Bring customer insights full-circle: 4 ways to tell a stronger story

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Customer Evidence, Marketing Musings

Recently, we sat down as a team to talk about what makes Projectline different from other customer engagement and consulting companies. As we shared various stories about who we are, what we do, and why it matters, we found that some of the best input came directly from the feedback we have received from customers. Their perspective is probably the best indicator of what it is we do better than other companies.

Of course, we know how we see ourselves as different from our competitors, but that is tied more to market positioning. But in this meeting, I was reminded that it’s healthy to ask your customers how THEY think you’re different. The more you deviate from actual customer feedback, the more you are talking about positioning and less about proven differentiators.

So how can you make sure that your customers’ insights about your product or company are being integrated into your story? How can you use their feedback to tell other possible clients what sets you apart?

  • Look for your enthusiasts online. When people tweet that they love you, why is it? Don’t just say thanks—pass those tweets back up to your sales or marketing team or make a note to include their messages (at least in spirit) in your explanation of how you’re different. Bonus: they’re already short and sweet.
  • Look to reviews. If bloggers have mentioned you, reviewed your product, or noted new developments in your brand, what have they seen as different? Read between the lines: what made your brand or product worth reviewing?
  • As you gather customer evidence, think about using the insights beyond the case study or testimonial. Have sales teams consider what each story teaches them about why the customer succeeded, and consider incorporating those key points into the core story about your brand.
  • When advisory boards or customer communities provide feedback for future iterations, use their feedback to inform sales and marketing as well as product development teams. Even if the feedback is critical, look again: customers are often most critical about the features that are most crucial to their business.

Accenture gets a sudden branding makeover

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Marketing Musings

A visit to Accenture’s website these days is a disorienting experience. The venerable consulting powerhouse has always been a paragon of disciplined branding, but their current web presence is quite obviously in the midst of a rapid overhaul. I’m sure Accenture’s web team had a hurried holiday as they rushed to erase Tiger Woods’ ubiquitous presence from—well, everything.

Suddenly, the images of Woods golfing have been replaced with non sequitur speed-skaters, birds, stock-photo people, or (in one particularly awkward instance) an empty golf course. If I’m recalling correctly, the entire color scheme has also been changed, and the previously cohesive site is generally a little cobbled-together. It doesn’t look awful, and I’m sure it’ll be holistically redesigned and revamped soon, but the contrast with the old site does raise some questions about the dangers of hitching your brand to a star—and what to do when that star falls.

Accenture used Woods so heavily that its public brand became nearly synonymous with his. I can understand why; golf was a perfect extended metaphor for Accenture’s work. The balance of skill, deliberation, data, perspective, and equipment needed to succeed at golf made sense for consulting, staffing, and technology services. Plus, golf has always been shorthand for business leisure. It was a good fit.

But the pairing of Tiger Woods and Accenture had very little to do with his marriage or character. It was about his skill, precision, reliability, and golf’s aesthetic appeal. Was it strictly necessary for them to drop him when he was disgraced? I’m not sure. Here’s what I think their options were:

  • Freak out, take down the website, and refuse to answer questions. To their credit, they didn’t attempt this, though I’m sure it was tempting for the first few days.
  • Decide to rapidly, deliberately distance themselves from the disgraced golfer. They answered questions clearly and briefly and began the process of overhauling all imagery in advertising materials.
  • Ride out the several weeks of media maelstrom with a clear message about the private/professional division. This would have been hard (and gutsy), but given how rapidly the hubbub seems to have settled, it’s possible it could have worked.

What do you think? Did they handle it the only way possible? Where will they go next with the brand? How can brands avoid the pitfalls of star-bound branding?