Personally I am passionate about marketing and, similarly, I think great marketing is about passion. Every time people talk about measuring to gauge ROI on every little thing, a little voice inside my head says "what about love?" What's the return on love?
Marketing done right IS about love. Loving customers and treating them with respect, adding value to their lives and instilling passion in their souls. If that happens, they will love you back. How do you measure this? It depends on what your definition is.
In the age of consumer generated content, love is easily expressed (so is the opposite). I've been asked many times, "Why would ANYBODY actually create something about a company?". The reason is love. Why do people create fake product ads? Why do people parody ads? They're driven by an internal passion to make the brand part of their lives and express how it impacts them.
One company who gets half of this equation is Apple. They're on the receiving end of a lot of love, but rarely give it. This is the biggest gripe I have with Apple in particular. They have all of these fans that love them, create ads, stand in line for hours to buy their products and yet the company doesn't engage with them online. A topic for another day.
I was reminded about this when I was online looking for a microphone attachment for my iPod. I went to Amazon and read the reviews, but it didn't give me enough information about what I need it for. So, I went to Google. In one search and one click I found a review by a person using the exact model I want and he loves it. He tells of situations like the ones I need it for where it worked great.
The company here is not engaged in the conversation, there are no testimonials on their site showing the product in use, I had to find it on my own. Had I found somebody with a bad experience I could have swayed the other direction.
Social media allows many forms of love to be expressed. Blog entries, word-of-mouth, buzz monitoring, email forwards, message board threads, photo sharing, video sharing, etc. Each opinion and statement of love has the potential to reach new consumers and influence others. Most of these can be measured.
So how do you measure ROL? Is it page views, pass-alongs, impressions, number of parodies, etc., or is it immeasurable? Marketers usually think you can measure everything, but can you? Let me know what you think.
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In terms of marketing, I think it's more important to 'understand' love, than it is to measure it. Like you said, love comes in many forms, especially online.
Companies need to be aware of how love (or anti-love) is spreading. They don't necessarily need to attribute a metric to *every* pass-along, blog entry, etc. Each of these will have a completely unique effect on the receiver. There is little chance of attaching a dollar value to each form.
Instead, be cognizant of love's power. Know how it happens, where it happens and why. Understanding it will allow you to take the appropriate actions as they relate to your consumers. Trying to measure it will simply pollute the waters.
P.S. I think this post echoes a lot of what you're talking about...
http://ryankarpeles.blogspot.com/2007/06/think-outside-dollar-sign.html
Posted by: Ryan Karpeles | Thursday, June 14, 2007 at 08:34 AM
Sorry about that, Matt! Not sure what happened there...
Posted by: Ryan Karpeles | Thursday, June 14, 2007 at 08:52 AM
I think you can't measure it... Is like measuring charm. Imagine the ideal woman.
Done?
OK, could you be able to put on paper what she looks like? Probably
But there are millions of beautiful women out there and you won't fall in love with each of them. What will make you fall in love are all the things you can't put on paper, you can't define, you can't explain.
(the same reasoning applies for both genders :))
Posted by: Philippe | Thursday, June 14, 2007 at 08:57 AM
Ryan -- No worries about the multiple comment, I took care of it.
I agree that you may not be able to measure it, but to your point, companies need to know how love spreads, where it spreads and then see what's happening.
I do believe that brand love comes back as long-term revenue growth, but measuring how that's achieved is a challenge that CMOs are facing.
If you were the CMO of a company and you came up with a brilliant integrated marketing plan that centered on creating customers who loved you, how would you justify that? Mass emailing or outdoor ads can be (mostly) measured by smart marketers. How do you justify love?
Posted by: Matt Dickman | Thursday, June 14, 2007 at 09:27 AM
Philippe -- I agree with you and I think you hit the main point of why this is so hard. Love is formed by a lot of things. Emotional, physical, intellectual, etc. Each person react differently to each and that's where measurement struggles.
Why do people love Apple? I do, but why? If you measure my product purchases you don't know my full feeling. Apple has no idea how many people I influence to buy their products nor do they know what I will purchase in the future. This is definitely a challenge, but I feel that creating that bond with consumers is the ultimate level of marketing.
Posted by: Matt Dickman | Thursday, June 14, 2007 at 09:31 AM
Matt,
Love is inherently impossible to measure. It's completely intangible. However, love leads to other things, which ARE tangible.
Love leads to repeat purchases. It leads to evangelism. It leads to user-generated content. And so on. If we try to measure love itself, we'll fail. It we try to pinpoint the *results* of love, I think we're heading in the right direction.
On the other hand, social media (which allows love to be easily shared) has broken a lot of marketing rules. In turn, the metrics we used for "old" marketing will have to be broken as well.
It might be scary to deal with, but it's also quite necessary.
Posted by: Ryan Karpeles | Thursday, June 14, 2007 at 10:00 AM
Ryan -- Bingo! That's where I was trying to take you and you hit it. The results of love are measurable and we need to find the new metrics for new media that help us see it.
Broken rules are what I, and I'm sure you, live for. Smash them up and mold the pieces into something new. It is scary, but necessary. CMOs that use traditional metrics on new media will not fully get "it".
Posted by: Matt Dickman | Thursday, June 14, 2007 at 10:04 AM
Good thread here, too. Geez, you are blazing over here. Philippe has a great comment and hits it -- think about why we "love" brands...when we love them we:
1) stick with them (measure through sales)
2) refer them to others (measure through increased sales)
3) remark on them (blog posts = increased exposures/placements)
one of the best quotes (well, I think it's a good quote) is: "emotion is the enemy of reason" (reason of course being rational thought...love is not at all rational but all emotion). So, when you love a brand, you have no 'reason' to go elsewhere...in fact there's no alternative. Now ain't love grand?
Posted by: CK | Friday, June 15, 2007 at 01:23 AM
CK -- That's a great summary of points. I think the irrational has a lot of power. Like you said when you love something there is no alternative. It really takes a lot to force you out of the relationship.
Posted by: Matt Dickman | Friday, June 15, 2007 at 11:58 AM
Matt,
CK lovingly sent me this URL. Thank you for writing this wonderful post. It resonates with the book I have coming out in the fall.
Lewis
Posted by: Lewis Green | Tuesday, June 19, 2007 at 03:47 PM
Lewis -- I'm glad you liked the post and I can't wait to read your book!
Posted by: Matt Dickman | Tuesday, June 19, 2007 at 04:47 PM