Is Customer Service the New Marketing? | SMEI Blog

This question of whether customer service is the new marketing isn?t just about the increasing importance of social media and customer reviews, or rising consumer disenchantment with traditional marketing. For some, it?s about making the decision between long-term reputation and short-term profit.

This topic was at the center of a recent Google+ Debate research firm Software Advice hosted titled ?Is Customer Service the New Marketing?? A panel of experts discussed what kinds of companies should embrace a customer-centric strategy as a form of marketing, and how they should go about implementing this approach.

The event featured a lineup of customer service and marketing experts including:

• Shep Hyken, speaker, best-selling author, consultant
• Jon Miller, Marketo co-founder,? VP of marketing
• Micah Solomon, speaker, author, consultant
• Denis Pombriant, Beagle Research Group CEO, author

The panel answered the following questions before the debate was opened up to the audience for questions:

• Zappos leadership sees support not as a cost center, but as an opportunity to market through personal connections with customers. Their success is largely attributable to customer loyalty and word of mouth. So, based on this, is customer service the new marketing?
• And where doesn?t this strategy work?
• For companies where it does make sense, how do they implement such a monumental shift in strategy and culture?
• Clearly, this is a strategy that pays out over the long term. How can a business measure this shift to ensure they are getting the right return on their shifting investment and priorities?

Here?s a quick snapshot of their discussion.

The group first emphasized the importance of mirroring your customers? expectations, rather than trying to dictate your brand to them. Customers won?t believe what you say about yourself unless it matches what their social networks also say about you. This can be amazing customer service, or it can be price, selection, or something else.

Next, they talked about breaking the bounds of marketing and customer service departments. Instead of feeling like you have to choose one or the other, leverage them together. Retweet an interesting customer service interaction on Twitter. Or get service agents to collaborate on buyer persona development. Be creative.

For companies that do want to implement a Zappos-level of customer service, you need to start at the top. Make the decision to put the customer at the center of your business, then reinforce the idea with processes, resources and measurement.

Finally, the group said the most important thing marketers need to consider is that the buyer is in control of their buying process. You can?t decide what information they will go after, or when, so you still need to make your company as attractive as possible. Customer service is just a piece of that puzzle.

Source: http://blog.smei.org/?p=280

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