And did you hear about the marketing-turned-creepy at Target...?
Since Target is a local retailer, even though it's a national chain, I decided this wasn't too far off base ... and the lessons are universal.
Anyway, last week Target emailed a survey to customers with questions such as whether people feared their lovers might leave them and, if they disappeared from the face of the earth, would anybody notice. News reports said it was designed to help compare the psyches of their customers to Wal-Mart customers.
The survey was stopped within 24 hours.
The Target folks aren't idiots and they're not insensitive. They were just a bit myopic about how people would react. It can happen to anyone...it can happen to you.
So here are two lessons: 1) Remember that an email doesn't always "read" the way it was intended when it was written and 2) Never get so caught up in what you want from the customer that you forget it is your job to serve them...not the other way around.
Oh, and stay true to your word: Though I'm sure Target framed that survey within a context, on the Target Web site it says, "By providing your e-mail address, you will receive updates on special offers and promotions from Target."
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
What Local Media Sites Earn
Local media depends on local advertisers for their bread and butter, and gauging by the growth shown in the latest report from Borrell Associates, WHAT LOCAL WEB SITES EARN: 2007 SURVEY, the local media is doing something right:
"We gauge this year's U.S. local online advertising at $7.5 billion,
growing at a clip of 31.6 percent over 2006. Newspapers continue to
hold the dominant share. They control 35.9 percent of all locally spent
online advertising, but pure-play internet companies (Google, Yahoo!,
Monster et al.) are hot on their heels, with 33.2 percent. Yellow pages
operators control 11.7 percent; Other Print (e.g., Homes & Land and
other local magazines) 9.2 percent; TV stations 7.7 percent and radio
stations 2.2 percent."
Here's the problem:
When you talk $7 billion, every company wants a piece of the action.
When you talk about $400 or even $1400, which is how small local businesses buy advertising, no company wants the action unless it's free of human (translate=expensive) interaction.
What do most small businesses want? The kind of service they are prepared to provide their customers for a $400, or $1400, sale. In some cases, the kind of service they provide for a $20 sale.
The missing piece in the local online advertising market continues to be the dissonance between the companies that want that ad dollar, and the companies that shell out that ad dollar.
"We gauge this year's U.S. local online advertising at $7.5 billion,
growing at a clip of 31.6 percent over 2006. Newspapers continue to
hold the dominant share. They control 35.9 percent of all locally spent
online advertising, but pure-play internet companies (Google, Yahoo!,
Monster et al.) are hot on their heels, with 33.2 percent. Yellow pages
operators control 11.7 percent; Other Print (e.g., Homes & Land and
other local magazines) 9.2 percent; TV stations 7.7 percent and radio
stations 2.2 percent."
Here's the problem:
When you talk $7 billion, every company wants a piece of the action.
When you talk about $400 or even $1400, which is how small local businesses buy advertising, no company wants the action unless it's free of human (translate=expensive) interaction.
What do most small businesses want? The kind of service they are prepared to provide their customers for a $400, or $1400, sale. In some cases, the kind of service they provide for a $20 sale.
The missing piece in the local online advertising market continues to be the dissonance between the companies that want that ad dollar, and the companies that shell out that ad dollar.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Marketing by Parable - He Made His Point
I love folks in the publishing industry for their intelligence and wit. And to that point, did you hear about the CEO of a major house who stole two laptops?
Richard Charkin, Chief Executive of Macmillan Publishers Ltd, went to BookExpo America and stole two computers from Google's booth. What's more, he bragged about it on his blog (http://charkinblog.macmillan.com/).
As he pointed out, "...there is no sign saying 'please do not steal the computers'. I confess that a colleague and I simply picked up two computers from the Google stand and waited in close proximity until someone noticed. This took more than an hour.
"Our justification for this appalling piece of criminal behaviour? The owner of the computer had not specifically told us not to steal it. If s/he had, we would not have done so. When s/he asked for its return, we did so. It is exactly what Google expects publishers to expect and accept in respect to intellectual property."
I hear the sounds of cheering from newspaper and book publishers around the world!
The lesson for local businesses? Humor, creativity, and the willingness to react to the moment can provide you a great platform.
Richard Charkin, Chief Executive of Macmillan Publishers Ltd, went to BookExpo America and stole two computers from Google's booth. What's more, he bragged about it on his blog (http://charkinblog.macmillan.com/).
As he pointed out, "...there is no sign saying 'please do not steal the computers'. I confess that a colleague and I simply picked up two computers from the Google stand and waited in close proximity until someone noticed. This took more than an hour.
"Our justification for this appalling piece of criminal behaviour? The owner of the computer had not specifically told us not to steal it. If s/he had, we would not have done so. When s/he asked for its return, we did so. It is exactly what Google expects publishers to expect and accept in respect to intellectual property."
I hear the sounds of cheering from newspaper and book publishers around the world!
The lesson for local businesses? Humor, creativity, and the willingness to react to the moment can provide you a great platform.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Wanna Get Real? Look at Online Retailers
Online retailers know that what really matters is sales...not "what's easiest to build," not "what brand will pay us to promote them," and not "what spin to put on our PR." Ringing up sales means thinking about consumers first.
(The real marketing element of this = think about your users first, a lesson that countless "local search sites" and "pay per call" providers still haven't figured out...they keep trying to build a base of paying advertisers without really meeting consumers' needs.)
Anyway, like any good marketing maven, I keep an eye on internet retailing. These are companies working to make the online experience truly useful. In the SJ Mercury News coverage (June 9) of the recent Internet Retailing Conference., one paragraph had me yelling, "Hooray - yes!"
Streamlining the checkout process to a single page should be a priority, said Gene Alvarez, analyst at the Gartner. "Anyone here ever complete all your information, get something wrong, hit the back button and it's all gone?," Alvarez asked conference goers. "Imagine the checkout being a sidebar on the Web page, so no matter where I go on your Web store, there it is."
This isa real-world, practical application...good marketing as well as good sense.
I'm happy to link to the entire Mercury News article - though I have a bad feeling that after a short period of time the MN sticks their posts behind a paid archive service, so if that's what you get, complain to the Merc, not me. Full Story
(The real marketing element of this = think about your users first, a lesson that countless "local search sites" and "pay per call" providers still haven't figured out...they keep trying to build a base of paying advertisers without really meeting consumers' needs.)
Anyway, like any good marketing maven, I keep an eye on internet retailing. These are companies working to make the online experience truly useful. In the SJ Mercury News coverage (June 9) of the recent Internet Retailing Conference., one paragraph had me yelling, "Hooray - yes!"
Streamlining the checkout process to a single page should be a priority, said Gene Alvarez, analyst at the Gartner. "Anyone here ever complete all your information, get something wrong, hit the back button and it's all gone?," Alvarez asked conference goers. "Imagine the checkout being a sidebar on the Web page, so no matter where I go on your Web store, there it is."
This isa real-world, practical application...good marketing as well as good sense.
I'm happy to link to the entire Mercury News article - though I have a bad feeling that after a short period of time the MN sticks their posts behind a paid archive service, so if that's what you get, complain to the Merc, not me. Full Story
Friday, June 8, 2007
Corporate Campaigns - Sunk by Morons
The best corporate campaigns are often sunk by morons in management.
Take Home Depot. When Frank Blake took over as CEO earlier this year, he promised that he'd work to change the chain's rep for lousy customer service. On a recent trip to the Home Depot in Sunnyvale I assumed that was why employees throughout the store were wearing big "I'm empowered" buttons.
I was there to purchase an item advertised on sale...a 10' x 10' canopy, which I hoped would eliminate the problem I had of sun on my deck reflecting into my bedroom and turning it into an oven every afternoon. I was there the first day of the sale, but there were no canopies in stock and a nice "I'm empowered" employee checked the computer and said they hadn't received their shipment. He kindly offered me a rain check, called the assistant manager for authorization, got said approval, and with a smile and an apology that their sale item wasn't in stock handed me my rain check.
Three days later I called to see if the item was in stock, was told the canopies were in, but...the store manager was refusing to honor rain checks because the ad had stated "Limited Supply." Fortunately I had kept the ad and it said no such thing.
I went to the store, asked to see the manager. She wouldn't come out. A man who wouldn't tell me his name or title came instead. He argued with me! He was surly, argumentative, and rude. I showed him the rain check, showed him the ad. Explained that if nothing else, he should honor his employees' word and the fact they didn't have sale merchandise in stock. My actual thoughts were, "Idiot, you should not be arguing with a customer over this."
He disappeared into the back with my ad and my rain check. It took 20 minutes before he returned with my canopy. Altogether it took me almost an hour before I got my canopy. A friendly sales associate nearby told me I was lucky: other customers who weren't so persistent had been turned away.
Considering it took me two trips, combined time of an hour-and-a-half, and an extremely unpleasant experience, I didn't consider myself lucky. I considered myself ill-treated.
So you tell me. Is this what the "I'm empowered" campaign is all about? Giving managers the freedom to be rude to customers, and allowing them to sink both the corporate campaign and the confidence of their own employees?
Even good marketing can be sunk by morons in management.
Take Home Depot. When Frank Blake took over as CEO earlier this year, he promised that he'd work to change the chain's rep for lousy customer service. On a recent trip to the Home Depot in Sunnyvale I assumed that was why employees throughout the store were wearing big "I'm empowered" buttons.
I was there to purchase an item advertised on sale...a 10' x 10' canopy, which I hoped would eliminate the problem I had of sun on my deck reflecting into my bedroom and turning it into an oven every afternoon. I was there the first day of the sale, but there were no canopies in stock and a nice "I'm empowered" employee checked the computer and said they hadn't received their shipment. He kindly offered me a rain check, called the assistant manager for authorization, got said approval, and with a smile and an apology that their sale item wasn't in stock handed me my rain check.
Three days later I called to see if the item was in stock, was told the canopies were in, but...the store manager was refusing to honor rain checks because the ad had stated "Limited Supply." Fortunately I had kept the ad and it said no such thing.
I went to the store, asked to see the manager. She wouldn't come out. A man who wouldn't tell me his name or title came instead. He argued with me! He was surly, argumentative, and rude. I showed him the rain check, showed him the ad. Explained that if nothing else, he should honor his employees' word and the fact they didn't have sale merchandise in stock. My actual thoughts were, "Idiot, you should not be arguing with a customer over this."
He disappeared into the back with my ad and my rain check. It took 20 minutes before he returned with my canopy. Altogether it took me almost an hour before I got my canopy. A friendly sales associate nearby told me I was lucky: other customers who weren't so persistent had been turned away.
Considering it took me two trips, combined time of an hour-and-a-half, and an extremely unpleasant experience, I didn't consider myself lucky. I considered myself ill-treated.
So you tell me. Is this what the "I'm empowered" campaign is all about? Giving managers the freedom to be rude to customers, and allowing them to sink both the corporate campaign and the confidence of their own employees?
Even good marketing can be sunk by morons in management.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Idiot Marketers in Boston
Stupid Marketing Watch: Inside the Boston Bomb-Threat Flyer
Here's a pick up directly from Ken Magill's Magilla Marketing, a newsletter that's mostly about email but occasionally incorporates something else, as in this case.
"What is it about marketers in Boston and their uncanny ability to concoct promotions that make people think they're in danger of imminent death? On the heels of a Cartoon Network bomb scare that paralyzed the city in January, police evacuated a strip mall last week because of a botched fax promotion that some Bank of America employees mistook .. ."
Ken then links to an article at Direct, and I have done the same:
http://directmag.com/disciplines/email/marketing_bomb-threat/
Here's a pick up directly from Ken Magill's Magilla Marketing, a newsletter that's mostly about email but occasionally incorporates something else, as in this case.
"What is it about marketers in Boston and their uncanny ability to concoct promotions that make people think they're in danger of imminent death? On the heels of a Cartoon Network bomb scare that paralyzed the city in January, police evacuated a strip mall last week because of a botched fax promotion that some Bank of America employees mistook .. ."
Ken then links to an article at Direct, and I have done the same:
http://directmag.com/disciplines/email/marketing_bomb-threat/
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