Shankman’s new book Nice Companies Finish First (which hits stores today!) is a little different. Its thesis holds that the big secret behind some of the most successful brands around is a decision to simply be nice or unexpectedly generous to customers on a regular basis. We spoke with him last week to figure out why:

Where did you find the inspiration for your new book?

Well, when I sold my previous venture HARO (the publicity service Help a Reporter Out) to Vocus, I realized that they were really buying my audience. I’d spent four years cultivating and building that audience and I really felt like every member of HARO was a friend, so I wasn’t going to sell it just anybody. I chose Vocus because they were our largest advertiser and, since I wrote all the ads, I believed that they understood that level of respect I had for my audience, and the level of trust my audience put into me. I knew they wouldn’t violate that.

And this realization led you to the subject of “niceness”?

Yes. I started doing research into companies and how they behave in order to see whether companies who treat their customers and investors nicely make more money. I found it to be true — companies that are doing “the little things” a little better than everyone else almost always fare better.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

So what goes into running a great customer service operation in the twittersphere? In order to find out, we poked around and found ten examples of brands that are doing it right, starting with some of the biggest.

1. Nike Support: This one is pretty much the gold standard. A quick glance at the account with all replies shows you how quickly and how often the feed’s managers respond to individual customers.

@karolharvill Please take a look at the following FAQ for best practices on calibrating workouts with the app: gonike.me/6019ndnS

— Nike Support (@NikeSupport) March 7, 2013

2. Xbox Support: Xbox boldly claims to hold the Guinness World Record for “most responsive Twitter feed”–and based on the number of replies their team posts every minute, we can see why they make that claim.

@kona570 This what you’re looking for? xbx.lv/mWsFJy^KC

— Xbox Support (1-5) (@XboxSupport) March 7, 2013

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

While we’re sorry to see the iron go, we’re more than a little relieved to know that our favorite token is safe – well done, #TeamWheelbarrow! May you continue to transport your dreams of financial conquest across the board via manual labor for decades to come.

For those of you who weren’t following this bit of interactive marketing genius, beginning in early January, Monopoly fans could vote to save their favorite token (and nominate a replacement for whichever classic playing piece would be retired) by visiting Monopoly’s Facebook page. According to vice president of marketing for Hasbro Jonathan Berkowitz, fans from 120 countries, including Djibouti, Kyrgyzstan, Guam and Liechtenstein, voiced their preferences. Even businesses got involved; Zappos created campaigns for the shoe, while Ames True Temper made a series of videos to help save the wheelbarrow (yes!).

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The survey concerned the phenomenon of “breakout brands” that achieve the enviable goal of customer loyalty and steady market share by dealing directly with their customers rather than playing a never-ending game of Battleship with their competitors. And its list of 2012’s “Top 10 Breakout Brands” ran the gamut from universally-beloved names like Apple and customer service leaders like Zappos to controversial brands like Chick-Fil-A.

What led rbb to commission this survey? While researching older marketing strategies, founder Christine Barney noticed that brands no longer followed the classic “challenger” approach typified by the Avis tagline “We’re only No. 2 in rent a cars. So why go with us? We try harder”. This Don Draper-style message may have worked in the 60’s, but it’s no longer relevant. So how have branding strategies evolved?

Barney lists three primary traits of the “breakout brand”:

1. They lead by putting the customer first, not distinguishing themselves from rivals. Customers don’t care about brand fights.
2. They use market research and knowledge of their customer base to anticipate their customers’ desire. Did the public realize they wanted tablets before the iPad arrived?
3. They communicate in ways that go well beyond traditional customer service, developing “rich feedback loops” with their customers.

Can any brand break out? Theoretically, yes—“breakout” does not necessarily mean new. Barney also lists three distinct types of breakout brands:

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

His central premise is this: until the late 90’s, political PR men had only one very blunt weapon–mass media communications. Flyers/mailers, TV attack ads and scripted phone calls were the only way to go. Now, however, technology has turned micro-targeting into an art. Campaign representatives use data drawn from “shopping habits, leisure activities, voting histories, charity donations, and so on” to identify and target two very specific groups of voters: Those who truly haven’t made up their minds and those who may need an extra push to make sure they get to the polls.  It is a never-ending process that is constantly being reviewed and refined.

Surowiecki’s most important point (and one we’ve noted before) is that TV ads are growing less and less effective—and that fact puts an even higher premium on micro-targeting and the simple act of knocking on doors and engaging potential voters in real-world conversations. Repeated surveys have found that the most personal messages are also the most effective. For example, “Just thanking people for having voted in the past significantly increases the chance that they’ll vote again.”

In this way, the evolution of campaigning mirrors changes in general PR practices.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Well, Zappos is great at making the most out of social media–for example, they earn an amazing $3.50 for every dollar they spend on Facebook ads. Clothing being a very visual field, Pinterest seemed a natural match—and now the shoe dudes have developed a new platform called PinPointing (check it out here) that uses pinners’ pages to recommend specific Zappos products.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.