Last week OWN, Oprah’s network, announced cutbacks of 30% and dropped the Rosie show. The new network is struggling. On January 1, 2011, OWN timed its launch and communicated well to its target market. That New Year’s Day over 85 million homes checked out OWN. With that astounding number of viewers at its beginning, the sky appeared to be the limit for the fledgling network.
In addition, this is Oprah’s network, and everything that Oprah touches is successful, isn’t it?
Evidently that’s not the case. Initiating and running a network is a different and much larger challenge than producing a one-hour program five times a week. Using Oprah’s name to get viewers interested, hyping the network’s launch, and timing the opening perfectly are not enough. The proof is in the delivery. No amount of good timing, beautiful ads, and saturated publicity matters if you are not ready to serve your customer.
OWN wasn’t ready to give customers what they wanted.
Yes, the network had a good Sunday evening show last spring which focused first on the Judds, then Shania Twain, and finally Fergie, the Duchess of York. Occasionally in the last year OWN has had a special which caught attention. However, the network did not assemble a line-up of shows which kept viewers watching for more than an hour here and there. With the small amount of talk that I have heard about OWN, I assume that it has few viewers, especially on a consistent basis.
This is happening because OWN was not prepared. Oprah launched the network while she was finishing her twenty-five year run of the Oprah Show. Doing that required most of her attention and was an emotional drain. She did not have time to focus on OWN. Therefore, OWN did not get Oprah’s touch nor her presence. Many viewers expected to see Oprah on OWN. Until recently when she started Next Chapter, her new OWN show, Oprah had been absent from the network. That was a big mistake. Viewers wanted Oprah.
Not being prepared to give customers what they want happens a great deal in business. Too frequently, businesses think that good marketing which brings customers in the door will solve their revenue problems. Some business people think that their business will “make it” if they get on the Today Show, GMA, Ellen, or another popular show watched by their target market.
In reality, this could have the opposite effect. Appearances on these shows produces an instantaneous demand. Often, this is more demand than the business can handle. Attempting to meet all that instant demand may send the business into a downward spiral. The business may overextend its resources, forcing it to take out loans and hire new people. The business’s inability to fulfill orders discourages new customers and turns away current ones. This additional pressure stresses management. The multitude of problems created by instantaneous demand compound and are a challenge to handle, particularly on short notice.
Our businesses are not tackling the launch of a network, but on a smaller scale everyday we place our marketing efforts on running a campaign, offering a discount, or somehow getting an irresistible offer to get customers to do more transactions with our businesses. We can all learn a lesson from OWN and be prepared to handle the customers who respond to our marketing efforts.
Are we ready to give them what they want?
Monday, March 26, 2012
Friday, March 16, 2012
Web Site Frustration
Yesterday I urgently needed to buy software and found a list of a dozen Web sites which offered it. Thinking that I could easily find what I wanted from the first few sites, I began opening them. The first one had a bunch of text offering articles and advice on the home page. After a couple of clicks, I could not find where to buy the software or if the site even had it for sale. I moved on to the second site. Again, the home page had a great deal of text and no easy way to find the software which they supposedly were selling. With agitation building, I moved on to the third site. I found the same situation.
“What are these businesses doing?” I said aloud. “Don’t they want to sell this software?”
Needing the software badly, I plowed through sites four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten, all with the same results. Finally, number eleven, the next-to-the-last one, clearly displayed the software on the home page. To end my frustration and move forward, I bought the software from that site without checking out site number twelve.
This is my biggest complaint about Web sites. As a customer, I have difficulty finding what I want. I quickly become frustrated, give up, and move on. As a marketer, I have thought this through and realize why this happens. Do you know?
Web sites that frustrate customers were not created from the customer’s point of view.
Instead of sitting down, talking to customers, asking what they want, and giving it to them, some person or persons at the business and/or the Web site development company met and decided what to put on the Web site. They started with a blank sheet of paper as to what to include. That was followed by blank minds and then blank stares. “What should we include on our Web site?” someone questioned.
“I have no idea,” replied someone else. “What do you suggest, Tom? You are the Web site guy.”
Tom swiftly brought up a Web site for a similar business on his laptop. “Well, for businesses such as yours we typically do this.”
You may find this difficult to swallow, but a conversation similar to this one takes place at the inception of most Web sites. It must. The fact that I found ten Web sites which had a similar format and did not make it easy to find the software proves my point.
Instead of finding out why the customer would use the site and what the customer wants to find at the site, a committee applies what the members think should go on the site. However pretty or cool the site, their efforts are for naught if the site doesn’t work for the customer.
I read that a Web site’s home page ought to feature the three main reasons someone would visit the site. Each of these should be short and linked to a landing page regarding that subject. The landing page would give additional information on the subject with links to more pages as applicable. If this concept were applied to the sites that I visited looking for that software, each would have had on the home page a link to the software landing page. This link would have been easy to see, not hidden in a bunch of text. That would have developed the Web site from the customer’s point of view. A site such as that would be very effective.
Take a look at your company’s Web site. Are the three main reasons that a customer goes to your site easy to find on the home page? Do you know these three main reasons?
If not, ask your customers.
“What are these businesses doing?” I said aloud. “Don’t they want to sell this software?”
Needing the software badly, I plowed through sites four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten, all with the same results. Finally, number eleven, the next-to-the-last one, clearly displayed the software on the home page. To end my frustration and move forward, I bought the software from that site without checking out site number twelve.
This is my biggest complaint about Web sites. As a customer, I have difficulty finding what I want. I quickly become frustrated, give up, and move on. As a marketer, I have thought this through and realize why this happens. Do you know?
Web sites that frustrate customers were not created from the customer’s point of view.
Instead of sitting down, talking to customers, asking what they want, and giving it to them, some person or persons at the business and/or the Web site development company met and decided what to put on the Web site. They started with a blank sheet of paper as to what to include. That was followed by blank minds and then blank stares. “What should we include on our Web site?” someone questioned.
“I have no idea,” replied someone else. “What do you suggest, Tom? You are the Web site guy.”
Tom swiftly brought up a Web site for a similar business on his laptop. “Well, for businesses such as yours we typically do this.”
You may find this difficult to swallow, but a conversation similar to this one takes place at the inception of most Web sites. It must. The fact that I found ten Web sites which had a similar format and did not make it easy to find the software proves my point.
Instead of finding out why the customer would use the site and what the customer wants to find at the site, a committee applies what the members think should go on the site. However pretty or cool the site, their efforts are for naught if the site doesn’t work for the customer.
I read that a Web site’s home page ought to feature the three main reasons someone would visit the site. Each of these should be short and linked to a landing page regarding that subject. The landing page would give additional information on the subject with links to more pages as applicable. If this concept were applied to the sites that I visited looking for that software, each would have had on the home page a link to the software landing page. This link would have been easy to see, not hidden in a bunch of text. That would have developed the Web site from the customer’s point of view. A site such as that would be very effective.
Take a look at your company’s Web site. Are the three main reasons that a customer goes to your site easy to find on the home page? Do you know these three main reasons?
If not, ask your customers.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Continuity
A few days ago a television commercial caught my attention. At the end of the commercial, the advertiser stated “We service and maintain peace of mind.”
“Whoa! What was that? Who was that for?” I shouted as I reached for the remote to replay the commercial.
The commercial was for Bonfe, a company which offers plumbing, heating, cooling, electrical, drain cleaning, appliance repair, and indoor air services. I was excited. “Someone did a marketing plan!” I exclaimed. “That company knows why its customers buy. Wow!”
Wanting to share this with you, I went to Bonfe’s Web site to find out more about the company. When the home page came up, my excitement turned to disappointment. The headline on the home page was “Bonfe for Your Plumbing, Heating, Air Conditioning, Electrical, and Appliance Repair Needs.”
“Oh, no,” I moaned. “They didn’t carry it through.”
At the top of the page was Bonfe’s logo with a tag line of “The trusted name in home comfort.” Bonfe had discovered why customers buy from them, but company personnel had not continued that message onto the Web site.
Scrolling further down the home page, I found another reference to peace of mind. “Save $400 today. Sign up for our Gold Peace of Mind Plan.” The company had taken the reason that the customer buys and tied it to a supposed discount of $400. I say supposed because often these are gimmicks of discounts that the company offers to close a sale.
That was a sad misuse of “peace of mind.”
Now I wonder if Bonfe did a marketing plan or just saw what appeared to be a catchy slogan, peace of mind, and used it. Whatever the case, my point to you regarding this situation is continuity. Once you establish a message such as “We service and maintain peace of mind,” that message should continue in a prominent position throughout all your communications. Do not use the message on a television commercial and use a different message, “The trusted name in home comfort,” on a Web site. Use the same message everywhere.
That creates continuity. Similar to a snowball rolling downhill and picking up momentum and snow as it goes, continuity adds impact and retention of your message in the customer’s mind.
“Whoa! What was that? Who was that for?” I shouted as I reached for the remote to replay the commercial.
The commercial was for Bonfe, a company which offers plumbing, heating, cooling, electrical, drain cleaning, appliance repair, and indoor air services. I was excited. “Someone did a marketing plan!” I exclaimed. “That company knows why its customers buy. Wow!”
Wanting to share this with you, I went to Bonfe’s Web site to find out more about the company. When the home page came up, my excitement turned to disappointment. The headline on the home page was “Bonfe for Your Plumbing, Heating, Air Conditioning, Electrical, and Appliance Repair Needs.”
“Oh, no,” I moaned. “They didn’t carry it through.”
At the top of the page was Bonfe’s logo with a tag line of “The trusted name in home comfort.” Bonfe had discovered why customers buy from them, but company personnel had not continued that message onto the Web site.
Scrolling further down the home page, I found another reference to peace of mind. “Save $400 today. Sign up for our Gold Peace of Mind Plan.” The company had taken the reason that the customer buys and tied it to a supposed discount of $400. I say supposed because often these are gimmicks of discounts that the company offers to close a sale.
That was a sad misuse of “peace of mind.”
Now I wonder if Bonfe did a marketing plan or just saw what appeared to be a catchy slogan, peace of mind, and used it. Whatever the case, my point to you regarding this situation is continuity. Once you establish a message such as “We service and maintain peace of mind,” that message should continue in a prominent position throughout all your communications. Do not use the message on a television commercial and use a different message, “The trusted name in home comfort,” on a Web site. Use the same message everywhere.
That creates continuity. Similar to a snowball rolling downhill and picking up momentum and snow as it goes, continuity adds impact and retention of your message in the customer’s mind.
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