Fix The Incongruency - Consider Blogging for Your Company for Fun & Profit

Today I was perusing a marketing book by Chris Baggott et al. (that I haven't actually read yet in full)...and I came across the below passage in the first chapter. I thought it summed up pretty well one of strong arguments for considering having someone within your organization blogging (among other means of connecting with your customers and other constituents such as newsletters, etc.). Give it a whirl around your brain and send me your comments -- if you have any:

What's really funny to me is the fact that when you talk to organizations about what makes them different (worthy, if you will), this answers always lands somewhere in the top three: our people.

So why do you hide your people behind the facade of a brand or an institution? At the end of the day, people associate themselves with other people that they like. Your constituents want to like you and have a relationship with you.

-jr

Focusing In Tight Times....and in Good

Barry VanderKelen, who heads up the San Luis Obispo County Community Foundation, has a column entitled Nonprofit Strategies that appears from time to time in the SLO Tribune. I often catch it on-line when it appears. Today's is entitled Stay Focused in tight times. In it he asks Israel Dominguez, who became the new director of Cuesta College's Small Business Development Center in November, "how does a nonprofit organization navigate tough economic times?"

What I liked was the advice given by Mr. Dominguez is good for non-profit....and for profit enterprises alike. And not only in bad times -- but good ones too.

You may want to read the article yourself (link again) then come back here. Anyhow, I'm not known for lacking in opinions so I had a bit to add which is below:

For directors (and business owners), it shouldn't be a matter of thinking in terms of good times versus bad times but a matter of thinking: Who really are my customers? What do they truly want right now? How might I give it to them? And, critically, how do I communicate to them in a compelling way that is compatible with their current mindset?

Good times just means we get to be a bit more lazy in our planning and implementation of all of the above while still drifting by. :-) True success -- the kind that is sustainable anyway -- takes deliberate analysis of the marketplace. Once you're in that position you stop worrying about the ups and downs of the economy other than as variables to incorporate into your analysis about what needs and desires you should be meeting for your customers and making sure your marketing is appealing to them in the new context.

Ironically, with a bit of creativity and persistence, economic downturns can actually be incorporated into ones product/service development and marketing messages. All changes and cycles present opportunities for the astute director/manager/owner.

"You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out." -- Warren Buffet

Who Surveys the Surveyors?

(Questions That Every Survey Should Ask)

Four out five times I'll just toss out those surveys that get printed on the receipts from retailers, restaurants, coffeehouses, etc. If I'm looking for a distraction (or remember that I stashed one in my wallet the next time I'm there while I'm standing around in line anyhow) and the freebie I get for doing it entices me, I'll do one.

It's pretty frustrating to be willing to provide feedback only to discover the survey is your main gripe about the establishment. Based on my survey experiences, one of the following queries should be appended to every survey any company ever does. They basically all boil down to: "Did this survey suck?"

Q: On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate the friendliness of this survey?

Q: On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate the length of this survey?

Q: On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate the clarity of this survey?

Q: On a scale of 1 to 5, would you be likely to take a survey like this every again under the same pretenses?

If it's a written, online, or in-person survey (difficult to do with an automated phone survey) they might even ask something like: Do you have any ideas about how we might make this survey better?

If I had a great experience otherwise, well, we can all spell i-r-o-n-y, right?

-jr

Mid-State & Rabobank & Brand Equity

According to their press release Mid-State Bank & Trust will be switching to their new parent's, Rabobank, brand name:

The Mid-State franchise will be integrated into the Rabobank organization immediately but will continue to operate under the Mid-State Bank & Trust name until the Fall, when it will be renamed “Rabobank.”

So much for the tremendous local brand equity demanded by the Mid-State Bank name on the Central Coast. Seems to me that focusing on "synergies" behind the scenes such as infrastructure, processing, outsourcing, advertising economies of scale, and perhaps even more visible but still not completely destroying the brand equity areas such as best practices, products/services, management structure, etc. would make the most sense.

It's not as if Mid-State was a teeny tiny acquisition for Rabobank N.A. (though their ultimate parent is much larger admittedly). Though I presume the idea is that Rabobank, in the long-run, intends to expand their North American presence considerably and their plan is to do so under one brand -- which has obvious benefits in the long run.

I wonder if a slower approach was considered -- stick with the Mid-State brand until Rabobank N.A. has a larger piece of the pie in the U.S. then announce the change as a simple "same bank, same ownership, different name". It would be less abrupt and alienating for customers. Right now I'd argue that the Mid-State brand has more stickiness value in its markets than the Rabobank will for quite awhile. Why alienate (and probably lose) more customers before Rabobank has even had an opportunity to prove itself?

Then there's how similar sounding "Rabobank" (especially when spoken fast) is to a criminal activity that banks (and their insurance companies) tend to frown upon. Apparently "Rabo" is a combination of the letters from the original two Netherland-based banks that merged in the 1970s. Rabobank is huge but has a much smaller presence in the U.S. I wonder if they'll make some tongue-in-cheek ads in the U.S. about their name? :)