The Care and Feeding of Your Two Most Important Marketing Tools

Image by Noel C. Hankamer via Flickr

Do you know what your two most important tools are for marketing?

Perhaps I should ask: do you know WHO they are?

I’ll illustrate by telling you a sad but true story. A local institution recently made some tough decisions that have been rather unpopular. Now I won’t get into the whether or not these changes were necessary due to financial reasons, but that was most likely a factor. But as a result of the changes they made, this institution now faces a problem. Both the quality AND the quantity of what they have to offer has been greatly reduced.

Problem #1: Unhappy Customers

People who come to the area to visit this institution are left wanting more. As they leave and go elsewhere, they can be heard complaining rather loudly about how, “We’ll never go back! It’s not as good as it used to be. It’s not worth the money!”

Both existing customers and first time customers are coming away unhappy. Unhappy customers translates to negative word of mouth. A few unhappy customers can be dealt with, but when most of them walk away unhappy, you have a real problem on your hands.

Problem #2: Unhappy Employees

Not only are the customers unhappy, but the situation has gotten so bad that employees have begun bad mouthing the organization. When your employees are unhappy, they don’t work as hard. And if they are contributing to the negative word of mouth, rather than fighting it, you have a problem.

Problem #3: Ignorance is Bliss

The powers that be are not only ignoring the situation, they are actively trying to pretend that they don’t have a problem on their hands. A number of the unhappy customers have expressed their disapproval on the organization’s Facebook page. But not only has the organization not responded to those comments, they’ve removed them! (That’s right, a clear violation of Social Media 101 protocol). Out of sight, out of mind doesn’t work here. Just because the negative comments are visible, doesn’t mean the negative feelings that prompted them are going to go away.

So let’s do the math: unhappy customers + unhappy employees + sticking your head in the sand = ?

I’ll let you answer that for yourself.

But lost in the shuffle of all of this is the fact that the two most important tools in your marketing arsenal might just be your customers and your employees. If word of mouth and referrals are the top source of sending people your way (or driving them the other way), who is responsible for that word of mouth?

Your customers and your employees.

Make wise decisions, treat them well, and your job will be much easier. Solve Problems #1 and #2 and you won’t even have to worry too much about Problem #3.

Are your customers and employees helping spread the word about your business? Are you giving them the tools to do so? And what’s the word they’re spreading? Is it positive or negative?

Tagged as: business, Customer, customer service, Social Media, word of mouth