Dennis Pannuto, CEO Aha! Insight Technology

DP
That’s the key. That’s the silver bullet for most brands. Find that, and you’ve got it..

I just recently worked with a client-a very well known brand. For them, we found that their content was basically their “plush toys”. We had recommended that they build a whole social media-social networking engagement around this particular content that was traditionally printed in books and magazines as well as distributed to partners for their use in a variety of ways.

We found that there was a whole other world of opportunities that had been evolving within this brand, where the consumer was interacting with this brand, by delivering their own content or commenting on the content that was out there.

We realized that there was a social networking opportunity alive already within this brand that if developed correctly could possibly develop new markets and increase revenue. Not only with the consumer, but also with their partners.

MM
One of the things that has occurred to me, Dennis, is that a lot of what we know about marketing, we know from product marketing. Specifically, durable goods and consumer packaged goods.

One of the breakthroughs for the initial iMac 10 years ago was that they used industrial design. The candy-colored bubble. They used industrial design to convey the value proposition of ease-of-use to their primary demographic target-13-year old girls.

A lot of what we know about marketing, we know as a function of referencing that aspirational, tribal messaging object that’s in your closet or in the driveway.

The challenge that I’ve been investigating is that oftentimes, there’s no physical, persistent object that messages your value proposition once you’ve rendered your service.

However, the overall web property for a service firm has now begun to provide a more persistent messaging and a set of engagements with customers, so as to make the brand deeper and more resonant and more relevant.

DP
Yes. That makes total sense. I think it’s something that you and I have talked about quite a bit. It’s packaging your IP or your value or what you do. To package it in such a way that the consumer is able to reach out and grab it. They have something on the shelf to remind them of that service again.

That is the challenge for people who are in the services business.

MM
It seems to me that what they want to do is to start to develop an inventory of plush toys with unique identifiers that bring them back to protected premium content areas of a website. That privileges them to have certain kinds of interactions-perhaps with other members of a user community.

DP
Yes. There’s a psychology here that has to be addressed. It’s the whole personalization model. Everything today is moving toward a very personalized experience. A very directed message to whomever you’re trying to engage.

On the services side, that’s a lot more challenging. It gets back to that old model. It was successful in some cases, but not in others. That’s the case-study model.

If I hear a compelling story and I hear compelling information and results from this story that you’re going to tell me, that then engages me into that community and into that world that’s been created around that story.

Maybe that’s where the future of personalization is for that plush toy for the people in the services market. It’s creating these little worlds of personalization that give a very specific message, and engage or draw you in there. Then you’re engaging directly with living case studies. Does that make sense?

MM
It makes complete sense.

DP
Getting back to some of the examples you brought up earlier-let’s say that I’m a financial institution, trying to target different consumers. I’m not looking to target the big corporate companies. I’m looking to target your common consumers.

Maybe if I enter my profile, I can then get directed to the specific experiences of someone who is my age with my type of salary and whose assets are worth this much and has these kinds of goals. Then I’m targeted to that community.

That community isn’t just an offering of, “Here are three or four different types of portfolios you can have. By the way, here are also maybe some seminars and some forums and some other groups you can engage in.” It’s focused specifically on that. Maybe that becomes the whole way of targeting that group and engaging them within the whole social network and social media space.

MM
Marketing must therefore undergo a fundamental transformation.

Now, what’s beginning to happen is, social media-blogs and forums and webinars-become much more a part of not just the marketing but the actual product management and innovation aspects of a product lifecycle.

One of the things that has resulted, in terms of marketing, is that marketing is not just about provisioning content, stories, ads, and promotions, now. It’s now begun to provision actual web services.

Marketers now have to start to think through, how to deliver online interactive self-services.

Help me think through that whole notion of marketer as provisioner of web services.

DP
Marketers have to do that these days. That’s totally where it’s going. Again, you brought up some very good points, there. As far as companies today going out there, in what we call that, “ultimate social asset.” That’s the key piece of content, communication, conversation, or whatever you want to call it that exists in this digital space. It allows me to grab that nugget, and that nugget gives me insight into my products. It gives me insight into my services.

It not only engages me with that customer, but it also gives me insights to help me understand what I should do, proactively, as opposed to reactively. That’s a big part today in what we’re seeing out there across all vertical markets.

Grabbing consumers’ insights and conversations, to grab that ultimate social asset. Taking that and then creating these engaging experiences.

Basically, present me with the facts. Present me with exactly what I’m going to get. Don’t give me the sizzle. I’ll take the sizzle if it’s going to entertain me. So if you want to make me laugh-fine. But the reality is, if you want to engage me in some kind of entertaining way, I’m okay with that. But you’d better be selling me what you’re communicating to me. Otherwise, I’m not interested in hearing your message again.

Marketers today have to create these engaging experiences for a couple of reasons. One is, it’s not only to communicate their products and services. It’s also in some non-obtrusive way to gain information and insight about that consumer. To find out a little bit more about them.

It’s not just pushing the message. It’s finding out a little bit more about them, and doing it in a way that consumers don’t feel they’re being imposed upon.

You’re finding that in many ways, today. You’re finding it especially in the television ad world. Not to go too far off, but in the whole television ad world, you’re finding localized broadcasts, now, of commercials. Basically, based on your area code and your location, it determines how those TV ads actually get compiled. Then they’re able to basically grab key data from those specific area codes and those specific locations, to see how effective those marketing campaigns are. There’s actually information being gathered from that consumer, without that consumer being imposed upon.

You’ve got to be able to create those engaging experiences where they’re able to essentially give information, as well as get it.

MM
This then suggests the emerging role of multi-channel marketing analytics. How do I start to go off and either grab, syndicate or convert data into a multichannel marketing analytic suite, so that I really start to develop fact-based insights as far as how to personalize subsequent engagements?

DP
Right. There are many different names for that. I have a title for that just to keep me focused. I call it a “Global Brand Communications Platform.” That global brand communications platform is not only about pushing content out. It’s also about getting content in and gaining insight on how that content is being used to dynamically deliver content that is relevant to the consumer of it.

The greatest opportunity today for marketers-and for technologists-is to create that analytical layer that allows companies to get immediate insight into what is effective, who needs what, where, when and why and how quickly we get what they need. So that we can better strengthen our brand perception with the consumers out there.