We have a lot of small business clients, and they were getting pretty scared and depressed following the financial crisis last October. It occurred to us here at DIG that they were almost paralyzed by that fear, unable to move forward, only to hunker down to wait it out. So we came up with our little slice of optimism, the DIG Marketing Minute. It was designed to get people thinking about something other than impending disaster and focus on the opportunities that still exist today. Brevity was a necessity because we knew we couldn’t achieve our objective if the length scared people when they opened it. We try to keep it to less than 150 words so it can be read in less than a minute. This is no small trick. A lot of editing is required to get something powerful about customer service, social media, competitive advantages, strategic planning or brand management into 150 words or less. The open rates are great compared to newsletters, and we have received tons of anecdotal comments extolling its virtues. Other companies liked it so much that we developed a product so it could be rebranded for those who wanted to offer the same strategic thinking to their clients. http://www.digcreative.com/index.php/dig-marketing-minute.html 

 

One of our differentiators is our focus on results, and we practice what we preach. Watching the statistics, I noticed recently that the open rate had declined slightly. Someone within our group hypothesized that it was stale and needed to be revamped. I looked at the data and came up with another hypothesis. We have a lot of printing companies in our database and this industry has been particularly hard hit by the recession. Perhaps, I wondered, they were stretched too far due to staff cutbacks and didn’t have time to read. Or maybe, some of the large number of sales people in our database had lost their positions with only an open and now full email box as the last vestige of their former glory.

I developed a strategy. If people didn’t think the Marketing Minute was valuable, they probably weren’t a good fit for us anyway, so why not mutually disconnect? They get rid of clutter in their email inbox and we rid ourselves of recipients who don’t fit our profile. Win/Win. So I sent an email inviting those who hadn’t been opening to let us know if they want to continue. Action was only required if you wanted to stay on the distribution list. With no action, we would remove them and make their lives a tad less cluttered. 

 

Now we get to the good part. We had a ton of people re-opt in. The offer to disconnect obviously reminded them they liked reading it. We amicably parted ways with a bunch that don’t value the wisdom of our thinking. And I witnessed one of the worst blunders in customer relations known to man and get to tell you about it! You can’t beat that for a well-executed strategy. 

 

There was a guy in my database who owns a local printing company. He was in my database because he is an alum of the school, where my son graduated and where I still volunteer because it is near to my heart. Several years ago, we donated our design services to the school for an event invitation, the printing of which was provided by this guy’s company.  

 

After sending my carefully thought out email, this guy replies, “Yeah your stuff is not Earth shattering and it does bore me. Take me off the list.”

 

I responded back that I was happy to do so but took the opportunity to remind him how we knew each other just in case he had forgotten. I also figured this offered him a chance to say something along the lines of: “Sorry, Kate, it’s been a rough day and I just get so many emails.” But alas, he basically reinforced his position and again, not in such a nice way. 

 

Now, remember that we buy a couple hundred thousand dollars of printing a year, he owns a printing company, he knows who I am, we have many mutual acquaintances in the school and the business community and to stop the darn thing he didn’t’ have to take any action at all.

 

So do you think he’ll be getting any of our printing? 

 

I’m a pretty forgiving sort and have been known to respond to an email with a little less thought than required. Maybe this guy was just having a bad day, it happens. But I gave him a chance to fall on his sword and claim momentary madness, and he didn’t take it. 

 

This situation illustrates what is actually bad and good about all of this instantaneous communication we’ve fallen in love with. It’s fast and its quick. And it can be unforgiving. Especially if you don’t seize the opportunity to correct an impression when it’s offered to you. 

 

As many of us dive head first into the deep end of the social media pool, this lesson is a powerful one. You are going to see things you don’t like out there about you or about your company. More than one of us will be guilty of a quick, yet imprudent response to one of these things we see. When it happens, apologize, justify your thinking, whatever you need to do to reframe your position and probably all will be forgiven. Leaving it out there in cyber space to fester is probably not a good plan. If you aren’t the kind of person that can do this easily, give the job of monitoring your social media presence to someone who can. See this revolution, and it is one, as the opportunity to give your company a positive and real persona, bad days and all.