It all boils down to credibility.  Customer reviews simply have more credibility than your sales copy, so they inspire more confidence in the buyer.  And negative reviews lend credibility to the review process itself, standing as visible proof that the reviews are not edited.

Makes sense right?  Sure it does, until you find yourself staring at the (perceived) ability of a blisteringly negative review to crush your sales of a given product or service. Then those other statistics and facts are easier to overlook.

So if you’re in that position, just consider this quote from an Amazon.com review:

“…You may find it extremely interesting that I am leaving a review on Amazon because the company I actually bought the product from DID NOT post my lukewarm review. In fact, all the reviews on their website are nothing but 5 star, positive and glowing. I abhor this manner of conducting business and felt the public had a right to know ALL personal experience with this product, not just the 5 that are wonderful…”

When it comes to possible venues for negative online reviews there are:

• forums for any number of interests
• scores of review sites available online
• blogs,
• and FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube, and new social media platforms popping up every day.

There’s simply no shortage of online venues for posting negative reviews.

And what do you think happens to your credibility when negative reviews (of one of your products) are easy to find on the web, but non-existent on your website?

Here’s another example:

About three weeks ago I installed some Dream Home laminate flooring in my recently enclosed garage.  I bought it from a nationally known flooring wholesaler, Lumber Liquidators.  The product was supposed to be “click & lock,” floating flooring, except there was no click, and the boards didn’t really lock together.   So the boards could, and in fact did, come apart as I got several layers into the project.  Gaps would appear and I’d have to undo and then redo all those layers to fix them.

Unbelievably frustrating and a total pain in the butt.

Yet the product reviews, which were balanced between 4 and 5 stars, never said anything about this.  The FAQ never said anything about this.  Customer service said they’d never had customer encounter this problem before.  Apparently, it was just a freak, unexplained phenomenon – a flooring mystery!

Then I Googled “Dream Home Laminate Flooring” and was led to a DIY-forum full of people who experienced the exact same thing I had.  We’re talking like 30 posts of customer experience with the product.  And yet none of these mixed or bad reviews had ever ended up on Lumber Liquidator’s site and they – the only people who sell this product – had never heard of the main installation problem mentioned.

To be fair, some of these reviews/forum posts were very positive, mentioning the reviewers installation struggles in passing or in good humor, and some of the forum members/posters were outraged, trashing on the product and its country of origin.  But all these reviews, both good and bad, were available to me from the 1st search engine result from Google.  It’s not like they were hidden or I had to hunt these down or anything.

The point: Your brand and product perception is not what you say it is anymore but what Google says it is.

Removing negative reviews from your site doesn’t mean they disappear; it just means there’s now a mismatch between what you say and what Google tells me your customers say.  I mean, how much credibility do you think Lumber Liquidators had with me after I found that forum?

While I couldn’t say for certain whether they were editing their reviews, by that time, you could say I was rather suspicious.  So I wrote my own fair but not overwhelmingly positive review.  I gave the product 3 stars, said the installed floor looked nice and was a great price, but that it was a total pain in the butt to install and that the click & lock feature neither clicked nor locked.  I even confirmed my identity to ensure the review went through.

About a week later, my review has still not posted.  Yesterday I called to find out why and Customer Service couldn’t answer me, said someone would get back to me on that issue.

Of course, I still can’t say for certain whether or not Lumber Liquidators is editing their reviews.  It’s possible I’m the first person who has ever given that product a negative review.  It’s possible that all their products, just about every single one, actually do score 4s and 5s with nary a low score in the bunch (though I DID see one 2-star review for one of their products when I went hunting for lower-scored reviews – but only ONE of them, mind you).

Still, for the sake of example, let’s just say – hypothetically speaking – that they do edit negative reviews, including my review.  Let me ask you this: did that strategy work for them?  Did they stop the review, or did they just switch its location?

And had I known about the difficulty of the flooring, would it really have ruined their sale, or just helped me to expect and work around the installation challenges – or even just pushed me to buy a more expensive (and easier to install) product from them?

Personally, I think negative reviews would have worked in their favor.  And I hope you now grasp the emotional (as well as the statistical) truth of that, too.

P.S.  While I continue to be suspicious of the Lumber Liquidators website, I have to say that their Pensacola branch, and the people working there, were very pleasant to do business with and I’d still recommend them to friends and family looking to DIY install hardwood, engineered, or laminate flooring.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So, do you think that might have some rather profound effects on Domino’s marketing efforts?  Think you’ll be eating at Domino’s anytime soon?

What’s interesting is that the basic principle behind this was predicted not by some far-seeing futurist working in the technology field, but by Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Charles C. Krulak.

Gen. Krulak coined the term “strategic corporal” to refer to the possible strategic foreign policy impact of actions taken by individual Marines in an age of universal media coverage and counter-insurgency warfare:

“In many cases, the individual Marine will be the most conspicuous symbol of American foreign policy and will potentially influence not only the immediate tactical situation, but the operational and strategic levels as well. His actions, therefore, will directly impact the outcome of the larger operation; and he will become, as the title of this article suggests – the Strategic Corporal.”

Since the publication of Gen Krulak’s article in 1999, the rise of cell phone video cameras, YouTube, and twitter have further amplified the potential impact of local, tactical actions of seemingly “lower-level” or front-line individuals.

Granted, minimum wage workers operate in a far less dramatic and less-threatening arena than Marines, but the above video offers a stark example of the far reaching strategic impact of their actions.

The Marine Corps response to this has always been to recruit the very best individuals possible and to push decision-making and responsibility as far down the chain of command as possible. Many successful businesses take a similar approach with their front-line workers.  And the results pay-off when the great actions of individual employees hit the social media echo chamber.

What is (or what will be) your organization’s response?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here’s the question: what do you want to bet that Apple has been just waiting – even itching – for Microsoft to release that kind of response to their “I’m a Mac” campaign?

Why do I ask that?  Because I’d bet anything that Mac’s marketing was smart enough to engage in what Mike Smock has termed The Three Move Set.  You see, when you try to take market share from a competitor, it’s usually a fair bet that they’ll react with some kind of countermeasure.  And that means smart marketers think at least far enough in advance to consider their response to the competition’s countermeasures.  Ideally, one wants to make sure this response is decisive, or at least hurts the competition as much as the initial challenge.  Here’s how Mike breaks it down:

Move 1: Challenger attacks Leader

Move 2: Leader reacts to Challenger.

Move 3: Challenger reacts to Leader.

And here’s how to view the current Mac/PC ad campaigns in light of that:

• Move 1: Mac challenges PC by personifying Macs as hip, cool, and reliably workable and PCs as nerdy, problematic (especially with the release of Vista), and behind the curve in user experience.

• Move 2: Microsoft responds by creating an ad that actively evokes Apple’s framing of the issue and that essentially says, hey, PCs are cool, too.

• Move 3: Mac slams Microsoft for covering up real problems with Vista by creating fancy advertising campaigns.

Do you see?  Most strategists could have – and should have – seen this one coming.  Apple goads you into advertising to respond to their ads and then they slam you for being more concerned with creating ad campaigns than fixing your software, as in the case with the ad I posted yesterday or Apple’s PC Bake Sale ad:

Click here to view the embedded video.

So what should have (or could have) Microsoft done?

Well, leaving aside the obvious bit about getting Vista right before releasing it to the public, they probably should have:

1. Responded to Mac in a matter of weeks, or at least months, rather than years.  This one is sort of a no-brainer.
2. Come up with a response that re-framed the issue rather than responding to Mac’s frame.  Saying, “I’m not a dweeb” is a bit like saying “I’m not a crook” – it just forces people to think of you within the frame of dweeb/not dweeb (or Crook/Not Crook).  This is actually a well known phenomenon that is actively used by modern politicians.  Just as asking people not to think of white bears is actually counterproductive, so too is Microsoft’s denial of Mac’s characterization of PCs.
3. Possibly take a page out of Trout and Ries’ playbook and attack the weakness inherent in Mac’s strength.  In this case, it’s Apple’s closed system and (lower but still there) price premium.  William Thomas alluded to the limitations of a closed system in a comment to my previous post when he compared Linux to catching and gutting your own fish and Apple to ordering fish at the restaurant.  And I’m guessing here, but it’s also what Microsoft might be getting at with the “Life without walls” slogan.  Of course, Microsoft will have to be as creative and sharp witted in pressing this point as Mac has been with their campaigns, and, well, their ad above hardly qualifies.  The slogan is nothing but an afterthought.

So what do you think Microsoft should do?

Seriously, the oceans are in horrible shape, and it’s your fault. You did it, Supply, Demand, Pollution and Overfishing. And if we don’t take ownership now, our brands, our children, and our collective appetite for seafood may never forgive us.

I’m not trying to bum you out, but the next time you feel the need to impress clients or co-workers with your sushi-ordering skills, you should at least know whether you’re eating sustainable fish. (Either way, you’ll have to kiss your Chilean Sea Bass goodbye.)

Perhaps you’re wondering, “What’s all this hippy, save-the-Earth stuff got to do with online and multi-channel marketing optimization?” Great question, and I’m glad you asked.

By now, you’re familiar with the environmental catch-all term “green marketing,” but what you may not realize is that “blue marketing” is a relatively untapped way to differentiate your brand while raising awareness for an urgent problem that affects everyone. Besides, it’s not easy being green, because, when everyone’s doing something “green,” it loses meaning fast. (Seth Godin has a great post on the coming backlash over green marketing.)

A quick anecdote to make my point: The other week, I saw two containers of soy milk — original flavor, same brand, same size — sitting next to each other in the fridge at my corner store. One of the containers had a green cap, the other didn’t. I picked up the container with the “green caps for green energy” promotion, turned it around, and saw that they were promising to donate 30 kilowatts of “green power” (solar power?) if I entered the number from under the cap into the database on their website. Pretty smart, right? Well, yeah, but when the first words I read are, “Can one little green cap change the world? Just maybe.” I have my doubts. Even if their campaign is a great idea, it’s lost amid the over-branding of “green.”

It’s sad, but as much as we care about the planet, Broca is tuning out.

Making Waves

World Ocean Day happened on June 8 and, if you’re like me, you didn’t think to commemorate it. Still, I have been paying attention. Did you know that if we don’t curb overfishing, pollution and global warming trends, there will be no more (edible) fish in the sea by 2048?

It’s true. Here’s how I found out:

The URL at the end caught my attention, so I went to Oceana.org/matingseason.

Oceana is the world’s leading ocean conservation group, and their website is full of blue ideas. You can become a WaveMaker, tell your grocer to buy sustainable fish, find out why you should say no to shark fin soup, and you can even download a pocket seafood guide so you always know if you’re ordering something sustainable and low-mercury.

Not concerned with saving the fish? How about saving the humans? As the climate of the ocean changes, so goes the rest of the world. Anyone who’s lived through the East Coast heat wave these past several days will find it easy to believe that 11 of the warmest years on record have happened in the past 13 years and ocean temperatures are rising.

How to Avoid Drift Net Marketing Tactics

Whether your eco-friendly marketing initiatives are focused on land or sea, here are a few ways to build trust, encourage word of mouth, and keep it financially sustainable (read: the other “green”):

1.) Be specific — What’s the exact dollar amount you’re trying to raise? What’s the exact percentage you’re donating, and to whom? Why are you donating to that cause and that specific non-profit?

2.) Campaigns are best — It’s so much easier to track and manage special promotions at the campaign level than it is to track it across the entire organization. By focusing on campaigns, you can see very closely how and why your customers and clients are responding to your environmental marketing efforts at each touch point across channels.

3.) Don’t guilt trip — Nothing is a bigger turn-off. People donate because they want to, not because you’ve nagged them to. Be careful not to come off as holier-than-thou about whatever cause you’re promoting. (I was at an event to raise money for drinking water in sub-Saharan Africa the other night, and the CEO of the company that was hosting the event was yelling into the microphone, acting as though attendees — who’d already donated $100 just to be there — were being cheap if they didn’t raise their hands to sponsor a $5,000 well, and literally shushing the crowd like they were in a grade school library. Whatever the online equivalent of that is, don’t do it.)

If Sharks Were Marketers…

Ideally, giving to a great cause should be the icing on the cake that encourages fence-sitters to convert to happy customers. Whatever you do, don’t go the drift net route and merely advertise your brand’s inner green- or blue-ness as though it’s self-evident. Each year, tens of millions of sharks are killed by drift nets while marketers like us roam free.

Hmm… If sharks had better marketing support, maybe we wouldn’t have an irrational fear of them.

I’m a sucker for good, experience-based marketing; the kind that draws you into an experience with a product or service. So, what’s even more impressive to me than the magazine is that they have some of the best email marketing around.

In addition to their typical, retail product-based emails, there’s one thing I love more than anything about this company: Christopher Kimball’s newsletter. Kimball is the CEO/Editor-in-Chief and, in addition to being head of the company, he runs a family farm in a small town in Vermont. For as long as I’ve been a subscriber, Kimball’s newsletter has always had a welcoming, familiar tone, describing every detail about “what’s going down on the farm.” He talks about the harvest, funny happenings around his small town, updates on things the family has cooked, links to photos, and so on. Here’s an except from a summer update:

“Two weeks ago, our family and neighbors turned out to help get Jean’s hay in [links to photos], and our strawberry crop has been terrific. Adrienne will turn out at least a couple dozen jars of strawberry jam and probably a similar number of raspberry. The 23 rows of corn were better than “knee-high by the fourth of July,” and all the potatoes are doing well and are free of potato bugs, at least so far. I hope to start digging new potatoes out of the ground by early August, steaming them, and serving them with nothing more than salt, butter, and chives. Click here to see recent photos of the farm [links to photos]”

It’s a whole email of this rich commentary, interspersed with links for recipes on the Cook’s Illustrated site and updates on the filming of their weekly show on PBS. But here’s the thing: I’m absolutely compelled to read them. What’s more is that I completely look forward to taking a 15-minute break from city life to be transported to an environment that seems so alien to me, yet I’m allowed to experience it as a resident. I pour over each link and look at every photo, but more importantly — for them, anyway — I’m driven to read the recipes. Why? I’m curious and excited to learn what made the cobbler he and his wife served at the latest community event so amazing. And that’s the point. His words draw me into the experience and persuade me to interact with the brand and its products.

Knowing when it’s more effective for your copy to have personality and create an experience, versus cutting straight to the point, is crucial. It’s about showing your audience that you know them by anticipating their interests and needs. That’s what Kimball does so well, and it works.

Want to know how Kimball does it? If you’d like to craft authentic, engaging prose that turns visitors into customers, customers into fans, and fans into advocates, join us for our upcoming Persuasive Online Copywriting seminar in Orlando. (Sorry, kids, no coyotes and freshly-picked apples, but you might find a cartoon mouse or two.) If you can’t make it to Florida, perhaps you’d like to buy the Persuasive Online Copywriting e-book or simply subscribe to Future Now’s free newsletter instead.

[Editor's Note: This is the first post from the latest addition to Future Now, our first-ever VP of Marketing, Bond... Brian Bond. It takes a brave soul to market the marketers, so if you've enjoyed the email soufflé, feel free to wave 'hello' in the comments. Welcome to the team, Brian!]

…Facebook is now partnering with 3rd party sites and selling your information to them for money. How does this work?

Here’s a scenario: you go to Blockbuster.com and rent a movie. A little interface element pops up and tells you that Blockbuster is sending information to your Facebook account. It gives you ten seconds to say no…and then it sends it anyway. This is called “opt-out”. You only have the option to say no. It sends your personal information by default. “Opt-in” would be where no action is taken by default.

You then log into your Facebook account, and it says that “Blockbuster is sending a story to your account”. You have the option to say no to this, but it is not apparent at all. In fact, Facebook gives you the option “Don’t show me this again”, which seems to suggest that they agree this message is annoying. They have designed this screen for you to focus on the pain of having to read a silly message and dismiss it. But what isn’t very clear is that when you do so you’re also giving implicit instruction that all services can send information to your news feed in the future. This is a HUGE deal to Facebook…this is how they’re going to make money. [Continue reading "Facebook's Brilliant but Evil Design"... ]

It’s an important read for anyone who uses, or advertises with, the popular social networking site.

An Open Letter to Andrew Cosslett, CEO of InterContinental Hotels Group:

Dear Mr. Cosslett,

As a business traveler, my needs are simple and predictable: I just want some restful sleep, power outlets numbering more than one, and an internet connection that works. Now, in the last 90 days, I’ve spent more than a third of those nights in a hotel room, so I’m waaaayyyy too familiar with lumpy pillows, concave mattresses, and TV remotes where the previous guest felt entitled to liberate the “free” AA batteries inside.

On a recent trip out to the Googleplex in the San Francisco Bay area, I found myself searching about for a quality place to stay. The usual spots had no vacancies, so I chose one of your less commonly known properties, Staybridge Suites. (I happen to love staying at “suites” hotels; the visual separation of a living area from the sleeping area, and an actual kitchen, creates the feel of a condo that a human lives in rather than just a hotel room.)

I check in, no problems. It’s actually *half* the price of regular hotels in the area. I’m pleasantly greeted by staff and quickly finding my room. But once inside, I’m delighted to see this:

That’s right, a hand-written note from the general manager, Ms. Lisa DeLorean. Not a computer-written-in-handwriting-font note, but a real, live, ink-on-quality-stock note. I wasn’t even terribly concerned about the words themselves — the note’s pleasant enough — but this fine business manager took the time to write that note herself, and addressed to me personally, so I know it’s not just the boilerplate greetings that tells you the name of the cleaning staff.

It actually took me awhile to read the note, as most of the “wow” effect came from just receiving it! Of course, she thanks me for choosing her hotel, but she also thanks me for all the other visits I’ve made to the affiliated chain members (Crowne, InterContinental, etc., none of which I suspect factored into her bonus those past years), and then she finished with a bang [emphasis mine]: “We want you to be very satisfied with your stay.”

Not just satisfied, but very satisfied.

And I was. The place was indeed restful, power outlets everywhere and free internet. And, yes, fresh batteries in the remotes.

I’m sure you’ve all heard the stat that a dissatisfied customer tells, on average, 12 others about their bad experience. (Well, Lisa DeLorean, I just told 85,000+ GrokDotCom readers about you, your fine hotel, and the classy way you treat your customers. Keep up the good work!)

Mr. Cosslett, as CEO of Lisa’s parent company, if this handwriting of thank-you notes is corporate policy, congrats to you too! If Lisa did this on her own initiative, you just found your next regional manager. Cuz if you don’t, I’m sure another hotelier will snatch up talent like Lisa’s — and fast.

Sincerely,

John Quarto-vonTivadar, delighted customer

P.S. — At the end of my stay, I tracked down Lisa DeLorean in the manager’s area and thanked her for the note. Curiously, she was taken by surprise, and expressed that no one’s ever thanked her before for writing these notes and (get this!) she was beginning to doubt if they made a difference. Chin up, Lisa, they most certainly do.

If any readers would like to stay at Lisa’s facility, here’s the 411: Lisa DeLorean, general manager, (650) 588-0770 — Staybridge Suites, at the San Francisco Airport, 1350 Huntington Ave, San Bruno, California

[Oh, and by the way, I have no financial interest in InterContinental Hotels Group or its affiliates, nor do I know Andrew Cosslett, and I never met Lisa DeLorean until the events related in this story.]

Why is that?

After all, Trump has proven expertise in his field. He’s a bestselling author, several times over. He has an intensely personal “take” on not only his profession, but just about anything you might care to bring to his attention. He’s been a mentor to more than one “apprentice” (sorry, couldn’t resist). And he’s demonstrated thought leadership through his business exploits, his many books, and through Trump University.

By most standards, Trump should be considered a guru, but he isn’t.  So, what gives?

Instead of me just saying why I think he’s not perceived as a guru, let’s examine two other essential methods of creating thumos (see my last post for definition), and then use that insight to figure it out.

1) Use your Web copy to target the relational customer

While there are many differences between transactional and relational customers, the three most important for would-be gurus are that:

Transactional customers:

• Consider only the current transaction when making a decision
• Are generally willing to switch suppliers, stores, etc., for reasons of price alone
• Prefer to be their own expert

Relational customers:

• Consider any transaction to be one in a series of interactions with a given business/expert
• Generally will not comparison shop once they’ve found their expert
• Are searching for an expert they can trust

Basically, if you wish to be perceived as an expert/guru, it helps if you speak to people who are actually looking for one. And again, Dr. Shay’s essay, “Aristotle’s Rhetoric as a Handbook of Leadership” provides some insight:

For starters, we must understand the context that [Aristotle] thinks his remarks apply to, what it means for a leader to seek trust: It’s about dealing with fellow-citizens, where each looks the other in the eye and says, “you are part of my future, no matter how this turns out.”

So, targeting the relational customer requires speaking to visitors as if you:

• Desire to be part of their future beyond any immediate transaction and are willing to make concessions in light of that.
  • Which means you need to create the perception (backed by the reality) that you’re more concerned with helping visitors to make wise choices than in making the sale. If they’re part of your future, you’ll have a vested interest in helping them plan for that future.
• See them as an equal (i.e., fellow-citizen) while lending them your expertise. Which means you should
  • Wear your expertise lightly. One doesn’t brag to friends.
  • Sound like a real person rather than a faceless corporation; be as informal as possible.
  • Answer visitors’ likely questions and provide information transparently.
• Help them to become an insider to your industry (or at least think like one).
  • If there are concepts, terms, or dynamics that a person would have to be familiar with to understand your industry or profession as an insider, help your visitors understand these things.
  • Bring them up to speed in the way a trusted friend and counselor would.

2) Develop an over-riding passion that speaks to the character of your visitors

The word Guru literally denotes a “spiritual teacher.” And even in common use, most Gurus — even cooking or productivity Gurus — see their profession in broader, almost spiritual terms. To use the parable of the three stonemasons, gurus have something of the last stonemason in them; they’re building cathedrals with their work, not just cutting stones.

Indeed, much of a Guru’s draw stems from the infectious passion they feel for their particular craft and from their humility before their craft. In sports it’s called “respect for the game.” Practically speaking, your web copy should show this passion by:

• Demonstrating that you’re as interested in the advancement of your profession as your own/company’s advancement.
• Linking what you do to your visitors’ larger ideals, ambitions, and affiliations. The Heath Brother’s refer to this as “staying out of Maslow’s basement.”
• Being generous with your time and your expertise. Gurus are magnanimous, almost by definition. Seek to be so, then ensure your website demonstrates this.

These things have to be combined with genuine thought leadership to work well — no one wants to be inspired by a wannabe Tony Robbins — but when all three guidelines are combined, they’ll transform visitors’ perception of you from a dime-a-dozen “professional” into a bona fide expert with all the ethos and persuasive credibility of a demi-Guru.

Getting back to Mr. Trump…

While “The Donald” is certainly a promotional genius, he has always tended to promote himself more than anything else. And let’s be honest, that’s part of his genius — but it’s also the reason why “Guru” doesn’t spring to mind when you hear his name.

Also, his promotions have almost exclusively focused on “The Deal” at hand. In fact, his first major book was even titled The Art of the Deal. I’ll confess that I know very little of the genuine passion that Donald Trump may feel for development, real estate, etc.   And that’s just the point: I, the casual observer who may represent some vast segment, know more about Trump the celebrity, than Trump the passionate (and quite possibly magnanimous) professional.

Does this mean I’m bashing Donald? Hell no! He knows exactly what he’s doing. I selected him simply because he’s an excellent example of someone who might otherwise have all the other prerequisites of guru-dom, yet lacks that particular ethos because of how he’s commonly perceived. Just contrast him to Trump University’s Chief Learning Officer, Roger Schank to see what I mean. (Though far less famous, Schank genuinely is, and is widely considered to be, a guru.) Still, Trump may be well on his way to remedying that image…

• First, his establishment of Trump University, the publishing of his new textbooks, and the Trump blog have all given him a real platform to showcase Trump the passionate professional (vs. Trump the celebrity).
• Second, the university, more than anything, has allowed Trump to invite the wider public into longer-term and relational contact with him. This is a situation where he can act as a magnanimous counselor to start-up entrepreneurs. So, guru status might accrue to him in time. We can only wait and see.

In the meantime, get busy implementing the strategies we’ve discussed so far, and you just might beat him to it.

But all that’s changed. Today, they have a brand-spanking-new fleet of mid-sized jets staffed with would-be friendly people who, bound and gagged with corporate red tape, can’t do much to help the customer even when they want to. Sure, the fares are lower than ever, but even with off-peak flights for as low as $1 (yes, really), it’s still not worth it. Why? Because, according to their current CEO, Ben Baldanza, the customer is always a cheapskate — and wrong.

Maybe it’s time to put a dimmer on those red light specials. They say that “a fish stinks from the head,” and if there’s ever been any proof, its this email Mr. Baldanza sent to a customer by accidentally hitting “reply to all” on his BlackBerry:

“Please respond, Pasquale, but we owe him nothing as far as I’m concerned. Let him tell the world how bad we are. He’s never flown us before anyway and will be back when we save him a penny.”

But, wait! There’s more!! Here’s their Director of Communications, Alison Russell, on a separate incident where blogger Alex Rudloff told readers, “Do Not Fly Spirit Airlines“:

“We wouldn’t respond to a blog post. This goes back to the larger question of the veracity of everything you read on Internet blogs. Our customer service is great.”

Oh, really?? More on my horror story with Spirit 2.0 in a moment. But first, let’s see what Google has to say about the company:

Here’s what Rudloff had to say in his blog post:

“So, instead of losing $5 on a customer who has every right to be angry, I’ll write this blog post and tell all my traveling buddies to add Spirit Airlines to their growing list of airlines to avoid,” Rudloff wrote on Aug. 4. “If Google works their magic like they usually do, at least one of the 4,931 daily searches for “Spirit Airlines” will turn up this result and save someone the headache (and hopefully end up costing Spirit Airlines $6 or more).”

Rudloff later told the Orlando Sentinel that:

“I think ultimately that customers have to speak out and they have to engage in word of mouth . . . That’s what the market responds to.”

Cool! What a great segue…

All Spirit, No Soul

Last May, I was flying from New York (LGA) to Detroit (DTW), as I often do for Memorial Day weekend — my favorite time to vacation in Detroit. I was running late. The car service was half an hour late, and traffic wasn’t moving, thanks to jackknifed truck on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. After paying top dollar to sit in a car for two hours, it was clear that I’d miss the 30-minutes-before-departure check-in deadline. So, I called Spirit Air’s 1-800 number, only to find there was no “customer service” option. So I waited on hold for, say, 20 minutes until I eventually hung up and called back, pressing a random — and incorrect — selection in hopes of reaching a human who could tell me what to do about the situation. When I finally reached a customer service rep, she told me to go to the airport and speak to the agents at the check-in counter — where I waited for (you guessed it) another 30 minutes.

After all of that, I got to the airport just before the 30-minute mark, but there was a line — a long one — and not enough agents to serve it. When I got to the front of the line, the agent told me that nothing could be done. If I wanted to book another flight, there was one leaving in an hour, but it would cost as much as my entire round trip. I kindly informed this person that I’d be willing to pay a charge — as is typical with other cheapskate airlines — to switch the ticket, but that buying a whole new one, just for a one-way leg of a round-trip flight was absurd. Then, when I asked for a number for customer service because I wanted to complain about the event — after all, I’d been a customer for 10 years — the guy hands me a card with the same freaking number I’d used earlier to get someone who couldn’t help me! When I brought that to the agent’s attention, he said, “I’m sorry, sir, there’s nothing I can do about it” — a common refrain at today’s Spirit Air.

So, Northwest Airlines to rescue (for once), and I was on my way to Detroit with a pounding headache and the world’s dumbest $200 missing from my bank account.

On the way back to New York, I was actually looking forward to flying Spirit. “If this isn’t a good trip after that nonsense,” I thought, “I’m so going to blog this.” Checking in with a smile, I handed the agent my ticket. “I’m sorry, Mr. Gorell, but we don’t have a seat with that name on it for this flight,” he said. I told him that was impossible and that I wasn’t imagining the ticket in my hand. Then it hit me: They’d canceled my entire round-trip ticket because they couldn’t serve me in time!

Turning beet-red, I calmly told the agent of my snag in New York. As I retold the story, one-by-one, all four agents at the desk came up to me, visibly upset by what I had to say. I let them know I was a blogger for a company that specializes in planning and optimizing the customer experience, and that I couldn’t believe the airline had tied their hands from doing anything of value for its “passengers.” Then a crazy thing happened. They actually encouraged me to blog about it! As it turned out, everyone at the counter seemed upset with the company’s new policies, too. I could tell they were biting their tongues, until…

“We used to be #1 in customer service,” said one agent. “Now we can’t help people.”

Her co-workers looked me in the eye and nodded. It was such an honest moment that I actually bought a one-way ticket from them… for the flight I’d already, supposedly, booked. (Oh, and since this was a last-minute one-way flight to NYC, you can be sure I got red flagged for security screening.)

For months, I let it slide. After speaking with the good people at Spirit in Detroit, I worried that blogging about the experience might put their jobs at risk. That is, until I saw Mack Collier’s post, which hipped me to the fact that a lot of other bloggers out there are also convinced that Spirit’s CEO — and not its employees — is what’s putting their jobs at risk by causing this fish to stink:

Alex Rudloff

BL Ochman’s WhatsNextBlog

Bold Interactive

CEO Smack

Darwin PR

Gadling

Jaunted

Josh Hallett

Lawrence Salberg

Perpetually Befuddled

Propeller

Reality Bites Back

Sarah and the Goon Squad

Search Engine Guide

Stuck on the Palmetto

The BOOT

Transmission

Upgrade: Travel Better

Sorry, Mr. Baldanza, but you can’t fly faster than word of mouth (or blog).

Is viral marketing the same as word of mouth?

First of all, yes, viral marketing does exist. But it’s a combination of tactics that, hopefully, eventually, enable positive word of mouth to spread. (In a moment, I’ll share a remarkable story of one family-owned e-commerce shop that saved a network TV show from extinction with a few viral marketing tactics, a strong will, and 20 tons of nuts. But first… ) Let’s take a look at how Godin explains the difference between viral marketing and word of mouth:

Word of mouth is a decaying function. A marketer does something and a consumer tells five or ten friends. And that’s it. It amplifies the marketing action and then fades, usually quickly. A lousy flight on United Airlines is word of mouth. A great meal at Momofuku is word of mouth.

Viral marketing is a compounding function. A marketer does something and then a consumer tells five or ten people. Then then they tell five or ten people. And it repeats. And grows and grows. Like a virus spreading through a population. The marketer doesn’t have to actually do anything else. (They can help by making it easier for the word to spread, but in the classic examples, the marketer is out of the loop.) The Mona Lisa is an ideavirus.

Word of mouth expert Andy Sernovitz sees it a (slightly) different way:

Word of mouth marketing is the big category. Viral marketing is one of the many techniques used to help word of mouth travel (usually by email).

Think of it this way:

• “Advertising” includes TV, print, billboards, etc.
• “Direct Marketing” includes catalogs, mail, telemarketing, etc.
• “Interactive” includes web, search, email, etc.

and

• “Word of Mouth Marketing” includes viral, blogs, communities, etc.

Are these two very smart people that far apart in their thinking? If not the category itself, it seems both would agree that word of mouth is the ultimate goal of viral marketing. So, when Godin calls word of mouth “a decaying function,” what he means is that it’s an effect that can be nurtured with various marketing tactics (e.g., blogs, video, remarkable PR). The surest key to successful viral marketing is having a great product. But the other key is having that something extra, that, je-ne-sais-quoi that, as Godin likes to say, makes a company a purple cow.

When the CBS drama Jericho was canceled earlier in the year, the folks at NutsOnline.com saw a chance to sell — literally — tons of product by rallying a wave of new customers to send nuts to the network’s midtown Manhattan offices. Using viral marketing tactics to attract fans of the show, NutsOnline bombarded CBS with 40,000 pounds of nuts from Jericho fans around the world. But here’s the amazing part: The network listened, and pledged to return the show to its schedule.

This video shows how it all came together:

Not only did NutsOnline save their favorite show by selling $55k worth of nuts, they gained tons of positive word of mouth — and new customers — in the process. (Read the letter from CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler or watch this video for details.)

As a matter of disclosure, both NutsOnline and CBS are clients of Future Now. We weren’t involved in the Jericho campaign, but we remain very proud of the outside-the-shell thinking from both companies; NutsOnline for seeing the opportunity to save the show (they got the idea because one of the characters says “Nuts!” a lot at the end of the show instead of surrendering*), and CBS for being savvy enough to respond so gracefully and smart enough to use existing grassroots support to attract viewers. (I had never even heard of the show until it was off the air!)

In a nutshell, viral marketing is only as good as the concept it promotes — something granular enough for people to grok instantly. Otherwise, the result is difficult to digest, let alone share. Don’t you think?

Seth is right, by the way. Momofuku is a great restaurant — but don’t take my word for it. As far as the 3 triggers of word of mouth are concerned, Momo is both kinetic and generous. And apparently, you might run into famous people like Jodie Foster or Seth Godin.

[*UPDATE: My colleague Jeff Sexton informs me that "Nuts!" really is taken from The Battle of the Budge Bulge -- easy now -- in which U.S. General McAuliffe gave the response to the German Commander's eloquent call for surrender. Sorry for missing the tie-in, Jericho fans. Please don't send truckloads of peanuts to my alma mater. ]

It’s a sad day in social media when Facebook deletes Ranger Rick, the National Wildlife Federation’s beloved spokes-raccoon.

On Facebook, networks grow organically — often slowly — and by deleting Ranger Rick, the NWF’s entire 500-person network was brutally poached.

Sure, this public relations gaff seems more to do with a flawed policy and/or housekeeping algorithm than contempt for nature conservation, but it’s still absurd. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so scandalicious if it weren’t for the fact that Paris Hilton and Hillary Clinton fakes roam wild:

. . . Anyone think the actual Hillary Clinton is checking who tagged her wall today? And for nonprofits like the NWF, creating a group or mascot profile protects the privacy of the staffers who work to reach out to members through social networking sites. Does Hillary’s Facebook staffer wants to have his/her personal info out there for 35,000 supporters to see?

But here’s the bottom line — of all the fake profiles on Facebook, why has Facebook targeted the beloved Ranger Rick? A quick search shows six fake Paris Hilton profiles. Why kill off Ranger Rick? Would it really have torn a hole in the fabric of the space-time continuum to look the other way while Ranger Rick spread cuteness across the Internet?

Are non-profits an endangered species on Facebook?

If so, it seems dubious that sponsored (read: billable) groups like Wal-Mart are welcome to market themselves despite intense community backlash. I’m not saying it’s wrong for Wal-Mart to be on Facebook, but can an eco-journalist raccoon get a break?

After speaking with the NWF’s Online Advocacy Manager, David Pierpoint, the group emailed GrokDotCom the following exclusive statement:

National Wildlife Federation’s concern about having Ranger Rick’s profile deleted is centered on having the same opportunity and level of interaction with the Facebook community that candidates’ campaigns are given. If the door of political discourse is opened, then it is important that all voices have the opportunity to be heard.

We believe Ranger Rick (40th birthday this year) is not a senseless character, but a fully realized representative and educator of millions of our constituents’ voices who care passionately about important issues. We put our resources into creating that profile as a way to put a personal touch to those issues as 500 “real” people on his friends list. We received nothing but positive feedback from friends who received a “Happy Birthday” message from Ranger Rick or were told about an important event NWF was putting on. All of that is important to the relationships we want to have with those who care about wildlife and the environment.

Isn’t that what social networking is all about?

It is also important that not only NWF but many other non-profits are given the opportunity to work with Facebook and its community in a positive way, and we are open to those possibilities. But let the people decide who they want to be friends with, not Facebook.

Guess it’s back to reaching fans — “ages 7 and up” — in the trusty ol’ magazine for Ranger Rick. Looks like lip gloss beats recycled glossy once again.

What now for everyone’s second (third?) favorite Harvard dropout? Will Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg step up and free Ranger Rick, or will fans have to rely on the NWF’s MySpace profile instead? Care to email Facebook and tell them what you think?

Maybe Zuckerberg’s too good smart to sell for billions of dollars, but Facebook doesn’t seem to have a problem selling out for free.

Recently, Mattel (MAT) has had two product recalls; one for toys with lead paint, and another for toys with powerful small magnets.

Mattel chose the usual large company route: Have your CEO do a public apology, looking serious and sincere, outlining the problem and emphasizing the steps you’re taking to deal with it.

Has this approach ever worked? I’m not being cynical here, I really want to know.

Here’s why, in this case, I don’t think it worked.

It’s obviously a highly rehearsed and planned speech from CEO Robert Eckert, in a suit, sitting in a fake environment. Everything about this video screams planned, rehearsed, fake — right down to his choreographed hand movements. Maybe it’s just me, but when he says, “I’m just as upset and disappointed as anyone,” I cringe.

I’m thinking, “Yeah, because of all the money you’re gonna lose.”

Let’s put ourselves in a parent’s shoes. More specifically, let’s put ourselves in a mother’s shoes. (Dads are just as concerned but, in my marketing to women research, I’ve learned a whole lot about moms, so I’m going to focus on them.) She’s thinking, “My child may have been exposed to something that could possibly harm him. I’m not ‘disappointed’. I’m scared. I’m angry. I am downright pissed.”

“Upset”. Good word. “Disappointed”. Not so much. The word “disappointed” may work for the lawyers, but not for moms.

What’s the purpose of this video? Is it designed for shareholders and investors? Mattel is taking out ads in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and USA Today. This choice of WSJ and NY Times makes me wonder if this PR effort is indeed aimed at investors. If so, I would give the video higher grades.

But if this video is aimed at parents/mothers — “consumers” in corporate speak — then it could be greatly improved. Here’s how:

1. Lose the suit. The CEO looks too formal. Who are you trying to impress? Do you feel more powerful in a suit? Come down to a more believable level. Come down to my level. (I understand that for investors the CEO needs to look serious and businesslike, and that they might take offense if he were wearing anything less than a suit. But for moms it only ads to the perception that “he’s not one of us”.)
2. Get rid of the fake background. It’s too sterile. You look like a talking head on a set, not a real person.
3. Use words that parents are using, not corporate double-speak. You build rapport by making people feel you’re like them; by speaking in their language. Almost nothing about this performance — and it does come across as a performance — makes me think this CEO is like me. Sure, he opens with “I’m a parent of 4,” but he looks and sounds like a CEO, not a parent. How much more effective would it be if he said, “I’m a dad with 4 kids.” And for another example, look at this phrase: “Nothing is more important than the safety and wellbeing of children.” How much more powerful would this be if he had said “your children” or “our children” or even “our kids.”

Moms have particularly strong B.S. detectors. I’m not saying this CEO is insincere, but if he wants consumers or moms to believe in his company, they first must believe in him. I’ll let moms and dads speak for themselves as to whether this video achieved that goal.

What do you think? Can Mattel withstand transparency?

In a mass market world, it’s easy to hide behind corporate spin because, hey, everyone’s doing it. In a world driven by interactive media and niche markets, though, not everyone can withstand transparency.

The Buzz Bin’s Geoff Livingston wrote a piece called “Astroturfing on the Dark Side of the Moon,” highlighting a few cases of corporate blogging-gone-wrong and the ongoing debate over what should be considered “astroturfing” (define). The article shows how the lines of corporate transparency are now gossamer-thin.

But why? Have business ethics become blurry and situational?

Whether they like it or not, companies are being thrown into a world of transparency. Perhaps what we’re witnessing in these cases of so-called “astroturfing” isn’t so much a lack of personal ethics as it is the systemic floundering of those whose product, business model, policies and/or public relations channels can’t withstand transparency.

I asked a few of our favorite blogging, PR, and word-of-mouth experts to share some thoughts on transparency*. David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR, was first to respond…

I think it is much better for organizations to establish policies about all communications (including verbal communication, e-mail, participation in chat rooms, and the like) rather than to focus on a new medium (blogs). I feel strongly that a company can and should set policy about sexual harassment, disparaging the competition, and revealing company secrets, but there’s no reason to have different policies for different media, such as blogs.

All sorts of unethical practices go on in the blogosphere, and you must be certain to hold yourself and your organization accountable for your actions as a blogger. Some organizations have gotten caught using unethical practices on their blogs and have done great harm to their corporate reputations. Some things I feel strongly about:

Transparency — You should never pretend to be someone you are not. For example, don’t use another name to submit a comment on any blog (your own or somebody else’s), and don’t create a blog that talks about your company without disclosing that someone from your company is behind it.

Privacy — Unless you’ve been given permission, don’t blog about something that was disclosed to you. For example, don’t post material from an e-mail someone sent you unless you have permission.

Disclosure — It is important to disclose anything that people might consider a conflict of interest in a blog post. For example, if I write in my blog about a product from a company that is one of my consulting clients, I put a sentence at the end disclosing my relationship with the company.

Truthfulness — Don’t lie. For example, never make up a customer story just because it makes good blog content.

Andy Sernovitz, author of Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking, kept it even simpler with this response via smartphone:

Word of mouth/blog ethics aren’t hard. It’s about:
1. Always being truthful
2. Common sense
3. Good taste

Blogger extraordinaire Chris Garrett concurs, insisting that:

If you keep your customer or audience needs in mind and have the best intentions, the rest ought to follow quite naturally. People mainly get into trouble when their intention is to hide or deceive.

Maybe the lines aren’t blurring because our ethics are becoming more situational; they only appear situational because we’re being forced to respond in the moment. In such an environment, the more PR “strategy” one has, the more phony they appear. People need to separate the argument about “what is ethical” from “what is stupid or ill-advised”.

There are no shades of transparency. Transparency cannot be opaque to any degree, regardless of how we spin it. Customers are simply too smart, and even the slow ones among us have the power of Google at their fingertips. (Try hiding from that!) Transparency isn’t about sharing trade secrets, it’s about engaging with people who have opinions about your brand. Treat your corporate blog like an infomercial and it will fail.

What those who quote Marshall McLuhan without having read him may not realize that “the medium is the message” was a play on words. It’s a few puns deep, actually.

First, McLuhan was insisting that the medium was the “mess-age”; that media, particularly new media, make a mess of the age in which they emerge. His secondary, lesser-known pun was that “the medium is the massage“; that emerging media, although poorly understood, have a massaging, drug-like affect on how we perceive, process, and collectively distort information. For McLuhan, television, the “new media” of his day, was the massage of the mass-age. Along with the message, the massage is explained in McLuhan’s concise book. The thing is, we no longer live in the mass age.

Just before he died, McLuhan looked beyond the mass age to what he called The Global Village. In this last book, he not only foreshadowed the likes of blogging and Facebook, but he assures us that we wouldn’t understand the “global village” once we arrived.

Meanwhile, back in today’s global “Web 2.0″ village, McLuhan remains best known for his cameo in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall. The good news for McLuhan, though, is that not only does the YouTube clip prove that the “global village” exists, it gives an example of someone who can’t withstand transparency.

[*Author's Note: I'll update this article as other bloggers respond. Stay tuned... ]

In the new world of marketing and PR, understanding customer motivations is essential. You might say David’s on a mission to help companies stop talking about their “flexible, scalable, interoperable solutions for improving business practices” and start getting real.

In Part 2 of the interview, David & Robert discuss:

• Why PR departments no longer control the message, and why that’s nothing to fear.
• That public relations doesn’t just mean “media relations.”
• How to avoid what we at GrokDotCom call the “Business Prevention Unit” (lawyers, PR bureaucracy, etc.) from keeping you from being influential in your industry.
• Why “thought leadership” goes beyond commissioning a white paper.
• How “buyer personas” can help you understand your customers, and speak their language.
• How to craft News Releases that work smarter (not harder) across channels.

Click here to listen to Part 2 of David Meerman Scott and Robert Gorell

To download this podcast for your next flight, car ride, or trip to the beach, right-click here

For info on David Meerman Scott, and to get the freshest in marketing & PR insight, visit WebInkNow.com.

UPDATE: For the full scoop on how David used link love to help spread the word about New Rules, listen to the podcast. And when you’re done, browse some of the great blogs on his “thank you” list:

Robert Scoble Scobleizer
Adele Revella Buyer Persona Blog
Joe Wikert Publishing 2020 blog
Steve Johnson
David McInnis
Mark Levy
David Hamm
Mike Levin
Colin Delaney epolitics
Steve Goldstein Alacrablog
Todd Van Hoosear
George L Smyth Eclectic Mix
Mark Effinger
Michelle Manafy EContent magazine
Kevin Rose Diggnation
Grub Street Writers
Dave Armon
Britton Manasco
Jordan Behan
Nettie Hartsock
John Havens
John Blossom ContentBlogger
Larry Schwartz Newstex
Steve Smith
Melanie Surplice
Nate Wilcox
Ian Wilker
Cody Baker
Dianna Huff
Brian Carroll
Ken Doctor
Jonathan Kranz
Barry Graubart
Steve O’Keefe
Ted Demopoulos
Debbie Weil
Paul Gillin
Matt Lohman
Seth Godin
Rob O’ Regan
Steve Rubel Micro Persuasion
Paul Gillin
Joan Stewart The Publicity Hound
Dave Schmidt Word Currency
Glenn Nicholas Small Business Inspiration
Mac McIntosh B2B Sales Lead Expert
Jill Konrath Selling to Big Companies
Guy Kawasaki How to Change the World
Court Bovée and John Thill Business Communication Headline News
Grant D. Griffiths Kansas Family Law Blog
Robin Crumby The Melcrum Blog
Jim Peake My Success Gateway
Eli Singer Refreshing the Daily Grind
Duane Brown Imagination+Innovation
Scott Monty The Social Media Marketing Blog
Ian Lamont
Blog Campaigning
Rich at Copywrite Ink
John Lustina SEO Speedwagon
Adam Tinworth OneMan+HisBlog
Dave Schmidt Word Currency
Scott Clark Finding the Sweet Spot
Amanda Chapel Strumpette
Jennifer Veitenheimer reinventjen
Morty Schiller Wordrider
Matthias Hoffmann the power of news
Erin Caldwell’s PRblog
Ferrell Kramer Talking Communications
Anita Campbell Selling to Small Businesses
Rugjeff
Karl Ribas’ Search Engine Marketing Blog
Tony D. Baker Advanced Marketing Techniques
Tom Pick The WebMarketCentral Blog
Tina Lang-Stuart
Bryan Eisenberg, Jeffrey Eisenberg , Robert Gorell and the rest of the team at GrokDotCom
Michele Miller WonderBranding
Publicity Ship Blog
The Media Slut
Brad Shorr Word Sell
Sasha Where Business Meets the Web
Ellee Seymour ProActivePR
Chris Kenton The Marketers’ Consortium
Paul Young Product Beautiful
By Ron Miller
Michael Morton
James D. Brausch
Janet Meiners Newspapergrl
Andrew B. Smith The New View From Object Towers
Cristian Mezei SeoPedia
Jim Nail Cymfony’s influence 2.0
Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff The Blog Squad
Forward Blog
Ben Argov
Zane Safrit Duct Tape Marketing—Business Life
Will McInnes Online Marketing Guide
Robbin Steif LunaMetrics
Mike Boss
Marc Gunn Music Promo Blog
Nancy E. Schwartz Getting Attention
Kami Watson Huyse Communications Overtones
Todd Defren PR Squared
Michael Stelzner Writing White Papers
Dee Rambeau Adventures in Business Communications
Glenn Fannick Read Between the Mines
Owen Lystrup Into PR
Morgan McLintic
Mark Batterson Evotional
Jay Coffelt
John Richardson
Robin Good MasterNewMedia
Shel Israel Naked Conversations
Robert J. Ricci Son-of-a-Pitch
Mike Sigers Simplenomics
Dan Greenfield Bernaisesource
Brian Clark copyblogger
Lee Odden TopRank Online Marketing Blog
David Weinberger
Carson McComas
The FutureLab blog
John Bradley Jackson Be First Best or Different
Wired PR Works by Barbara Rozgonyi
Mark Goren Transmission
John Wall Ronin Marketer
MarketingProfs Daily Fix Blog
John Koetsier bizhack
Steve Kayser Squareballs Entertainment
James Robertson’s Smalltalk Blog
Linas Simonis
Dale Wolf The Perfect Customer Experience
Eric Mattson Marketing Monger
Scott Sehlhorst Tyner Blain
Seeds of Growth blog
Hugo E. Martin
David Phillips leverwealth
Terry Affiliate Marketing Blog
Gavin Heaton Servant of Chaos
Mark White Better Business Blogging
Eric Eggertson Common Sense PR
Michelle Golden Golden Practices
Liz Strauss
Tony Valle Small Business Radio
Chris Heuer’s Idea Engine
David Evans The Progress Bar
Todd Andrlik The Power to Connect
The New PR Wiki
NewPR
Pelle Braendgaard Stake Ventures
Lisa Banks Search Engine Optimization Eblog
Chris Brown Branding & Marketing
Graeme Thickins Tech-Surf-Blog
Ardath Albee Marketing Interactions
Lauren Vargas Communicators Anonymous
Lori Smart Lemming
Dane Morgan
Jason Leister Computer Super Guy
Bill Trippe
Jason Eiseman Jason the Content Librarian
Reuben Steiger Millions of Us
Taran Rampersad Know Prose
John Richardson Success Begins Today
Valentin Pertsiya Brand Aid
Bill Belew Rising Sun of Nihon
Joe Beaulaurier An Ongoing Press Release
David Koopmans Business of Marketing and Branding
Chris Anderson The Long Tail
Roger C. Parker Design to Sell

A renowned online thought leadership and viral marketing strategist, David’s blog WebInkNow.com is invaluable for anyone who struggles with multi-channel communications (read: pretty much everyone in business). The New Rules… grew out of his popular e-book by the same name, which has been downloaded by some 250,000+ fans.

In Part 1 of the interview, David & Robert discuss:

• How the advent of electronic content has changed publishing world for good.
• Why “we are what we publish” on the Web.
• How, after taking his own advice, his e-book turned into book deal in 20 minutes.
• Why organizations’ fears of letting employees express themselves online (like blogging) are unfounded, and usually only considered dangerous by executives who don’t read blogs (for instance).
• How he was able to blog his own book before publishing it–and how doing so made the book better.
• The blogging tap-on-the-shoulder technique David used that led Robert to discover that GrokDotCom was included in the book.
• How this strategy took on a viral life of it’s own, creating a lot of new fans in the process–and for free!

Click here to listen to Part 1 of David Meerman Scott and Robert Gorell

To download this podcast for your next flight, car or train ride, right-click here. And don’t forget to listen to Part 2 of the interview, where David discusses how to transform PR from just “media relations” to living, breathing thought leadership.

There’s never been an electronic copy protection platform that couldn’t be hacked, and I doubt there ever will be. Essentially, content keeps struggling to be free. As content creators and owners of intellectual property, we at Future Now struggle with content and copyright questions. If you’re reading this, you’re likely a publisher, artist, or content junkie. Have you been thinking about it?

• What’s the nature of copyright law, and how does it fit within our new media models?
• Is there any value assigned to intellectual properties?
• Obviously, some content is worth paying for, isn’t it?
• How do you measure the ROI of free?
• What’s “fair use,” and how should people be allowed to share?
• Artists & Publishers want to benefit from the value of word-of-mouth, don’t they?
• What’s the publisher’s role in a direct-to-consumer world?

What are your feelings? Would it be different if you were the publisher and it was your content being shared (without any acknowledgments)?

Blip.tv’s Good Copy Bad Copy is a series that explores some of these issues.

Form Comments: I wanted to let you know about a new advertising and online marketing campaign Xerox is launching this week aimed at the office market. This is a campaign that is a bit different than typical Xerox campaigns ….

For one thing — I can tell you we’ve never offered customers a virtual goat, diversion maker or acronymanator (I couldn’t even being to explain- you might as well try it out for yourself at www.frugalcolor.com) Also on the site are some funny office videos we hope folks will send to friends.

The goal of the campaign is to raise awareness of how cost effective
Xerox office color products are and how they really are the right choice for the frugal office!

TV ads that again – are not typical Xerox ads – will begin airing this week on cable networks and over the weekend on major networks. The first one airing features a “mute” button and it’s basically everyone’s nightmare when it comes to mute buttons!

This campaign comes on the heels of a very successful viral campaign in Europe that yielded over 1 million views as of last week. (to see this ad click on: www.extremeoffices.com)

This new color campaign is one example of how Xerox is serious about
reaching out to the marketplace using new media. If you’d like to chat with someone about our advertising and marketing programs, please give me or my colleague, XXXXXXXXXX, a call.

Their words and website speak for themselves. If you’re wondering about my reaction, I clicked through, heard the music (ugh!) and, after the site loaded, I had no idea what they wanted me to do; nor does it motivate me to do anything at all, other than leave. Do you think my visit was counted as a measure of success?

I can’t be the only one who thinks Xerox needs to rethink their strategy?

If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend you do.

Do you ever get annoyed when a business’s online communications are as poor, if not worse, than their offline customer service? One of the most sacred promises of the Internet is that we have the power to chat with total strangers, regardless of how fragmented the information or disproportionately strong the opinion, to piece together the bigger picture about a given experience anytime, anywhere. Access to third-party information is always a good thing for any current or would-be customer; it’s the quickest way of saving ourselves the time, money, and opportunity cost of a bad decision. Besides, most customers take information from peers with a grain of salt. So why should business be afraid of online transparency?

Read the rest of this article.
Read the entire newsletter: Volume 136

You’ve got yourself a stellar online experience, a mean, green construction of persuasion architecture that meets your visitors’ needs in all possible ways – for viral stuff to work, you have to begin with substance and value. Now you’re ready to encourage your visitors to become word-of-mouth marketers, spreading your glory deeper into cyberspace.

Most people who are pleased with you and your product or service are happy to spread the word. You just have to make sure you ask them to do this by providing the opportunity. The opportunity you provide is a call to action.

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Read the entire newsletter: Volume 115

Online advertising costs are orbiting. The rules for maximizing your online advertising efforts change faster than the wind direction. Optimizing your search engine rankings requires careful attention to the evolving algorithms, and you have to dig deep and persevere to “own” the critical keywords that improve your visibility.

You simply can’t ignore this stuff if you want to succeed online. But what wouldn’t you give for a nice, inexpensive, adjunct strategy that gets your customers marketing for you?

Enter the age-old standby: word-of-mouth referrals.

The enduring fact is, people talk with each other about the things that matter to them – discoveries, horror stories, shared interests. Typically, these conversations took place over cups of coffee or across backyard fences or when folks brushed up against one another in the grocery store. They still do.

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Wondering if all the hoopla about blogging really has anything to offer you, the serious business person out there in cyberspace trying to maximize your conversion potential? Then let me put it this way. Want to leverage the power of online content to boost your market exposure or augment your relationships with customers or improve your search engine visibility?

I asked Amanda Watlington, PhD, co-author of Business Blogs: A Practical Guide, to explain the blog-business-and-you connections that can help you make blogging a valuable channel for online persuasion.

So when is a blog more than the sum of its parts? Grab your imagination for this ride!

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If I’m not mistaken, the word started life as a noun. A blog – shortened from “weblog” – in its original incarnation was an online diary charting the personal meanderings (interior and otherwise) of an individual. Then, of course, it caught on. And blogs proliferated … so much so that the noun begat a verb: to blog.

I blog. You blog. He/she/it blogs. I am blogging. Had I blogged that. You gotta love the elasticity of language!

Do we blog? You betcha! And we invite you along for the ride. Please, let me introduce you to A Day in the Life of a Persuasion Architect.

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He settles into a soap-box stance. “You know, I read that book on copywriting … you know, the one with the picture of you on the cover? It was pretty good.”

“Thanks, dude,” I nod. “I’ll convey your reactions to Bryan, Jeffrey and Lisa.”

“Yeah, but …”

Here it comes. I hate this. The moment when I’m going to have to justify something in the nicest way possible when what I really want to do is zap the guy with a lightening bolt (if only Martians could).

It seems my grocery store commentator really liked Persuasive Online Copywriting, so he decided to visit the Web site for this newsletter. It was there he determined that while we might understand the theory of writing persuasively, we were inept at putting it into practice for ourselves.

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