.
Within sales, same issue. Think about how you measure your sales reps success today. Would your commission based compensation program foster the proper mentality within your sales team if implemented in a social marketing scenario? Would it incentivize them to go through the hand holding and trust building exercises necessary? Do your divisions of "inside sales" and "outside sales" make any sense in that environment? If you create a new team and processes just for social media do you then disrupt and put into jeopardy your existing team members? If you're in B2B are you going to take on the potential channel conflict of competing with your distributor or retail channel in the same space? Are your people prepared to interact with the marketing group at a very intimate level of one to one handoffs? What about the customer service group? These are age-old issues in sales. Most companies have either faced or are facing one or more of the challenges regardless of social media, but the real-time nature of the interactive audience will not let you fake your way through these problems like most companies have done for the past 15 years. You either address them and have a plan/process or you'll fall flat on your face right in front of your audience. You cannot save the item in your Inbox and put it off until you can walk down to the head of marketing and bitch about how the prospect hadn't been properly qualified before being handed to you. You cannot have customer service point them to a form to fill out so that you can at some point call them in the future when it's more convenient for you. Engagement happens *now*. Dialog happens *now*. And to be successful in social media you have to be prepared to have it when the customer is ready to have it.
I could also write paragraphs on PR, Customer Service, etc. but you get the picture.
I was conflicted about writing this article because I don't want companies to look at some of the structural and operational difficulties they might face when they go into social media on a large scale and decide that it's just too much trouble or too costly. But what I would say is this, the above is an end-game scenario. Treat it like one. When you started out in business you knew you would eventually need a huge warehouse and inventory management system...but you didn't run out and spend the money on one, you had an employee walking around with a clipboard and an Excel spreadsheet. The above scenarios are your inventory management system, as long as you know what you're building towards you can do so in an intelligent and informed way. I'm perfectly fine with easing your way into social media with an Excel spreadsheet, just don't paint yourself into a very difficult corner to ever get out of simply because you didn't think through the eventual implications of what would happen if it succeeds. So when you hear those social media pundits who scream "just do it!" (the smart ones anyway) I think what you're really hearing them say is "you don't have to turn your entire company on its head to get started". I don't believe they meant "don't worry about what it all means or have a plan, just dive in and hope you don't screw up".
A final note on "campaigns". Can they still work in social media in isolation from relationship building? The short answer, is to some degree "yes". The longer answer, is "yes, but only if you don't want to maximize your sales over the long haul". As my father used to say "don't cut off your nose to spite your face".
Cheers,
Matt Ridings - @techguerilla
