Brandworks Bits

One of the amazing things about working at LSB is the opportunity each year to attend Brandworks University and learn from some of the best minds in marketing.  The 2009 conference in June of this year was no exception.  The conference focused on jumpstarting sales and ROI in the Conversation Economy.  While there is no replacement for being at the conference itself, we will endeavor to share some of the learnings with you via this blog over the next few weeks as we do our best to summarize the remarks of the faculty.  In addition, a detailed whitepaper from the conference will be available shortly.

We’re looking forward to your comments, thoughts and input on the topic.  And be sure to mark you calendar for Lindsay, Stone & Briggs’ Brandworks University 2010, the 20^th Anniversary of the conference, May 25-26.

AR

Insights and Aspirations of a Chief Conversation Officer

John Hayes, CMO, American Express

John Hayes, Chief Marketing Officer of American Express understands why marketers find the rise of social networking media scary. He told participants at LSB Brandworks University 2009 that his associates tell him they now work “in an environment where they don’t control the conversation, but they’re still 100 percent responsible for the outcome.”

Consumer-directed conversations via Twitter, Facebook and other social media present both a threat and an opportunity for marketers, Hayes admitted, but it’s important to face our fear of letting go of control over the message and the metrics.

“It’s human nature to overvalue the things we can measure and undervalue what we can’t,” Hayes said. “Yes, there are elements of the new media conversation that are not yet measurable. But we still need to value them.

“Think about a relationship you’re in. Before you got into that relationship, how did you know it was going to work?”

Hayes offered three principles for making social networking part of your marketing strategy.

1. Listen: “Listening may be your best selling device,” he said. Listening is more than hearing. “In a corporation, listening means hearing what is said and changing what we do in response. Listening means doing something different because of what someone said.”
2. Operationalize the conversation:  “Establish listening posts throughout the organization,” he said.  Engaging in a conversation with customers isn’t a task that only resides in marketing. You also need to engage the people in sales, product development, customer service and every other point of customer contact in the organization. You have to change the culture and make it a listening culture that wants to understand the world outside. Your job is to help guide conversation that’s already happening.
3. Experiment: Experimenting is the most important thing we can do, and failure is part of experimenting. American Express spends between 10 and 20 percent of its marketing budget on social media experiments. But Hayes cautioned that you must have a process in place to help you understand how and why you succeeded or failed and what you would do differently next time. “If you’re not learning, you’re making a big mistake.”

Marketers are living in a rapidly changing world, Hayes said. Conversation and collaboration will be at the heart of the new culture. In the new world, marketers will have to learn to be collaborators not authorities.

Given this new role for marketers, what activities do you think should be included in the job description for a “Chief Conversation Officer”?