Archive of tag "Sernovitz"
Lands’ End has always said it, plain and simple:
Guaranteed. Period.
If you’re not satisfied with any item, simply return it to us at any time for an exchange or refund of its purchase price.
No BS. Honest and clean.
Get up right now and strip one line of jargon out of your business writing. Every company has some. You’ll be better for it.
Welcome back to the Damn, I Wish I Thought of That! newsletter. This is text of the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using the handy form on the right.]
Small gestures for special groups of customers can do amazing things. A few opportunities to do it:
1> Your menu
2> Your product line
3> Your community
4> Check it out: The Editors’ Desk
1> Your menu
Try finding room on your menu to offer something special to a special group of your customers. At Miami’s Aventura restaurant, executive chef Robert Ibgui’s menu features dishes that specifically cater to the palates of their elderly customers. With just a few changes in seasonings and ingredients, the restaurant is able to offer something special for some of their most loyal customers.
The lesson: What small tweak can you do to what you already sell to create something unique for special customers?
Learn more: Miami Herald
2> Your product line
Special product releases focused on exciting special groups of your customers can create fantastic conversations. To the delight of uber geeks everywhere, Jones Soda released a series of Dungeons & Dragons-themed flavors. Fans loved the flavors — which included “Potion of Healing,” “Sneak Attack,” and “Dwarven Draught” — so much so that they went on back order for more than a month.
The lesson: Themed releases or limited-edition specials are fantastic ways to get enthusiastic groups of customers talking.
Learn more: USA Today
3> Your community
Look for opportunities to create or sell something that can help a special group in your community. Firehouse Subs in Jacksonville, Florida, for example, sells buckets of pickles at the register for $2 — with all proceeds going towards life-saving equipment for local fire and police departments. It’s a small gesture that’s making a big difference: In five years they’ve raised nearly $3 million to help this local cause.
The lesson: Help customers do special things for their own communities.
Learn more: Fast Casual
4> Check it out: The Editors’ Desk
Check out The Editors’ Desk for a daily slice of some of the weirdest, most interesting, and most bizarre quotes pulled from the depths of news stories featured in major media.
Check it out: The Editors’ Desk
Come to BlogWell: How Big Brands Use Social Media on August 11 to hear McDonald’s, Whirlpool, GM, CME Group, Chevron, Alberto Culver, Verizon, and Kraft Foods share case studies in corporate social media.
You’ll learn how to get started, get past roadblocks, and make your social media program phenomenal — and you’ll see some brilliant presentations like this one from BlogWell Seattle:
Alexandra Wheeler’s big idea: Social media can change behavior and drive purchase decisions.
Starbucks: Powering Product Launches, Building a Sense of Community, and More, presented by Alexandra Wheeler from GasPedal on Vimeo.
Come to BlogWell: How Big Brands Use Social Media on August 11 to hear McDonald’s, Whirlpool, GM, CME Group, Chevron, Alberto Culver, Verizon, and Kraft Foods share case studies in corporate social media.
You’ll learn how to get started, get past roadblocks, and make your social media program phenomenal — and you’ll see some brilliant presentations like this one from BlogWell Seattle:
Kenny Rowe’s big idea: The four types of content that drive engagement are interesting links, giveaways, product and sales information, and behind-the-scenes views of the brand’s culture.
ExOfficio: Content is King, presented by Kenny Rowe from GasPedal on Vimeo.
Welcome back to the Damn, I Wish I Thought of That! newsletter. This is text of the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using the handy form on the right.]
You don’t have to wear spandex and a cape to be a hero (though I do). You can do it by going the extra mile, by being especially understanding, and by saving the day for a customer. How to do it:
1> When bad luck strikes
2> When you screw up
3> When they run out of beer
4> Check it out: The migration map
1> When bad luck strikes
When it’s not your fault — when there’s nothing you’re required to do — that’s when you’ve got the biggest opportunity to blow people’s minds. When volcanic ash grounded European flights, a few airlines handed out snacks and drinks — but British Airways put their passengers up in hotel rooms and gave them meal vouchers. In situations like this, it’s always the one brand that goes above and beyond that earns all the love.
The lesson: Heroic brands don’t care whose fault it is when things go wrong — they just step up and find a way to make things right.
Learn more: Ad Age
2> When you screw up
Even the best companies mess up once in a while. How you respond is what really matters. When Shrek-themed glasses from McDonald’s were found to have trace amounts of toxic paint, they offered to buy back the glasses from customers at above their original retail price. They didn’t blame the supplier, they didn’t argue that the toxicity levels were harmless, and they didn’t try to cover it up. They acted quickly and paid a premium to make sure nobody got hurt — they saved the day.
The lesson: No matter who you are or what industry you’re in, things will go wrong. So, how will you respond?
Learn more: Laura Ries
3> When they run out of beer
There are disasters, and then there’s your fridge failing during the World Cup and all of your beer getting warm. Dutch brewer Grolsch was ready to save the day — they set up a hotline and had loaner beer fridges available for any fan whose fridge broke down during the tournament. By preparing for the worst case scenario, Grolsch could quickly step in and help their fans avert a serious crisis.
The lesson: Being prepared makes it easier for you to do heroic things when your fans need you most.
Learn more: Springwise
4> Check it out: The migration map
More than 10 million Americans moved from one U.S. county to another in 2008 — and using this data from the IRS, Forbes’ interactive map offers an amazing look at how people are moving about the country.
Check it out: Forbes
As a young entrepreneur, I was in a VC’s office asking for money. He took a call from one of his portfolio companies and chewed out the CEO. In front of me.
I should have walked out of the room. I didn’t have the experience at the time to appreciate that he was an ass and having him as an investor would have been a living hell. Luckily for me, he didn’t invest in us.
Manners matter. Pay close attention to how people treat those who are junior to them. The great test: Anyone who is a jerk to a secretary or a waiter.
We have a fake head of HR named Preston Firestone. Job seekers call and ask for Preston (who is never there, of course). We listen to how they treat the person who answered the phone. Preston has saved us again and again from someone who would have been hired, but was actually a complete prick.
Don’t do good deals with bad people. (Don’t do bad deals with anyone.)
I came home to find the walking dead waiting on my doorstep: phone books.
Nobody asked for them. They just print them up and hand them out.
615 million phone books are printed every year. This is a filthy waste of resources: printing, delivery, landfill.
Let’s end this already.
At the very least, phone books should only be given to people who request them. MN, WA, and HI are making it illegal to litter a city with hundreds of thousands of unrequested books. A proposed bill in CA to do the same was defeated by lobbyists from the Yellow Pages industry association.
Phone books are spam. Get involved.
Procter & Gamble: Swan dive… into Old Spice’s remarkable social media campaign
Alberto Culver: Managing promotions on Facebook
UnitedHealth Group: Success in social recruiting
BlogWell: How Big Brands Use Social Media
You can have amazing word of mouth.
Word of mouth marketing is something you can do very well. My company GasPedal will help you get started quickly, with simple-but-intense training, honest answers, and eye-opening ideas. GasPedal's fast, how-to marketing strategies are affordable, easy to execute, and deliver measurable ROI in 60 days.
Learn more: http://gaspedal.com
Join the Social Media Business Council, a brands-only community that helps large organizations build successful social media programs.
Learn more: http://www.socialmedia.org
