As you all know, I never pass up an opportunity to sit down with a marketer and hear which practices worked and which didn’t work for their company. I mean, what better way to learn more about this ever-changing industry than to listen to leaders in the field share their insight, the lessons they’ve learned, and the strategies they stand by. Through these conversations, I’m able to add value to my company and our clients.
On the blog today is former CMO of Time Warner Cable Business Class Stephanie Anderson, a friend of mine, president of The CMO Club New York chapter and a veteran of TheDrewBlog. I spoke to Stephanie in 2012 when she first joined TWCBC, and although much has changed since then, her stance that “knowing your customers and prospects will never go out of style,” still holds true. I’m sure Stephanie would agree that this way of thinking is largely responsible for the success of her team at TWCBC. It was interesting to talk to Stephanie as she wrapped up her time at Time Warner Cable, and to partake in a much different conversation than the one we had in four year ago. Now, we’re talking customer communities, loyalty programs, content marketing, and the way television has strengthened digital.
Drew: You’ve been in the job about 4 years now. Can you provide an overview of your overall approach to marketing at Time Warner Cable Business Class?
Stephanie: When I arrived at Time Warner Cable, we were many businesses and we were marketing at a very local level- which I believe in- but we were missing an overarching message and communications methodology.. The goal of my team was to find the place where localism mattered, and then compliment that with a consistent campaign across the country. We had to find the best breed of each of those local areas and then pull it up to one common message.
Drew: How did you decide that the consistent campaign was going to focus on your customers and get to a point where you thought that would be effective?
Stephanie: It started with a focus on what we called an “outside-in approach.” This meant we could never lose sight of our customers and our competitors. If we weren’t doing that, then we’d be missing the boat. By always thinking about our clients we knew we had a chance of developing programs the competition would fear. From there it was an easy step to testimonials, telling customer stories online and on television , which ended up being great for all parties.
Drew: How did you find the customers to feature?
Stephanie: We initially identified a few companies largely because they were loyal customers of ours. They also had interesting stories to tell and were hugely popular in social media, which demonstrated a lot of energy and engagement. So we focused on finding those kinds of customers, and then telling their stories on television, print, and digital.
Drew: Did this have an impact on their business?
Stephanie: One of the companies we actually became quite close with is Beekman 1802. They have an online service that they we’re really trying to grow with a very unique product base. Once we put them on TV, their popularity grew significantly. We even did a follow up story with them, which was thrilling for both parties.
Drew: Did your approach to finding customers for the campaign evolve?
Stephanie: Yes. We’ve been using an online resource we created for customers called PerkZone to help us find more great stories, and then turn those into testimonials. In this case, the customers nominate themselves by submitting their stories. The response has been amazing and these small business success stories are truly inspiring. When we do our long form testimonials, the story “inside the story” is always amazing.
Drew: What’s the story behind PerkZone?
Stephanie: One of our partner agencies is Renegade and they helped us create this retention strategy and loyalty program for small businesses called PerkZone. Accessed through our “MyAccount” portal, which customers use to pay their bills and manage their account, PerkZone has two areas, “Deals and Discounts” and “Ideas and Community.” In the first area, small business can find discounts from national brands as well as post deals for their local customers. It is in the other area that we were able to source hundreds of stories, a few of which were featured in our TV campaign.
Drew: Wow, so you could go from the online portal to become a star on TV?
Stephanie: Yes, like the Voice or something; it still happens. The best talent sometimes comes right to you.
Drew: Has Perk Zone had a material measurable impact on loyalty as far as you can tell?
Stephanie: Absolutely. Like many companies, we’re very focused on Net Promoter Score (NPS) and we’ve seen a really strong correlation between any digital engagement and customer satisfaction. Customers who use our MyAccount portal are significantly more likely to recommend us than those that don’t. The numbers get even better with PerkZone users. My gut told me that this was the right thing to do, and it was nice to see that the data proved me right. We’re continually trying to think of ways to engage with the customer, and we know we need to continue to invest in these areas.
Drew: Let’s zoom back to the big picture. How has all of this customer-centric marketing paid off?
Stephanie: TWCBC been very successful from a B2B standpoint having had 18 quarters of consecutive quarter-to-quarter growth! That’s remarkable considering TWCBC not a small business–it has over $3 billion in revenue and it gets harder to grow when you’re big. The company is not only acquiring customers, it’s also keeping customers, and some of these tactics that TWCBC has been talking about like establishing this community and getting to know its businesses better has actually helped our results considerably.
Drew: Pundits have been saying, “TV is dead” for years yet here we are in mid-2016 talking about how well TV has worked for your B2B brand?
Stephanie: First, we’re TV people and TV is still very much part of our culture. But more importantly, TV does really work. It does exactly what it’s supposed to do. It guides the inquiring person to your website, or wherever you want and helps get them engaged in the process. That is what it’s meant to do, just like a print ad or something else. Some of these traditional tactics get people motivated to go see more or engage with you, and that’s what we’re trying to do.
Drew: So TV gets the conversation started and then they go online. How are you making the two work together?
Stephanie: We have a great vendor partner that we use in the digital space that can make real time adjustments based on how much traffic TV is driving online. It’s amazingly sophisticated. Making sure that our offline and online tactics are coordinated has really profited us. It’s one thing to be coordinated with campaigns; it’s another thing to be coordinated on the delivery side, making sure that people are going where you want them to go. It saves both parties time.
Drew: I’ve heard you talk about a fifth P beyond Product, Price, Promotion and Place. Can you elaborate on it?
Stephanie: Everyone knows about the 4 Ps, and they are very important in marketing, and I think they fulfill most of everything that’s going on out there. I contend that there is this 5th P that is Proof. This probably comes from my long history of being in sales at different levels in technology. Notoriously, there was always this moment in the demonstration when the tables turned and the customer says, “okay I get it,” or “okay I’ll take it.” That was the moment we provided the Proof, when we helped people really see how others were using the technology.
Drew: Let’s shift gears here. TV and digital were not your only tactics. You also got into content marketing, right?
Stephanie: Absolutely. Working with our partner RSL Media, we actually created a publication called Solve that goes to our 160,000 customers and prospects in the mid-market space. It’s both a 24-page printed magazine and an e-zine, with content that’s relevant to that mid-market space. With highly topical and informative stories, we’re able to keep the conversation going by delivering really useful information that just happens to from Time Warner Cable Business Services. The response has been great – we’ve had customers actually call us to make sure they’re subscribers and to get other employees on the list.
Drew: Why not just create a digital version of Solve? Why go to the expense of printing it?
Stephanie: Some of it stems from years back when I needed to accumulate a book of testimonials for our sales force and also links back to my early point about Proof. Sales people need to be able to demonstrate proof of what you’ve done for other companies. Solve is great for that since many of the stories feature customers. It gives the sales person something physical that can help start a conversation. It’s really hard to do that with a digital-only version. Also, our customers felt more important being featured in a well-produced magazine. It was prestigious enough that customers started asking how they could be featured! In this case, the medium was also the message.
Drew: What would you say was the biggest lesson you have learned that you would pass along to future marketers in your industry, or any industry?
Stephanie: I think going back to the customer or competitor focus, and keeping your eyes set on the external. Whether that be your competitors, or your brand or your prospects that are so important. It’s so easy in marketing to get distracted by the stuff or the creative, or the results. Sometimes you need to step back and think wait a minute, who am I trying to talk to? And if I were them, would I listen, or if I were the competition, would I be afraid of what they’re saying? Those are the things that we are committed to because they work. If you keep that forefront on your mind, you will be successful.