BUILDING SUSTAINABLE RELATIONSHIPS THAT BRING BRANDS AND PEOPLE CLOSER | Mark Morin | TEDxLaval

Summary

The transcript discusses the evolution of marketing from mass marketing to relationship marketing, emphasizing the need for brands to shift focus from product to people. It highlights the importance of understanding customers as individuals, connecting with them emotionally, and earning their trust. The speaker shares personal experiences and professional insights, including a project that personalized beauty guides for customers. The potential of artificial intelligence in enhancing customer relationships by analyzing data and providing consistent value is also explored.

Takeaways

• 🌐 The modern marketing landscape has been transformed by the internet, social media, and digital technology, necessitating a shift from traditional mass marketing to relationship marketing.
• 📱 Brands today have access to numerous channels and tools for engaging with customers, but often still use outdated marketing strategies that focus on product features rather than building relationships.
• 🤝 The key to successful relationship marketing is to focus on people rather than products, aiming to build strong connections between the brand and its customers.
• 🧡 Brands that excel at relationship marketing connect with customers on an emotional level, understanding that people make purchasing decisions with their hearts before justifying with their minds.
• 🔍 Successful brands know their customers individually, not as segments or markets, and use data to deliver personalized experiences.
• 📈 The use of customer data allows brands to understand and cater to the unique needs, preferences, and personalities of their customers, enhancing personalization.
• 💡 Personalization can profoundly impact the brand-customer relationship, as demonstrated by the example of a cosmetics brand creating personalized beauty guides.
• 🕊️ Trust is a crucial component of relationship marketing; brands must consistently earn and maintain the trust of their customers through every interaction and experience.
• 💡 Artificial intelligence can augment human ability to create strong relationships by analyzing data, understanding customer emotions, and ensuring consistent value delivery.
• 🚫 While AI offers benefits, it's important to use it responsibly to avoid manipulation or misuse, which can damage the trust between brands and customers.
• 🌟 Ultimately, brands must focus on knowing their customers, delivering flawless customer experiences, and consistently earning trust to build strong, lasting relationships.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the discussion in the transcript?

The main focus of the discussion is relationship marketing and how it has evolved with the advent of digital technology, emphasizing the need for brands to build strong relationships with their customers.

How has the world changed since the 1960s in terms of marketing?

Since the 1960s, the world has seen a dramatic shift in marketing due to the internet, social media, smartphones, and digital technology, which have transformed how people communicate and how brands engage with their customers.

Why do traditional marketing methods no longer work as effectively today?

Traditional marketing methods are less effective because consumers today are overwhelmed by the cluttered and connected marketplace, making it difficult for them to pay attention to brand messages.

What are the three key things brands need to do to build a strong relationship with their customers according to the transcript?

Brands need to know their customers better, connect with them on an emotional level, and earn their trust consistently in everything they do.

How do brands connect with their customers on an emotional level?

Brands connect with customers emotionally by making them feel a certain way, which is more important than just presenting features, functions, and statistics.

What was the significance of the four Ps introduced by E. Jerome McCarthy in the 1960s?

The four Ps (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion) represented the principles of modern marketing during the mass marketing era, focusing on product-centric strategies rather than people.

How does the speaker's childhood experience with being a redhead relate to the concept of diversity and personalization in marketing?

The speaker's experience of standing out and feeling different as a redhead led to an understanding of the importance of recognizing and celebrating individual differences, which is crucial for personalization in marketing.

What role does data play in helping marketers understand their customers today?

Data plays a crucial role as it allows marketers to harvest digital DNA left by customers online, enabling them to deliver personalized messages and experiences.

Can you provide an example of how the speaker applied personalization in their career?

The speaker worked with a cosmetics brand to create a unique beauty guide with millions of unique content combinations based on individual characteristics such as hair color, eye color, and makeup personality.

What is the potential risk of using customer data and emotionally charged messages?

The potential risk is the misuse of data to manipulate customers into buying unnecessary products or influencing their opinions on sensitive issues, which can lead to a breach of trust.

How can artificial intelligence (AI) help in building strong relationships between brands and customers?

AI can analyze vast amounts of data to understand customer preferences, detect emotions, and ensure consistent value delivery, thus helping to build trust and personalized experiences.

What is the final takeaway message for brands in the transcript?

The final message is to focus on knowing each customer, delivering a flawless customer experience, and consistently earning their trust to build strong relationships.

Outlines

00:00

📚 The Evolution of Marketing & The Importance of Relationship Building

This paragraph discusses the shift in marketing strategies from the mass marketing principles of the 1960s to the modern era of digital communication. It highlights the impact of the internet, social media, and smartphones on consumer-brand interactions. The speaker emphasizes that brands often still use outdated marketing methods, focusing on product features rather than building emotional connections with customers. The paragraph calls for a new approach where brands prioritize people over products, aiming to understand, connect with, and earn the trust of their customers on an individual level.

05:02

🌈 Embracing Individuality and Personalization in Branding

The speaker shares a personal anecdote about being a redhead in a time when mass marketing dominated, illustrating the importance of recognizing individuality. They connect this to the modern marketing challenge of personalization, explaining how brands must cater to the unique needs and preferences of diverse customers. The paragraph details a project where the speaker helped a cosmetics brand create a personalized beauty guide, demonstrating the power of personalization in enhancing customer experience and building brand loyalty.

10:02

🔒 Earning Trust in the Age of Data and AI

This paragraph delves into the ethical considerations of using customer data and the potential for its misuse. It stresses the importance of building trust with customers through consistent, valuable experiences. The speaker argues that brands must prioritize customer interests and deliver on their promises. They introduce the role of artificial intelligence in analyzing customer data to predict behavior and personalize interactions, while also questioning whether machines can truly foster trust where humans have failed. The paragraph concludes by advocating for the use of technology to enhance human connection and trust in brand relationships.

15:03

🤖 The Role of AI in Strengthening Customer Relationships

The final paragraph explores the potential of artificial intelligence in understanding and predicting customer behavior, and its ability to analyze vast amounts of data to inform marketing strategies. It discusses AI's capacity to detect emotions and adjust interactions accordingly, suggesting that AI could be instrumental in fostering closer relationships between brands and customers. The speaker also addresses concerns about trust in AI, proposing that its consistent application can ensure brands keep their promises and provide value to customers, thus building and maintaining trust.

Keywords

💡Relationship Marketing

Relationship marketing refers to the strategy of building long-term relationships with customers by delivering value and encouraging customer retention and repeat business. In the video, it is emphasized as a modern approach to marketing that contrasts with traditional mass marketing. The script discusses how brands need to shift their focus from product-centric to people-centric to build stronger connections in a digital age.

💡Digital Technology

Digital technology encompasses the various tools, platforms, and systems that are based on digital electronics or computer systems. In the context of the video, digital technology is highlighted as a transformative force that has changed how brands engage with customers, offering new channels and opportunities for interaction.

💡Brand Loyalty

Brand loyalty is the customer's faithfulness to a particular brand, often due to a positive brand experience or emotional connection. The script mentions that traditional marketing tactics may not be as effective in building loyalty in today's market, suggesting that emotional connection and personalization are more impactful.

💡Personalization

Personalization is the process of tailoring products, services, or marketing messages to meet individual customer preferences or needs. The video script uses the example of a unique beauty guide project to illustrate how personalization can create a profound impact on customer-brand relationships by delivering unique, individualized content.

💡Emotional Connection

Emotional connection is the bond or attachment formed between a customer and a brand based on feelings rather than just rational considerations. The script argues that connecting with customers on an emotional level is crucial for building brand loyalty, as people make purchasing decisions with their hearts before justifying with their minds.

💡Data

Data, in the context of marketing, refers to the information collected about customers that can be analyzed to understand their behavior, preferences, and needs. The video script discusses how modern marketers use data left by customers in their digital interactions to deliver personalized messages and experiences.

💡Trust

Trust is the confidence customers have in a brand's reliability, integrity, and ability to meet their needs. The script identifies trust as a critical component of strong customer relationships and emphasizes the importance of brands consistently delivering on their promises to earn and maintain this trust.

💡Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence is the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions. The video script suggests that AI can analyze vast amounts of data to understand customer behavior and preferences, helping brands to connect with their customers and build trust through personalized and consistent experiences.

💡Customer Experience

Customer experience refers to the sum of all interactions a customer has with a company, which influence their perception of the brand. The video script stresses the importance of delivering a flawless customer experience to create value and build trust, which is essential for establishing strong relationships with customers.

💡Market Fragmentation

Market fragmentation describes a market that is divided into smaller segments, each with different needs or characteristics. The script uses the term to describe the current marketplace as 'distracted, messy, and disconnected,' indicating the challenge brands face in reaching customers who have diverse and specific needs.

💡Uniqueness

Uniqueness refers to the distinct qualities or characteristics that set something or someone apart from others. In the video, the speaker reflects on their own childhood experience of standing out and connects it to the idea that brands and customers alike are unique, advocating for personalization and understanding individual differences.

Highlights

The world has dramatically changed since the 1960s introduction of modern mass marketing principles, with the internet, social media, and digital technology transforming communication.

Brands have access to new channels and tools but often use them in outdated ways, still focusing on product features rather than building relationships with customers.

In today's cluttered marketplace, people are too distracted to pay attention to traditional marketing messages, requiring brands to shift focus from product to people.

Brands that get closer to their customers excel in knowing their customers individually, connecting on an emotional level, and earning their trust consistently.

Connection is key; brands must connect with customers on an emotional level because people buy with their heart and justify with their mind.

The traditional marketing mix (4 Ps) does not include people, highlighting a disconnect from modern consumer needs.

The speaker's personal experience with being different as a child with red hair influenced their understanding of diversity and uniqueness in marketing.

Brands that treat all customers the same risk making them feel like they don't belong, which is counterproductive to building relationships.

Marketers today have access to vast amounts of customer data, enabling more personalized and effective communication.

A successful project involved creating a unique beauty guide with personalized content for each customer, demonstrating the power of personalization.

The combination of customer data and emotionally charged messages can be abused, emphasizing the importance of trust in marketing.

Trust is fragile and must be nurtured, protected, and grown through consistently delivering value and a flawless customer experience.

Artificial intelligence can analyze vast data, detect emotions, and help brands understand and connect with customers on a deeper level.

AI can be trained to understand what creates consistent value for customers and ensure that brands keep their promises consistently.

Despite concerns, AI may be the best thing for human relationships by augmenting human ability to create strong, lasting relationships.

The importance of focusing resources on knowing customers, delivering a flawless experience, and continually earning trust to build strong relationships.

Transcripts

let's talk about marketing but not just

any kind of marketing let's talk about

relationship marketing you know I think

we'll all agree that the world in which

we live has changed dramatically

fundamentally since the 1960s when the

principles of marketing of modern mass

marketing were first introduced today

the internet social media smartphones

and digital technology in general have

transformed the way the world in which

we live in which we work and

particularly how we communicate today

brands have access to countless new

channels and platforms and tools and

technology to better engage with their

customers but I believe that they often

use them in ways that are perhaps best

suited to the 1960s

for example they still tell us how great

their products are and why we should buy

them they still tell us how awesome

their brands are and why we should

follow them they still say by now don't

delay have your credit card ready when

you call the problem is you know

essentially we just don't listen in this

cluttered and crazy connected

marketplace were too distracted by our

daily lives to pay attention to what

brands want us to do at the end of the

day we just don't care so if you're a

brand what do you do well I believe that

in this crazy distracted messy

fragmented disconnected marketplace

brands need to turn their focus from

product to people they need to build

wrong relationships between the brand

and the people they serve to bring

brands and people closer now brands that

get closer to the people they serve do

three things incredibly well first of

all they know their customers better

than anyone they know them individually

as people not as consumers and markets

and segments as people second of all

they know how to connect with each and

every one of them individually and

deeply and the last thing and the most

important of all I believe is they know

how to earn their trust in everything

they do

constantly all the time three simple

things simple but far from easy so let's

take a look at those three things in

detail let's start with connection for

brands to get Pleet closer to the people

they serve they need to connect with

them on an emotional level after all

people buy with their heart and then

justify with their mind so features and

functions and statistics and numbers are

not as important as we may think when it

comes to brand loyalty and brand

performance it turns out that what we

know about a brand is far less important

than how a brand makes us feel far more

important how a brand makes us feel

super important this is me at age 7 if

the picture was taken back in the time

when the principles of modern marketing

the four PS that were introduced by

Ichiro McCarthy were first presented and

and we all know them right its product

its price its place

and of course promotion but what about

people not a single word you see the

1960s were a very different time it was

the Golden Age of mass marketing and we

were pretty much all the same we wanted

the same things we wore the same clothes

watch the same shows ate the same food

we were all the same and when brands

told us to buy something to buy now we

did we did what we were told well not

everyone at least not me

as you can see I had bright red hair so

I didn't look like anyone else and and I

was a bit of a monster at least that's

what my parents told me repeatedly I

think it was like every day

my poor mother at the stories I could

tell you I was the only kid in my school

in my class that had red hair I was the

only redhead the only redhead in my

school the only redhead in the

neighborhood where I grew up so I stood

out like a sore thumb and of course you

know how kids are they teased me and

they pushed me around and in fact I was

actually bullied so I was made to feel

like I didn't fit in like I didn't

belong like I was like an outcast and a

very young age I realized that we're not

all the same that in fact we're all

different and unique in some beautiful

way that there's beauty in our

differences and that that's diversity

makes up the wonderful beauty of the

human race

now that realization served me well

later in my career as a help brands

understand how they can differentiate

themselves how they're different from

their competitors in a marketplace of

me2 brands but it also helped me

understand that these unique

organizations serve a universe

of unique customers each one with their

own their own needs their own

preferences their own priorities and

their own personalities I became aware

and obsessed with the concept of

personalization and how using our unique

differences we can help people to to

improve their lives I also realized at

the same time that brands that make us

feel like they treat us like we're all

the same run the risk of making us feel

like we don't belong like we don't fit

in like the brand is not for us which

leads us to the second the really

important thing in building a strong

relationship brands that get closer to

their customers know them better than

anyone else they understand them

intimately and individually

now of course marketers have always used

research and surveys to be able to catch

a glimpse of their customers and

understand how they're different in what

they want but of course surveys are

based on a small sample a few hundred

maybe a few thousand individuals so very

imprecise so getting to know your

customer in the old days was difficult

fortunately for marketers today there's

data to be found everywhere as we

navigate the web and engage on social

media we leave our digital DNA

everywhere we go and smart marketers

harvest that data and use it to deliver

the right message at the right time to

the right customer through the right

channel one of the projects that I

worked on in my career that I'm most

proud of one of my greatest achievements

I think is when I worked with a

cosmetics brand a few years ago to

create a unique beauty guide to help

women understand how to choose and use

makeup more effectively I led a fabulous

team of very talented people to put

together a series of guides with

personalized information that was based

on the unique characteristics of each

customer we used hair color and eye

color and eye shape and even makeup

personality there were millions of

unique content combinations no two

guides were alike each customer had

information just for them it was

technically very difficult it was a huge

achievement to be able to pull it off

but I didn't realize the power of what

we created until I started reading the

comments from women writing in saying

that as a result of that guide they were

able to use makeup for the first time

with confidence that as a result they

feel they felt more beautiful and that

we managed with the content to be able

to change their lives in some small way

and so I learned that working with

uniqueness and identifying how people

are different and communicating them as

individuals could have a profound impact

on the relationship between the brand

and the customers but of course the

combination of customer data and a

powerful emotionally charged message can

also lead to abuse whether it's getting

you to buy a product that you don't need

if it's not right for you

or changing your opinion on a sensitive

issue or even influencing the outcome of

an election which leads us to the third

and perhaps the most important component

of a strong relationship earning trust

brands that get close to the customers

to the people they serve know how to

earn their trust they know how to do it

in everything they do with every point

of contact with every single experience

after all people buy from brands they

trust but we know that Trust is fragile

and needs to be nurtured it needs to be

protected and grown brands need to have

the best interests of their customers at

heart in everything they do and they

need to make sure that the experience

that they deliver is flawless and always

delivers value and when I say value I

don't mean 50% off I don't mean

buy-one-get-one-free I mean true value I

mean a flawless marvelous experience

I mean entertaining and interesting and

engaging content

I mean valuable tips and advice and

guidance I mean a sense of shared

experience and community that will

create value now having a relationship a

personal relationship with each and

every one of your customers is difficult

today brands serve a huge universe of

customers whether it's a few thousand to

millions of customers around the world

so knowing each one personally is not

physically possible and yet customers

expect it in fact they demand it they

want to be they want to feel as if we

know them if we understand them that we

know what they want and what they need

and that we can deliver on that promise

which is why the the the platforms of

technology that use artificial

intelligence show the promise of helping

augment human ability to create strong

and lasting relationships for all the

bad press

artificial intelligence may in fact be

the best thing that's ever happened to

humans let me explain first of all

artificial intelligence beats humans

hands-down when it comes to analyzing

vast quantities of information making

sense of massive amounts of data to see

trends and be able to predict behavior

in doing so they can better understand

who we are and help us to make the right

choices and to get more enjoyment out of

every

we do it can also help us to connect

with our customers that's really the

fascinating part because artificial

intelligence actually can detect our

state of mind our emotions our sentiment

it can analyze text and voice and

natural language and images and can

detect our emotions in our state of mind

adjust accordingly

and last but not least when it comes to

trust can we really expect machines to

Excel where we humans have consistently

failed well I think that is truly the

interesting part because artificial

intelligence can be trained to

understand what creates consistent value

for customers it can ensure that

everything we do is done consistently

and we constantly keep our promises and

so this strong combination of cognitive

technology can allow us to bring our

brands and our people closer regardless

of the technology we have to keep in

mind the important things first of all

keep all your resources your energy and

your attention and focus it on knowing

each one of your customers and treating

them as people connecting with your

customers through a flawless customer

experience and last but not least

continually earn their trust

consistently relentlessly in everything

you do and when you do those three

things and you do them exceedingly well

you can build strong relationships that

bring your brand and the people you

serve closer thank you

you