The Product: The Fleishman-Hillard Customer Leverage Group,
based in San Francisco, recently announced an upgrade in its
Customer Leverage program, which is designed to enhance client's
PR, sales and marketing by injecting the voice of the customer into
the communications process. Previously, the program was strictly
focused on technology clients but has now branched out to include
both b-to-b and b-to-c campaigns.
Here's how it works: Fleishman-Hillard recruits customers to
participate in joint marketing programs with Fleishman's existing
clients. Mainly through interviews, customers tell Fleishman what
value they are getting through the client's product and/or service.
The information is then stored in a Fleishman database so customers
can be more effectively mobilized for PR campaigns. The system
"eliminates the mad scramble to find customers at the last hour" to
speak to the benefits of a product or service, says Maureen Welch,
VP of the Customer Leverage Group. The Customer Leverage Group,
which originally rolled out in 1999, can support a wide range of
communications, including sales events, product launches, news
pipelines, media events, prospecting campaigns and Web sites.
The Client: Novadigm, an Emeryville, CA-based software firm,
launched a new product in the server management market last
December and wanted to get some of its existing customers to plug
the product. Fleishman subsequently located several customers who
could talk to the benefits of Novadigm's new server management
software, and placed the comments in Novadigm's press releases
about this particular software.
The Result: Sumi Shohara, director of corporate marketing for
Novadigm, says using the Customer Leverage Group has helped to
generate sales for the new product. "If you're a company like us
and expecting a CIO to sign off on a $1 million deal you need to
leverage the value of the customer voice," she says, adding that
Seven Eleven's CIO was quoted in a release about how Novadigm's
product has helped him to better manage his electronic servers.
Using customers' voices can serve as a "foundation for sales
programs," Shohara says. "Peer review is crucial in closing a deal.
They help you market a product, and it's not advertising hype."
Contact: Sumi Shohara, [email protected]; Maureen
Welch, [email protected]