Jaffe Juice

Jaffe Juice #157 - Chatting with Author Geoff Ramsey about Digital Impact

I recently sat down with co-founder and CEO of eMarketer, Geoff Ramsey to talk about his new book, Digital Impact.

In addition to being an industry veteran, he's also an all round nice guy and friend.

It was really great to catch up with an "old timer" about the evolution of the new media space.

Buy the book here.

@jaffejuice on Twit-tah.

Listen to it LIVE (left click) or download it HERE (right click)

Subscribe to the show via iTunes here

 

Bad Jobs

I just finished recording one of my monthly "debates" with my industry colleague and friend, Mitch Joel. I had two topics I wanted to discuss - the first of which was #occupywallstreet. We had a really terrific conversation around the movement and right at the end of the conversation, Mitch innocently brought up my second topic, which we very briefly skirted.

So now I want to discuss further...

Steve Jobs. Legend. Icon. Visionary. Dreamer. Ideal Client. Over the past few weeks, we've said good bye to a business genius. To be sure, Steve Jobs grew, turned Apple around and then extended this leadership by transforming it into the world's most valuable company, taking over from Exxon Mobile (at least this was in August)

And then, as if by some grand design, Steve Job's commissioned Biography, aptly titled, "Steve Jobs," comes out days after Jobs passes away and rockets to number 1 on Amazon.com. Hot on these heels are a number of press appearances, including the book's author, Walter Isaacson, making an appearance on 60 minutes.

And as I'm watching Isaacson and listening to various accounts of Jobs' life, I'm deeply troubled. The fact remains, Jobs does not appear to be a very nice man at all. In fact, he comes across as a proper son of a bitch. Denying paternity rights to his child, refusing to give options to one of his long time colleagues and when a sympathetic co-worker offers to give some of his options if Jobs matches him, Job says, "good idea...I'll give zero and you give zero".

Jobs also critiques Bill Gates in the biography, calling him "basically unimaginative" and someone who "shamelessly ripped off other people's ideas". Not that we needed a book to see Mac vs PC commercials which did likewise. This to a man who has pledged to give away half his fortune to charity.

And in Jobs' corner? FoxConn, anti-suicide clauses and the like.

I'm confused. I see the iconic Apple commercial that talks about the people that are crazy enough to change the world and they are all good people.

Or maybe there weren't, but chose not to commission a biography.

I wonder if this commercial was briefed by Steve Jobs to be about Steve Jobs i.e. his future legacy.

I'm confused because I wonder if being a visionary genius and being a mensch are mutually exclusive.

I'm confused because I wonder why Apple doesn't bring all those jobs back to America as it continues to manufacture luxury products at bargain basement prices and charge a fortune to an endless sea of willing lemmings.

I'm confused because the same sea of lemmings are probably occupying wall street right now with a 110% incidence of owning at least 1 i-product.

...and I'm probably one of them as I have my iPad, MacbookAir, iPhone, iPod and about to make the permanent switch away from PC to Mac. And I bought the book as well.

So am I a hypocrite? Probably. A confused one, because I'm not sure if it's fair or right to mix personality with profits - or at the very minimum, a person's private life with their business leadership.

Was Steve Jobs a right ole meanie? Most likely, but the people around him adored him and look back on even the public displays of displeasure with pride. The honor of getting to work with a true legend...

So is all of this irrelevant? At the end of the day, isn't it just about manufacturing the world's greatest suite of products? Perhaps and perhaps not. The world is certainly blurring and younger consumers in particular are not separating the products the buy from the companies' ethics, morals and business practices that manufacture them.

Personally, I will choose to divide Steve Jobs the man, CEO, business leader and visionary into two buckets. I will discard the things about him that I don't identify or agree with, or approve and I will integrate the practices, principles and ideas which I can learn from.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication

Steve Jobs was a complex man to be sure. I'm not sure it's fair to hold him to a higher standard, after all he was human. Very human. Sadly so. I also don't think it's right to worship him as an idol - false, American or otherwise. That too ends badly for all.

I guess I will continue to support the company, based on my - along with seemingly everyone else's - inability to "force quit" this addiction to design, functionality and sexiness in general. Although I'm not sure how long this may be the case if the company chooses not to adapt, evolve and be a better company in the wake and shadow of its creator, who might not always have been as such.

You can quote them.

Disagree with them.

Glorify or vilify them.

About the only thing you can't do it ignore them...

Marketing as a (Customer) Service Interview

I recently was closing keynote at an ANA Brand Conference in New York City. Before I presented, I was interviewed by Peter Cervieri on my keynote, Flip the Funnel, Content Strategy and more.

Here is the interview:

Best Small Business Book of 2010: Flip the Funnel

It isn't currently, but it could be....with your help!

Flip the Funnel is currently up for a Best Small Business Book of 2010 Award.

Currently the book is hovering around 10th place - and whilst a top 10 finish would be absolutely awesome, I think I can win this thing - especially with your help.

Flip the Funnel has resonated extremely strongly with people. I'm personally blown away by the response and I think this message is as close to the elusive "silver bullet" of marketing that we may ever get - especially during these challenging economic time.

First and foremost, if you haven't read it yet, make the $20 purchase and I personally will refund your money if you don't love the book.

Secondly, if you liked the book and the central premeses of retention as the new acqusition, customer service as the KEY strategic differentiator and the real role of social media being retention, then I'd humbly ask for your vote and to spread the message with your personal and professional networks.

You can vote here or just click on the logo below:

To be clear, I don't particularly like these popularity contests, but lists are lists. And so in the competitive and holiday spirits, I thought I would do something different that is ON STRATEGY, ON MESSAGE and ON POINT:

If I win this award, I will personally give away 300 copies of Flip the Funnel to the first 300 people who already have purchased the book to "pay it forward' and gift to a friend.

How's that for using existing customers to gain new ones?

JJTV #123 - The Dragonfly Effect

I recently sat down with Stanford University GSB Professor Jennifer Aaker to discuss her new book, "The Dragonfly Effect". Check it out and enjoy!

What do you think? Let me know.

• Share JJTV with your colleagues, clients and followers
• Tweet or RT: New JJTV - A great framework for leveraging social media to effect real results and change - http://bit.ly/thedragonflyeffect
• Subscribe to the show via iTunes or YouTube
• Leave a video comment

Dear Delta Airlines...I'm back! (did you miss me?)

If you've been following my little #deltaskelter journey from June of 2008 thru September of 2010, I'm happy to say that I finally get to close the book on this drawn-out backwards and forwards.

I guess I have Twitter to thank, but really the kudos goes to ^JF on @DeltaAssist, who played the proverbial Ace of Spades in the Flip the Funnel Deck of Card. He talked to me. He asked if I'd be open to talking on the phone:

He heard me. He listened to me. We had a conversation. He solved my problem. It worked both ways. I even offered to give a keynote presentation of Flip the Funnel to his colleagues.

As far as I'm concerned, the matter is (finally!!!) closed.

Here's what I learned in this very elaborate case of customer activism in an increasingly digital, connected and social world:

1. It's never - and I mean - NEVER too late to solve a problem and come good with a slighted customer
2. Whilst blogging might have been the first sign of this phenomenon i.e. customer activism - example: Dell Hell, Twitter is the Tipping Point.
3. My acronym of what it takes to be a social brand i.e. R.E.A.C.H. (Responsive-Empathetic-Accessible-Connected-Human) really does apply and really does work.
4. Anyone can be turned around if there is genuine, authentic committment and intent.
5. It's important for "customer activists" to be as vocal about the problem's resolution as they were about the problem itself. In fact, companies have a right to (and should) ask for this. It's only fair
6. Whilst Jonathan Salem Baskin has a great point about cost-cutting as a false prophet madsquerading as innovation: Responding to online complaints is a tax that companies pay because of the chronic mismatch between what consumers expect from brands and what they ultimately get (this is without question one of the most brilliant quotes I've read in a long time), he's anywhere on the continuum of mistaken to just plain wrong about the importance of making the effort to engage customers on their terms and on their turf: Tools like Twitter aren't some dream of customer empowerment, but rather the nightmare reality of the broken relationships between consumers and brands. Obviously I don't want to quote him out of context, so perhaps I should give him the benefit of the doubt insofar that he's referring to a deeper problem which Twitter is just exposing (and magnifying), as opposed to enabling or empowering per se.
7. Baskin continues that "an individualized response might momentarily bridge the gap, but it won't fix it. Never will." He's right if he's talking about a templatized or empty automated response - even if it is by a human (see: @bofa_help); but he's a little off the mark if it is prelude to a meaningful conversation or dialogue that ultimately leads to closure. This is the difference between the "A" of Acknowledgment without the "D" of Dialogue from the Flipped Funnel Customer Activization Process.
8. So is all of this worth it? Hell yeah. Delta lost probably somewhere in the region of $125,000 or 250,000 miles of business from me (and who knows how much more via negative word-of-mouth or referral halo) We get lost in the potential amplification of social media, when in reality all we should be focusing on the potential of one, singular customer at a time.
9. Highlighting is cool on TypePad although now that they've been acquired, hopefully it won't go away. Translation: This isn't rocket science. It's common sense. And it's good business sense. Our customers are human beings. Flawed. Emotional. Often irrational. They're also not "rules" to be engaged. They're not "one size" square pegs that fit into all square holes. Their holes are round. And oval. Sometimes all we need to do is to meet them halfway and/or treat them as individuals. Even craft or customize a solution that works for them. Harder than it sounds, I know...
10. "You don't get a second chance to make a good first impression; you do however get a second chance (or third in Delta's case) to make a good second (or third) impression." Delta has me back. It's probation as opposed to exoneration, but (for now), the slate is clean. 

Perhaps you see this is just kvetching by loud-mouthed, foul-mouthed "influencers" who have a blog and aren't afraid to use it. Maybe so, but that doesn't excuse the real symptom (hint: it starts with you), so now it's time to get working on the cure (hint: you again)

...and based on their behavior and performance of late, I think Delta is climbing and will "keep climbing" in terms of their ability to foster, nurture and more importantly, harness the power of loyalty, evangelism and advocacy.

Hopefully you will too.

Being grounded isn't much fun nowadays.

JJTV #101 - The social media success that is the Roger Smith Hotel

The power of advocacy, retention and word of mouth in action for the Roger Smith Hotel and how authentic connections (as opposed to tools) helped an otherwise unknown hotel become a Social Media Mecca.

This is my conversation with Brian Simpson (@bsimi on Twitter) at the launch party for "Flip the Funnel" at - where else - the Roger Smith Hotel.

Spread the word:

• Share JJTV with travelers to NYC, your co-workers, colleagues, friends and family
• Tweet or RT: New JJTV - The social media success story that is The Roger Smith Hotel - http://bit.ly/rogersmithhotel
• Subscribe to the show via iTunes or YouTube
• Leave a video comment

Jaffe Juice Overdose?

Never!

...so here's a summary of a variety of places and spaces I've been spreading the juice of late:

1. A terrific interview with destination CRM/CRM magazine on "Flip the Funnel"
2. Marketing podcast, The Beancast - the latest episode just posted in which host Bob Knorpp and panelists, Ken Wheaton, Erik Proulx, Jeff Cutler and myself discuss Facebook's location-based announcement and privacy in general, TBWA\Chiat\Day's digital stumbles, whether mobile has arrived or not...and much more
3. Poolside chat with David Armano (@armano), where we discuss thought leadership and the difference between "thinking" and "doing"
4. It's becoming a regular for me....my third appearance on Small Business Advocate with host, Jim Blasingame. We discuss community, leveling the playing fields and more.
5. Marketing over Coffee podcast conversation with host, John Wall. We discuss "Flip the Funnel"
6. A great review of "Flip the Funnel" from Patrick Reyes. Be sure to click through to the Saturn example
7. Also how about this great merchandising of "Flip the Funnel" which - unbeknownst to me - was created by Readitfor.me

The Real Role of Social Media

My TV appearance on First Business, where I was interviewed by Paul Eggers discussing social media, commitment marketing, customer service and "Flip the Funnel".

Find out more at www.flipthefunnelnow.com

The Customer Service Manifesto

There's a terrific initiative called "Change This", which is affiliated with book retailer, 800 CEO-READ.

Every month they release a series of "Manifestos" which are connected to published texts.

The Manifestos are great previews to the books themselves and make for a much better prelude compared to a free chapter for example. 

I've actually published one manifesto before: The Manifesto for Experimentation in association with "Life after the 30-second spot." Note the crayons :)

Well now I'm pleased to be releasing "The Customer Service Manifesto" in association with "Flip the Funnel."

The manifesto talks about how Customer Service is essentially becoming the New Marketing; the New P.R.; even the New Crisis Communication. Here's a little blurb/descriptor:

Never before in the history of business and marketing has customer service been as front and center. So much so that it is being transformed and reborn in front of our very eyes as arguably one of THE most mission critical components that can make or break a business today.

The Manifesto for Customer Service documents this sea change, introduces the 10 NEW rules of customer service and introduces a key hypothesis, namely that customer service needs to be elevated to the front office; to that of a strategic imperative which becomes A if not THE key differentiator in the board room and beyond.

The rise of social media, social networks and word-of-mouth across a connected, digital and virtual expanse have given us a glimpse into the power and potential of the ability or inability to solve problems, address concerns head on and in select – but increasing – occasions, humble a might behemoth corporation and bring it to its knees. It all begins with what is perhaps the most important issue business and marketing execs will need to come to terms with in 2010 and beyond: how to create an organization that is mobilized, structured and empowered to be responsive, empathetic, accessible, connected and human in the hearts, minds, and wallets of their most prized assets, their customers AND their employees.

Bottom line: this is not your grandfather’s customer service.

Download it, enjoy it, Tweet or retweet it (#flipthefunnel), share it and most importantly, use it to your heart's content. 

New from Change This: The Customer Service Manifesto by Joseph Jaffe http://bit.ly/ay2Caw

And if you like what you read, give the book a shot as well.

You won't be disappointed I assure you.