Is Someone In Your Company Sabotaging Your Brand?

Think your brand is well-positioned, clearly communicated and favorably perceived by your customers? When was the last time you called your own customer service number and asked some customer service-type questions? If it's been a while, you may be in for a nasty surprise.

I've beaten this drum before, but I was reminded of it yesterday when I went online to purchase some new shoes for work. I found the shoes I wanted, but the site (Shoebuy.com) showed a color (that I wanted) but did not appear to be available. I had an email promo discount to apply, and was a satisfied Shoebuy customer, so I called them to see if they could get the shoe for me.

They couldn't, but in the process of looking up the information for me, the CSR made several comments in the vein of "they don't tell us anything down here". Problem. She just put a large dent in my perception of the Shoebuy brand. The technology on the site is streamlined, fast and efficient, and the prices are great. The only human contact I had was confused about her products and resentful of her own management. Plus, they can't get me the shoe I want.

Next stop, Zappos.com, a site that is generally a bit more expensive than Shoebuy, but has similar selection & functionality. Zappos product images completely blow away every other online shoe retailer that I've seen, which means whenever I shop for shoes I always go there for a good look at the shoes.

I found the shoe, this time in the color I wanted, but not in my freakishly wide size. No problem, I'll just call customer service. Shannon answered the phone, all pleasant professionalism, and quickly got to the bottom of the issue. I gave her a couple of tough questions, which she answered gracefully. Alas, the shoe I wanted simply didn't exist, but my impression of the Zappos brand was significantly improved by my brief conversation with customer service.

Now, multiply those 2 different experiences by the hundreds or thousands of interactions with customers every day, and you have a significant impact to your brand that no amount of stellar advertising will ever change.

Is your customer service bolstering or sabotaging your brand?

Are You Ready To Blog?

You (personally) may be, but your company may not be even close to ready to blog. Here is a great summary of the uses of blogs as a corporate marketing device. Read and understand this before you decide you're going to jump into the world of corporate blogging. Thanks to ClickZ columnist Pete Blackshaw for this balanced, hype-free take on blogging.

Also take a look at Pete's recent column on corporate blogging on ClickZ, which is what got me thinking about this in the first place.