I've read recently on what viral marketing is and isn't. My two cents: Viral marketing is simply a tool to be used. It can be employed in a guerilla marketing campaign, but isn't the same thing. It can be employed as disruptive marketing, but not all disruptive marketing is viral marketing. I think buzz marketing and word-of-mouth marketing are good synonyms. Media leverage might be a result of viral marketing, but isn't always included. The long tail has no connection to viral marketing except that viral marketing can be used to bring access to the long tail, but the same as viral marketing is a tool to bring any product to any group. No that that is cleared up...

Viral marketing may be one of the most difficult things to create for some people, but one of the most natural things for others. In the spirit of Freakonomics, I would go so far as to say that viral marketing isn't something that you contract out with a typical ad agency to create. We're entering an arena of marketing where what you do is far less important than what you are. Be something that's worthy of viral marketing or word-of-mouth spread. I do completely agree with Blake Snow in the above linked post that consumers really control the outcome of viral marketing campaigns or ads. And consumers are infinitely smarter, more clever, and more vengeful than some give them credit for. It's a new era where people don't want to be manipulated or coerced into buying something they don't want and (here's the new part) they're aware of when it's happening, despite the best disguise that money can buy. Of course there is a certain mindset, and even if you are viral marketable, if you're not thinking along those lines, you could miss out on opportunities. It's worth learning the tactics involved, but don't think that it replaces having a product or service that people want to talk about. Now, I know that there are some readers now thinking that I don't know what viral marketing is. There are two ways of looking at viral marketing and I separate them completely. Blake's example of Hotmail putting a tagline on the bottom of each email as advertisement is not the kind of viral marketing that I'm talking about. Mainly because that viral marketing is actually spreading the virus yourself. The marketing that I'm dealing with is where the virus is spread with or without you. Some people look at them as the same, but I would separate them as two completely different types of marketing: Proliferation tactics and Real Viral Marketing. This may not be the most well organized post, but like I said, it's just my two cents.

Update: I have changed my mind on some of the statements in this post. See Viral Marketing in Real Life

Labels: marketing, viral

Companies make mistakes. Sometimes you receive service that is below your expectations, even at good/great companies. It happens sometimes. How you can really tell the quality of a company is how they respond to those situations. In a national news example, Jet Blue's recent bout with customer service was seen as some to be a disaster. But the aftermath showed the strength of the company and their commitment to customer service (CEO Apologizing - youtube). My own experiences with Jet Blue show the same. Of course things go wrong. But they try and fix them.

Apparently DSW is one of those kind of companies. I mentioned them a few days ago (no link provided on purpose, let's leave it in the past) for not having transferred a discount on the same ticket upon a return. Their response was a classy way of handling things. They let me know first what they're doing to retain me as a customer, mention that supervisors are being alerted (so I feel like this is going somewhere), point out that there is no standard in the industry but they will at least explore the option of inputting my suggestion.

The result: I look forward to returning to DSW.

That's how you should handle customers. Like Ryan (BJ Novak) says in The Office (US), it's ten times more expense to get a new customer than to retain an old one. We should expect little expenses in customer retention, but ultimately, those customers should make it worth it.

Labels: dsw, marketing

Contrast my experience that I posted yesterday with DSW Shoes with the one that I had last evening at Ralphs Supermarket. The customer in front of me in line brought in a gift card she had bought for her month for a certain chain of theatres. Turns out there aren't any theatres of that particular chain near her mom's house. The customer wanted to know if she could exchange the gift card for one from another theatre that Ralphs also carried. Doesn't seem that difficult. But the manager and clerk both expected trouble from the cash register on this one. They said that gift cards are difficult and there are certain rules that surround it. Sure enough, the register rejected the transaction. The customer was very polite and said not to worry about it. She would find a use for the gift card previously purchased. So, the Ralphs clerk pulled out her purse and handed the customer $25, the cost of the gift card, and bought it off of her. You should have seen the face of the customer. Do you think that she will be going to anywhere but Ralphs next time she needs groceries? I was completely impressed with the way the clerk handled that. I'm disappointed that I didn't get the clerk's name, but you can trust me that I'll be going back to Ralph's and when I do, I'll look for that clerk's name and when I do get it, I'll be letting management know, probably even a letter to corporate and how pleased I am with their employees. Actions like that need to be recognized.

Labels: dsw, marketing, ralphs

DSW Shoewarehouses has a rewards program. After you spend a certain amount, you receive a coupon in the mail for a discount on your next purchase. We received a $10 off coupon in the mail, so I headed down to DSW. I am bad at buying shoes and there were three pairs between which I couldn't decide. I bought all three to take home where some females could offer an opinion. I showed them the shoes and they instantly knew which ones to take back. So I did, only to find out that by returning the shoes, I lose the discount. Even though I was keeping some of the total purchase, the discount could not be applied to just the part I was keeping. The employees blamed this on "it," meaning the cash register. "It" took the discount evenly spread between all three pairs. "It" won't apply a discount to other portions of the purchase. Maybe they were telling the truth and there was nothing in their power to fix it, in which case that is a poor corporate decision to not empower their employees. Those rewards dollars were dollars that I felt I had earned by my continued patronage. I followed all the guidelines for returns, I didn't wear the shoes and returned them promptly. The worst part about this is that DSW will actually miss out on future business as a result. I'm not saying that I'm boycotting, but there were many times that I would go to DSW simply to rack up points. Now that I know they are quite stingy and sneaky in the distribution of those rewards, I'll be less inclined to choose them a different store. It's amazing because I feel like that I was my money they took. Not their discount to apply however they'd like. Those were my points and my rewards. I will be sending a link of this to their corporate offices.

Labels: dsw, marketing

I know that dental floss might seem like something that you wouldn't spend a lot of time thinking about, especially which brand to buy. But using it everyday, you kind of want to get it right. I've tried lots of flosses. The last brand I tried broke on me every time. Maybe I have sharper teeth than normal. The brand before that, Crest's Glide, was great, but too expensive, even at price per yard. But last night I tried, OralB Essentials and loved it. I don't know what's different about it (besides the price, it was only $0.97 for 55 yards) but it's somehow kind of rubbery and springy. No breakage whatsoever. Just thought you might want to try it out.

I'll include the customary 'they are not paying me to do this' but I doubt anyone reading this blog thinks anyone would ever pay me to review something of theirs with the maybe three devout readers I have.

Labels: marketing