Phillips Corporation: #Customer Focused Social Approach

In a digital age, where consumers are less likely to respond to traditional marketing/advertising techniques, organizations are tasked with trying to understand the modern consumer. With so many options to choose from, a well-informed consumer base, and a diverse and ultra competitive landscape where the concept of  brand loyalty is a thing of the past, corporate social media strategies now play a vital role in the success of today’s global organizations.

One such organization is Maryland based, Phillips Corporation. Phillips Corp is a global supplier of manufacturing technology products and services primarily focused on CNC machine tools. Over the years Phillips Corp have relied on the great marketing efforts of the manufacturer’s they represent for building/growing the brand. They are also globally renowned for providing legendary customer service and an enduring competitive advantage to the end user.

 Although Social media is somewhat of a new realm for Phillips Corporation, in a highly competitive global product market, they have tried to differentiate themselves by focusing on their people and the service they provide to the customers. Phillips is aware that nothing will substitute the relationships that their sales and service people have with the customers. Conversely they are cognizant that social media has developed a larger role over recent years as an additional avenue for engaging with that same customer base. At first their social media strategy was designed just to be presence on social channels, but it quickly developed into a more streamline avenue for them to have conversations with people in their industry.

This is where I believe Phillips have taken a unique approach in an attempt to set themselves apart from the competition. A lot of companies use social media to tell everyone how good they are, and while Phillips do want to promote themselves, they also feel that it is important to recognize, at least from a marketing perspective, that they don’t own their brand, their customers do.

 

Matthew Nardangeli-Marketing Director at Phillips Corporation explains the importance of social media and customer engagement in below audio file:

“We have noticed that relatable types of posts get the most shares or likes. We try to tag every picture with the people shown, with the brand of machine used and with the company producing the actual part. We try to make it as easy as possible for our customers to show off to their own networks.” Matthew Nardangeli-Marketing Director 

The ever changing dynamic of modern business is a complex puzzle that Phillips Corporation intends to solve . From developing and adopting new strategies and practices, to attempting to engage and build lasting relationships with their customers, Phillips understands that nurturing these customer relations through social media is now a vital aspect to doing business.

Matthew Nardangeli-Marketing Director says “ That being able to thrive in today’s business model , means being able to adapt to new way’s of engaging our customers on many level’s.  We think of the customer as a valued member of our team and our goal is to make sure that they consistently receive top class customer service and added value.”

Lessons for Others

As is evident from the Phillips Corporations case study, engaging customer’s with social media is not a “one size fits all approach”. I believe it is important for each organization to take an in-depth look at the core of what they are trying to achieve. Gaining a clear understanding of your brand, mission and objectives is a great platform for evaluating what direction your organization should be taking . From there you should look at the industry sectors that you are doing business in and set out to clearly define what makes you unique/different in comparison to the rest. Focusing on the “why” instead of the “what”.

If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site, please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Program Director, Social Media for Business Performance.

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