brandstorming: December 2008

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December 2008

December 30, 2008

Charter Communications Customer Service Wins One

I've given them grief in the past, so it's only fair to come back and give them props. I made a call to Charter's customer service about a billing issue. We had a movie channel on we didn't want, and so I called in, anticipating a 45 minute to an hour call.

Total talk time - less than five minutes. They removed the channel, and credited my account, and no hassle.

Now, it's not all sunshine and roses. I called in last month with the same problem, and so this was a repeat. They didn't credit me or cancel it a month ago, and it still took 30 minutes to get done, but this call was fast easy, and to the point.

Also, that rumor about CBS and Charter isn't true. KMOV is not being dropped from Charter, at least not for the moment. According to them, they are in negotiation, which is the same thing that happens with the cable networks like Lifetime and Boomerang (neither of which I watch).

So, good job Charter. 5 million or so customers is a lot of people to handle, and as DirecTV grows, they are experiencing the same problems you did. I give you an A for your service today.

Posted at 12:09 PM in customer service | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Technorati Tags: cable, charter, customer service

December 29, 2008

Social Media Outsourcing In 2009?

Jacob Morgan writes a thoughtful post on the problems with Social Media Outsourcing. This has been a hot topic in the Twittersphere lately, and I tackled the problems with Ghost Blogging over at SocialMediaHeadhunter.

Jacob lists why SMO isn't going to happen in a guest post at Lewis Green's site. Some of his points are here

Too risky to put a third party in charge of customer relationships and engagement.
Users may sense lack of authenticity and rebel.
Cultural issues may make for misunderstandings during communication.
The real value of social media comes from interactions with real passionate people that represent the brand/company.
Brand image may be tarnished for outsourcing jobs.
The relationships with users, pr professionals, marketers, executives, etc. that are developed through social media, are too valuable to not have in house.

There's more, but this is how I break it down.

1. Social Media takes client interaction.
2. Most Marketing, Advertising and PR firms are set up to work on specific projects that can be brought back to the shop and completed as a deliverable. They are not set up to work directly with clients (onsite or otherwise), which is very important to make a social media project a success.
3. It's difficult to bill clients for work when they have to do a lot of the work.
4. Internal resources have a hard enough time creating change in an organization. Outside consultants can listen, but they can't really get at the hard metrics of customer engagement and response expected from customers.

Outsourcing in social media can work at the contractor level. We realized this awhile ago, and now refuse to write for clients or take control of their projects. They have to either allocate resources internally (that we can train) or hire a contractor/freelancer whose job it is to integrate with the company, serving as an additional resource.

Trying to outsource the work might bring some fleeting SEO or profile enhancement metrics, but it won't drive long-term sales, especially as it's discovered. The same is true for hiring interns, college graduates, or social media specialists with no background in your industry. Experience is what makes social media campaigns interesting. Experience with the tools is not the same as listening to someone who has deep experience in the industry.

I won't go as far as Jacob does - I think outsourcing will occur, but it won't yield results that companies will come to expect.

Posted at 12:56 AM in social media | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Technorati Tags: social media outsourcing

December 15, 2008

When Thin is "In"

I've been glued to the news for months. Yes, I'm one of those DJIA fanatics who watches the numbers as politicians give speeches, congressional hearings take place and presidents (and president-elects) give press conferences. I look at the Dow like a crystal ball, telling whether or not I should pack up my things and head for higher ground. And lately it's been giving me encouragement. I've become oddly "comfortable" with it bobbing around the 8500s.

So why is fear gripping me to the core this week? On Friday one of my magazines arrived in the mail. The January '09 Lucky Magazine. The entire publication focuses on shopping. It usually comes packed to the brim with glossy, fragrant pages showing me a litany of goods they think I want. When I saw it, I had to check the cover to see if this was the January issue or simply an "extra" supplemental those overzealous fashion editors cranked out specifically for the holiday season. To my horror, this model-thin issue in my hands was the January issue. What's missing? Ads. Page after page of fabulous advertisements. Honestly, many of us buy magazines FOR the ads. They ARE the content. Hmmm....a fluke? Maybe the magazine isn't doing so well. I put it out of my mind for the moment.

Saturday - the January issue of InStyle arrived. If you've ever seen a copy of this magazine, you know these issues aren't measured in pages. They are measured in pounds. This particular subscription costs me twice what the others do, but each month's inch-thick issue is worth it. InStyle never fails to deliver. Until now. January '09 is tiny. Tiny.

So let's talk numbers here. Lucky was 278 pages this December. January's micro-weight issue is a paltry 108 pages. 110 if you include the back cover. Good Lord. But that's not even the scary one.

InStyle? To give you a frame of reference...the March issue was 482 pages. And it's not even the thickest issue I have on hand. So let's say March is a typical issue of InStyle. Just shy of 500 glossy, fabulous, lightly scented pages. The "thin" issue this year was the July issue. Which is typical for a publication like this. Not quite time for the hefty fall issue, we've already had our big summer spectacular issue. So July was predictably a bit light... only 182 pages. January? 142. 142. Not only that? The format is ever-so-slighlty different. Each page is about 10-15 millimeters narrower.

For all my Dow watching, nothing has me shaking in my designer investor booties like these numbers above. If the January Vogue - a magazine that often weighs more than some of the cover models themselves appear to weigh - dances along to 100 page border, I'll start questioning whether those DJIA numbers have any real meaning anymore. These glossies may just be the economic crystal ball I should have been looking at all along.

My hope? That the groundswell of enthusiasm for a new administration shakes our nation out of its funk. That we see a renerwed sense of optimism, a renewed sense of confidence, and a (yes) some serious ad buys for those '09 issues. My Christmas wish for you is that our collective portfolios (like these periodicals) begin to bulge and swell again come the new year. Because thin, is just so not "in" anymore.

Posted at 02:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Technorati Tags: ad buys, advertisements, economy, magazines, model, thin

December 11, 2008

Does Your Company Need A Blog?

This title seems so, 2004 - but I'll tackle it anyway because Spoken Whirred and AdSaint brought it up.

Brian Schwartz over at the new Spoke marketing agency has clients telling him they need a blog, because, well, they need one. He makes a fair point that having a blog just to have one is a poor idea.

If you are considering blogging because you’ve either been told or believe that it will help your search rankings, it will help personalize your business or drive traffic to your site. I’m telling you that you don’t need a blog.

Yes, if done effectively, blogging can improve your search rankings, generate traffic and help put a personal face on your business, but so can more effective web design and copywriting and yet most people are smart enough to outsource those two, but try and fail at blogging (a point we will come back to later).

Brian's point isn't that you don't need a blog, it's that you should learn to crawl before you walk. If your website is just an internet brochure, a blog isn't going to be the magic potion that transforms it into a magical lead machine. Much of what you can do with a blog in the search engine results, can be done with competent website design and copywriting. He's right about that. Partly.

Blogs are amazing content managers that if used correctly, can serve as a primary focus of your online profile. That used correctly is the hard part, but it's easier to write a blog for SEO than it is to build a site correctly. Most developers still build the site in a non-SEO friendly manner. That's right, folks. Optimized sites aren't necessarily optimized for traffic and search, and I'd say most developers have a blind spot when it comes to working with their SEO teams (A good thing to ask yourself is if you talk to the SEO team before or after you build the site. After is bad).

Having a blog isn't like eating pizza. There are bad blogs. All blog software is not built equal, but it's also not a substitute for good SEO. At the same time, just because you spent a lot of money on SEO and SEM doesn't mean you're spending your money wisely. And if you're still purchasing banner advertising, and haven't looked at a social media strategy, I don't want to talk to for less than $50,000. You made that bed - you lie in it.

Brian's main point is correct. If you have a blog, have a point. You don't get to say that blogs can't help you if you're not willing to use them correctly. And if your marketing firm can't tell you how to use them correctly, then maybe they aren't the people you should be speaking to about social media.

Posted at 01:01 PM in blogging | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Technorati Tags: corporate blogs, small business blogging, social media

December 06, 2008

Business Manager For Your Small Business?

Pamela Slim runs across the world's most precious commodity. A small business online business manager. It's a book by Tina Forsyth describing how to be such a person, and it's very timely.

Pamela excerpts is well, so I'll let her describe.

For those of you like me who started this whole virtual service business with zero understanding of lists and shopping carts and affiliate programs and e-products and virtual teleseminars, you will understand when I say it can be wildly confusing, complicated and frustrating.

You, like me, probably hired partners and virtual assistants to take over parts of the "back office," to moderate success. But I always wished that I could just turn everything over to someone who was hugely capable and not in need of tons of direction to manage it all for me so I could focus on the big picture, where I love to play.

The Online Business Manager basically takes care of all of your small business needs. If you're in the online world, they handle accounts, registrations, monthly payments, and business partnerships. It's a hugely valuable service, but the hard part is trust.

Could I let someone have that much access to my business? I don't let family that far in - could I trust an OBM to help me run things, with passwords and content? I fantasize about having such a person, both for office and for my personal life, but there's a line there where you're giving up portions of your life to another person.

It's very tempting, but I could see it in a second or third phase, instead of right when you start a business. Such help wouldn't come cheap, and although it would save you time, I wonder if you would lose your "touch" for the business by handing over the management reins.

The real question is if you are the talent, or the sales, or the management type. If you're 1 or 2, outsourced management might be the answer, but only if you know it's not your thing.

Posted at 10:29 PM in innovation | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Technorati Tags: online business manager, pamela slim, tina forsyth

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