Blogs Hit the Mainstream

It seems to me that when the US Army Corps of Engineers is blogging, blogs have hit the mainstream.  There was an interesting article in The Military Engineer, May-June 2008, about Lt. Gen. Robert Van Antwerp, USA, Chief of Engineers and Commanding General, US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and his new blog Corps-e-spondence.  In the blog, Gen. Van Antwerp covers a variety of topics such as flooding in the Midwest, the current state of New Orleans, the water crisis, as well as hiring, leadership, and even baseball (see the picture of him throwing out the first pitch at the Cardinal’s game)!

Gen. Van Antwerp was quoted on why he is blogging in the article, as well as in this video on the Army’s media site:

“This is the way of the future.  We should be out there, too – clearly and openly communicating with the American public every chance we get.”

Is it effective?

The blog seems to be a great way to communicate more about what the Army Corps of Engineers does, as there may be many people that don’t really know what types of projects they take on.  It also gives readers a view into the Gen. Van Antwerp’s leadership tenets and style.  The blog is updated every few weeks, and it is already getting a variety of comments.  It could be improved with more interaction from Gen. Van Antwerp back to his commenters to really create a conversation, rather then just a communication tool.

The Army is blogging – what about you?

Does a blog fit into your organization’s goals for interacting with customers?  Could you use it to better listen to what customers have to tell you?  Perhaps your company could use a blog to create a discussion around certain topics of interest to your customers.    Setting goals before starting a blog is key to making this social media tool successful.

Starbucks and Empowering Employees

 Those two topics go together, as Starbucks is a company that works to empower its employees (which they call “partners”) in order to improve the customer experience.  Their recent “We’ll Make Your Beverage Right” focus is a good example of this strategy.  More on Starbucks below, as well as in a post coming soon.

I am busy getting ready for a customer service workshop tomorrow, entitled “The Importance of 5-Star Service in a  Tough Economy”.  If you have a minute to send me your definition of 5-Star Service, I would love to include it!  You can send me email (becky at petraconsultinggroup dot com) or just leave a comment in this post.  I posted the question on Twitter as well as LinkedIn and have received nearly 20 responses from around the world.  I will summarize in a future post.

In the meantime, here are a few additional items to help start off your week. 

Re-Experiencing Starbucks Podcast

Jay Ehret and I spent some time together recently (about 24 minutes, actually) on a podcast, where we discussed the latest happenings at Starbucks as part of our Re-Experiencing Starbucks Project.  We are watching Starbucks from a customer’s perspective to see what kind of difference the changes are making (or not) to the customer experience. 

Here are some of the topics from the show:

1. Improving the U.S. business with training, tools and new products.
2. Re-igniting the emotional attachment with customers through the experience.
3. Re-aligning and streamlining organizational structure for the benefit of the experience.
4. International expansion.

You can find the podcast itself at Jay’s blog. Don’t forget to tell Jay that I sent ‘ya!

Blog Book Tour

I am honored to be one of the reviewers of Sybil Stershic’s new book, Taking Care of the People Who Matter Most, which is about taking care of employees so they take care of your customers.  Sybil’s publisher, WME Books, is hosting a Blog Book Tour; here are the scheduled stops:

• June 3rd – Lisa Rosendahl at HR Thoughts
• June 4th – Chris Bailey at Bailey Work/Play:The Alchemy of Soulful Work 
• June 5th – Toby Bloomberg at Diva Marketing
• June 6th – Becky Carroll at Customers Rock!

And next week:

• June 9th – Paul Hebert at Incentive Intelligence
• June 10th – Phil Gerbyshak, Slacker Manager.

I will be giving a review of the book as well as conducting an interview with Sybil.  Let me know if you have any questions for me to include!

(Side note: I have other book reviews coming up soon; this may turn out to be book week!  Reviews are pending for Michael Port, Darren Rowse, Tsufit, and Lewis Green… stay tuned, as they all have great books in different areas which include blogging, PR, sales, and employee/customer focus.)

Age of Conversation Bum Rush is on Today!

 Last spring, the first Age of Conversation (AOC) book was put together by a very smart group of bloggers, lead by Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton.  Over 100 bloggers each contributed 400 words on one topic: conversation.  The result was a book highlighting the thinking of a lot of smart people in marketing, PR, and advertising from around the world.  I was fortunate enough to be included in the book.  All book proceeds went to Variety Children’s Charity.

Today, Chris Wilson is hosting an AOC Bum Rush to try and move the book up the charts at Amazon and raise as much money as possible for Variety.

So, if you have been waiting to buy your copy, or if you would like to give it as a thoughtful gift for customers or clients, today is your day to buy it and get the most impact from your money.

Use this link to buy the book at Amazon, then spread the word!  Follow Chris on Twitter or at his blog to watch it move up the charts and benefit Variety.

Enjoy!

Social Media Live!

 

The more I talk about and use social media, the more I have been stressing a few key points.

• Social media is one tool in the toolbox for interacting with customers.  It will work well if customers are willing to engage in that medium!
• Social media is a great tool to help create and strengthen relationships.
• It is all about the people.

In my recent talk on Social Media and Customer Loyalty for the Direct Marketing Association, I used the case study of the Washington Humane Society.  Tara de Nicolas is their director of marketing, primary author of their blog, and director of their social media strategy – which includes Facebook, MySpace, flickr, and YouTube, for the moment.  (For more info on their blog, see Geoff Livingston’s post where he interviewed Tara - thanks for the info, Geoff!)  Tara and her team use their social media channels to connect with potential adopters, families that have already adopted, and donors.  Quite a community has developed, with the photos of the WHS staff being one of the areas that are most widely viewed.  As Tara told me in my interview with her, it is all about connecting with the people and putting a face on the Society.  Way to go, Tara and team!

Blogging is also about connecting with others, mostly online.  Recently, I have had the opportunity to connect live with two wonderful blogging friends: Doug Hanna of ServiceUntitled and Toby Bloomberg of Diva Marketing Blog: see the photos at the top of the blog post!

As much fun as it is to send emails and connect via blogs, there is nothing like a good ole fashioned face-to-face meeting to strengthen relationships.  Doug and I had the opportunity to connect in San Francisco for the Customer Service is the New Marketing conference, put on by Get Satisfaction, where we both gave workshops.  Toby and I met up for dinner when she came to San Diego to give a workshop for the American Marketing Association.  Both meet-ups were great fun, and I could see the blog personalities in the person, very clearly.  Toby even sent me a nice thank-you note afterwards, with a small toss of her trademark pink boa.  Thanks, Toby!!

A whole group of marketing and PR bloggers is getting together next month in New York City for a Blogger Social, put on by CK and Drew McLellan – wish I could be there!  Steve Woodruff is even profiling all the bloggers who are attending to help them get to know each other better.  You guys all rock!

Social media is indeed about building relationships and making existing bonds stronger.  It is a great way to get to know customers, as well as to make your organization seem more personal and authentic.  Use it as part of your marketing strategy, but be sure to complement it with the old-fashioned way of building relationships – face time – where you can.

Customer Service Event and Call for Authors!

 Customer Service Conference in San Francisco, February 4 

In just two weeks, I am hosting a lunch workshop at the Customer Service is the New Marketing event in San Francisco, CA on Monday, February 4.  I am honored to be on a program also featuring speakers from Zappos, Virgin America, Flickr, Google, and Geek Squad (to name a few).  My blogging friend Doug Hanna from Service Untitled will also be hosting a lunch workshop, along with some other smart folks.

There has been some debate as to whether customer service is the new marketing.  I would say that everyone who is in customer service is also doing marketing, as every touch to the customer counts.  Often, it is these customer touches that make the most impact, as the customer spends more time using a product or service than purchasing it (one hopes!).  Customer service is the face of the company, and organizations that see it as only a cost are missing a trick.

There is still time to register for the conference.  The price is $495 for this fabulous one-day event being held at the gorgeous Presidio in San Francisco.  Customers Rock! readers can get a 15% discount if you use the code CRNT when registering; here is the link. 

Come to the event, and make sure to say HI to me and tell me you are reading Customers Rock!  I’ll even buy you a drink at the after-event bash.

 Call for Authors for Round Two of Age of Conversation

Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton are at it again.  They are spearheading the effort to create the 2008 edition of the Age of Conversation book.  Over 100 authors from around the world came together to write short essays and raise money for Variety Children’s Charity; not one penny went to any of us.  The book focused on this conversation age and what it means to marketers and businesses.

Some of you expressed disappointment that you missed out on the last book.  Here is your chance!  Just email Drew and let him know you want to participate.  See his post (linked to his name above) to find out the rules.  You can even vote on the topic (on Drew’s blog).

I am going to be in again; come join me!

Update: Here is a list so far of those planning to contribute this year:

Drew McLellan, Luc Debaiseieux, Ryan Karpeles, Greg Verdino, Lori Magno, Gavin Heaton, Connie Reece, The Kaiser, Katie Chatfield, Tim Jackson, Doug Meacham, C.B. Whittemore, Becky Carroll, Gordon Whitehead, Daniel B. Honigman, Daria Rasmussen, Jay Ehret, Jasmin Tragas, Jamey Shiels, Organic Frog, Bill Gammell, Nathan Snell, Stephen Landau, Stephen Collins, Stephen Smith, Mark Earls, Steven Verbruggen, Neil Perkin, Brett Macfarlane, Dino Demopoulos, Chris Wilson, Asi Sharabi, Mike Sansone, Angela Maiers, Sandy Renshaw.

Here is the list of contributors from last year, and many of these are now friends as well.

Gavin Heaton Drew McLellan CK Valeria Maltoni Emily Reed Katie Chatfield Greg Verdino Mack Collier Lewis Green Sacrum Ann Handley Mike Sansone Paul McEnany Roger von Oech Anna Farmery David Armano Bob Glaza Mark Goren Matt Dickman Scott Monty Richard Huntington Cam Beck David Reich Luc Debaisieux Sean Howard Tim Jackson Patrick Schaber Roberta Rosenberg Uwe Hook Tony D. Clark Todd Andrlik Toby Bloomberg Steve Woodruff Steve Bannister Steve Roesler Stanley Johnson Spike Jones Nathan Snell Simon Payn Ryan Rasmussen Ron Shevlin Roger Anderson Robert Hruzek Rishi Desai Phil Gerbyshak Peter Corbett Pete Deutschman Nick Rice Nick Wright Michael Morton Mark Earls Mark Blair

CB Whittemore Mario Vellandi Lori Magno Kristin Gorski Kris Hoet G. Kofi Annan Kimberly Dawn Wells Karl Long Julie Fleischer Jordan Behan John La Grou Joe Raasch Jim Kukral Jessica Hagy Janet Green Jamey Shiels Dr. Graham Hill Gia Facchini Geert Desager Gaurav Mishra Gary Schoeniger Gareth Kay Faris Yakob Emily Clasper Ed Cotton Dustin Jacobsen Tom Clifford David Polinchock David Koopmans David Brazeal David Berkowitz Carolyn Manning Craig Wilson Cord Silverstein Connie Reece Colin McKay Chris Newlan Chris Corrigan Cedric Giorgi Brian Reich Becky Carroll Arun Rajagopal Andy Nulman Amy Jussel AJ James Kim Klaver Sandy Renshaw Susan Bird Ryan Barrett Troy Worman S. Neil Vineberg

Holiday Reading List: Outstanding Blogs

 About this time last year, Mack Collier, blogger extraordinaire, started a list of blogs that were not yet well-read but deserved more attention (this is per Mack – great speaking with you the other day, BTW!!).  I was honored to be one of the original 5 on the Z-list:

Shotgun Marketing Blog
BrandSizzle
bizsolutionsplus
Customers Rock!
Being Peter Kim

The Z-list then went all over the world, and it is hard to say where the final list is these days.  A good, comprehensive listing of great blogs to read over the holidays can be found in the Z-list wiki, put together by Gavin Heaton.  It lists the name of the blog, the author, the location of the author, a category for the blog, and a short description.

Fast forward to this year.  Troy Worman has come up with his list of Outstanding Blogs, or O! Blogs for short.  This list has some overlap with the Z-list, but there are also many new blogs that I hadn’t seen before.  Thanks for the Christmas reading list, Troy!

Here is the O! Blogs list (taken from Drew McLellan’s version), along with some of my favorites at the top:

Becky’s adds:

CustomerU

Experienceology

The Marketing Blog

Shaping Youth

Communication Overtones

They Talk Back

Troy’s list:

1. 100 Bloggers
2. 37 Days
3. 3i
4. 43 Folders
5. A Clear Eye
6. A Daily Dose of Architecture
7. The Agonist
8. All Things Workplace
   
9. All This Chittah Chattah
10. Angela Maiers
11. Antonella Pavese
12. Arizona High Tech
13. A Writer’s Words, An Editor’s Eye
14. Badger Blogger
    
15. Bailey WorkPlay
16. Being Peter Kim
17. Brett Trout
18. Best of Mother Earth
19. Beyond Madison Avenue
    
20. Biz and Buzz
21. Bizhack
22. BizSolutions Plus
23. Blog Business World
24. Bloggers Showroom
25. Blogging for Business
    
26. Blogher
27. Blog Till You Drop!
28. Bob Sutton
29. Brain Based Business
30. Brains on Fire
    
31. Brand Autopsy
32. The Brand Builder Blog
33. Branding and Marketing
34. Branding Strategy
35. Brand is Language
    
36. BrandSizzle
37. Brandsoul
38. Bren Blog
    
39. Business Evolutionist
40. Business Management Life
41. Business Pundit
42. Business Services, Etc.
    
43. Busy Mom
44. Buzz Canuck
45. Buzz Customer
46. Buzzoodle
    
47. Career Intensity
48. Carpe Factum
49. Casual Fridays
50. Change Your Thoughts
51. Chaos Scenario
    
52. Cheezhead
53. Chief Happiness Officer
54. Chris Brogan
55. Christine Kane
56. Church of the Customer
    
57. Circaspecting
58. CK’s Blog
59. Come Gather Round
60. Community Guy
    
61. Confident Writing
62. Conversation Agent
63. Converstations
64. Cooking for Engineers
65. Cool Hunting
66. Core77
67. Corporate Presenter
68. Crayon Writer
69. Creating a Better Life
70. Creating Passionate Users
71. Creative Think
72. CRM Mastery
73. Crossroads Dispatches
74. Cube Rules
75. Culture Kitchen
76. Customers Are Always
77. Customer Service Experience
78. Customer Service Reader
79. Customers Rock!
80. Custserv
81. Craig Harper
82. Daily Fix
83. Dawud Miracle
84. Dave Olson
85. David Airey
86. David Maister
87. David S Finch
    
88. Design Your Writing Life
89. Digital Common Sense
90. Director Tom
91. Diva Marketing
92. Do You Q
93. Duct Tape Marketing
    
94. Empowerment 4 Life
95. The Engaging Brand
96. Essential Keystrokes
    
97. Every Dot Connects
98. Experience Architect
99. Experience Curve
100. Experience Matters
101. Extreme Leadership
102. Eyes on Living
103. Feld Thoughts
104. Flooring the Customer
     
105. Fouroboros
106. FutureLab
     
107. Genuine Curiosity
108. Glass Half Full
109. The Good Life
110. Great Circle
111. Greg Verdino’s Marketing Blog
112. Hee-Haw Marketing
     
113. Hello, My Name is BLOG
     
114. Holly’s Corner
     
115. Homeless Family
116. The Idea Dude
117. I’d Rather be Blogging
118. Influential Marketing
119. Innovating to Win
120. Inspiring & Empowering Lives
121. Instigator Blog
122. Jaffe Juice
123. Jibber Jobber
124. Joyful Jubilant Learning
125. Joy of Six
126. Kent Blumberg
127. Kevin Eikenberry
128. Learned on Women
129. Life Beyond Code
     
130. Lip-sticking
131. Listics
132. The Lives and Times
133. Live Your Best Life
134. Live Your Inspiration
135. Living Light Bulbs
136. Logical Emotions
     
137. Logic + Emotion
     
138. Make It Great!
139. Making Life Work for You
140. Management Craft
141. Managing with Aloha
142. The M.A.P. Maker
143. The Marketing Excellence Blog
144. Marketing Headhunter
145. Marketing Hipster
146. The Marketing Minute
147. Marketing Nirvana
148. Marketing Roadmaps
149. Marketing Through the Clutter
150. Mary Schmidt
151. Masey
152. The Media Age
153. Micropersuasion
154. Middle Zone Musings
155. Miss604
156. Moment on Money
157. Monk at Work
158. Monkey Bites
159. Movie Marketing Madness
     
160. Motivation on the Run
161. My 2 Cents
162. My Beautiful Chaos
     
163. Naked Conversations
164. Neat & Simple Living
165. New Age 2020
166. New Charm School
     
167. Next Up
168. No Man’s Blog
169. The [Non] Billable Hour
170. Note to CMO
171. Office Politics
172. Optimist Lab
173. The Origin of Brands
174. Own Your Brand
175. Pardon My French
176. Passion Meets Purpose
177. Pause
178. Peerless Professionals
     
179. Perfectly Petersen
180. Personal Branding
181. The Podcast Network
182. The Power of Choice
183. Practical Leadership
184. Presentation Zen
     
185. Priscilla Palmer
186. Productivity Goal
187. Pro Hip-Hop
188. Prosperity for You
     
189. Purple Wren
190. QAQnA
191. Qlog
192. Reveries
193. Rex Blog
194. Ririan Project
195. Rohdesign
196. Rothacker Reviews
197. Scott H Young
198. Search Engine Guide
199. Servant of Chaos
200. Service Untitled
201. Seth’s Blog
202. Shards of Consciousness
203. Shotgun Marketing
204. Simplenomics
205. Simplicity
     
206. Slacker Manager
207. Slow Leadership
208. Socially Adept
209. Social Media Marketing Blog
210. Spare Change
     
211. Spirit in Gear
     
212. Spooky Action
213. Steve’s 2 Cents
214. Strategic Design
215. Strength-based Leadership
216. StickyFigure
217. Studentlinc
218. Success Begins Today
219. Success Creeations
220. Success From the Nest
221. Successful Blog
222. Success Jolt
223. Talk to Strangers
224. Tammy Lenski
225. Tell Ten Friends
226. That Girl from Marketing
227. Think Positive!
228. This Girl’s Weblog
229. Thoughts & Philosophies
230. Tom Peters
231. Trust Matters
232. Verve Coaching
233. Viral Garden
234. Waiter Bell
235. Wealth Building Guy
236. What’s Next
237. Writers Notes
     
238. You Already Know this Stuff
     
239. Zen Chill

(Photo credit: elnur)

BrandingWire: Communicating with Customers

 We communicate with our customers in many ways.  In fact, customers pick up communication clues from not just our words, but also from tone of voice, demeanor (yes, a smile can be heard!), and body language.  In certain settings, the sense of smell plays a large part, even impacting long-term memory.  In written communications, words aren’t everything – pictures and color make up a large part of the story.  One of the masters of using non-verbal communication was one of my favorite directors, Alfred Hitchcock:

“Dialogue should simply be a sound among other sounds, just something that comes out of the mouths of people whose eyes tell the story in visual terms.”  Alfred Hitchcock

This brings me to the latest BrandingWire challenge about color.  Rachel is a color consultant for business and helps organizations use color as an effective tool in their marketing arsenal.  She is relatively new to the market of color consulting, and she wants to spread the word about what she can do (and keep in mind that she is moving states within the year!).  She also writes a blog about color called Hue.

The new BrandingWire model is to leave the case study open for others to share their advice, expanding it beyond our original “posse”.  There are already several comments on Rachel’s challenge, including mine today.  Here were my suggestions for Rachel:

1. Do some quick research with small businesses in your area; you can use them as a “proxy” for what small businesses in other areas might think.

Talk to those who see the inherent value in being color-conscious and those who don’t. What were the drivers and motivators behind the color decisions made by the savvy businesses? What helped them make the choice to use color in marketing?

Talk to those who don’t yet know the value using color can bring them. What are their thoughts/concerns/objections?  Understanding your customers and potential customers is a key step towards business success for you!  This will also help you with Chris Brown’s suggestion of finding the right client.

2. Your blog is potentially a very powerful tool for your business! You have a strong writing style and good insight. However, I am not convinced it will appeal to your potential customers – yet.

You can make your blog content more relevant by adding insights at the end of each post with how it can apply to small business. This would help your potential clients to see that they could use these concepts in their businesses, and by the way, Rachel seems like she really gets how I could do that!

Feel free to go to the BrandingWire site and add your own ideas for Rachel.  There are also many other great ideas in the comments, so grab a cup of coffee and take a few minutes to peruse the thoughts of some smart bloggers.  (Photo credit: nruboc)

Free eBook: Customers Rock Tips

 It’s here!  I have put together a free eBook to thank you, my valuable readers, for your continued loyalty to me this past year.  The eBook is a compilation of five of my favorite blog posts from the last 12 months.  I have also included the comments along with each post so readers can continue to follow the conversation; many of these were quite enlightening!

Topics include:

• Taking care of existing customers
• Customer or client?
• Tips for listening to customers
• Stories and the personal touch
• Measuring customer relationships

Feel free to share it, post it, print it, or copy it.  Send it to someone you think would benefit from information about keeping customers longer and strengthening customer relationships.  I would love to have this eBook shared with as many people as possible. 

Let me know what you think, and thank you again!

Download free eBook: Customers Rock Highlights

(Photo credit: Spanishale)

Thank You for a Wonderful Year!

 Pop the cork!  Today is my one year blog-iversary of Customers Rock!, and I want to take a moment to thank each and every one of you!  Without you, my readers, I would just be talking to myself (it’s been known to happen).   Read on to see my plans for thanking you all.

I have had a great time putting these posts together for you, and I am very proud to be a positive blogger.  In other words, I make a real effort to blog on positive examples rather than ranting about all the things that go wrong in the world of marketing, customer service, and customer experience.  I think that you, my readers, like it as well because I get many compliments from you (you are so kind!).  However, my best compliments are the comments I get on my blog; thank you to so many of you for conversing on a regular basis (Lewis, CB, that especially means you, as you are my top commenters!).

To celebrate my first year, I am putting together a free eBook for you to read and share some of my favorite posts.  The finishing touches are going on now, so either leave your name in the comments or send me an email, and I will send it to you when it is out this weekend!  Alternatively, watch my blog, and I will put up a post when it is ready.

Thank you all so much for a great year; here’s to year number 2!

Here are a few stats and interesting facts from my first year:

Number of posts: 175

Number of comments: 977

Total views: 88,716

First commenter: Mack Collier on my Harley-Davidson post (within 2 hours of my posting it – amazing, Mack!)

First link from another blogger: Mack Collier in his Viral Community News (thanks!)

7 – Becky has decided to join the addiction that is blogging, and here’s her new blog, Customers Rock! Check it out as she’s off to a great start!

Original member of the Z-List (Mack was definitely one of my early fans!)

Listed on ToddAnd Power 150 member (now the AdAge Power 150)

Listed on Top 20 Power Women

Listed on Top 25 Marketing Blog

(Photo credit: Erdosain)

I Want Your Blog-iversary Ideas

 The one-year anniversary of the Customers Rock! blog is approaching on December 7, and I want to turn to you, my loyal readers, for help in celebrating.  What was an especially memorable blog-iversary post that you have seen or participated in?  What could I do to celebrate?  I want it to involve as many of you as want to be involved!

I have seen several things done: thanking all those who have referred, commented; reviews of popular posts throughout the year, etc.

What would you all recommend?

Please email me or leave a comment with your suggestions for Friday’s post.  Thanks… you guys rock!

(Photo: nruboc)