Great observation that loyalty programs that were designed to make people feel special lose their cachet when everyone is “special.”

I was flying the other day on an airline that has a program for “Elite” flyers. Two things I observed:

1. There were more “elite” flyers than regular ones.

2. The “elite” boarding line was right next to the regular boarding line, separated by one of those rope barrier thingies. I guess the “elite” carpet they put in the “elite” boarding line was supposed to make me feel like a movie star, but it looks kind of silly and comes across as a very lazy way to try and make people feel special.

I’m loving the rash of posts on personal, people oriented marketing. The common theme here is this: you’re not marketing to customers, you’re seeking a relationship with a person. Here’s a quick roundup: AdverGirl’s tip for successful B2B – treat

If someone you have a casually friendly relationship with acts grossly inappropriately towards you, you will no longer consider them a friend and will continue to hold negative feelings towards them for some time.

Social Media/Customer (People) Relationship Management is all about the relationship brands have with their paying users. If I’m paying to bring you into my life, you’d better not mess with me.

Consistency is always a major task for a larger company, it is so hard to keep everyone on track, and creating a strategy from the beginning will definitely help. Would you say a new business or a smaller firm should create these strategies from the beginning and take advantage of their size to be very consistent in order to get an edge over potential competitors or even a differentiating edge over larger companies doing similar business? Or do you think, at early stages of a new business, achieving this consistency may end up ‘restraining’ future strategies or growth?

It was a pleasure to meet you at Rady on the 18th. I hope to join the discussion more often.

Good to hear you could get back home safely after the fires, I was lucky enough not to be evacuated, but listening to KOGO radio and checking singonsandiego.com were definitely my favorite ways to be updated about the situation.

Consistency across all touchpoints is absolutely key. Many organizations stumble because that they do deliver a consistent message. They master one touchpoint yet totally ignore another. The message the customers receives is confusion. If you’re a four star restaurant, yet have a one star telephone answering system, you have diminished your brand. Most organizations do not get this, thanks for reminding them.