June 14, 2007
When people think about marketing they tend to think about getting out the good word, about telling the world how good they’ve done, or what neat stuff they cna bring to bear.
So what about when things are not going so well. What about the angry customer that feels you haven’t delivered?
Jet Blue did a great job of this earlier this year after stranding passengers for several days. So much so, that when Business Week dropped them from the list of “Customer Service Champs” due to the event, the reader comments consisted of statements like:
- “Perhaps I should cancel my subscription for BusinessWeek for being so shortsided.”
- “Everyone makes mistakes — hopefully Jet Blue has learned — and the other airlines as well. If it happens again — then consider moving them. Geez–give them a chance!”
The feedback goes on and on. Why? Two reasons: 1- Because Jet Blue had put sufficient “money in the bank” with clients in the past, which is to say that they had provided such good service that people were willing to cut them some slack. 2- Because they came clean. No spin. No justification. They apologized, offered to try to make things right, and laid out what they would do different in the future.
I have to tell you, this rings true in my experience as well. I can recall two specific customers that I have worked with (at different times). Both of them escalated up to me, and went into the meetings looking for their pound of flesh. When we went into the meetings we did not get defensive, or deny the situations. Quite the contrary, we laid out exactly what the issue was, and why. We set realistic expectations for where things could go from here, and how we would help to get them there. Furthermore, we let them know that they were important enough to us that if what we had laid out was not a sufficient resolution, that we would work closely with them to find a vendor who could fulfill those needs.
Both companies are still customers of our, and we have very strong relationships with them both.
Posted in Advertising, Marketing
Jun
11
A number of years ago, I invited Steve Spencer to a lunch with former co-workers. At lunch we proceeded to do the usual catching up, talking about old times, and general talking about things that Steve had no connection with.
During the course of the lunch, a former co-worker and friend of mine made a genuine effort to get to know Steve, who was the odd person out in this environment. This co-worker wasn’t looking for a job, and didn’t know Steve from anyone else on the street; but she “advertised†that she was a nice person, and that she cared. A year later, when we had an opening for her skillset, not only did Steve ask her to interview, but she was hired for the position.
A few weeks ago, I was getting in an elevator with two co-workers, and there were two people already waiting for the elevator. These two people looked at the three of us, at each-other, and immediately turned to walk for the stairs. The elevator in question isn’t small. What were they accidentally advertising?
What I believe this all boils down to is that personally, professionally, and for the companies we work for, we are always advertising.
The person you shake hands with at the next Utah Tech Spotlight may be the next person you’re asking for information. They may be the person you’re suddenly asking for a deal on a new website you’d need built. They may be your next employer, or your next employee. Outside of a business setting the next acquaintance who asks you what you do may be looking to contract with just the sort of company you work for.
The fact of the matter is that people everywhere are looking for a personal connection. These connections lead to which businesses people spend money with, who is interviewed for the job opening at their work, or which family owned restaurant down the street they visit. One local tech company jumps to mind that values these connections so highly, that they only hire by referral.
Each of these connections is formed from the personal advertising between individuals. Would you recommend the person who treated you poorly at a previous job? The restaurant with the server that dumped water on you and didn’t care? The business with the account rep that dropped your project on the floor and stomped on it?
When these personal connections are tapped, what will others remember about you?
Posted in Advertising, Consumers
Jun
11
Okay, so you have a product. You have a brand you want to convey, and you want to make sure you do it in a way that people will respond to. When looking at your long term strategy for enforcing your brand, it is important to look at all three of the C’s and make sure they are in line:
1- Content. Is it enforcing the brand and message you want?
2- Consumption. How are you going to get people to see it?
3- Credibility. Do people believe that they will get what they are looking for.
For this post we will focus specifically on Credibility. The first step to getting people to trust that you or your products can deliver what they are looking for is to understand who your target customers are (and are not), and what you want them to expect from you. This will obviously be very different if you are clothing or a soda that want its customers to believe it will make them seem younger and cooler than it is if you are trying to convince people that your router is more secure than anyone else’s. But there are similarities.
Look to who or what your customer base already listens to and trusts. This is known as the “guru method.” Find someone or something that is already trusted in regards to the message you are sending. Then find ways to leverage them to get your message out. This is actually easier than it might sound. There are a few items to look for:
1- Customers. The lowest hanging fruit could be your current customers. If they are recognized as being very hip, or very security conscious, or in any way synergistic with the brand you are trying to convey, then you should ask them if you can get quotes from them for your web site and other materials. Perhaps they will let you put their logo on your site. They may even be willing to help with a white paper, or even a commercial.
2- People already trusted. If there are individuals who are trusted in your space, then find ways to opt them into your message. This might mean hiring someone for a quote or a commercial, but not necessarily. Perhaps you can get quotes from articles written by the person which enforce your message. Try to get permission to quote these, and use them in your messaging to support what you are saying.
If your product is truly innovative in your space, try to opt in same of the more vocal, visible guru’s. Offer them incentives such as advisory board seats and compensation if needed. Go to them humbly, ask their adivce, and follow up with them often to build a relationship. That way they feel opted into what you are doing, and they will want to tell others about it.
3- Blogs. Find out who is trusted in the space. Comment on their blogs. this will make you visible in the space, and create links to your site and blogs in turn which brings you credibility (and SEO.) Link to Blogs of trusted people. If they see your name keep popping up they will get curious who you are. If they write about you or link to you this can be a huge asset.
4- Speak. Try to get on panels at events for the space you are in. Simply being part of a panel implies your credibility (assuming you don’t make an idiot of yourself.) Be vocal in breakout sessions.
5- Stumble. If you’re not aware of StumbleUpon you should be.
6- Deliver. I cannot tell you how may times I have displaced competitors due to missed timelines. Many times it’s not even because the new timelines are unreasonable. It’s because they did not deliver what they promised. This breaks down trust and credibility. Ask yourself this: would you hire an applicant if you knew they had lied to you? I wouldn’t.
Posted in Advertising, Marketing
Jun
8
I have often said that everything we do is sending a message. It is impossible not to market. As such, I wanted to point out a pet peeve of mine, and then give credit to someone here in Utah that is doing it right.
I hate calls from headhunters. They always call up, and try to pretend we are best buddies, and that they are just catching up with me on things… There are few calls I receive that are so fake.
But now go do a google search for Utah Tech (in another browser tab of course… wouldn’t want to miss the rest of the article) and guy who is the top match… Utah Tech Jobs. Robert Merrill has found a way to do something that no other recruiter has: To give me value without bugging the crap out of me, or making me feel like I need to go wash my hands after they call.
Roberts blog is about what he does: He finds people jobs and vice versa. But it us about more than that. Robert consistently writes about how to met people… how to establish relationships, and what to be careful of so we don’t abuse them.
Nice job Robert.
Posted in Advertising, Marketing
Jun
8
This July I am taking my wife, myself, and my four wonderful children (the exorcisms worked wonders) to Norway on vacation. I am working with someone who has a business based around planning, and executing trips to Norway. The issue is this: I was given a price quote about a month ago on all of the items. Today he tallied everything up, and it is $1000 more than what he had quoted me.
As soon as I saw this I was upset to say the least. I fired back an email telling him I expect him to honor the previous quote. Not only that, I am sure he will be upset now, because he really is a nice old man, and probably just made a mistake… but now I am being difficult, and he has to deal with a difficult customer. I am upset, and likely will be regardless of the outcome… If he drops the price, I will still be upset that he was so disorganized that it almost cost me more money, and if he doesn’t drop the price I feel like I got shafted.
The funny part of all of this? If the original price had been $1000 more, I probably would have been fine with it.
The Marketing lesson for the day? Don’t promise what you can’t deliver, and you had better deliver what you promised. Especially in the current day and age with bloggers… one really upset customer can be very visible.
Posted in Advertising, Marketing
Jun
6
I was listening to NPR on my way home last night, and they were talking about the new logo that had been chosen for the upcoming Olympics. Apparently there is something of an uproar about it. It got me thinking a bit about marketing.
It seems that way too often marketing can be vanilla… attempt to appeal to everyone, or at least not alienate anyone, and then win customers through simple repetition. For those who have an unlimited marketing budget that may be fine. But for those who need to get results with every dollar, repetition of mediocre messaging may not be an option.
The hardest part then, is making the right decision, and coming to grips with who you are not going to appeal to. It’s like the eagle… once it hones in on a rabbit, it does not lament the other rabbit, which it has chosen not to chase. Make sure you are willing, and able to make similar choices with your marketing. If you choose a “hip” new logo and campaign, make sure that the “hip” market you are after is big enough, and make sure you are comfortable with the “non-hip” market that you now might appeal less to. Choose your target wisely, do your homework, and then make part of the discussions around the campaign be identifying who might react poorly, and make sure everyone is on board with the choice.
Posted in Events, Marketing
Jun
5
 You know, it always seems to be the case that those who work in any given industry tend to do the worst at living it themselves… It’s the old story of the cobbler’s children going barefoot because he is so busy making shoes for other people. Likewise, I know a person who does incredible lanscaping work for people. But his yard looks like crap.
So this brings us to the topic of blogs, and specifically Technorati. What are blogs all about? Well, there are lots of answers to that, but one of the most common might be something along the lines of “Candid, timely, information snippets.” Not to mention that search engines like Google love them. Blog on a topic that is happening, and you are very likely to show up on Google’s front page.ÂÂ
In the world of Blogging, there is a key tool: Technorati. Bloggers use technorati extensively to see how certain aspects of their blogs are doing.ÂÂ
Well, technorati has been down most of the day today. Go ahead and search for a reason why. Know what you’ll find? Nothing. I made it a personal goal to really dig into this one, and I found absolutely nothing. I find it odd that a company so integral, and tied into blogging, and its power, doesn’t have a blog that is still up when they are down, that is telling me what is happening. I guess the cobbler is busy making shoes for other kids.
As I have stated before on this blog, you cannot choose not to market. That which you do not conciously do becomes marketing by accident. Unfortunately for Technorati, they have enforced an aspect of their brand today.
Posted in Advertising, Events
Jun
5
Knowledge is power. Or so the saying goes.
But is it really?
If we look to the dictionary we will find power defined as: “ability to do or act; capability of doing or accomplishing something.” This is one among many similar definitions, all of which essentially put power as The Ability To Effect Change.
So the real question is: Does knowledge equal the ability to effect change? I would propose that the answer to this is “no.”
Let’s use Einstein as an example. Clearly a smart guy to say the least, and absolutely powerful as determined by his ability to effect change. But was it knowledge alone that allowed him to be so effective in changing our world? To explore this let’s ask: What if Einstein had kept his knowledge to himself? What if no one heard his message? What if he had died alone, unheard, and brilliant? He would not have changed the world.
As such, I put forth that Knowledge, plus the ability to have your message heard, is power.
The good news? Now, more than ever in history you can be heard. Twitter, Blogs, Podcasts, the web, email, not to mention rapid transit. You can be heard.
So… who is hearing you?
Posted in Advertising, Marketing
Jun
5
I can’t tell you how many time I have talked to companies about various aspects of their marketing strategies, and had them say, “We haven’t really started doing [that kind] of marketing yet.” It might be email, it might be a solid web site, it might be blogs, or social marketing, or any number of other flavors.
I think of this as “Marketing By Accident.” If someone wants to know about you or your product, and they do a search online only to find a crappy website, or no site at all, don’t think for a moment that you are not doing web marketing. Make no mistake about it, you have definitely sent a message about your brand. Everything we do, or don’t do is marketing. If you send an email and it is poorly written, that is your email marketing. If you don’t comment on industry blogs, and have no blog of your own… then you are doing blogging as part of your marketing strategy. Your blog just reads: “we really don’t get it.”
Nothing is more valuable than your brand. Control your brand. Don’t market by accident.
Posted in Advertising, Marketing
Jun
1
There are lots of different types of Marketing, and lots of different kinds of selling. But it seems one of the hardest ones for people to learn is how to be social in a room. Ever seen a person who is just a social butterfly? They walk into a room and are not only comfortable, but they seem to know how to make the people they talk to comfortable as well?
I recently had someone ask me how to build such a skill. So, here’s my advice for a first step: Go into a KFC and order some food. When they get your order wrong (because you KNOW they will), joke around a bit with the person helping you… tell them, “That’s okay, a free piece of cornbread, and we’re all square.”
Your goal here has nothing to do with actually getting any cornbread. Your goals are to 1: Step outside of your comfort zone, and 2: attempt to influence someone and have them feel closer to you for the experience. If you have done this right, the next time you go in, the person not only recognizes you, but is more friendly than before.
Exercises like this can help you turn uncomfortable situations into bonding experiences. This is the first step to representing yourself, and your personal brand, well. Which is the first step to representing your company, and your message well. Practice this one, and you’ll begin to learn how far you can push the envelope… is a drink easier to get than cornbread or fries? You’ll get to where you know how much you can realistically ask for. This is key, because you are subliminally building the skills to know what you can expect from an interaction with another person, and when you are nearing the point of pushing things too far.
But that’s another lesson for another day. For now, spread your wings and enjoy the cornbread 
Posted in Advertising
