Customer Service

Opting Into Respect

by Ike Pigott · June 17, 2011

I recently tuned out for a family vacation. My adventures away from the emails, Tweets, posts, check-ins and electronic banter that makes up our typical social media world proved quite productive for both me and, I think, for you. The experience left me with a reminder on just how easy it is to lose people by not treating their time and attention with the respect they deserve.

In true, "I just got off vacation where I unplugged," style, I recorded you a little video with the thoughts I have to share today.

15 comments

Successful Marketing Begins With Pain Relief

by Ilana Rabinowitz · June 15, 2011

An extraordinary entry in the publishing world — a children’s book for adults — recently became a sensation, appearing out of the blue, to become the #1 best selling book on Amazon, well before its publication date. What’s more amazing is that the book became a best seller in spite (or maybe because) of the fact that a PDF of the book was distributed virally before it was published.

This book (even its title, Go the F*** to Sleep broke several publishing conventions) rose to the top of the charts because it recognized a universal truth and a real “pain point” of parents. It acknowledged the frustration and anger that parents feel while trying to put their kids to bed and made them feel better about it by using humor.

9 comments

10 Things I Hate About You (As a Blogger)

by Andrew Hanelly · May 17, 2011

You broke my heart. So you leave me no choice: I have to break up with you.

Don’t get me wrong; it was fun while it lasted. You were always making me smile with your clever headlines and funny captions. And I’ll never forget all the times you thoughtfully gave me advice.

I thought we were a match made in heaven. I thought we’d be together forever. But you ruined everything. You took advantage of me. You weren’t faithful. You shattered my heart.

And now I have to dump you.

38 comments

Solve Problems for Your Customers with Content, Don’t Create New Ones

by Andrew Hanelly · April 26, 2011

We in marketing love us some big ideas.

Attention-getting, jaw-dropping, breathtaking ideas that captivate our audience and sway them into taking action. It’s how we get noticed. It’s how we win awards. It’s how we achieve ROI.

Or so we think.

On paper, the ideas we come up with are brilliant. The storyboard is compelling. The concept will change everything. The “personas” are delighted. The idea is a success.

On paper.

But our audience doesn’t live on paper – they live in the real world. And they aren’t personas, they are individual people.

20 comments

25 Ways to Honor Your Customers

by Adam Helweh · March 18, 2011

Many businesses often overlook the day-to-day things they can integrate into their interactions, communications and company culture to really make a difference. In most cases, these seemingly tiny items matter quite a lot to customers. Customers typically don’t care as much about the price of your product as they do about being treated well, having a positive buying experience and some semblance of peace of mind throughout the process.

I am sure you would agree that you will not find success just by selling a product and walking away. The entire experience counts. From the first touch, your customers are forming an opinion of you (and your intention) to provide them a product or service that won’t make them regret it in the minutes, days, or months to come.

36 comments

Customer Service Goes Social With Groubal

by Heather Rast · February 11, 2011

There’s little question customer satisfaction and loyalty are inextricably intertwined. In our value-conscious, post-recession world, maintaining good relationships with existing customers is a business imperative for companies which hope to hold a measure of protection against price-driven competitive strategies.

We consumers may have high expectations, but we readily reward companies which hit the mark. Conversely, we often revile those which miss it. And why not? We’re talking about our hard-earned money here.

14 comments

Who Runs Your Business: You Or Your Employees?

by Eric Brown · December 22, 2010

Who runs your business? Is it you or your employees? Which is better? Does it depend on the business?

Perhaps there is merit to both sides

This argument came up in a recent blog post discussion about keeping our business open longer hours, Want Higher Occupancy, Stay Open Longer and how, in doing so, our business increased noticeably on several basis points. The move caused a little riff from our employees as you might expect. However, in this instance I didn’t give them an option. Many of the comments we received from the post surrounded the topic of employee dissatisfaction, or perceived dissatisfaction, about extended hours in a field of work that typically closes up shop by 6 p.m. Staying open until 9 p.m. is perceived as radical.

12 comments

What Sandwiches Taught Me About Marketing

by Andrew Hanelly · November 25, 2010

I’m about to break an unwritten rule of social media. I’m going to talk about what I had for lunch.

But I’m not going to bore you with a Twitpic and a quip about the chili con carne I brought in Tupperware from last night’s dinner (though it was delicious). I’ll save that for a Tweet or Facebook status. Because the lunch I want to talk about today was the one I served—on a daily basis—back in college. (Hey, it’s Thanksgiving Day, how can I not write about food?)

25 comments

Six Steps For Dealing With Detractors

by Jason Falls · July 6, 2010

Dealing with detractors is perhaps one of the biggest pain points for companies just starting and even well entrenched in social media marketing. “What if someone says something bad about our company?” is often asked by brand managers, executives and more when opening their websites or even Facebook pages to conversations and interactions with consumers.

41 comments

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