Which Companies Use Marketkeeping?

Marketkeeping is the process of keeping your customers connected to you, as well as making sure your identified prospects don't drift away. This process requires identifying your desired contacts, maintaining an open line of communication, and responding to their needs. In many organizations, this process is managed by a sales staff, but top management cannot assume that sales people are doing the complete job.

Who gets it? American Express, for one. I'm speaking from the point of view of one of their long-time small business customers, not from the view of their marketing team. They clearly recognize me as a customer, they communicate with me at least once a month, and they invite me to contact them. If I do, they listen and respond with sensitivity. When my purse was stolen, they were the only vendor to overnight a new card to me at their own expense.

With which companies have you experienced marketkeeping behavior?

Are you marketing or chasing a bolt of lightening?

For us marketers it seems like great success is underpinned by great luck. We have to hit the audience at just the right moment, and so many little things which we can't control will undermine our success.

Baskin is correct in saying you can learn more from studying almost-ran case studies and attending to what went wrong. You can learn to plan to avoid pitfalls better than you can plan for a bolt of lightening.

Baskin Dim Bulb branding: You Get More From Almost Great Ideas. 2009-Nov-9, by Jonathan Salem Baskin

I'd challenge you to understand the almost great ideas...really smart, strategic programs that were well conceived, delivered, and then stopped short of realizing their full potential:

• Viral videos that got watched a lot, but stopped short of prompting a sale (or getting consumers tangibly and reliably closer to one).
• Promotional campaigns that seemed too good to be true (promise overload that defied belief).
• A customer service problem that was adequately fixed, but not extended into a sales opportunity.
• Contributions from unlikely sources, like distribution or finance.

You need to deconstruct what happened in order to truly envision what's possible. I think you'll get more from almost great ideas.