BOOK REVIEW: BEYOND ADVERTISING: CREATING VALUE THROUGH ALL CUSTOMER TOUCHPOINTS BY YORAM WIND & CATHARINE FINDIESEN HAYS

Genres: Marketing & Sales, Customer Service, Advertising.

Rating: 3/5

Recommend to: Marketers, Start-up founders, Entrepreneurs, People in sales, UX designers.

Number of pages: 288 pages

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE BOOK:

In Beyond Advertising you will get to read a lot about how marketing should work, and how marketers should think. The book offers an optimistic view of the possibilities that companies and brands can offer us in a time when we are always connected and on the move. The main problem that the book points out is that marketing today is focused on pushing the brands’ products/services to everyone, even if they do not need it. That is a big problem for all parties. The consumers are overloaded with useless information, and brands that are relevant do not get their message across to the people who need to hear/see them. From this perspective, I enjoyed reading Beyond Advertising, as the author predicts interesting and sometimes very intrusive actions to get the right kind of information to the target audience. I also agree with the authors when they talk about mental models brands/companies need to develop to create the best possible experience for their customer. But on the other hand, the book is based on predictions and ideas about how something should be done and not that much on scientific research. I’m missing at least a little bit of “confirmation” that what the authors are saying “holds water”. In todays times when too many businesses and brands focus on their own business processes and how to optimize them for maximum profit possibly without taking into account how they affect the customers’ experience. If marketing will develop in the way the authors recommend and predict we will have interesting experiences, but then again you should ask yourself if you are willing to pay the cost of having exactly the “right kind of information” at the “right time” popping up on your email, social media, phones, tv, even car etc…?

I hope you enjoy my book review and if you have any feedback or you want to discuss the book I will be more then happy to talk to you in the comment section. I hope you enjoy the rest of my notes and other book recommendations.

MY NOTES FROM THE BOOK:

People want brands to improve their lives and the lives of the people they care about.

Hearing what the customer is saying will be more important than trying to devise a break-through creative idea. Answering customer questions, filling their needs. Right now, not tomorrow.

Mental models are deeply held internal images of how the world works, images that limit us to familiar ways of thinking and acting. Very often, we are not aware of our mental models or the effect they have on our behavior. Put another way, mental models are ways in which we explain, simplify and make predictions about the world to ourselves.

If we lived in a static environment, our mental model would serve us well. however, in an environment under transformation, current mental models may prevent us from seeing and responding to change.

The traditional mental models of advertising have reached a tipping point. The world has outgrown them technologically and socially. To hold on to them is to hold ourselves back

To challenge mental models, we must self-reflect and aspire. We have to forget “givens” and think of possibilities.

The four foundational elements for brands are 1. a clear and consistent purpose in the world 2. authenticity and authority, 3. build trust in thought, word and deed, 4. in concert with fellow brand stewards.

Behavioral economists have repeatedly proven that businesses with purpose outperform businesses that focus exclusively on “maximizing shareholder value”.

People today want to own the brand and use it as an authentic expression of their identity.

Authenticity doesn’t mean perfection.

It’s what we do over time that matters, not what we say we are going to do — especially under pressure and duress — that builds trust.

Ask yourself and your customers how does your brand make them smile, inspire them, help them cope, energize, and help them get more done more easily.

It’s about where people are going and how to help them get there, and how to make that journey authentic.

Short-term strategies focused on “rational” approaches (bargains) are not memorable and do not appeal to the emotional response of the individual. Emotions affect the prices people are willing to pay as much as they affect the volume that gets sold.

Embracing the future means putting some of your resources on the cutting edge because the cutting edge becomes mainstream so fast.

The great brands today understand what people are interested in and work back from there.

Creating brands built around a coherent stream of small ideas makes them stickier. Brands today need to do lots of things, not one big thing.

Brands should leverage trending topics, cultural triggers, and plan for scenarios. Create content calendars around topics and insights relevant to the target.

Connect with people’s values and perspectives, and you create a community.

Advertisers must target conversations, not individuals. Conversations have become the pathways by which people encounter advertising.

The practical challenge is that in many, if not most firms, people who create ads do not communicate with the team who design the product package, loyalty programs are designed and managed by a team with no connection to the branding experts responsible for public events, and social media messages are created without input from salespeople who interact with customers. Siloed organizations like these will not survive the new era.

The diversity of touch points drive word of mouth. The research (Keller Fay group’s talk track) shows that consumers discuss non-media touch points such as product packaging, product samples, physical objects, salespeople, coupons, customer service and more.

Consumers will become increasingly intolerant of ads that lack direct and immediate relevance to them as individuals.

People want the following things from advertisers: customization, community, convenience, competitive value and tools for choice.

Brands and agencies must look at each message as a potential point of purchase and make it as easy as possible for consumers to pay (implement payment mechanisms everywhere).

Instead of asking “what do we want to say with this content?” brands should begin by asking “Why would someone choose to consume this content?” The keyword is Content” and not AD.

Keep in mind that we make emotional choices and then follow them up with cognitive rationales.

The only asset that gets built online is permission. Permission to talk to people who want to be talked to.

Ads that are funny, moving or inspiring are the ones that people like to share and are the most likely to go viral.

An idea or story is only “contagious” if it can be easily shared and retold. People love to share things that make them feel something.

Marketers need to look at the spaces where their target audiences live, how they operate, what problems plague them, what they value and why.

A rich genuine story will not only explain a brand’s identity, but it will also relate to the consumers’ own stories and uncover opportunities where the two connect. In other words, show what you can do for them on both an emotional and rational level.

In the future advertising will equal experience.

Storytelling is the most direct and lasting method to connect with consumers — after all, it is the most fundamental way that we communicate as a species. Stories are the way we process and share information — they create meaning, establish relevance and evoke an emotional response. Stories are the way we make sense of the world around us, the way we understand how and why things work. Sharing stories is how we connect, discover commonalities and differences, and figure out ways to work together.

Brands are in the race to sequence the consumer mind’s genome, to map and describe its mindsets in order to improve people’s lives through scientifically based human-centered marketing.

US Navy recruitment campaign — filling spots in the cryptology division: The Navy targeted individuals who “can’t resist the scent of a nearly impossible puzzle. So by using social media, they created a large-scale “war game” where players decoded various clues to find the coordinates of a fictitious hero. The result was that they reached 87 prospects for every spot they needed to fill.

Young doctors in training are often instructed as follows “Listen to your patient. He’s telling you the diagnosis.” The same goes for marketers. Your customer is telling you how to innovate, how to retain loyalty, how to drive sales.

People may see “manipulation” as acceptable or as a violation of their privacy based entirely on how respected they feel and the level of trust that has been earned.

When experimentation is celebrated and “failure” is replaced with “learning” workspaces become more productive, cohesive and creative.

Companies that will flourish in the future will care intensely about their cultures, knowing that purpose makes profit, and it all starts with their people.

You have to recognize that consumers will help you build your brand, but if you try misguiding them, they can also kill your brand.

We need to fully embrace the concept of making things people want rather than making people want things.

Share ideas with consumers, ask for their opinion, allow them to contribute to the development, testing and production of new products.