September 21, 2012

Keeping your word as a marketing tool

I was fortunate to be on a panel with some Northern Colorado business luminaries last month. It was in celebration of the Better Business Bureau’s 100th anniversary, and the panel spoke to CSU business school graduates about the wide-ranging topic of ethics and trust.

The BBB motto is “Start with Trust.” In preparation for my opening remarks, I got to thinking about that motto. As free citizens we are independent and mobile in part because we trust we’ll have protection from and recourse to the law.

As a business that hires service vendors, we also depend upon fulfillment of contracts and delivery of promises. That sometimes takes a leap of faith. Sure there are agreements in place that you can evoke when things go askew, but how often are you going to take your case to court? There’s not enough time or money to pursue legal actions against disappointing vendors.

SPONSORED CONTENT

Ways to thank a caregiver

If you have a caregiver or know someone who has been serving as a primary caregiver, March 3rd is the day to reach out and show them how much they are valued!

Why am I talking about trust in a marketing column? Without trust, there is no marketing. Word-of-mouth is the essence of marketing and when businesses fail their customers, they are not going to be in business long. That’s the true recourse a business has with a vendor who vexes them: bad press.

With social media and Google reviews and Yelp and Manta and the BBB and the like online – and accessible at the proverbial push of a button – you have got to make customer satisfaction your No. 1 priority.

It used to be that you could plan on making product features and benefits your ultimate claim to fame and to heck with the niceties. But no more. If you fail your customers, if you don’t cooperate with them and take their needs to heart, confessing to mistakes and working out problems in all fairness, bad news will travel faster than ever before.

Have you heard the online reputation management companies advertising on the radio lately? They promise for a package price to restore your good name on search results. Ever wonder how they accomplish that? They push down bad stories and reviews about you with new, favorable content that gets placed widely online.

To me, that’s like paying to get your tattoo removed. Don’t mess up in the first place. Every problem with a customer has a solution. And you must be vigilant in learning the bad news before clients break it to others without a chance for you to intercede. Do you have a receptionist who is idle? Get him or her on the phones doing satisfaction inquiries. Encourage your staff to solicit the unhappy news that customers are even a teeny bit dissatisfied. Then seek to fix those problems and repair the relationship.

After you’ve impressed customers and clients with your honesty and dedication to their cause and remarkable follow-through, only then consider other tactics.

Your word is your very first marketing method.

Laurie Macomber, owner of Fort Collins-based Blue Skies Marketing, can be reached at laurie@blueskiesmktg.com or 970-689-3000.

I was fortunate to be on a panel with some Northern Colorado business luminaries last month. It was in celebration of the Better Business Bureau’s 100th anniversary, and the panel spoke to CSU business school graduates about the wide-ranging topic of ethics and trust.

The BBB motto is “Start with Trust.” In preparation for my opening remarks, I got to thinking about that motto. As free citizens we are independent and mobile in part because we trust we’ll have protection from and recourse to the law.

As a business that hires service vendors, we also depend upon fulfillment of contracts and delivery…

Sign up for BizWest Daily Alerts