French SMEs are losing ground to their American counterparts
French companies are lagging behind when it comes to integrating new media in marketing. SMEs are particularly impacted, the main reason being their lack of experience or training in digital marketing. Nonetheless, the new media present them with great opportunities to differentiate themselves from the competition. What could they learn from the North American market?
The new media for a better customer service
This past April 14th, I gave a speech about cross-border marketing to The Minneapolis / St. Paul Euro Chambers of Commerce. After checking in at the hotel, I found a tray of crackers, cheese and fruit in my room. It was a caring gesture that I very much appreciated. I tweeted it with a photo and included the hotel’s Twitter account. Less than 30 minutes later, the hotel had not only answered me, but they also favorited my tweet.
Why am I sharing this experience with you? On April 1, I published an article about Petit Bateau and Co. in the US. I was complaining about the lack of response to my contact request via the Zannier Group’s website. Zannier owns, among others, the Catimini brand. I eventually received an email on April 17 from Jean-François D., Catimini’s Export Manager. A few minutes later, another email came from the Zannier Group and was signed by Karine. Basically, it took them three weeks to answer a routine question: “Where can I buy Catimini in the United States?” This pales in comparison to the response I got from the Hilton team!
A few days later, I was reading Steph Hyken’s blog, who is a leading expert in customer service and writer for the le New York Times. According to a study done by American Express, 25% of customers who complain on social networks expect an answer within an hour. You might say that I wasn’t complaining about Catimini, I was merely asking them a question…
Here is Karine’s response:
Keep in mind that I initially used the contact page of the Catimini USA website to ask where to find their retail outlets in the US. Giving me an address without a phone number, contact name and an email address certainly won’t help me. Ok, I’ll just make a trip to New York! What a great reason to go! Seriously, as soon as I finish this blog, I’ll get my butt onto the Bethesda-New York bus. Four hours later, I would be in Penn Station, within a block of this address. Then, I would show up innocently at their door…
Are the United States an example?
What is my point today? Have patience, Jean-François, it will soon be your turn to be called out! Catimini and the Zannier group perfectly illustrate what I talked about before: the United States are far advanced in integrating new media in their marketing. And I’m being kind to call it new media, since the internet is a young adult. In 2000, I was developing the original brand sites for the firm where I worked, and it was certainly not one of the first.
The new media are not just social networks. The digitalization of business has had a much greater impact than average for sales, marketing and customer service teams. Websites, the internet, emails, newsletters, apps, social networks, smartphones, we are all online at one time or another, from morning until night.
In the United States, the business world has completely integrated these new media into the operations. When paying at Apple or Abercrombie & Fitch, you can opt for an electronic receipt. In this case, you’ll receive a first promotional email the very next day. It is true that in America, it is easy to collect information and use it without waiting. We are fortunate in the European Union to be protected by the directive 95/46/CE for the protection of personal information. In France, the applicable law is the “loi informatique et libertés” (IT and Freedoms law), completed by multiple decrees.
Here, there is none of this. There is no overall federal legislation regulating the issue of “privacy” and it is not a constitutional right in the United States, nor is how personal information is handled. Only a few sectors, like healthcare and banking, have their own legislation regulating how personal information is handled.
French SMEs are lagging behind
I was recently surprised by a couple of figures that stood out to me – 15% of exporters in the Paris region have no website, and 1/3 of companies that export and have a website…don’t have an English version! So it’s not surprising that only 35% of French SMEs export.
Another finding: marketing teams sorely lack skills in digital marketing. Even though new entrants to the market have grown up in the digital world, their marketing experience is limited. The consequences: short-term actions that often miss the mark. As for seasoned managers, their knowledge of digital marketing is limited to their experience as users. I have often noticed that SMEs with products geared for a younger customer base want to develop digital marketing…and end up only with a promotion on Facebook. But Facebook is not the medium of youth, and hasn’t been for 3-4 years now. In 2012, the average age of a Facebook user was 44 in Germany and 43 in France.
Recruiting a digital marketing manager is quite tricky for SMEs. In the end, internal solutions fill the void. A “young person” would do, like a young graduate with 2-3 years of experience, or a marketing veteran will be responsible to integrate the new media into the marketing activities. In both cases, they will be thankless tasks. Just handling the buzz about a brand in the social networks requires at least one full-time person!
Catimini USA is still only an example
Let’s get back to Jean-François D. After waiting for three weeks, his message instructs me to go to the Catimini USA site, an online sales site… from which I used the Contact function. So I went back to the page and searched again for the information, which I still couldn’t find. Doubting myself, I emailed Jean-François back to say that I was probably an inexperienced user but I couldn’t seem to find the list of sales locations I had requested. I was careful to use my professional email signature, the one that says “Rochereul & friends – Digital, marketing, consulting”, with the mention “Proud blogger on www.HowToGuide.org”. And yet, I still await an answer.
In saturated markets, being different from the competition is crucial. Using new media to communicate is the right choice. In the United States, it is unthinkable for a common major brand to not use the entire range of marketing, including digital methods. Marketing job vacancies are exclusively for positions in digital marketing. A French SME ready to invest in this direction can make a difference and increase its sales sensibly. In France like everywhere else.
An American Success Story
Teespring is a startup created three years ago. It sells online only, t-shirts with provocative slogans (I’m simplifying it a bit, but those who are interested can visit their site www.teespring.com). In 2014, Teespring sold 7 million t-shirts and made $100 million. To support its sales, Teespring essentially uses social network microtargeting , or the information available on Facebook et al. about their users. This is not limited to traditional demographic criteria, but provides valuable information about likes, hobbies, etc. Facebook is therefore very effective in segmenting its thanks to cross device tracking.)
It is so much easier today to target your market thanks to and with the new media. Additionally, their controls generally contribute to increased effectiveness. Digital marketing is a real opportunity to strengthen a brand’s sales, particularly in France where there is still a lot of room in the market of digital advertising, but also in the United States where French children’s clothing brands are underrepresented. So Catimini, when will you start surfing on the wave of French fashion?
If you would like to hear more, get in touch with me!
Photo Credit: © Natalia Merzlyakova
