Provide Flat Customer Experiences
December 28, 2008
I had a great conversation with a really smart guy from San Francisco last week that I hope to make a colleague for a project. And why? Because “he got it.”
Here’s the crux. Customers don’t care about your hierarchies. It’s all one thing to them.
They don’t care you need to go to your boss for approval, they don’t want to wait for you to find the “right salesperson for your region (I was shared a story where a prospective customer sat on the line, credit card ready to drop thousands of dollars with this software vendor, and they were made to wait 20 minutes for the “right regional sales rep.”
If you want to look under the hood (to use a Detroit analogy) and figure out what makes companies like Zappos and Mosso tick and turn over their industries – it’s their killer customer service.
Make sure your website is customer friendly and not confusing for contacting your organization; and at the very least, externally, all major companies (or those companies with designs on growing their business) need to at least have basic online and social media presences aimed at customer service, and then follow through with it by answering questions and resolving issues.
Welcome to the future, which is now. There are no territories; customer service needs to be a seamless situation. The sooner your company becomes flat when it comes to treating the people who keep the lights on, the longer your lights are going to stay on. And maybe, it means you take a risk and charge an appropriate amount to cover that service cost.
Because if your customer experience stinks, it doesn’t matter how much marketing voodoo you do; you may get a short burst but few long-term effects.
WW1 – Where to Start, Company or Personal Twitter Names, and What’s A Good Sized Blogging Audience?
December 17, 2008
Well, here goes. The first “Web Wednesdays.” Be gentle, it’s our first one in this format.
We took your questions and put together a podcast to answer them, and that’s Web Wednesdays. In our first one, Erik and I talk about where to start in online/social media, whether you should use company or personal names on Twitter, and also, what’s a good sized blogging audience?
If you have comments, your own thoughts, or your own questions for next week, leave them in the comments below, email them to us at getstarted@portagemedia.com or leave a voicemail at 877.883.7389 x99. We can either read your name on the air and link to your site, or answer the question completely privately.
Here’s the link to the podcast RSS feed. I’ll post in the sidebar this link as well as iTunes links (as well as some other services) when they get approved.
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Recognizing The Social Media Business Model Challenge
December 15, 2008
This post mostly focuses on the individual as opposed to the large business. After all, Dell just made a million dollars off of Twitter. But maybe there’s a lesson in that for us all to take…
This week, there’s been quite a kerfuffle around the Chris Brogan/KMart sponsored post deal. Of course, the Twitterverse and online sites move at the speed of greased lightning, and the blogosphere has lit up with criticisms and praise.
But here’s the crux of the problem; there’s a lot of people trying to create a business where it seems there is unsubstantiated demand. Businesses exist where people have a need for something, and feels like a lot of people are jumping into online because they have no other options. As a businessman, this sets off a lot of alarm bells.
After all, even at a generous CPM (Cost Per Thousand) uniques or impressions, most bloggers have a woefully inadequate audience to be able to monetize it effectively for a living in that model.
So, we’re stuck in a situation with a lot of people who want (or need) to make money blogging and really not necessarily a market demand for their services as professional bloggers (I’ve always been a proponent of blogs as adjunct to product or service; it’s worked very well for me and my clients. Direct monetization of the blog itself is a crap shoot without a huge audience, at best, and apparently, social networks aren’t so hot either).
So I have some thoughts – and I’m probably tinted because I come from “big media” originally (broadcast TV, to be exact).
My first is to stop blogging about social media. There’s enough of you/us. I don’t mean that in a negative way – the market’s got lots of existing, strong players, and there’s only so many people you are going to pull from mainstream audiences talking about this stuff. And it seems everyone with a computer and a social network account of choice is doing it. There is only so much audience for something the mainstream has so little awareness of. Maybe in the future, but by that time, the current players will be even more entrenched.
Your focus needs to be relevant, and scalable to other audiences. One of the keys to the success for one of our client sites, Global Business Perspectives, is that it’s audience is older and not tech-focused; yet, over ten thousand unique visitors (sometimes significantly more) show up every month to learn about global business and listen to the podcast Beverly produces. If you want to make a splash, hit’em where they ain’t and talk about stuff that’s relevant to a niche of the mainstream, and then tie in additional services or products that are relevant. Sell wine. Provide translation services. Teach people viable alternatives to the volatile stock market.
Be a subject matter expert. Urban redevelopment, dogs, furniture – know it well. And have a passion for it.
If you’re a journalist, especially a known or semi-known one who’s looking to expand online independently, play the cards you’re dealt. I wouldn’t go try and experimenting as Chris did with pay-per-post (he’s not a journalist, and never said he was) as part of your unique value is that absolute perception of objectivity. Chris is our large loveable social media canary, and God Bless him for it. Even better, before you get the ax at your paper, start blogging now, even if it’s not public, to get used to the different feel and tone. However, you in fact have a leg up, as you have audience you can bring with you.
So a few thoughts. I look forward to hearing your ideas or success stories of what you’ve done different online to make it work for you and your audiences.
Sharing A Little Success By Supporting The Auto Industry
December 8, 2008
I’m so honored to work with great people.
A site that we built and consulted on, http://www.supporttheautoindustry.com, has been getting some great press. First, CNN (via Twitter) – then, WDIV TV-4 (Video Above), and today, the front page of Crain’s Detroit Business. We simply love doing projects that give so much value to folks. And don’t forget to check it out for your deals for buying a US-made car.
Thank you to the whole team, agency, PR, and client side.
Ask Questions On Web Wednesdays Starting December 17th
December 8, 2008
I’ve had quite a few inquiries via email of “what do I do in X situation?” or, “I’m new. Where do I start?” or, “My competition is doing X, what I can do?”
Well, when it comes to online marketing, the Web Wednesday podcast is going to be for you. But it’s going to be you-focused.
There’s three ways you can ask questions: You can leave your questions via email at getstarted@portagemedia.com; or you can call us at 877.883.7389 extension 99 and leave a voice mail that we may put “on the air;” or, conversely, post them in the comments on this blog. And what’s even better than most “seminars” is that we’ll do private questions too.
What are private questions? If you label your question “Private” in the subject line, we will mask your name, business, and industry (if it’s general enough to mask the industry; we’ll do our best). That way, you can ask more sensitive questions for the benefit of the group but not necessarily “tip your hand” or worry that your boss is listening in.
We’ll be releasing it on the Wednesday, and remember to email or call in your questions! We will NOT sell your name or information, and unless you ask us to, we won’t pester you about hiring us either. No registration forms, no muss, no fuss. Just helpful information.
This will be a monthly experiment at first, but if there’s demand, we’ll ratchet it up. We’re here to serve you.
p.s. – We may try to do this live eventually, but for the first few, we’re going to take it slow. We want to focus on great answers and content first.
