Category: Phil Bernstein

What It Takes

The retail and airline industries are not, in general, known as bastions of great customer service. A constant onslaught of books on customer service, motivational speakers and consultants have had limited success in convincing stores and airlines to get better.

So, what will convince them? A couple of stories in this morning’s New York Times offer a clue. According to the Times, it takes:

I feel better now — don’t you?

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Check out Phil Bernstein’s Facebook Fan Page — and become a Fan – here

Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising and Marketing Blog.

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein, America’s Attention-Rental Expert, at 503-477-4933.

Clutter Tolerance: The Public DOES Have a Limit, After All

As advertising has continued to pop up in areas that were formerly ad-free — supermarket conveyor belts and airline tray tables come to mind — I’ve often wondered where the line is. At what point will people just refuse to allow any more clutter?

The City of Galveston, TX, in partnership with Frito-Lay, inadvertently stepped over the line not long ago. According to the Houston Chronicle, Frito-Lay offered to donate $1 million to repair Fort Crockett Park in Galveston. Grateful city officials agreed to rename the park “Sun Chips Park at Fort Crockett.”

The public objected furiously, Frito-Lay backed off, and the space will remain Fort Crockett Park. The company was smart enough to let the city keep the money.

So if you’re mapping out the line, note that renaming a stadium or arena for a corporation is on the acceptable side. Renaming an iconic city park is not.

It’s worth noting, as an aside, that my 50th birthday is coming up in January, and Portland Trail Blazers officials have indicated that they’d be willing to consider selling naming rights to the Rose Garden Arena. If any of you would like to pay to rename it “The PhilDome”, I wouldn’t object.

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Check out Phil Bernstein’s Facebook Fan Page — and become a Fan – here

Click here to learn the shocking truth about Phil Bernstein

Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising and Marketing Blog.

Request your free copy of Phil Bernstein’s white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein, Portland’s Advertising Expert, at 503-323-6553.

Pitfalls of Social Media Marketing

During my presentation/interview at the Northwest Business Virtual Summer Conference, Tom Cochrane asked me what the big difference is between marketing with social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc) and using the traditional sources such as TV, radio, and print.

I replied that there has always been something of a “contract” between the audience and old media — radio listeners get their content at no charge, and in return accept the fact that advertising is part of the landscape. Same for newspapers and television: the information arrives either at no charge or heavily subsidized.  Although there is more interaction than there used to be, the content is still “consumed”, and must be paid for somehow.

The fundamental difference with social media, I told Cochrane, is that people use it to communicate with each other, and do not expect to be pitched to. Even though Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace are essentially free services at this point, the users, rightly, or wrongly, have a different set of expectations.

Since making those remarks, I’ve encountered a couple of good posts that expand on the topic:

At Marketing in Progress, Brett Duncan takes on the Twitter spammers:

It saddens me to see so many people constantly posting tweets and Facebook updates that go something like this:

  • Brand X is helping me lose 10 pounds a week. It can help you, too. CLick here . . . .
  • If you want to make $1,000 this week on the Internet, I have what you need.
  • Want to earn what you’re worth? Sign up with Brand X. Ask me how.
  • I get 300 followers a day. Go here to find out more.

Nobody gets on Twitter looking for crap like this. There’s nothing “social” about using social media as your own advertising medium.

And The Digital Marketer offers counsel on how to avoid damaging your social media reputation.

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Check out Phil Bernstein’s Facebook Fan Page — and become a Fan – here

Click here to learn the shocking truth about Phil Bernstein

Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising and Marketing Blog.

Request your free copy of Phil Bernstein’s white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein, Portland’s Advertising Expert, at 503-323-6553.

Current Event Advertising: Nice Try, But…

From the Oregonian Friday, July 3, 2009:

 

stimulus

I applaud The Adult Shop for attempting to use the story of 2009 in their marketing. And the term “Stimulus Package” is a nice touch.

But…

1. The discount is only ten percent.

2. Anonymity is likely to be important to a porn store customer

3. A significant number of jobless potential customers may be embarrassed about the fact.

So expecting unemployed people to walk into an adult store and “present [their] current unemployment check stub for sales associate to verify” — for a lousy ten percent — seems like a recipe for failure.

Of course, I’m neither unemployed nor an adult store regular. Am I wrong? What do you think?

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Check out Phil Bernstein’s Facebook Fan Page — and become a Fan – here

Click here to learn the shocking truth about Phil Bernstein

Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising and Marketing Blog.

Request your free copy of Phil Bernstein’s white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein, Portland’s Advertising Expert, at 503-323-6553.

Business Northwest Virtual Summer Conference

I’ll be one of the presenters at the Business Northwest Virtual Summer Conference, happening over three days (July 9-11) later this week.

 The theme of the conference is “Getting Your Business Message Out in Today’s Economy With Today’s Technology.”

 There’s a live event at the Marriott on July 9th at 9:30am featuring a panel with Kent Lewis and Hallie Janssen of Anvil Media, Matt Kish,  Managing Editor of the Business Journal, and Tom Cochrane of TKC Solutions. The rest of the presentations, including mine, will be on the web.

 My presentation, titled “Brand New Technologies, Same Old Errors: The Seven Deadly Online Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them”, is tentatively scheduled to run at 9:30am on Friday, July 10.

 Attendees will be able to see all the presentations, ask questions of more than 20 speakers in special forums, and download written materials. You can have access to the whole thing — you can see it live or watch the archived presentations at your convenience for 30 days — for just $8.50.

 Find out more, and register, at www.businessnorthwest.org/conference.

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Check out Phil Bernstein’s Facebook Fan Page — and become a Fan – here

Click here to learn the shocking truth about Phil Bernstein

Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising and Marketing Blog.

Request your free copy of Phil Bernstein’s white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein, Portland’s Advertising Expert, at 503-323-6553.