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| Mar 30, 2007 3:48 am |
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re: re: Appreciation Wins Over Self-Promotion Every Time |
Denise Michaels
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Hi Adam:
What you say makes sense and I always tell my marketing mentoring clients and the groups I speak to that people do business with people they like. But there's a little "fly in the ointment" for me here... and I'm very open to discuss my thoughts about this. Just musing here.
While like you I question branding on every doggone thing - I look at large businesses and wonder. Let's take a national retailer like "Best Buy" for example. Every time I walk into that place I sort of cringe. (I like Office Depot better - but not much.) The people at Best Buy are rude, they don't adhere to any of the standards of professional conduct you or I would take for granted, they don't help worth squat (if you DO luck into someone who's helpful it's like a big shock) and the store is a confusing cacaphony of busy-ness that makes my head swim.
I don't like shopping there. But anytime I need something of a computer or tech nature - I go there. Why?
1. Because they're close to where I live.
2. Because it's the only place I can think of to buy a zip drive or a digital video camera or my last two laptops and printer or a dvd player - and the list goes on.
They've done such a good job branding that even though I don't like it - I buy there anyway. And scoot out as soon as possible and breath a sigh of relief.
Big companies have branded so powerfully that they're successful at squelching any complaints or consumer problems. Their advertising and brand seems to be louder than any of it. And this is not just with Best Buy - but lots of big, national chains.
If you ever read "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell or "The Anatomy of Buzz" by Emanuel Rosen - they both discuss how much faster bad news travels compared to good news about products, services and businesses. But the big retailers seem to be successful at keeping it contained because their voice as a "brand" is apparently much louder than the the person or persons who are not happy and who voice their displeasure.
Maybe it's comparing apples with oranges to compare a home-based business owner with a big national chain that spends millions just in print ad circulars every Sunday nationwide. Any thoughts?
All the best,
Denise Michaels
Author, "Testosterone-Free Marketing"
Visit me online at http://www.MentoringwithDenise.com
Private Reply to Denise Michaels (new win) |
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