Canadian Marketing Blog

Brand Management Doesn’t Stop at the Ad Campaign

As manager of a number of CMA’s Marketing Councils, I am surprised when I am asked – more frequently than you’d think, “Why does the CMA have a Contact Centre Council? What do contact centres have to do with marketing?” I can tell you that members of the Contact Centre Council see themselves as marketers – and this mindset likely correlates to an organization’s bottom line.

The Contact Centre Council collaborated on an article in the most recent edition of Contact Management, and in the magazine’s editorial, Ron Glen quotes a speech by Diane Francis that I thought was bang on. She said “The industry can have the smartest advertising campaign the world has ever known, but if the people answering the phone turn the public off and cost you customers it is all for not. To think that brand management stops with billboards, newspaper ad, TV commercials... is crazy.”

I’m not sure why contact centres are often overlooked as marketing tools. How many Twitter posts have you seen complaining about a call centre experience ending with a declaration that they are switching suppliers or will never do business with that company again? On the flip side, have you ever upgraded your spend as a result of a great call centre experience? I certainly have.

I wonder how people question that a corporate function with implications to brand, customer service and relationship building, and up-selling and cross selling, does not have to do with marketing. If marketing departments are embracing the use of social media tools, why is there question as to the marketing value of a live, relationship building touch point with consumers? Am I wrong?

Perhaps you can help me: where does your contact centre fit within your organizational structure – in the marketing department, or is it an operational function? Does this affect how your organization sees call centres as marketing tools?

Interesting choice of phrases, calling a contact centre a marketing "tool". Marketers may think of outbound campaigns as choosing a channel, but often customer service is a department separate to marketing (whether that is right or wrong).

If Marketing and Contact Centres are not closely connected from inception of an idea to the launch of the idea, I have personally witnessed the negative impact that can have on customer experience. One company, one voice. We recently moved our Contact Centre reporting lines from Operations to Marketing. Amazing the world of difference that can make.

I think there is a misconception of an Inbound call centre. These centres may be seen as service centres as opposed to Sales and Service Centres. Inbound centres are typically seen as cost centres and not revenue generating as it is more challenging to determine the revenue impact. Outbound is easier, you make a call and get the sale.
I am lucky as our centre is viewed as a centre that can deliver value to our clients and the business. This comes from the Top Down.

Great Blog.

David

Thanks for raising this. Important topic. In a research study in the late 90's consumers were asked what most affected their brand loyalty for a company. Choices were advertising, quality of product, price, community involvement and a 15+ long list of choices. over 60% said they were most influenced by the last few interactions they had with customer service. Lousy call, no loyalty, great call, high loyalty.

Not surprisingly this is consistent with anecdotes you hear all the time -- no one is thrilled that their cell phone works, they expect it to... nor are they pissed off from a mistake or product failure (my laptop excluded) but all will always speak badly about a company from a poor phone experience.

The Call centre may not be functionally part of marketing but certainly is the bullseye for brand loyalty.