Tom Feltenstein

Marketing blunders, boo boos, and snafus have plagued many a business over the recent years. I’m constantly amazed at how many companies make these simple marketing mistakes. Yes, they are funny, but instead of sitting back and laughing, take a moment and learn from the other guy’s mishaps.

Twenty years ago who would have ever thought of paying for a bottle of water? Now, prepackaged water is the standard and the thought of drinking from the tap is less than civilized.  On CNNmoney.com’s 101 Dumbest Moments in Business, they highlight an interesting blunder by Fiji Water. With every other bottled water producer showing pictures of natural springs, waterfalls, and clear mountain lakes touting their clean and refreshing water (though many are bottled in major cities), Fiji wanted to set themselves above their competition by running a magazine ad headlined, “The Label Says Fiji Because It’s Not Bottled in Cleveland.” Officials from Cleveland decided to combat that remark and ran a few tests on Fiji bottled water. The tests revealed that Fiji bottled water contained 6.3 micrograms of arsenic per liter, while the city’s tap water had none. The city released its finding to the media and battle was on, all be it short lived.

Fiji Water earns a Feinstein Folly Award for their witty yet incriminating retort stating that their own authorized tests found less than 2 micrograms of arsenic per liter.  Now granted this amount of arsenic can be compared to a drop in a swimming pool and has no adverse health effects, but the general public doesn’t think in those terms. They hear arsenic and think poison. Fiji may as well have slapped a skull and cross bones on their label.  What we can learn from this is if you’re going to compare your products to anything else, even a city, you’d better have your facts straight. The best marketing is done through creativity and imagination not thoughtless reaction.

For literally decades I’ve heard everyone from CEOs to media experts talk about the fact that any publicity is good publicity.  Their misguided premise is built on the idea that as long as your name is in the news, and it doesn’t cost you anything, that it helps your business. Not only is this not true, the wrong kind of publicity can have devastating effects on your brand and your bottom line. Look at the recent problems Toyota has had with cars accelerating unexpectedly. While it is true that the issue has become an international media frenzy, it has also devastated the positive and superior brand that Toyota spent most of the last century building.

A year ago if I’d asked you what you thought of Toyota cars you might have used words or phrases such as: reliable, well-built, or great resale value. But what you would say today? If I offered to let you test drive a Prius or Camry right now, would you hop in the driver’s seat or would you think twice? Now think about the fact that the negative news stories about Toyota didn’t really start in earnest until the Federal Government recall in January of this year. What took almost a century to build has been devastated by bad publicity in a short three months.

Don’t let this happen to your brand! It takes a great deal of time and energy to build and sustain a company image and you must fiercely protect it from issues and problems before they garner unwanted media attention. This includes handling issues right up front and ensuring that your relationship with your customers is maintained. If customers perceive for one second that they are your last concern, then your business will soon be six feet under and the media will be all too happy to shovel dirt on the grave.

I always say if you treated your external customers the way you treat your internal customers (or employees), you wouldn’t have any customers.

That is the key.  All great companies depend on great employees who will support products and services, and validate the brand.   Employees who are enthusiastic and gracious service providers make the greatest brand impression on consumers and are most effective and enduring, and ensuring repeat visits.

For successful companies, the most truly effective marketing starts with employees.  It has to.

Companies can do all the clever marketing in the world, but if your internal customers aren’t on board, engaged, and enthusiastic, the results will be unsatisfying for the brand.  And any executive who understands this aspect of four walls marketing tends to reap tremendous rewards.

What kind of marketing plan do you have for your internal customers?

Marketing is the message, but human beings with hearts and souls are the messengers.   We’re in the feeling business; everyone is.  We need to focus on the experience your customers and your employees have with you and your company.  Respect authenticity, empathy, being vulnerable.

So, I recommend a plan for everyone that I work with to always start with an internal customer survey.  You have a two-point prong here.  First, it’s recruiting, and I have lots to share about this subject later, and the other is all of those internal customers you have on board now.  How are they feeling about themselves?  We do all this external research, but we do not seem to do the internal research as we should.  Our role isn’t to measure employee satisfaction; it’s to create employee excitement.  So, the survey really gauges the self-esteem of the employees that becomes the litmus test for what happens next in the sales-growth plan.

Many clients are surprised when they find out that only 35 percent of their employees   would recommend their product, service, or business to their friends and families.

Look at the revolutionary power of employees Zappos has created!