Unconventional Approach: New Examples of Emotional Marketing

Author: A. Millie S. Smith and Guo Yingling
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-01
Features: On the premise of customer satisfaction, only satisfied customers will return again and again. But where do satisfied customers come from? Smith, the author of this book, after years of empirical research, found that satisfied customers are created by satisfied employees. And satisfied customers are those who have special experiences that leave beautiful memories or unique experiences in their minds, enough to spark their desire to purchase again. Therefore, experience marketing has become one of the most attractive marketing methods today. This book selects 18 companies that are considered extremely successful worldwide, and they all share common traits: a growing base of loyal customers, a strong reputation and brand, and a reputation for employee loyalty. What are the secrets of these companies? Smith invited the CEOs and relevant executives of these companies to share their insights, revealing their secrets without reservation. Through this book, you can learn how these companies design and provide excellent consumer experiences, how they implement customer satisfaction, and the practical approaches they use to cultivate loyal customers. It also summarizes some common themes and tips, making it a book worth reading and emulating, and a rare gem.
This book aims to help understand how certain companies design and provide excellent consumer experiences and prove their efforts to be highly successful. It hopes to attract a wide range of readers—from general readers interested in brands they encounter daily and want to learn more about the minds behind them to executives actively seeking inspiration and insights to enhance their organizational vitality. Crucially, anyone who believes that owners must genuinely commit to providing unique services to customers to build great brands must read this book carefully. Moreover, those who believe that creating truly meaningful things for customers can fill their work with joy will also find many examples in this book.
What constitutes extraordinary practices? We examined some companies and thought, "Their practices are indeed quite special, aren’t they?" We may not be their customers, or even part of their target customer group, but we deeply admire them (perhaps even reluctantly), because they completely deliver on their brand promise, which is the essence of building a great brand. The premise of this book is that these companies have reached the pinnacle of success primarily because of their unique culture, which allows them to meet customer needs in a remarkable way. To foster this culture, one crucial point is to be sincere and supportive of employees within the company. The loyalty of these internal employees is rarely seen in many organizations, and this loyalty can be transformed into genuine passion for customers.
The title "Extraordinary Practices" reflects our belief that this way of running a business is far from the ordinary. These extraordinary companies often break conventions, pioneer new territories, and completely defy traditional business wisdom. As Richard Branson would say, they are "unrestrainedly bold." To test the uniqueness of these companies, we decided to have those who have created or are creating these cultures speak for themselves. We faithfully record their perspectives on their workplaces and listen to their honest accounts of the situation, without any embellishment or modification. This is why the tone of each chapter describing corporate culture is different—from the passionate and innovative style of a restaurant chain to the enthusiasm and vitality of Harley-Davidson, the fun and unconventionality of the Virgin Group, to the more restrained, advisory tone of the John Lewis Group. Their way of expressing themselves and the language they choose are among the key reasons these companies have achieved "extraordinarity."
What is the purpose of this book? This book aims to help understand how certain companies design and provide excellent consumer experiences and prove their efforts to be highly successful. It hopes to attract a wide range of readers—from general readers interested in brands they encounter daily and want to learn more about the minds behind them to executives actively seeking inspiration and insights to enhance their organizational vitality. Crucially, anyone who believes that owners must genuinely commit to providing unique services to customers to build great brands must read this book carefully. Moreover, those who believe that creating truly meaningful things for customers can fill their work with joy will also find many examples in this book.
This book is not a "how-to" manual. We are not trying to summarize the diverse experiences of different companies (in different industries, markets, and geographical environments) into a series of rigid rules that can serve as a "quick fix." Nevertheless, we have identified certain core principles and measures that, in our view, these extraordinary companies share. We will share these findings and insights with you in the conclusion. Additionally, we are confident that many of the situations and observations from our interviews will feel very familiar. The most important point is: "How do we motivate and retain the talent working for us while also creating a successful business that customers deeply value?" All our interviewees agreed that the answer lies in taking care of employees: taking good care of employees is the best way to take care of customers. This answer is not surprising.
How did we select the companies for the interviews? We asked employees from Interbrand and Forum, two companies operating in both the U.S. and the U.K., to recommend a list of companies based on the following criteria:
- Unique brand characteristics
- Long-term ability to deliver on the brand promise
- Reputation for employee loyalty
- Passionate customers
- High success rate