Transparency in Engagement Marketing, Part 2

Last week, we partially defined engagement marketing and covered some examples of quick service restaurants and a convenience store chain that put it into practice.  This week we’ll look at a few more examples of how this strategy has worked well for others.  To further define engagement marketing Greg Ippolito, Creative Director of the engagement marketing agency; Annodyne, argues that traditional top-down marketing results, largely, in the production and communication of white noise. Whereas engagement marketing assumes a different approach:

“Think of a salesperson who walks up to you in a store. You tell him thanks, you’re okay, you’re just looking.  But he hovers and looms, finds a way to insert himself into your activity, and is a general annoyance. That’s what typical marketing feels like: intrusive and disruptive.  Engagement Marketing is the opposite. It’s a salesperson who hangs back and engages you if/when you need help. Who can sense what you want to do, and help you arrive at that decision.”  “Engagement Marketing done well, means connecting with audiences who want to hear from you, in relevant, meaningful, interesting ways.”

Domino’s used the power of engagement when in 2010 they reinvented themselves as they made public focus group comments about their pizzas. “Worst excuse for pizza I’ve ever had!”, “the sauce tastes like ketchup” and “totally void of flavor” were some of the comments they made public. Domino’s used these comments as a rallying cry when their CEO, Patrick Doyle stated; “You can either use negative comments to get you down or you can use them to excite you and energize your process and make it a better pizza, we chose the latter.” Everybody in this [headquarters] building, our job is to figure out how to best support them so that we reduce the time and energy that it takes to get done what they need to get done." Source 

Another form of practicing transparency in engagement marketing has been used by an industry as a whole.  Last fall the convenience store industry had a segment on the History Channels Modern Marvels series on convenience stores  In this fascinating piece, viewers were shown the behind the scenes of the convenience store industry.  We see not only the “c-store” industry history but also how the floor plan is methodically planned to optimize revenue in several “zones”.  Take a look at this and you’ll see how even handles on coolers are placed on either the left or right side of the cooler to direct traffic through other profitable c-store zones.

Engagement marketing works well for several reasons, these three being among them:

1.     As is highlighted in the Modern Marvels c-store segment, consumers like to think that they have the inside scoop on what really goes on behind the scenes. This satisfies the sense of curiosity that is indwelt in in all of us

2.     It has a tremendous positive effect on store level employees. What store employee doesn’t want to see his boss get his hands dirty and to have him or her show humility on national television?

3.     Third, it gives “the boss” great ideas to take back to corporate which he or she can then implement. This comes full circle when it is brought back to the store level.

Are you practicing engagement marketing with your consumer and store employees?  What best practices have you put in place, which have had a positive impact on sales, perception in the marketplace and on store employees?