With a growth rate of 66% for the past four consecutive years, Kobie Marketing – the pioneer of omnichannel loyalty and a recognized leader in the loyalty marketing industry, has been recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of America’s fastest growing companies. Kobie was ranked No. 50 on the 2013 Top Advertising and Marketing companies list in the Tampa metro area.
This ranking places Kobie into the same category of rapidly growing companies that have graced the Inc. 500│5000 in previous years including Microsoft, Timberland, Vizio, Intuit, Jamba Juice, Oracle, and Zappos.com.
Based in St. Petersburg, Florida, Kobie Marketing is an award-winning loyalty marketing firm that specializes in the design, development, and implementation of loyalty programs for global brands including Verizon, AMC Theatres, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse, Royal Bank of Canada, and Hawaiian Airlines.
During an intriguing interview with Loyalty 360 CEO Mark Johnson, Bram Hechtkopf, VP Business Development and Marketing at Kobie Marketing, discussed how many companies are turning to loyalty to solve business challenges, the roles of social media and content, and the alignment of priorities among a company’s upper level executives.
Loyalty is Evolving
Hechtkopf: Loyalty is evolving into a strategic imperative, as companies look for measurable ways to solve various business challenges. We look at loyalty as an enterprise initiative and the most successful programs are sponsored by the CEO. We spend a lot of time with our clients, helping to align objectives across the organization and measure the impact.
From a technology perspective, we’re seeing a convergence between loyalty and CRM. For banks, airlines retailers, restaurants, and entertainment companies alike, it’s all about engagement and social media, and measuring the impact.
How Do You Leverage Social Media within Loyalty?
Hechtkopf: It’s a real challenge for companies. If you look at the basics of social media, it’s really just an evolution of how people interact. People don’t necessarily want to react to brands and messages on Facebook; they want to interact with their friends. The business challenge we’re trying to solve is how to allow brands to be a part of the conversation, and measure the impact of being a part of the social thread.
We’re putting tools in place that allow brands to leverage social media and incentives for interacting with brands on social media.
Is Content King?
Hechtkopf: Everyone is focusing on content, but the challenge is understanding how this content is driving commerce for the brand and how to get that relevant content into people’s hands at the right time. Big Data is a challenge that goes way beyond loyalty. I hear a lot of talk about this from brands, but not a lot of execution on this.
Proper Corporate Alignment
Hechtkopf: To be successful, there has to be alignment among the offices of finance, marketing, IT, and operations. There has to be a collaborative roadmap.
A lot of times the goals are different for those departments. They have to figure out collaboratively what business challenges they are trying to solve. If there is a fundamental gap between the CMO and CFO, for example, then the program will not succeed. There needs to be an alignment of corporate goals.
Advice for Loyalty Programs
Hechtkopf: I’d recommend companies invest more time and money into planning a strategic roadmap. Companies are often so reactive, and rush to have something in the market without first developing a strategic plan.
It has to be a top priority from the CMO or it will get lost in the shuffle. Consumers see right through weak value propositions.
Keys to Kobie’s Massive Growth
Hechtkopf: There is no silver bullet, but it all starts with an unwavering commitment to serving our clients. It sounds simple, but we’ve always said and lived by this: That we’ll never sacrifice an existing client for new business. At the end of the day, you have to serve your clients. There are a lot of pressures out there -- internally and externally -- on our clients, and we need to be there as a partner.
Additionally, it’s important that we stay on top of technology, always innovate and invest in your products. Continue to invest in support, partnerships, and think about the full service offering. We will continue to evolve with the needs of our clients.
Omni-channel Loyalty
Hechtkopf: People are overindulged with email. A lot of brands are teaching customers bad behaviors through heavy discounting – training people to shop when prices are 30%, 40%, or 50% off. If you’re going to be truly omnichannel, you can’t be disconnected and advertise full price in store, 20% off online and then send the same customers a 30% off emails.
You have to be where customers want to be. It’s much less about push and more about pull and making easy experiences with consistency.