reputation management Archives - Page 4 of 4 by Mark Murnahan

Marketing Strategy: Do Shit They Will Remember!

Yes, It Is Me. Yes, It Is My Chopper. — Yes, That Is My Chopper.

Are you being memorable? Do you recall a silly little man cruising the aisles of the grocery store nagging people to not squeeze the Charmin? His name was Mr. Whipple. OK, maybe that one is too old for you to remember, or you are not familiar with American pop culture. I remember it, and I’ll bet there are millions of others who do as well.

Maybe you remember Elvis Presley. Does he even need a last name? Can you remember what kind of outfits he wore? That’s right, he wore a lot of glittery white outfits and huge bell-bottom pants.

You don’t need a squillion dollars and a huge staff to be memorable. This is one of the beautiful things about the Internet. You just need some creativity and knowledge of spreading your message using search engine optimization and social media marketing. You don’t really even need these things, because they are available for hire! So, what is keeping you from making your brand more memorable? Are you afraid of shaking things up? Don’t worry. You don’t have to be outrageous, either. A consistent brand message that is all your own can still be memorable without being absurd or over-the-top.

Who Invented Business in Blue Jeans?

I guess I don’t really have the answer to this, but I retired my suits years before it became popular. It was not because I had a problem with the attire, but rather that it would often misrepresent my intentions. Many sales managers still believe that the “authority” of wearing a suit is important in instilling value to a product or service. It may strike some people as odd, but I have signed more million dollar deals in blue jeans than in a suit. I realized long ago that wearing a nice pair of blue jeans or casual slacks was more disarming. It made people more comfortable just seeing me being comfortable, and it even made me more memorable. If a client wanted to know that I am an authority, they could look out in the parking lot to see the motorcycle I rode in on that cost more than a house or two in most towns. It is far less assuming than a sharp suit, and better for conversation, too.

More memorable than anything else is that I would rather walk through spiderwebs and kiss a dog on the ass than to mislead people just to get what I want from them. If I don’t have what it is they need or want, I will be happy to help them find it, but I will not misrepresent something to make it fit. Honesty … now that is memorable!

What Will Make You Memorable?

Don’t be afraid to be a dubeshag. No, it is not what you think. “Dubeshag” is a nice word I made up a few months ago to describe people who can make their own waves instead of trying to surf everybody else’ wave. I guess the idea was memorable enough that it kind of caught on. Google now returns over 26,400 results for the word which had zero representation a few months ago. That is what I mean by being creative and memorable.

In short, I would suggest being creative. Think differently, because thinking just like everybody else is probably not your golden ticket. If you cannot think different from a crowd, hire somebody to do the thinking for you. Don’t be afraid to polarize your audience along the way, because you simply can’t make butter if you don’t stir the milk.

What do you think? What will make you different from the millions of others out there in the vast Internet marketplace? Can you set yourself apart and do shit they will remember?

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Is US Airways Listening to Social Media? Are You Listening?

I just read a blog article about a poor customer experience with US Airways. It got me to thinking about the ways we listen, and I think it could be described as two different types of ears.

Consumer Listening: Skeptical Ears

The first type of ears are those of a skeptical consumer. We have skeptical consumer listening skills which are pretty basic and instinctive. These are the ears we use to hear scandal and negativity. Most people have this set of ears cranked way up to hear anything they need to know as a consumer.

Consumer watchdogs are everywhere, and social media brings them out in a big way. In fact, it allows each and every one of us to be a consumer watchdog and to tell our story. Anybody with a bad experience can make a pretty loud sound using social media.

Consumer Listening: Marketing Ears

With a different set of ears we hear the marketing message of a company. We turn the sensitivity of those ears way down. These are the ears we use to hear all of the good things that a company does, and the reasons we should buy from them.

As a test of your ears, just consider it this way: Do you hear me better when I say that I want to provide you with my valuable SEO and social media marketing services (and I do), or when I warn you about ways you may be screwing up your SEO or social media marketing? You see! Your instinct is to hear what could hurt you, more than hearing things that can help you. This is why it takes so much more effort to spread a good marketing message than to spread a negative message about a company.

We have all heard that it takes many “rights” to correct a “wrong”, but what if you could turn the “wrong” into a “right” of sorts?

Turning Up the Marketing Ears

There are a lot of ways to turn up people’s marketing ears and help them to hear you. Ironically, it can sometimes come from whispering into their other set of ears … their skeptical ears. If you are running a business and somebody is talking about your brand, you should be listening to the negative and even using it to your advantage. I see it all the time that companies are either not paying attention, or they hear negativity about their brand but do not address it. They just hide their head in the sand like an ostrich and wait for things to blow over. What they often overlook is all the potential for benefit they may be missing. They see it only as damage, and often try to ignore it in hopes that it will go away. The truth is that it is not going away, and ignoring it only serves to cause a sense of passive aggression. It often makes people want to scream even louder about their distrust or discontentment.

US Airways Best and Worst Scenario

What if US Airways hears this message of discontent about their brand and ignores it? It means that they will further lose faith from this consumer, and also that of others he encounters … both online and offline. On the other hand, what if US Airways used it as an opportunity to regain his faith? What if they were able to improve his opinion of US Airways and even come to make him a fan of their company? Can you imagine the value of turning it completely around and showing a disgruntled consumer that you really do want to make them a happy customer?

I suspect that the disgruntled US Airways customer, Jeff Gibbard will soon have answers to whether US Airways is listening. In the meantime some skeptical consumer ears are perked, and just waiting for US Airways to whisper.

Are you listening with both sets of ears? Come and let me whisper in your skeptical ear. 😉

Update: 14 June at 7:30 p.m. USA Central Time

I would like to add that America West Airlines, which is the same company as US Airways (they merged in 2005) has been here and did nothing! They gave no reply, and made no attempt to apologize to Jeff Gibbard or even give an excuse.

Here is a screen capture from my visitor log which clearly shows that this article is visible, even to the noisy airline industry.

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13 Reasons to Give BP a Break About Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

It seems that the whole world is coming down pretty hard on BP these days. The company has been in a spotlight of bad press, but is all of the negativity really called for? I think it is time that we all take a moment and look at the bright side. Let us look at these reasons the BP oil spill is really not all that bad after all. I think we should go easier on BP and stop being so darn negative, so I have come up with a list of thirteen reasons we should give BP a break. In order to emphasize my points, I have included videos for your review and consideration. I also want to invite you to share your ideas.

Reason One to Give BP a Break About Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: The Animals Were Dying Anyway

Those fish, birds, turtles, and other wildlife were going to die anyway. Nothing lives forever. Heck, most of these animals would just be eating each other if not for the oil spill. BP practically did them a favor. Who wants to be eaten?

Reason Two to Give BP a Break About Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: It Was Not BP’s Accident

Just take it from BP’s CEO, Tony Hayward. As Mr. Hayward said, “It wasn’t our accident.” So there you have it. Get off their back!

Reason Three to Give BP a Break About Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Tragedy Makes People Stronger

What does not kill you makes you stronger. Those people in Louisiana will thank BP someday. BP is just helping to toughen them up. Besides, they are providing alternate jobs to fishermen, and does anybody really like fishing? Why are these people so ungrateful? In the end, they will have more strength than they ever thought they would have. Didn’t Hurricane Katrina teach us anything? Some people called Katrina a disaster, too, but BP knows better.

Reason Four to Give BP a Break About Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: The Spill Was “Relatively Tiny”

The explosion happened way out at sea. It is not like it happened in downtown Los Angeles. Besides, as BP’s chief executive Tony Hayward said “The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean.” In fact, he said this spill is “relatively tiny”, so why do people keep making such a big deal out of this?

Reason Five to Give BP a Break About Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: It Got Grannies to Say “Friggin” and “Suck”

The Deepwater Horizon disaster got grannies to say things we may otherwise never see. I mean, how funny is it so hear an old lady say “friggin”. Is the humor worth nothing to you people?

Reason Six to Give BP a Break About Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: All the New Jobs

It may have cost a bunch of oil workers their jobs, but look at all the cleanup, legal, and public relations opportunities it has created. See, and all this time you thought this was just a disaster.

Reason Seven to Give BP a Break About Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: BP Makes Greece Look Healthy

Considering that the expected cost of BP’s oil cleanup and lawsuits far exceeds the amount of money Greece seeks from the International Monetary Fund, it should make us all feel better. After all, a lot of people are complaining about bailing out Greece, but it starts to seem like only a small amount of money when you compare it to BP’s upcoming losses.

Reason Eight to Give BP a Break About Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Politicians Reveal Themselves

The Deepwater Horizon disaster helped to uncover where politicians stand. It often shows how stupid they are.

Reason Nine to Give BP a Break About Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Diversion of Bad Press

BP chief executive Tony Hayward now has a worse approval rating than Barrack Obama, Sarah Palin, or Toyota. Somebody had to take the heat off. BP helped divert millions of eyes from other screwups. I mean, does Toyota really seem so messed up now?

Reason Ten to Give BP a Break About Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: More Socialism for USA

This may not seem like a win for anybody with a sound mind, but it sure is a windfall for some idiots. With so many Americans looking for ways to become a socialist nation, this greatly expands opportunities for the government to run more business. Some have even suggested USA government seize BP the way President Harry Truman took over steel mills during the Korean War. With deeper roots into private industry … the oil industry … this could be a huge windfall for big government.

Reason Eleven to Give BP a Break About Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Conspiracy Theory

If we never had something so extreme as oil spills or terrorist attacks, how else would we ever uncover all of the USA government’s plans to destroy the world and kill all its inhabitants through the decades?

Reason Twelve to Give BP a Break About Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Fun With Nukes

Maybe you think it is silly, but just think about how infrequently we get to blow stuff up with nuclear explosions. Never mind any side effects, at least it could stop the oil spill. Besides, consider the great stories we could tell our grandkids about the three headed fish and how we saw it all get started.

Reason Thirteen to Give BP a Break About Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Tony Hayward Wants His Life Back

Tony Hayward just wants his life back. Shouldn’t we respect the wishes of such a powerful man, after all?

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