KYC III – are companies with split personalities the future of marketing?

I believe that the next wave of personalised marketing is coming, where the main ingredient, put simply is KYC [Know Your Client] and the consistency of the packaging really doesn’t matter as long as you package each message in the right way for the individual it is being targeted at.

Think of advertising sms’s – what an infringement of personal space! I dislike them immensely, not necessarily for the fact that they’re useless [most are, but some aren’t], but because I know that about 100,000 other people probably received the same sms at the same time, and that the sender doesn’t care whether I got the message or not, they just care whether 100,001 people got the message or not – and they play the odds from there. Imagine a company sending you an sms in your own spoken language, addressed to you and in a tone and pitch that communicates to you, just like your best friend would.

Seth Godin said this in his blog recently – “The more people you reach the more likely it is you’re reaching the wrong people”, and this in itself is very true. Without detracting from this statement, I would add that the more people you communicate with, the more difficult [and important] it becomes to communicate with them personally.

I believe that companies need different ways to speak to different types of customers. And for some companies, this might mean having three or four different marketing campaigns running at the same time. They would need to be carefully targeted, being sure not to overlap them and dilute the impact [as well as confuse the customers]. Let me put it this way - you can speak to a white teenager, an asian 20-something, a black middle-class manager and a retired foreign professional at the same time about the same thing [assuming they would all utilise your product/service/solution]. But you can’t speak to them the same way.

You might say that this will become too complex and expensive, and I would agree with you if we approach it in a traditional way. That’s why we need to look at this problem in new, different ways… it will happen, of that I’m sure. And the prize will go to those who solve the problem soonest, because they will be able to communicate far more effectively to a much larger audience than you or I can imagine.

You’ll also increasingly find companies that totally revolutionise their entire beings, having several different names, logos and ways of communicating just to show their customers that they do understand them and they do care. Sounds a bit crazy, but some car manufacturers have already done this to a certain degree [think Toyota – Lexus], as have some retailers [Pick n Pay – Boardmans] and product manufacturers .

The old saying goes “It doesn’t matter what you say, but how you say it”. I disagree with the first bit. There is great value to be obtained from finding the right way to say the right thing to the right person, and all three of these are key, not just how you say it.

KYC II – say what?

Carrying on from where I last left off, once we’re sure that we know who our client really is, I would ask what we’re actually trying to achieve in our marketing efforts.

If marketing equals communication, and we are constantly trying to market and sell our products or services or solutions to our clients, the main question then becomes “What are we communicating?” As a customer, what I want to know about is the essence of the company – why does it really exist and how do I know that you really care about me [because if I understand these reasons, I am far more likely to believe that your product/service/solution is the best one for me].

Does this then mean that it doesn’t matter how we communicate, as long as what we communicate is right? I’m inclined to think that this is increasingly true, and I’m also inclined to believe that this has always been the case – it is not just something that happened overnight when we entered the new millennium.

So if this is true, and I’m assuming it is, why do most companies talk the same language to everyone they try to reach? I’m not talking about English versus Chinese here – I mean personal communication that speaks to individuals rather than to population groups or target markets.

Here’s another personal example which is relevant here – for whatever reason, I am a Cell C client. One thing Cell C has done very well is market itself to a very specific population group. Sadly [for me more than for them], I don’t fall into their target market [or at least what I perceive their target market to be]. So despite cool terms like “juice”, “woza weekend” and “hola 7”, and despite the fact that they pay a lot of attention to branding and communication, I feel excluded, and for these reasons, as with ABSA, when they try to communicate with me, I do an Eskom and just switch off.

My point here is not to attack existing marketing efforts of established companies, but instead I have to wonder how we have ended up in this place, where large companies with great products cannot make a client feel comfortable. This wondering leads me to the logical conclusion that there must be more than this.

To carry on from the earlier point then, if its more about what we communicate than how we communicate, will we soon find companies communicating to all their different target markets in different ways? Or would a company doing this just be perceived as contradictory, turning its different customer groups on each other and the company itself in the process?

The reality is that you can’t please all the people all the time, but in an environment where competition is increasing at heart-racing speed every day, getting through to each person is becoming increasingly critical to survival.

Doing it? Ah, well that’s another matter entirely.

To be concluded...

KYC I – they love me, they love me not

Banks are not the most creative environments to work in, but they have one fantastic concept – KYC, or Know Your Client. Sadly, thanks to insatiable legal requirements, they have totally lost the plot and want to know all the wrong things. Well, the right things from a legal point of view, but the wrong things from a business point of view.

Here’s a personal example - ABSA [yes, I’m picking on ABSA and banks in general here, but only because the example is a good illustration of what I’m trying to get across]. I have had a bank account with ABSA since I was about seven years old [in the days when it was still called Volkskas]. That’s a long time [I won’t say how many years], plenty of time to collect information, ask questions and generally get to know your client. To me, though, it feels like they know as much about me now as they did then.

They know my address but they don’t care where I live. They know what language I speak but they don’t care what my language preference is. They know my birthdate but they don’t care how old I am. They know that I’ve studied but they don’t care about what I do. They know all these things and more, but they don’t really care about who I am.

The most frustratingly obvious example of this is when I walk up to an ATM [even an ABSA one], insert my bank card and then get asked to select a language. Once, fine. Twice, maybe. But every single time, after being a client for too many years?

How come business seems to be going backwards, despite the many tools at our fingertips? Technology is a great tool and enabler, but it borders on totally obliterating personal relationships from many aspects of life. Case in point - ABSA have a fairly good banking website where you can enter your personal information and keep it up to date. A good thing in itself, and it should be convenient too, but isn’t this just a nice way of saying “We don’t care enough to find out, so either you come to us and tell us or we just won’t bother”? I mean, really, it’s not so difficult. I’m male, white, English, over 20… those are just the basics. And if this is how I perceive they feel about me, guess what happens inside my mind every single time they try to communicate with me?

How can you build a good business without selling something?
How can you sell something without having a product or service to provide?
How can you provide a service or product without a real need?
How can you identify a real need without finding a potential client?
How can you find a potential client without understanding them first?

Do you really care? As a business, your clients’ loyalty to you is only as strong as you allow it to be, and if you don’t care, chances are very good that they won’t either.

To be continued...