Lost opportunities
Some of you may have noticed that a posting I had up earlier last week is now gone. The reason for this is that someone in leadership of the company I was writing about threatened to "trash" a friend's reputation unless I did. Using that company as an example of bad marketing is not as important as my friend's reputation so I acquiesced. But something else happened in the process. It proved the power of social media properly used.
This little blog has very few regular readers. Maybe around 500. We get around 500 new readers every month and a few end up getting the RSS feed so that number is rising steadily. In this case, my little flame got to a single customer of this company and set the company's leadership into an absolute tizzy. The fact that this little blog opened up a conversation between him and a customer was completely lost on him, as did the opportunity to take a hard look at his marketing and make improvements.
That's the point of all this talk about social media.
That's the point of all this talk about social media.
We are in a world where we cannot control what the market is saying about us (unless we want to include threats to friends and family as a controlling factor). Using marketing practices that worked in 1990 don't work anymore. It doesn't matter how many people we reach because it only takes one or two to make or break us.
It's a dangerous world out there because there are real market leaders who are investing in making sure smaller, innovative companies don't succeed in the long run, and, in the short run, making sure they drive down valuation for eventual acquisition. Ignore the market conversation and use outdated, underfunded marketing at your own peril.
Interesting! I wondered, as I read your last post, whether you'd get flack for it, especially as you mentioned the company's name, which I didn't think was particularly relevant to the point you were making in the first place (maybe you had reason, but I didn't see it).
ReplyDeleteRegardless, threats such as you describe are thoughtless and immature, and will serve to characterize their struggle to get anywhere - too bad for them.
What made that post (and its consequences) doubly interesting for me was that I've been contemplating a similar post on my blog (regarding a company with both lazy and misleading marketing practices). In my case, whether I leave the name out or not, the subject would be obvious to my readers, since my corner of the industry is small.
I suppose I should tread carefully.
JMF
The company in question made a very stupid choice. The fact of the matter is that Google never forgets. It's out there and none of their strong-arm tactics can do anything about it. Are they gonna bully Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft to take the post off of their servers?
ReplyDeleteYou had it right, Lou. They missed an opportunity. And now it'll come back to bite them. I don't know how, or when, but it'll happen:-)
Thanks for the comments, guys. I knew I was on thin ice, but the reason I needed to mention the company was to get people to actually look them up and see what they had to offer... and see the point I was trying to make. Being nice to the guy would not have gotten his attention. He's like 99 percent of the silicon Valley stuck in a 1990 marketing mindset. He got value out of the post and it cost him nothing. Sometimes you need a whack to the head to wake up.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever noticed how the clueless, when they are called out for their cluelessness, will engage in actions to exponentially increase their level of cluelessness? This company was doomed before you pointed them out, now they're beyond hopeless.
ReplyDelete