This is my favourite local wine shop. I shop there all the time. I’m so protective of it that I’m going to keep its identity secret!
But let me explain what this shop has to do with good marketing.
It's all to do with Bob, the manager of the shop. You see, Bob knows me. He knows what I like, what I don’t like, what I’ve tried before. What I’ve bought recently. That I like to cook and entertain. The kinds of things I like to cook. My attitude to wine. My price range for normal evenings and for special occasions.
Where I live. Where I work. What I do for a living. How many kids I have.
Three weird facts you need to know:
- I buy five times more wine from Bob than from my local supermarket.
- I tend to leave the shop having spent 30-200% more than I thought I would.
- I wouldn’t think of buying my wine anywhere else.
In fact I enjoy buying from Bob. I love the experience that much.
The bad news: most of today's marketing is far from Bob. In fact its decidedly un-Bobular.
If Bob was a marketer instead of the world’s best wine salesman, I’d walk in and instead of saying “Hey John, how’d you get on with that Riesling?” he’d say, “Hello potential customer. This is a wine shop. We have red wine and white wine and sparkling wine. Some of it is from France.’
Instead of saying, “I’ve got a Rioja that your wife is going to rave about.” he’d say, “Buy three cases of Asti and get one free!” (I loathe Asti).
Behavioural Marketing is the best way to get more Bob-like. And it really is a simple idea:
- You capture the things people do when they interact with you across all channels (email, web, mobile, social, call centers etc).
- You combine that data with the stuff you already know about that person – the profile & preferences; or past behaviours.
- You apply a few rules to that data.
- You use the rules to generate a PERSONALISED interaction and a MULTI -CHANNEL MULTI-STEP relationship that delivers the most relevant customer experience for the INDIVIDUAL.
Simple.
Its being Bob-like on a massive scale - being that personal, informed brand that doesn’t treat every customer like a new person who just walked in off the street.
Treating each one like the valued individual that they are.
Go forth and become Bob!