The Essential Marketing Secrets that Amazon Forgot

March 30, 2008 · Filed Under Branding, Branding Boo Boos · 17 Comments 

Amazon has made a SERIOUS mistake in the way they conduct business and may be the mother of all Branding Boo Boos!
First, you need to understand a term to understand the gravity of the situation for Amazon.

POD stands for Print On Demand. Instead of printing thousands of copies of a book and hoping they sell, these publishers can print only the number of books that actually are sold. That’s a great business model, however Amazon has decided that the only POD books they want to sell on their site are the ones printed by their own POD service: Book Surge.

Angela Hoy is the publisher of the Writer’s Weekly which she uses to promote her POD publishing business, Booklocker.com. Last Friday, Angela launched a firestorm when she reported that Amazon is putting the squeeze on POD publishers.

FIRST MARKETING SECRET THAT AMAZON FORGOT: Customers are the life blood of any business.

Angela Hoy reports spending over $1500 with Amazon last year. Sure, that’s just a tiny drop of income in the Olympic sized pool of profits generated by Amazon… but she’s a customer none the less and their bullying tactics really rubbed her the wrong way. They’ve lost her as a customer… but wait … that brings us to Marketing Secret Number 2.

SECOND MARKETING SECRET THAT AMAZON FORGOT: A satisfied customer will tell 3 friends… a dissatisfied customer will tell 16.

In Angela’s case, she’s the editor of the largest ezine publication for freelance writers in the world, so instead of telling 16 friends she’s using her newsletter to tell over a hundred thousand. She’s ignited quite a firestorm.

THIRD MARKETING SECRET THAT AMAZON FORGOT: People hate doing business with a bully.

Apple’s agency recognized this secret when they created those memorable Mac vs PC spots. The Ladders.com also capitalized upon this marketing secret as well. Not only are these strong arm tactics not going to play well with POD authors… they’re not going to play well for MANY “regular” book buyers as well.

The firestorm ignited by this illustrates an important truth about the power of Web 2.0. While we are all seeking a way to ignite a firestorm like this to build POSITIVE buzz about a business… it seems that human nature tends to reserve such passionate “pass along” power to injustice that incites rage and indignation. It’s unfortunate, but the positive afterglow of a positive customer experience rarely inspires such a viral campaign.

Less than 48 hours after the newsletter went out, there were more than 60 online references to this story. Slashdot picked it up, so that number will increase.

In the spirit of Web 2.0, I’ve included a list of sites reporting this story. Feel free to grab the list below and add it to your own blog. If you want to add your post to the “cause”… the post a comment to this post. The more links to these posts… the more “traction” this cause will get.

Amazon began by providing a superior book buying experience to their customers.  Buying a book from Amazon is BETTER than buying a book in a physical book store because a reader can access other reader reviews and read excerpts online.  Amazon is about to discover that hell hath no fury like a customer scorned.

Tags: , , , , ,

The first three seconds at your web site….

March 23, 2007 · Filed Under Branding Boo Boos, Web Sites · Comment 

GREAT article at IMedia Connection by Joseph Carrabis entitled Websites: You’ve Only Got 3 Seconds

Carrabis does an EXCEPTIONAL job of breaking down the visitor’s first 30 seconds at your web site into three manageable chunks, providinig insight to the web site owner of what’s REALLY going on in a visitor’s mind. Read more

Tags:

Second Life Branding Boo Boos

January 15, 2007 · Filed Under Branding Boo Boos · Comment 


BL Ochman in his What’s Next Blog writes about Big Brands in Second Life Attracting Few - If Any - Visitors.

Besides the sale of YouTube, nothing’s been hyped more this year than companies, from IBM to Starwood Hotels to ad agencies and PR firms, opening in Second Life. Visit them and you’re likely to find yourself alone, or maybe find one or two other people there. The biggest problem: everyone’s jumping in because everyone’s jumping in. They’re often not bothering to visit Second Life first, let alone learn the culture.

The second biggest problem: you have to download software to enter the metaverse and big corporations generally won’t allow anything downloaded on their servers. And once you do download it, the software is clunky, slow, and hard for newbies to grasp.

There’s nothing worse than jumping onto a band wagon without recognizing the unwritten laws that govern the community.  Whether it’s Myspace or Second Life, it’s best to join the culture and learn the unwritten rules before you begin trying to harness the marketing possibilities.

Branding on the InternetWay back in the 1990’s, the Listserv ruled the internet.  A listserv allowed you to submit a question or something that you want to share to the listserv. Your submission would then be distributed, via email,  to all of the other people on that list.  Clumsy marketing wannabes would sign up for a Listserv and begin marketing in earnest to the subscribers.  These messages were greeted with the same enthusiasm then as spam messages that arrive in your email box are greeted today. 

Imagine, walking into a party and finding dozens of people engaged in lively conversation.  You walk up to a promising group and interupt the conversation with your sales pitch.  While it rarely happens in real life, I’m sure it’s not hard to imagine your reaction to such an intrusion; you’d ignore the interloper and return to your conversation.

Well, Listserv has gone the way of the BBS, the laws of human interaction still remain intact.  Before entering the alternate reality known as Second Life, companies must first learn the culture and discover the unwritten laws of this alternate universe.  Learning the lay of the land is always best before entering a new world.  While the 2 million plus members of Second Life community may very well be ripe for the picking, if you break the unwritten rules, you’ll find your efforts failing miserably.

Tags:

  • Best Blog Marketing Ebook
    Currently in Beta Testing:

    Everything You Need to Know About Business Blogging

    PLUS

    The 8 Week Blog Power Launch

    This step by step guide will take you from "I don't know nothing "bout blogging" to blogging pro in just 8 short weeks!


    Developed as a result of working with literally hundreds of blogs.


    These are not lessons on the "mechanics" of blogging... but rather a step by step course which covers essential blogging tools PLUS how to develop a blogging STRATEGY to create a successful blog.


    So far, one beta participant has seen blog traffic double and the blog's Alexa has dropped in half after just four weeks!


    Sign up below and  not only will you be notified when the typos are corrected and some of the concepts are clarified - but you'll also save 50% off the list price!
    Name
    Email