Found On The Runway……..

Following on from my last post about Ryanair and what people think about them (good and bad), this made me smile (Well, it is Monday morning!).

Flying To Ryanair’s Defence!

This is interesting. Here are 20 reasons not to fly with Ryanair  from the Times Online.

It’s not just the content of the article that’s interesting, but all the comments it has generated. It clearly demonstrates the depth of feeling about Ryanair – good and bad.

Some feel that Michael O’Leary will do anything for publicity and doesn’t care if it’s good or bad. He will probably point to the fact that they are leading budget airline to prove it. It’s difficult to argue against it.

I don’t think it’s about ‘any publicity is good publicity’, I think it’s more ‘this is us, this is what we stand for, like it or lump it’. Some marketing experts would call that a great example of ‘positioning’ and ’differentiating the business’. I tend to agree.  They are not British Airways or Emirates. Ryanair isn’t for everyone and they don’t try to be.

Some people would never go anywhere near them, others will defend them stoutly. I’d love to know how many people would passionately defend me like that in an article in The Times that said “20 Reasons not to listen to Andy Hanselman.”

Not that many I’m afraid!

Podcast 2 Finally Available!

Andy’s second ‘podcast’ is now finally available for download here or via iTunes subscription here

Podcast #2contains:

Customer Problems – Dealing With Disappointment; Maximising Customer Relationships in tougher times;  A book worth reading – SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham; An interview with retailer Katherine Taylor of Seen and ‘star’ of Mary Portas ‘Queen of Shops’, Don’t just Get ‘On’, Get ‘Even’ Better. 

 

Click here to download Podcast

Related links for this podcast:

Neil Rackham

Seen Designer Clothing

Andy’s Compete Store!

Wanting To Make ‘Social Media’ Work For You?

Here’s a great blog and website if you’re even half interested in marketing and social media (and if you’re not, read some of this stuff, and you then might be, or ought to be!).

PR 2.0 is the blog by Brian Solis of San Fransisco and a real expert on marketing in this ‘new world’. It’s got some great free download ebooks that will stimulate, educate, and enlighten you.

I particularly found the ebook  Customer Service: The Art of Listening and Engagement Through Social Media well worth a read.

Spotify is ‘spot on’!

This could be the way forward for music distribution.

Spotify is an online musical libarary and has the potential to completely ‘revolutionise’ the way we listen to, and pay for, music.

There’s a good article in the Sunday Times about it highlighting the fact that they are not just changing the rules, but creating new ones.

Without a doubt, Dramatically and Demonstrably Different.

Richard Reed, An Innovative Leader? Guilty As Charged!

Saw Richard Reed, one of the founders of the very successful Innocent Drinks, speak last night. Absolutely wonderful, and very insightful. I could write for ages about all the stuff he talked about, so I’ll try and summarise some of the key points:

1. Keep the main thing, the main thing – this is about having a clear and simple sense of purpose, ensuring that everyone in the business understands this and how they contribute to it.

2. Make money….and make a difference – 10% of all Innocent’s profits are donated to charity. He emphasised very much that it’s all about profit and he made no bones about ensuring that Innocent look for, encourage and reward commercially focussed people.

3. It’s about people – every one of their employees gets something, those that contribute the most, get the most. Richard talked about getting people ‘on the bus’ and to help this happen, Innocent have an incredible number of initiatives and rewards that promote and reinforce the values of the business – here are some details on their website. He also talked about getting people ‘off the bus’ too – that means dealing with people who haven’t ‘bought in’ to what they are trying to achieve.

4. Take care of the details – it’s about the little things, getting ideas from ‘anywhere and everywhere’. A simple example is on the top of Innocent bottles rather than saying  ’use by….’ it says ‘enjoy by……’.

5. Open Up, Listen Up – that means being ‘porous’ to your customers, encouraging and listening to customers to feedback and tell you what they really think. The ‘Banana phone’ , advertised on the bottles, is the direct line to Innocent that anyone can ring. If the ‘customer service’ guys don’t answer it in 3 rings, EVERY phone in the office rings!!!

It was all great stuff, and to demonstrate his openness, he invited us all to drop in and visit them all at Innocent Towers at any time!

A fantastic example of developing and leading a successful business? Richard Reed of Innocent Drinks – Guilty as charged!

When 2 Tribes Go To Work

Business ‘tribalisation’ is just one of the buzz words flying around at the moment. I mentioned Seth Godin’s latest book ’Tribes’ last month and it’s well worth a read.

The basic concept is centred around groups of ‘like minded’ or common interest groups linked by ’online’ communities and / or networks. You’ve no doubt heard of (and are perhaps actively engaged in) ‘Twittering’ and ‘Facebook’ and lots of other online social networks, and are perhaps using these to develop your business. It’s essentially ‘networking’ online.

However, I suspect that like many people’s approach to offline ‘networking’, it’s actually ’notworking’. Why is this?

Mainly because people are doing it because they think they should be rather than actually working out why they should be doing it and how they can maximise it. It’s the equivalent of going to as many ‘network’ breakfasts, lunches and dinner meetings as you can without giving it any real focus. You get fat, but your business doesn’t!

So, how to get the best out of ‘tribes’ and online communities as part of your ‘networking’?

I believe that the same principles apply to online ‘networking’ as they do to ‘offline’. The benefits, because of word of mouse, rather than traditional word of mouth, are potentailly much larger.

Here are a few of those principles:

FIND and CHOOSE the networks or tribes for you.

IDENTIFY ‘key influencers’ – better still….. BECOME one  (see Seth) by……. 

CONTRIBUTING  and ADDING VALUE to them (For example, comment on this blog – let other like-minded people know what you think).

Regularly REVIEW and EVALUATE their effectiveness.

The winners that appear to be benefiting from this ‘tribalisation’ are those that proactively take the lead, get involved, contribute and ‘stand out from the crowd’ – just like in any other form of marketing or business development.

The Tribalisation of  Business webpage gives a bit more of an insight, along with evidence of the benefits of taking that proactive approach.

Compared To What?

Just back from a wonderful week in Breckenridge, Colorado, and was consistently overwhelmed with the ‘customer experience’ in shops, restauants and other places we visited. You know, simple stuff like a smile, politeness, perhaps a conversation and an interest in me. These things made me a ‘delighted’ customer.

My American friends with me on the trip were used to it – they didn’t get as excited by it as half as much as I did.

The point? I was comparing the ‘experience’ with what often happens in the UK, and it was considerably and consistently better. They were comparing with what they were used to, and it was about the same. Don’t get me wrong, they were happy with the service, but less ‘enthralled’ by it than me. Everything you do is comparable to something else.

That’s the important bit – ‘Same as’ is ok, but doesn’t make you stand out, ‘better than’ is better, ‘dramatically and demonstrably different’ is what counts.

Who are your customers comparing you with? (Tip: It might not just be your direct competitors by the way).

The Brand Gap ‘Revisited’

I came across this a couple of years ago, but it was brought to my attention again recently and is well worth a five minute view. The ‘Brand Gap’ is a great presentation on Slideshare. It certainly got me thinking again about how I project my brand.

The book The Brand Gap is well worth a read too. If this ‘branding’ stuff is useful to you, you may also be interested in The Purple Circle Blog - great friends who really know their stuff.