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Beyond Niche Marketing

Beyond Niche Marketing

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What Every Business Owner Needs to Know About Web 2.0

August 1, 2008 by Kathryn Hendershot 7 Comments

Over at the Church of the Customer blog, Jackie Huba writes of a horrible customer service experience she endured as she tried to purchase a gift certificate as a gift for a friend.

In Handling fee, or manhandled? Jackie writes candidly of her experience. Fortunately, the business owner is web savvy enough to have a Google Alert set to alert her to when her business is being discussed on Web 2.0. She found Jackie’s post, commented and not only was able to have the opportunity to try to “heal” the damaged relationship, but she was also alerted to a serious problem in her business.

However, the business owner did get a chance to “peek” in on what people thought about the practice of charging a handling fee for a gift certificate.

One of my favorite sayings lately is: “Wisdom is when you learn from other people’s experience.” This spa owner’s “experience” is your opportunity to gain business wisdom won by the sling and arrows of outrageous fortune of another’s experience.

  1. Treat every customer like they’re a “POWER CUSTOMER”. (I cover the topic of POWER CUSTOMERS in my book Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results.) Bloggers are the ULTIMATE power customers- especially a blogger with an RSS feed with over 196,000 subscribers!
  2. Remember that if someone is satisfied with the service provided by your business, they’ll tell 3 people. If they’re upset, they’ll tell on average, 16. (That’s assuming they don’t have a blog.)
  3. If you haven’t already, set up a Google Alert for your business name. A Google Alert will alert you to when your business (or you) are the topic of discussion on the millions of blogs and other websites on the internet!
  4. Have your own PLATFORM to defend yourself.

Because even after the the spa owner above has made her apology/explanation via the comments section of the blog, many of the blogs readers won’t find it hidden in the dozens of comments. Another disturbing fact is that the original blog post will be there FOREVER! It may achieve a rank of #1 when someone searches for your business!!! (Blogs have a way of dominating the search engine results.)

If this isn’t the most compelling reason why YOUR business should have it’s own blog, I can’t think of a better one.

Visit Acumen Web Services to get your own business blog.

Filed Under: Beyond Marketing Tagged With: a blog for your business, Advertising 2.0, blog, Customer Service, marketing messages, marketing using your blog, PR, the long term value of a customer

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. kurt says

    October 8, 2008 at 7:13 am

    blogs are essential for any serious online entrepreneur, especially in the new era of web 2.0, it’s a great way to know your audience as well as be known by your audience

    Reply
  2. Kevin says

    October 29, 2008 at 11:42 pm

    This is a great article. When we have an upset client we try use it as an opportunity. Even if you are not able to completely satisfy the customer it is vitally important to understand why they are frustrated and prevent others from encountering the same experience. Thanks for sharing!

    Kevin
    http://www.kidsdesk.net

    Reply
  3. Tom Volkar / Delightful Work says

    December 15, 2008 at 9:37 am

    Perhaps it’s the personal nature of life and career coaching and the fact that I set very clear guidelines form the outset, but I have never had a dissatisfied client.

    In many cases we are our businesses and it makes very good sense to treat others as we would like to be served.

    Reply
  4. jen says

    January 25, 2009 at 3:14 pm

    Wow! Great advice. It’s also good to check out the Yahoo Local section. They allow reviews of businesses. I have seen some spa businesses slaughtered at yahoo local!

    Reply
  5. BusinessIdeas says

    April 26, 2009 at 8:57 am

    Very good and interesting business idea! Everyone who owns a business should listen to your advice!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. The Quest for Viral Marketing | Beyond Niche Marketing says:
    August 12, 2008 at 1:07 pm

    […] It’s a fact: people are much more willing to spread bad news than good news. It’s just the nature of the beast. Every business owner should be aware of this “quirk” in human nature and how this “quirk” will play out on the stage of Web 2.0. (Read What Every Business Owner Must Know about Web 2.0) […]

    Reply
  2. Is Advertising Fundamentally Deceptive? - Beyond Niche Marketing says:
    October 22, 2021 at 4:18 pm

    […] In the early 1900s, some merchants sold their goods from a wagon.  These “snake oil salesmen” were famous for creating unrealistic product expectations.   In those days, they just made sure to not pull their wagon into that town again.   In the 21st century, customers with unmet unrealistic expectations will start trashing your name all over the internet.  (Read What Every Business Owner Needs to Know about Web 2.0) […]

    Reply

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Advertising Advertising 2.0 advertising and marketing for small business owners advertising and the web Advertising Effectiveness Affordable Small Business Marketing Strategies Beyond Marketing blog blogging and branding branding branding and entrepreneurs building trust business building business marketing strategies business owner creating a product for a niche audience customer's reasons for buying Customer Service free PR major sale marketing campaign marketing magic marketing messages marketing strategy niche market Niche Marketing niche marketing for small businesses niche marketing strategy niche marketing wisdom PR small business small business advertising small business advertising solution small business marketing small business marketing consultant Small Business Marketing Strategies Small Business Marketing Success Online social marketing target audience the long term value of a customer transparency viral marketing viral video word of mouth advertising word of mouth marketing

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