Every week, it seems there is a new PR crisis sweeping across our Twitter streams. Groupon, Airbnb, Kenneth Cole, Esquire, the list goes on and on. Most recently, Netflix has faced backlash for their price hikes and response or lack there of. With all of these instances, it seems that companies still aren’t understanding the importance of a sincere apology. If they don’t understand, maybe they don’t know where to begin in this transparent climate. Well, here is the DNA of a good apology…
Timeliness
Growing up, my mom always made sure that I knew that an apology meant much more, sooner rather than later. The ability to apologize in the heat of an argument, issue, or mistake took great strength but resolved issues much quicker, and exhibited sincerity because it took courage to say and admit. Apologizing days or weeks later doesn’t mean nearly as much as a quick apology.
Companies and PR departments still are trying to grab this concept of timely transparency when it comes to admitting mistakes. It took Netflix weeks to address the price hike, as did Groupon when they were under fire for their Super Bowl commercial fiasco. Incidentally, those apologies were seen as hollow and didn’t diffuse the complaints that had been building. The opportunity for a calming voice came and went long before they actually stepped up.
Sincerity
As a 21 year-old in a long-term relationship, I guess you can say that I’ve had my fair share of experience in apologizing. First rule: Never say, “I’m sorry you felt that way.” Saying that, says that you’re not actually sorry for your actions; but rather you’re sorry because of the reaction you received. I can tell you right now that this is not a sincere form of apology and customers see right through it. Again, Groupon failed at this a while back, as have many other companies.
In today’s transparent line of communication from brands to consumers, you must admit fault or at the very least empathize with the angry customer. Remember, they don’t HAVE to give you their time and money. So, if you make a mistake, be sincere in your apology and understand what you did wrong… The customer is much more likely to understand and forgive for sincerity.
Resolution
I’ll tell you right now… an apology is not enough anymore. Resolutions both requested and unrequested have become the standard. If you give an unhappy customer a resolution along with your apology at their request, they’ll be satisfied. Give a customer a resolution or gift without a request? You’ve just turned an angry customer into an evangelist. Don’t do either? Good luck.
People want to know you care, and while offering coupons and resolutions can’t save a bad product, it can definitely turn mistakes into fruitful opportunities. But beware, make sure that your customers would welcome these resolutions. I’m not positive how Netflix’s split into Qwikster will work out in the long run. But, I can tell you that it wasn’t a well-sourced change on Reed Hastings and co.’s part. The apology and resolution finally came, but the customer’s can tell that they are still not a priority.
We all make mistakes and will make many more. What separates the great companies from everyone else is the ability to express a human reaction in times where transparency is key. Being able to apologize and empathize in a sincere manner turns even the angriest of customers into believers.
Remember: “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” – Bill Gates
This blog post was contributed by Harrison Kratz. Harrison is the Community Manager at MBA@UNC, the new MBA program offered through the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill which gives students the opportunity to earn their MBA online from a business school with a top twenty MBA ranking. Harrison also sticks to his entrepreneurial roots as the founder of the global social good campaign, TweetDrive.
1990: I want to go to a new restaurant. I open up the yellow pages, or a copy of a local magazine to find a seafood restaurant nearby. I call two additional restaurants for more information and reservations.
2000: I want to go to a new restaurant. I do a quick Google search and find several Seafood restaurants online in my area. I check out three websites, choose the one I want, and make a call.
2010: I want to go to a new restaurant. I post a status update on Facebook asking for recommendations. Within 30 minutes I have numerous suggestions from friends with comments telling me what to order and even where to sit. I go to the website or FB page for the phone number and call.
2020: I want to go to a new restaurant. I get dressed, hop in the car and say “Grilled Tuna – $18” into an app on my mobile device and local seafood restaurants immediately respond matching my price, offering discounts and an online tour of the space. I click on the restaurant and see the reviews from all of my connections who have been there. Another click and reservations are set and an online hostess directs me to the parking lot.
Traditional advertising was all about the brand. Today companies understand that it’s about the consumer, and that companies are only important in regards to how they can satisfy customer needs. Until now, the burden of research for a sales transaction has been primarily on the consumer. Assisted by advertising, sales teams, marketing material, websites etc., it has been incumbent on the consumer to seek out prospective solutions. But why?
New platforms like Zaarly, described as the “the ultimate demand engine” by co-founder Bo Fishback, are empowering consumers in new and exciting ways. State what you need, and let others bid for your business. Social platforms like Quora and LinkedIn make it easy to crowd source specific expert advice, and in doing so influence purchasing decisions. And every new customer is suddenly an “expert” with the ability to share his experience with the marketplace; New research by NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey Company, notes that 68 percent of social media users go to social networking sites to read product reviews.
Building and maintaining customer relationships has never been more important. Earlier today, watching the trailer for Brian Solis’s new book The End of Business As Usual, I was reminded of the harsh realities companies are facing in a new digital culture. A failure to listen to the marketplace, can be fatal, as Katie Paine recently noted, in her analysis of the now defunct VMS.
With such high stakes what steps must brands take to leverage the listening power of these new tools to create and grow brand evangelists?
Strive not to sell products or service, but relationships. At the end of the sales cycle, what have you achieved? Rather than “Always Be Closing” the new mantra should be “Always Be Opening.” Social media presents new opportunities to engage customers outside of specific sales. Find opportunities to open the door for continued conversation and to stay top of mind. Seek to turn your customer into an extended member of your sales team, someone who will be quick to offer referrals, testimonials, and honest market intelligence.
Location, location, location… The social universe is grand. Your budget and resources likely are not. Carefully consider where your customers/prospects live online, before investing time and money. Extend your search beyond Facebook and Twitter. Those in the fashion and beauty industry certainly want to consider Tumblr. B2B organizations should consider taking advantage of LinkedIn and SlideShare. Seek out the forums and active industry blogs where your customers spend time. And if you cannot find a specialized network meeting the social needs of your customers, consider whether you have the resources to build your own community. Mercedes Benz does, and welcomed their youngest customers into “Generation Benz”, a branded social network that allows Mercedes to interact with customers and solicit feedback.
Implement a social CRM program that puts the customer at the center of the organizations operationsRather than pushing messages to customers, use social networks as a means to listen and converse with customersListening is not a matter of simply hearing words. Listening requires a concentrated method of digesting the information, and using that information to take action. As this simple example from Fed Ex demonstrates, a strong social CRM program can help you head off potential problems and improve your customer experience. Identify how customer feedback will be quickly heard and managed by the appropriate member of your organization. How will follow up responses and communications be efficiently managed?
Be on a continuous quest to add value Allow your customers and the greater marketplace to guide you in identifying opportunities to pursue and vulnerabilities to address. Listen not only to those issues that pertain to your product or service as it exists today, but seek to understand the greatest needs and challenges of your customers and in the marketplace.
What will the next level of social media platforms offer consumers? And out of curiosity, how do you think you will go about deciding what new restaurant to try in 2020?
Valerie is an innovative developer of teams, communities, products and communications programs. Formerly Senior Vice President, BurrellesLuce, Valerie has directed the implementation of new and upgraded services, planned and executed social media initiatives, and used social media to build relationships and sales. She has had the opportunity to work with a gamut of organizations, from Fortune 500 companies to regional hospitals and colleges to help integrate social media channels into existing marketing, communication and outreach programs and demonstrate ROI. Valerie is passionate about the opportunity social media offers to build communities and business. Valerie is co-founder of #PRStudChat (PR Student Chat), a trending Twitter chat that brings faculty and students together for dynamic discussions with professionals and co-founder of HAPPO (Help a PR Pro Out), an initiative designed to use social media to leverage relationships and help facilitate introductions between employers and prospective employees. Connect with Valerie on Twitter, LinkedIn or Google+
I’m kicking off a PR guest blogger series on October 3, 2011. Several of my blogger friends have offered to help out while I’m working on a new project, which I’ll be sharing soon. I’m excited to announce the names of my blogger friends …
When it comes to recording and editing videos, I’m lucky to have a Macbook Pro. I use iMovie to capture and edit my videos before I upload them to YouTube. However, many PR and marketing professionals don’t have a Mac and they’re using PCs. With the increasing demand for interactive video content and many of us starting to do our own vlogs, the need for a quick and easy video solution grows.
I was really excited to see that YouTube recently launched a quick solution for PR and marketing professionals that want to dabble in editing by fine tuning the videos they upload to their own channels or to their brands’ channels. Here’s how it works. Once you upload your video to YouTube, you have a choice of whether or not you want to edit. There’s good news for those who want to experiment. You can change the audio, saturation, contrast, lighting, etc., and if you’re unhappy with your changes, you can revert back to the original version of the video you first uploaded.
I decided to play around with some of the settings to see if it made a difference in the quality of the video. The first new feature I tried was the “Stabilize” feature, which is great if you use a hand held device to take your video footage. It removes any shaky camera motions. You’re also able to change your video to capture different effects. For example, you can change your video to Black & White, Sepia, Lomo-ish and Cartoon, to name a few of the effect options. I liked the Lomo-ish effect (high contrast) for a crisp and more colorful image.
Other editing features include Fill Light, Saturation, Contrast and Color Temperature. This was a trial and error process where you can move the selection bar on each editing function to a +1 or -1 to achieve the look that you like. There’s also a handy little button that says, “I’m Feeling Lucky,” which is a quick and easy way to fix the lighting and color. For me, this was the best bet that led to a more finished looking product.
Here is a screenshot of one of my videos. You can tell the original version on the left is a bit lackluster, and not as colorful as the edited video on the right. For this video I used the “I’m Feeling Lucky,” feature.
Now, there are no excuses for PR and marketing professionals. It’s getting easier to capture the videos and you can edit them for better quality. Have you checked out the YouTube editing features yet and if so, what did you think?
Tumblr is certainly growing in popularity. A recent Mashable article mentioned that according to ComScore, Tumblr scored 13.4 million unique visitors in the U.S. in July, increasing 218% from the same time last year. The “blog-meets-social-network service” is experiencing what most are calling explosive growth. Tumblr has been on my radar for quite sometime having witnessed how our teens use it and rave about it. However, that doesn’t mean that the younger generation is abandoning Facebook any time soon. Now, they’re using both networks for similar yet different reasons.
I asked two teenagers (ages 16 & 17) about their passion for Tumblr and Facebook because I wanted insight into their fascination with both communities. I thought it would help me to understand the difference from a teen’s point of view. Here’s the interview with teens that were more than willing to offer their raw and youthful insight (unedited and uncensored content):
Q: What’s the difference between Tumblr and Facebook?
- Tumblr is a blog and Facebook isn’t.
- Facebook doesn’t allow you to blog.
- Facebook is a place to connect with friends.
- I think Tumblr is an anti-social social network.
- Tumblr is less of a place to connect and is more an expression of myself.
Q: Which do you use more?
- Tumblr, because it’s better than Facebook.
I don’t care what people think about what I say.
It’s easier to update your status on Facebook, but we just don’t care enough to do that all of the time.
- On Tumblr you can say what you’re doing, but you don’t have too say what you’re doing.
I don’t want everyone to know what I’m doing.
On Tumblr, it’s more socially acceptable to not say what you’re doing.
Q: Would you stop interacting on one to spend all of your time on the other?
- We don’t want to give up Facebook.
It’s necessary because it’s an easy way to find something out.
We get homework from classmates and we don’t have to text a best friend to see what she’s doing.
- Facebook has a connection purpose, but Tumblr is about me!
- On Tumblr I can relate to others more than I can on Facebook.
- When you talk to people you don’t know on Tumblr it’s awesome, but you can’t do this on Facebook, it’s really creepy.
- You can tell so much more about a person on Tumblr because it’s about the individual and not about connecting with other people.
Q: What do you like the most about Tumblr?
- Personally, it gives me inspiration for the things I like…photography, art, cool images.
- You can find a blog about anything you love. I follow a bunch of Lady Gaga blogs … it all comes up on your dashboard and you can fill your dash with things you like.
- On Facebook you see all the things you don’t like.
- On Tumblr, you can catch up on the videos, memes and all the funny stuff.
- We’re learning more on Tumblr about news, information and things about the Internet. We found out that Osama Bin Laden was dead and all about Libya on Tumblr.
- I even donated to a cancer cause through Tumblr.
Q: What do you like the most about Facebook?
- You get to talk to friends, writing funny things on other people’s walls, look at friends’ photos and videos.
- No games though…I use my phone for games or my iPod.
- We also like to see when people are single or in a relationship (except when it’s someone you like).
- There are a lot of people who like to have many friends, it’s not as important to us, but we know people who love the popularity of having a big network. When I had over 1,000 friends, I started to delete them.
- I like the hide functionality on Facebook because I can hide people and they don’t know it.
- I play around with the privacy settings so that some people can see certain things and others can’t.
Q: What is missing from either one of these networks (if you could sit in a room and tell Mark Zuckerberg or David Karp to add features, what would those features be)?
- No changes right now to either network.
- Both places are perfect for what they provide.
- I may not ask them to change anything, but if I could sit in a room with David Karp, then I might just ask for him for a hug.
- I might ask to visit Mark Zuckerberg’s new house
Q: Do you think you will stay on Tumblr and Facebook or if something better comes along you will jump ship?
- I wouldn’t leave Tumblr … but I might leave Facebook.
- We left MySpace, which was a crappy combination of both Facebook and Tumblr.
- Now we just like that Tumblr and Facebook are two individual and separate networks that both make a lot of sense for us.
There you have it…the feelings of teens about their likes and dislikes when it comes to engagement preferences (or lack thereof). The strongest opinion comes down to expression and individuality, and not necessarily connections. It should be interesting to see how Tumblr and Facebook continue to grow and what these communities offer to the teens that have very strong convictions about why they participate on two very different networks.
I’ve been busy with “marketing agency life” for the last 20 years. I took a brief break for some in-house PR, but it didn’t last for long. Whether you’re working at an agency owned by someone else or you’re running and managing your own company, it requires a tremendous amount of energy, flexibility and dedication to the agency. Long hours and weekends were the norm, but I loved every minute of it. Today marks a new point in my career; it’s the day that I turn the page, and I close the marketing agency chapter. I’m very excited to announce my new business venture, Pure Performance Communications, which is a communications and technology consulting firm.
A little bit about how my new company came to fruition: Pure Performance, Inc. (the parent company) is a technology consulting firm that was founded in 1994 to help organizations with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and website strategy, design, and development. Seeing the need to fuse communications and innovative technology, the company launched a new subsidiary company, Pure Performance Communications. Our goal is to help organizations visualize a better approach to communication that leads to deeper levels of engagement, both internally and with the public.
I’ve immersed myself in technology for years and I’ve devoted my career to educating other PR and marketing professionals regarding innovative communications and how technology facilitates the great collaborative communication that we experience today. It was a natural progression for me to move toward consulting at this point in my career. The new company specializes in PR, marketing and social media strategy and collaborative technology consulting. I’ll also be able to continue my passion for teaching through speaking engagements, workshops and in-house training sessions for organizations.
A few of my colleagues asked me if I was going to miss the marketing agency life. To answer the question: it will be a good change. Although I thrived in the high stress environment and I also enjoyed working with numerous creative teams to develop and implement PR and marketing programs, it’s time to move forward. I want to devote the next 20+ years of my career to guiding companies strategically to convert their marketing messages into communication that delivers more powerful connections and better relationships. Of course, I will also continue on my quest for knowledge. The more I can learn about communications and technology, the more I can give back to my industry and to the many people who have supported me along the way.
I hope you will join me as I turn the page and celebrate the launch of Pure Performance Communications, my new consulting venture!
Here’s our SMR announcement and my video explaining the PURE approach:
PR professionals are familiar with the crisis drill, because we’re called upon when crisis strikes and we’re prepared with our crisis plans in place. Today, executives realize that crisis takes precedence, as their companies are in the public’s critical eye, their brands are the topic of constant conversations and communication travels more quickly than ever before through social media channels.
The difference between the PR crisis manager and the pre-crisis doctor is the ability to use the very channel that causes the crisis, to prevent the situation from either starting or spiraling out of control. It’s one thing to prepare how you would manage the situation but it’s an entirely different strategic process to try to prevent it from happening. Today we’re able to scan, monitor and respond more proactively to all different types of media, including the negative conversations in social media communities. There should be no waiting or hesitation. If two hours of crisis goes by, then those two hours have the potential to lead to serious reputation issues and damage.
It’s better to prevent and/or manage the situation to lessen severity, with a public response that immediately addresses the issue at hand. Companies are learning to listen more closely to the dialog of their customers and other constituents, whether it is positive praise, product questions, service issues, related organizational concerns or outright anger. As the pre-crisis doctor analyzes how the organization moves through different situations, these conversations are documented and separated into “conversation buckets.” These are the very buckets that house information or intelligence on best practices. In some cases the intelligence leads to a favorable outcome and in other cases to some serious lessons learned.
How do you become a pre-crisis doctor? Part of the process is learning to monitor more closely and on a constant basis. Social media doesn’t stop at the close of the normal business day and it doesn’t take off on holidays. People are talking into the late hours of the night and early hours in the morning. Years ago, the crisis manager would have plan in place that covered what would happen if negative communication appeared in traditional media. Then, at the onset of web communications, businesses found the benefits of 24/7 interactions and a broader reach, but this also meant that information about their issues could spread faster through online media, when a negative story broke.
Now, the media doesn’t have to break the story because consumers can easily share their negative views and opinions in their communities, followed by the media reinforcing the escalating issues. When ongoing monitoring is in place, the pre-crisis doctor has a better chance of pinpointing the mounting issue, evaluating it more quickly, focusing on the change in sentiment and carefully responding to slow down the rapid pace of sharing before the issue(s) gets completely out of hand.
Going beyond the crisis manager, most pre-crisis doctors will prepare several additional resources integrated in the crisis operational plan. These items include:
- Prepare an organizational chart of key contacts involved in the social media responses, as the crisis escalates to different levels. For example, by charting levels of escalation and the appropriate parties tied to those levels (usually from different departments) there is no question at any time or hesitation when it comes to the evaluation process and who responds to the crisis, through the appropriate social channels.
- Create a thorough comment response chart that gathers types of actions and responses and walks the company through the situation with a Yes / No flow chart to determine specific actions that need to be taken.
- Identify of different areas within the company that may need to work together (integration of departmental crisis plans). These areas may include marketing, PR, Web, Brand, IT, Legal, and Customer Service. Remember, the communications department is no longer the sole gatekeeper of information when it comes to social media and the crisis situation.
- Determine the shell of messaging from the small conversation mishap on Facebook or Twitter to the full-blown “tornado” crisis in a YouTube video. Many of these types of situations may already be properly documented and placed into your “Conversation Buckets.” You should also have an internal sharing system in place in order for all members of the crisis team to easily access the documented information during the crisis situation.
- Build relationships with key media and bloggers before an issue escalates. Also, prioritize those influencers who you will alert first at the onset of a crisis. Crisis managers are skilled at pinpointing the priority media and today the pre-crisis doctor includes bloggers among those powerful influencers during a crisis situation.
- Select and evaluate the social media tools, resources and platforms that are necessary to highlight rapid communications during a crisis. Demo and test all of your technology so that you’re able to easily and quickly use it during a crisis situation. This type of homework must be done beforehand.
- Identify what type of measurement will be used to determine if the evaluation and response system is working during a crisis situation. For example, measuring aggregated conversation sentiment before, during and after the crisis helps to determine the crisis plan’s effectiveness.
- Train the crisis team as well as your general employee population, so they understand what can and can’t be said on any channel during a crisis situation.
The pre-crisis doctor is ready and waiting for the negative situation to occur. Because information is documented, monitoring is in place and employees know what to do in a crisis situation, there’s more of an opportunity for the pre-crisis doctor and the rest of the crisis team to possibly prevent the situation or slow down the rate of escalation, before the company experiences reputation issues or damage.
Today’s video post is a little different. I wanted to share a contest from Verisign that I heard about from a colleague/friend. Verisign is calling on video content creators, bloggers and aspiring film makers to “Make a .tv Commercial.” I think this is a great opportunity for PR & marketing professionals, students and educators, who are video content creators, to participate and have some fun too. The contest kicks off today. All you have to do is create a 30 to 60 second video commercial to answer the question “Why should I get seen on .tv?” Then, upload it to the Facebook page for judging. You can watch my video for more information. Good luck and have fun!
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