Aug 30 07
Driving for success at Con-way Inc.
This week we’re joined by Tom Nightingale, Vice President of Communications and CMO of Con-way Inc. Guest host Maureen Taylor talks to Tom about his efforts there and how Con-way is positioning itself for the future. (Total Running Time 14:15)
Full transcript after the jump
Maureen Taylor: On this edition of more than talk we meet Tom Nightingale, Vice President of communications and CMO of Conway, Inc. Tom has been with the organization since 2006 and we’re glad to be talking to him today. What are the most important things that you think about corporate communications and social media and what’s happening as far as communications is concerned?
Tom Nightingale: I think from a corporate communications standpoint, the most important thing for communication to keep in mind is having high level outcome. They can in turn directly tie back their input variables to those outcome metrics.
Maureen Taylor: So this is about accountability then?
Tom Nightingale: It is really about accountability and the fact that communication is not just something we do, but we do to an end. We are keeping that end in mind at all times.
Maureen Taylor: Define ‘the end’.
Tom Nightingale:For example, in my case, the three high level metrics that I track back to are: (1) to reduce the cost to acquire and retain customers; (2) to attract and keep the best and brightest employees; and (3) to position the company for growth. All of those things are trackable, metrics-driven, and can directly link back to all the communications and marketing activities that we perform on a day-to-day basis.
Maureen Taylor: So you know up to this point being able to actually prove that communication does impact metrics. That has been very difficult. So what are you doing differently?
Tom Nightingale:For the campaigns that we execute, we always attempt to code those out. For example, with the customer-focused campaign or prospect-focused campaign, we track back the sale cycle and the related selling cost as expressed by both the cost of sales and marketing relative to the revenue that is gained from that customer.
In the case of employees, we look at the cost to acquire and retain employees. We look at employee turnover, the hiring cycle and how long it takes for us to get an employee’s expression of interest to the hiring process.
Maureen Taylor: And then for growth?
Tom Nightingale: For the growth standpoint, what we look at is our ability to develop new products that will resonate with our target markets, shrinking down the product development cycle and the product acceptance cycle. From an acquisition standpoint, we look at our ability to go out and acquire companies so that we can use that as a growth accelerator and the receptivity and subsequent price premiums that we may have to pay for those companies versus the competitive landscapes.
For example, companies see the strategic alignment between our direction and that of another company. It is our belief that we will be able to secure that company as part of an acquisition at a price premium less than one of our competitors who might not share the same strategic vision or at least communicate that same strategic vision.
Maureen Taylor: This is actual metrics that proves that for customers, employees, and growth, you are tracking the impact of what you are doing.
Tom Nightingale:That is correct. We want to track back everything that we do whenever possible. That doesn’t mean that we take an overly conservative approach. I am not at all opposed to taking a fire once in a while as long as it is a well-calculated risk. Because if you don’t, it is awfully hard to learn new things along the way and to keep your team energized and engaged. If you are just turning the crank on the same rote communications, they are driving rote metrics.
Maureen Taylor: A lot of people are talking about social media. The next workforce is the largest workforce. They are used to mobility and accessibility anytime, anywhere. They text, have immediacy and they are transparent. How do you think we, who help with communicating, are going to fill the field with that kind of workforce?
Tom Nightingale:In my industry, we are still a little bit ahead of the curve. My target market is predominantly a somewhat older marketplace that is not actually on the cutting edge of social media and emerging technologies. But they are certainly approaching that very quickly. We are using a combination of bringing in talent from the outside with a diverse perspective to work directly for the organization and making extensive use of agents who are good at these.
Agencies tend to be more on the leading edge because they cater to broader set of audience than we typically do in the transportation logistics industry. We are not completely; I don’t want to say immune, because it almost makes it sound like a bad thing. But we are certainly not outside of that realm altogether.
For example at my previous employer, we did downloadable free ringtones that were the sound of a truck horn. That was in exchange for their contact information because we were looking to hire drivers. That was an interesting campaign targeting a much younger demographic. Still underway, but so far it is proven, at least as of the time that I left that company, it had proven to be a fairly cost-effective message for us to secure leads.
We were paying for the download on behalf of the prospect and leveraging the information they had given back to us in exchange for that free download as a means to stay in contact with them as a potential-driver candidate. While it may not be my cup of tea to have Peterbilt or a freight liner on my cell phone, for a lot of people in that demographic who are younger and more gear-oriented, as I will call it, that was a really exciting premium for them to get.
Maureen Taylor: What advice would you give to other communication people?
Tom Nightingale: One of the key things that communicators have to keep in mind is that we are in the business like any operator. Communicators are in the business of allocating relatively scarce resources. You can’t do everything so you have to place your bets on the highest probability outcomes. You have to focus your efforts down on the basket of possibilities that will produce the best combinatorial yield.
Some of the things that we do to ensure that we are successful in that regard is we repurpose everything. So if we write a line of copy for a press release, we want to make sure that the concept behind that line is somehow incorporated into a lateral, or web or any kind of social medium.
We want to make sure that there is a consistent message and that the message is driven not only through a desire to produce a seamless experience with no cracks in the armor, but also for us to maintain a cost-effective communications position. We don’t feel that we have the luxury of being a P&G or Coke or one of these major marketing powerhouses with seemingly limitless budgets.
We want to make sure that the tools are applied across multiple media. It is one of the reasons that we also tend to concentrate most of our activities down into a single agency.
Maureen Taylor: You have to be efficient. Everybody takes information in different ways. So, actually, you are not only doing it efficiently, you are doing it smart.
Tom Nightingale:It’s true. The key point there is that everybody does take information in different ways. We are certainly in a ‘USA Today’ society where people need factoids. They need a single grasp that tells a thousand words and a lot of people would rather be recipients of messages than going out and extracting them manually through reading. There is a much more passive receipt of messaging these days than there has been in the past.
We use a couple of different things to try to cater to that trend as well. We use a lot more digital media that allows the recipient to sit back and take it all in; oftentimes multitasking. How many of us are on conference calls, while we are also doing email and receiving a text message, and sending something out on a Blackberry from a different account? We are trying to make sure that as message saturation reaches critical mass, we use a variety of tools to hit the audiences multiple times with multiple media in an effort to cater to them in their native format.
Maureen Taylor: So, let’s talk a little bit for a second about B2B and B2C and the difference between the two.
Tom Nightingale:I think that primary difference between the two is that B2B tends to be a far more fact-based decision. B2C tends to be a lower-purchase price with higher emotive elements to it. I think the second and equally as important, the difference is that B2B tends to be more quantitative in nature, being able to track back those metrics that I mentioned earlier to the actual purchase process.
Accountability is a little bit tighter because the point of purchase is far tighter. If we sell through a direct sale force or an online vehicle that will allow you the ability to track to metrics back more tightly than you would in B2C, where they are selling through a channel or a mass retail outlet, you don’t have the opportunity for source data feedback with the exception of some survey data.
Maureen Taylor: What can the people listening do with that? If they are not doing what you are talking about, how can they make a change?
Tom Nightingale:I think the key thing if you are a B2B marketer is to know that you have different level of accountability. It is oftentimes applicable when you have a smaller budget as well. Because you have to go back and you have to do your homework.
You have to track back your metrics and create the systems to enable you to know what channels and vehicles and mediums are working for you and what fact of base criterion are being used by your buyers in the decision-making process.
Maureen Taylor: Now let’s switch to risk mitigation.
Tom Nightingale:In any purchase process, whether it is B2B or B2C, there are three elements of risks. A fascinating body of work came out of Harvard in the early 70s that tells us conclusively that any buying cycle is peppered with three things: (1) price risk, (2) performance risk, and (3) psychosocial risk.
Price risk very simply, is, “Am I going to get what I paid for? Is this a fair exchange for my dollar, yen, or whatever?” Performance risk is, “Will it do what I am told it will do?” whether it was through an ad or banner, or whether it was through a sales person live: “Do I believe that?” Then the third element is the psychosocial risk.
Psychosocial risk is, “Will I get fired or will I look like an idiot for making this purchase decision?” That is the silent deal killer, the one that so many people neglect. They just assume, “Well, I’m a well respected brand. I’m the kind of person that people want to do business with,” and that is all I need.
The reality is customers will tell you if you cost too much. They will tell you if your performance wasn’t high enough. But they won’t tell you that they were afraid they looked like an idiot. So there are a bunch of things that you can do as a marketer along each of those continuums to help offset risk.
For example, case studies are wonderful because they attack both performance and psychosocial risk. If we can prove that company ABC went out and used your product successfully, you are going to offset not only the performance risk but also the psychosocial risk. If that next buyer is XYZ buyer and has to go to his or her boss and answer, “Well, why did you do this?” XYZ can say because ABC did it and if ABC did it, it must have been good.
What happens is you wind up compressing that sales cycle and you wind up therefore being able to help your sales force attract and retain the best customers most effectively and quickly, then it in turn costs the company a lot less. You can then turn and create that flywheel of growth that you need as an organization.
Maureen Taylor: What do think about the young folks that are coming, the 16 to 23-year-olds? And I know that we talked about this a little bit before but it is a brand new workforce. There are totally different expectations, technology, and communication. Like one gal said, “You know I’m 23 and you gave me a trophy for showing up on the soccer field in my uniform. So, I’m special.” How are we going to change or adapt to that?
Tom Nightingale:From a communicator’s standpoint, it is a fascinating time. It is absolutely just the most amazing time to be part of the marketing and communications field in the history. Because everything that used to work before doesn’t work now. Everything that you think would work in one way winds up working in another way.
You don’t have to look too far outside of your comfort zone to look at some obtuse marketing campaign and go, “There’s no chance that thing would work.” And yet, with this generation, that is exactly what is working.
Maureen Taylor: Can you give an example?
Tom Nightingale:There is a graffiti artist in the subways of London and he does graffiti in the dirt. What he does is actually he cleans the tile to form the ad. So you can’t arrest him because he’s cleaning. There are companies that have used that artist to promote their ad. In essence, getting free billboard space by cleaning the area in the shape of, in this case it was an Absolut bottle.
For me, I would have said that there was no way that would work and that wouldn’t catch my eye. But for somebody who is younger, more environmentally conscious and looking for a cutting-edge form of media, it breaks through the clutter. That to me is an absolutely fascinating, very simple but fascinating example of something I never would have thought would work, but lo and behold, it did.
Maureen Taylor: Do you think some people would push back and resist change? Or, do you think most of us will be welcoming?
Tom Nightingale: Nobody resists change. They resist being changed. When change hits home, then it becomes personal. When I can no longer get my newspaper, the change hits me home. When I have to get my New York Times or Wall Street Journal via the Internet, that’s when all of a sudden it becomes personal. Those people will push back, but again, I don’t think there is any stemming the tide here.
Tags: blackberry, corporate blogging, corporate communications, marketing, roi, social media, usa today
