Social media and advertising

So, social media is the new media for brands. For the lazy it's a Facebook page and a Twitter account. For the more sussed it's creative ads virally shared via YouTube and email - integrated campaigns across a host of media which entertain more than they sell.

But what no one talks about is that the changing times are not about a new medium. It's about a profoundly different way of doing business.

Before a brand could get away with an average, over-priced product and bloody awful and arrogant service by spending an obscene amount of money telling the world how wonderful they were. Don't talk about the problems, instead portray a utopia where their product will make you happier, sexier, smarter, more popular and loved by all.

Advertising and branding was a diversion. It allowed a brand to save face without having to do any of the hard work of actually building a decent business.

Of course I'm generalising. There are brands who've built their business on putting their customer and staff first and benefited from this focus on the core areas. But there are a plethora who have gotten it wrong. If you weren't able to communicate effectively with your customer before the new social media won't help.

It's not dissimilar to a socially inept person being given the full make-over, all of it being external, and then expected to miraculously morph into a sauve, confident conversationalist. If the fundamentals didn't exist before all the new social media platforms will do is highlight that ineptness faster than the old forms of communication.

It's pretty simple really. If your business has been built around serving the needs of your customer, dedicated to ensuring that every experience with your company and product is a positive one, honestly cares about what your customer thinks and is centred around the core values of mutual respect, integrity and service then social media will help to enhance and amplify your story.

If you're the socially inept entity perhaps a deep introspection and foundational changes are needed before that first tweet is sent.

The rise of designer banks

This article in CoolHunter made me wonder what role banks play in our space. With the growth of mobile-money and the ability to manage one's finances without ever setting foot in a bank, why do we need banks and their branches?

The attempt to join the zeitgeist by turning banks into touch-screen designer boutiques smacks of desperation. A case where function is relegated to the back-seat behind form. It's too easy to slap the lipstick on the pig instead of re-thinking the pig in an environment when so many are turning kosher.

So here are my ideas on re-thinking this pig:

• Instead of parading themselves on the high street at great cost which translates into higher service fees against a deteriorating service perhaps they should close their branches and set up shop in a Checkers like Computicket. Use someone else's footprint and real estate and offer a service to the customer at a place and time convenient to them. The money they save could be used to immediately lower transactional and service fees and improve their service. Have a combination of real-live tellers and touchscreens, not unlike Ster Kinekor. 

• Mobile is the way to go. We're all familiar with the stats on the prevalence of mobile telephony across Africa and the premise that pretty soon smartphones will be the tool of choice for almost everything. So why not create a mobile banking option that obliterates any need for a branch? A comprehensive, bells-and-whistles, simple to use and always works when it's supposed to.  

• Bank as community centre? Maybe not quite the way it's envisioned at Umpqua but considering that South Africa needs to encourage the growth of small businesses does it not make sense to create 24/7 business centres in which the bank is the anchor tenant? From housewives who need a loan to start a small home-baking initiative to the college drop-out who needs advice and finance for a lucrative surfboard business to the entrepreneur who needs assistance in scaling up his empire. Like a banking 'Builder's Warehouse' where everything related in any way, shape or form to enterprise development all under one large, friendly and accessible roof. Project New Bank is an interesting development, it will be interesting to see if they completely re-invent banking or just tweak it.

There are so many options once we begin to consider what role banks now play in our lives and into the future as opposed to what banks were. If they don't catch on to this then mobile service providers could very well be the new bank.