We all screw up. I have. You have. And we’ll do it again…and again…and again. It happens.
What we do with a screw up, however, determines whether or not we walk alone moving forward.
I’m a big fan of MyEmma email marketing. Truth be told, I’m a big fan of them all the way around, having rarely found a company with such high standards for customer service. Well, on Monday, they bobbled…and they bobbled massively.
An enthusiastic thumbs up to Oren Teicher (CEO, American Booksellers Association) for posting the following open letter to Jeff Bezos (CEO, Amazon):
Dear Jeff Bezos,
We’re not shocked, just disappointed.
Despite your company’s recent pledge to be a better corporate citizen and to obey the law and collect sales tax, you created a price-check app that allows shoppers to browse Main Street stores that do collect sales tax, scan a product, ask for expertise, and walk out empty-handed in order to buy on Amazon. We suppose we should be flattered that an online sales behemoth needs a Main Street retail showroom.
Thanks to John Ranes (owner, The Frame Workshop, Appleton WI) for sending in his photo of The 3/50 Project’sKeep the Cheer Here banner, hanging proudly in front of his store. Gotta love it!
To download the banner file for use in your town, visit the Resources page of the Project website. In addition to the banner, there are loads of other marketing materials to promote Keep the Cheer Here, so knock yourselves out. From postcards to posters to blog slugs, we’ve got it all.
As most of you know, The 3/50 Project’s “Keep the Cheer Here” holiday campaign got its name from a contest we ran a few weeks ago. Our winner, Julie Ward (Pasadena, CA) gave us the words; all I had to do was add the look and feel. Thanks to her, we have a home run on our hands.
In addition to a $350 gift card, the grand prize included a profile piece here on the blog, linked to Twitter, then Facebook. So…it’s my pleasure to introduce you to Julie Ward, the author of our now famous holiday moniker: [click here to continue…]
Some bits of wisdom are truly timeless. As Steve Jobs explained to Apple employees upon his return to the company in 1997:
“To me, marketing is about values. This is a very complicated world, it’s a very noisy world. And we’re not going to get the chance to get people to remember much about us. No company is. So we have to be really clear on what we want them to know about us.”
That advice fits, whether you’re an independent brick and mortar merchant struggling to stay visible in a big box world -or- a grass roots movement reconnecting consumers to those same merchants. “People with passion,” as Jobs put it, “can change the world we live in.”
Take a few moments to watch the video, then ask yourself: Do I value the existence of local, independent, brick and mortar businesses in my community? If the answer is yes, ramp it up. Get active. Get out there.
This week, Facebook dropped their (ill-conceived) “Deals” program—a relief to those of us who understand how financially crippling these hit-and-run-discounts are for the vast majority of brick and mortars. My post on The 3/50 Project’s Facebook page about the topic resurrected the debate between consumers who love getting things at cost (or below) and the business owners who have been financial crushed by these so-called “deals.”
Granted, I wouldn’t be able to take more than 32 seconds of this guy in person, but the professional stationer in my soul can’t argue with his logic. A business card says/screams/whispers volumes about the quality one comes to expect from the person behind it. Great card? The impression is “great success.” Chintzy card? The impression is wobbly, or worse.
As for 60# Strathmore: Ick. Flimsy stuff. No disagreement there.
But the die cut, pop up, fold open personal extravaganza he uses instead? Well, let’s just say that’s the part of the video that garnered howls of laughter around here. It does prove the premise that cards are reflections of their owners…
…including those with mammoth egos. I’m just sayin.’
We all screw up. I have. You have. And we’ll do it again…and again…and again. It happens.
