I’m not one to shout about “the next big wave in advertising” from the rooftops. Usually. In general, I believe whole heartedly that there is no silver bullet for marketing problems. But, like everything else in life, there are always exceptions, and this is one of them. So, let me climb up on my rooftop here….there we go: Customer Service is the next big thing in advertising! Sure, you say, “That’s always been an important factor. Duh, guy.” and I would say something like, “Yeah, but now it’s even more important!” and jump up and down, all red in the face from my climb from the roof. Like everything you’ve read about marketing in the last 8 months, this too come back to digital social networks aka “social media”. Here’s why: Back in the good ‘ol days you’d walk, up hill both ways ,to the store to buy some food for your dinosaur. If the kid at the store was rude or the prices seemed crazy, your voice only reached those people around you. Even if you were really mad and sprang for some oh so expensive long distance calls (remember those, long distance calls?) you could really only tell the people you knew. And it was a lot of work. And you had to do other things, like mow your 100 acre lawn with a pair of cuticle scissors, so the reach of your outrage was fairly limited. But now, in the future, you put on your jet pack and fly to the store to buy some fuel for your robot friend. If the kid at the store is rude or the prices seem crazy, you just pull out your blackberry or your iPhone and tweet/blog/status update (or all three) your frustration on the spot. Your anger reaches hundreds of people instantly, and if they’ve had the same bad service they do the same, and they reach hundreds of people, etc. What, your life isn’t like the second example? We’ve seen this in play time and again in the last year. Motrin Moms, 68% of all tweets on twitter, “I hate ______” facebook groups and fan pages, and most recently (and maybe my favorite to date) the United airlines youTube video. When you get mad now you can finally go to the window and shout “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” and 1/6 of the world hears you without having to strain. So what does this mean for brands? The business practices that were cost saving in the time before the internet are very quickly turning into practices that can cost you money in the internet age. Yeah, I could pay some high school kid $6/hr to jockey a cash register or answer phones in my customer service department. But that $6/hr doesn’t buy him into the brand. (I speak from personal experience on this one.) $6/hr doesn’t buy you someone who is going to embody your multimillion dollar brand when they’re dealing with customers. Yes, all retail and customer service people “deal with” customers, just accept it and move on. Here’s the problem, people like me: the ad people, the marketing consultants, the PR people, the communications “experts”, none of us can fix the damage your cheapness is causing. Think I’m kidding? Go watch some commercials for a brand that has gotten on your bad side. I bet the magic doesn’t work on you anymore, does it? Now imagine that feeling being blasted through the megaphone of the internet. Welcome to the 21st century. The people in your stores, call centers, offices, or where ever they happen to be, anyone in your organization who has the potential of being a customer touch point NEEDS to believe in your brand. They need to want to live it, and not just while they’re at work. It needs to shine through them when they’re having a bad day, and it needs to be blinding when they’re having a good day. Imagine how cool it would be to go to a fast food joint and not ever deal with a surly 16 year old who is only there because he can’t find anything that pays more than $6/hr. What if he actually cared about your lunch? The way the manager did (or at least should). What if the guy doing the fries cared enough not to serve burned food, or fries that had been sitting in the tray for 2 hours? Wouldn’t you want to come back? Wouldn’t you be willing to pay a little more? Most importantly, wouldn’t you tell everyone you know? That’s where the future of advertising is, not just getting people to buy, but getting people to talk about their buying experience with everyone who will listen.
