Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category

I read a clever marketing line on a half gallon of milk this morning and it reminded me of a story. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve recently had horrendous experiences with customer service from brands that I used to have respect for.

A few examples:

- IBM took 2.5 weeks to replace a logic board on my Thinkpad, requiring it to be sent back to them 3 times, getting sent back to the wrong address twice and resulting in over 20 telephone calls to get the problem resolved.

- Sears taking 4 visits to fix my ice maker, and 4 out of 5 brand new appliances purchased from them (all top consumer reports rated) breaking within the first 2 years. Sears response: “you should purchase the extended warranties – these things break all the time”.

- A 1.5 year old premium-priced Hoover vacuum shooting out smoke. Getting a response from them took several weeks (after four phone calls and emails). Their answer: take it to burlingame (25 miles away) and get it fixed for almost as much as we paid for it in the first place.

I’m certain the decline in customer service is the result of cost-cutting and belt-tightening happening from the downturn. But what long-term effect will this have on the brands of these companies.

If you can’t trust brands like IBM, Sears and Hoover, who can you trust?

I’m excited to announce that NY Times Bestselling Author Seth Godin has chosen to include the 280 Group in his new Bull Market 2004 Directory. Bull Market is a fantastic resource for connecting companies with some of the world’s most creative thinkers and freelancers that can make things happen for them.

If you are a fan of Seth’s books (Purple Cow, Unleashing the Ideavirus, Permission Marketing, Free Prize Inside), make sure you check out the new Bull Market Directory.