{"id":403,"date":"2012-11-05T09:33:49","date_gmt":"2012-11-05T09:33:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.naylor.com\/associationadviser\/index.php\/2012\/11\/05\/newsletter25001_403\/"},"modified":"2020-03-02T18:21:50","modified_gmt":"2020-03-02T18:21:50","slug":"is-customer-always-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.naylor.com\/associationadviser\/is-customer-always-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the Customer Always Right?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-style: italic; font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">As I mentioned <a href=\"http:\/\/www.naylornetwork.com\/nay-adviser\/articles\/index.asp?aid=134852&amp;issueID=21950\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">last month<\/a>, there\u2019s probably never been a more exciting, but challenging, time for association leaders to build, maintain and sustain their brands.So I was surprised to learn recently that the marketing and communications director of a well-respected, international association\u2014which by all accounts is doing many things right for its members and industry\u2014was having a tough time gaining approval from the association\u2019s marketing committee. The challenge wasn\u2019t a matter of budget approval; it was about getting approval for the director\u2019s recommended redesign\u2014a much-needed update of the association\u2019s brand. <\/span><\/p>\n<table style=\"background-color: #dcdcdc; margin: 5px; width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; border: black 1px solid;\" cellspacing=\"3\" cellpadding=\"3\" align=\"center\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: black 1px solid;\">\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Give your internal and external customers all the facts they need to make an informed decision.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Our research shows the No. 1 communication problem association executives think they have is the inability to cut through the noise and clutter of all the entities vying for members\u2019 attention.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Association communication professionals tend to be very cautious about changing their branding. Even if more compelling options exist, many fear that a dramatic departure from the norm will render their image unrecognizable to members.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Consider taking your association brand in a direction that sets it apart, i.e., be the needle in the haystack\u2014not the haystack. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><br \/>\nFrom what I understand, everyone at the organization agreed it was time for an update to the association\u2019s image, so a designer was commissioned and came up with a state-of-the-art design. The new look was a big improvement over the association\u2019s current creative presence. The problem wasn\u2019t the new design; it was getting the committee to move forward with it. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">This leads me to a poignant blog post from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/deirdrereid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@deirdrereed<\/a> that highlighted Kivi Leroux Miller\u2019s article, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/19\/you-are-not-your-target-audience\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">You Are Not Your Target Audience<\/a>. Miller said you need to get feedback from, and give autonomy to, people inside and outside your organization who most fit your target demographic. After all, as marketers and communicators, we should continually strive to initiate conversations that allow us to stay informed and become savvier about the needs and wants of our customers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">By all accounts, the marketing committee in the example above was most similar to the association\u2019s target audience. But, does that mean they were right and the association staff was wrong about how to best evolve the association\u2019s brand?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold;\">Is the customer always right?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Let\u2019s assume that the customer <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">is<\/span> always right. Whether you are asking your members for feedback on how they would like to receive the association\u2019s communications or seeking approval from internal board members for a new branding initiative, if the &#8220;customer&#8221; is going to be part of the decision-making process, you must ensure they understand the goals and objectives of your brand and the competitive landscape like you do.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">When faced with a choice, most of us (present company included) tend to choose the safe and familiar route because we are afraid that if we do something dramatically different, our customers won\u2019t recognize us as the association we have always been.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">As Hank Berkowitz points out in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.naylornetwork.com\/nay-adviser\/articles\/index.asp?aid=137310&amp;issueID=25001\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">this month\u2019s lead story<\/a>\u00a0about <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Association Adviser eNews&#8217;s<\/span> new communication and benchmarking survey, the number one problem that association executives believe they have with their member communications is an inability to cut through the noise and clutter of all the entities vying for members\u2019 attention. What do you think would be more effective at achieving this goal: A) minor updates to your brand that are familiar and safe, or B) an innovative approach that breathes life into the organization and helps the association look like the forward-thinking leader that it truly is?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">I\u2019m not recommending that you hastily do away will all the branding, trust and goodwill your organization has built up over the years, just to show you can innovate. But, now is not the time for maintaining the status quo. Your members are too busy, and too many other voices out there are vying for their attention, to take them for granted. To quote Don Draper from the AMC series <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Mad Men<\/span>, &#8220;You want to be the needle in the haystack<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">\u2014<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">not the haystack.&#8221; Doing what you\u2019ve always done will get you what you\u2019ve always got<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">ten\u2014<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">and that\u2019s just not good enough by today\u2019s standards.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Dana Plotke<\/span><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"> has worked in B2B marketing and communications for more than 15 years, with a focus on association media and events since 2002. She leads the marketing efforts of Naylor, LLC.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-style: italic; font-family: Arial;\" align=\"center\">\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When it comes to a new branding and design decision, who is the real expert? Involve your internal and external customers in goal and objective setting for your communications to ensure your association will stand out while still serving its primary audience.<br \/>\n<em>By Dana Plotke<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marketing-communications"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Is the Customer Always Right? - Association Adviser<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If the customer is always right, you must ensure they understand the goals and objectives of your brand and the competitive landscape like you do.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.naylor.com\/associationadviser\/is-customer-always-right\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is the Customer Always Right? 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