Marketing is about Message, Digital is just the delivery channel.
I would like to share two personal case studies that demonstrate that even the savviest digital companies can mess up badly when it comes to getting Marketing and Digital right.
The first story is about the ‘Uncarrier’ T-Mobile
My wife and I had T-Mobile as a carrier for as long as there are cell phones. My wife’s nephew works for T-Mobile. But we also have come to like the $10 per month free calling to Europe (yes, we pay $10 for all our calls to Europe – landline or mobile) and the free mobile Internet and text messages when we are in Europe and 20 Cents calls per minute (who uses the phone for talk anyway?).
We both had outdated phones – about 5 years old which means digital stone age. Our service in Phoenix was OK but not great and we attributed that to T-Mobile limited coverage. On a recent trip up north to Flagstaff we had big problems with our connections even on the highway so we decide to upgrade. First we wanted to change carrier AND get new phones. We then decided to do it in two steps and get new phones first.
We tried to do some research for phones on the T-Mobile website which was a disaster. I knew that the website was not great from paying bills monthly which I dreaded because the website is so unfriendly, slow and clunky. So we went to the store. We asked one staffer if new phones will solve our connection problem. He said “maybe”. We asked what phones we should get. He said he had an iPhone and that is the only thing he knows. So we went to the displays which were a bit more helpful. I finally decide for a larger screen Kyocera for $150 and my wife got the iPhone promotion – $250 off. She wanted to switch from Android to iPhone anyway.
I love my new phone. No connection problems any longer. It works like a dream. My wife still struggles with the iPhone but she also likes it. On our recent trip to California we had no problems whatsoever. Even in remote areas like Death Valley and Yosemite.
Now what is the morale of the story? If T-Mobile would have sent us anything – email, letter, link, etc. spelling out clearly that a new phone will dramatically improve our experience we would have changed way sooner. We only hung with T-Mobile because of the other benefits. But imagine somebody who is not that vested. Clear Marketing communication and messaging is key. Digital is just a new way to deliver the message.
The second story is about Cox the Internet service provider
Again, we had Cox Internet, phone and TV for about 14 years. Our modem was the same age. We were early adopters. One Sunday afternoon our Internet went out for no reason. To cut it short, there was nothing wrong with the connection – our modem just gave up. But when I called Cox to solve the connection issue they told me that because the age of our modem they had a restriction on our Internet speed because the modem was so old that it would ‘blow up’ with the fast speeds. I went out to BestBuy immediately and got a new modem/router. No problems ever since.
Now what is the morale of the story? Again, if Cox would have sent us a message telling us that a new modem would double our speed and that they had to restrict our speed due to the age of the modem we would have changed a long time ago. Probably would have bought a Cox modem.
Conclusions
You will say. Well, you should have known that new tech stuff is faster and should have upgraded sooner. I am saying, in a busy world, who has time to constantly do research and check out new stuff? Also, the point is that those two companies just messed up in their Marketing and Customer communication.
What about the one-on-one marketing, individualized services and custom solutions those companies are talking about? Where are their digital agencies or departments who should have analyzed those data and developed relevant messaging and campaigns?
Those 2 companies had all the data. They know our phones and the modem and router. I am getting newsletters from them and other commercial offers. But never did they take the time and tell me what I really needed to know to improve my experience dramatically.
It is the point of good Marketing to market the benefits of new products and services to existing and new customers and use the digital channels to deliver those in an engaging and convincing way.
Spark Marketing works with companies to develop innovative marketing strategies, messaging and campaigns that help B2C companies increase sales and B2B companies generate and convert leads combining Classic Marketing knowhow and Digital Expertise delivering result that exceeded clients’ expectations.