PR Tools and Tactics

December 22, 2014

Special Delivery: Viral Video Spreads Positive Message for UPS

UPSAnyone who prefers cyber shopping to fighting the mall crowds at this time of year as I do, knows they’ll be seeing someone quite a bit: their UPS driver. Deliveries come courtesy of a man or woman in trademark brown, sometimes with a wave and perhaps a treat tossed to the family dog. At the office, they offer a friendly greeting at the front desk, maybe some quick conversation; they are a familiar face, part of daily life.

Harnessing Obvious (and Not So Obvious) Strengths

If you were a PR person charged with creating a campaign around UPS’s strengths in the marketplace, however, it might be easy to step too far back. To take a much wider view of the company to focus on obvious aspects like on-time delivery rates or the extra manpower put toward the holiday rush.

Thankfully, the folks at UPS took a different route with their most recent publicity campaign, zooming way in on the company until their view was focused on one man, Ernie Lagasca and one of his many customers.

The Back Story

Lagasca, a UPS driver in Colorado Springs, has spent the last four years forging a very special friendship with a child on his route named Carson. As an infant, Carson’s milk sensitivity required a special type of formula be delivered to his home several times a week. As he grew into a toddler, Carson would eagerly await the big brown truck, waving to the driver and eventually waiting for him on the curb. “Mr. Ernie,” as Carson called Lagasca, would take the time to chat with his young customer, ultimately inspiring him to emulate his friend. Carson’s parents were able to get him a kid-sized uniform, and he turned their basement into a shipping department so he could “play UPS.”

This past summer, Lagasca’s route was changed and he was no longer able to see Carson. But UPS had one more treat in store for the 4-year-old. In November, the company sent Lagasca to Carson’s home with a special delivery: his own child-sized UPS truck, provided as part of the company’s “Wishes Delivered” campaign.

If you want to see how a kid lights up when his dream comes true, check out the video.

The Whirlwind Response

Naturally, the video has gone viral. Carson’s mother has said she tried to keep up with responding to comments on the UPS Facebook page, but couldn’t as hundreds turned into thousands. The story of Carson and Mr. Ernie has touched millions of people, and is now being featured in a holiday commercial for UPS.

Do Good, and Good Will Come to You

UPS now has a massively successful publicity campaign burning up the internet. Not based on pushing their business practices, but on the simplicity of the relationships that form between driver and customer. Not only does the incredible response reinforce the UPS brand, it has boosted the company’s charity efforts by promoting the “Your Wishes Delivered” campaign. UPS leaders have announced that for each wish shared on wishesdelivered.ups.com or on social media via #WishesDelivered, the company will donate $1 to charity, up to $100,000.

Sometimes the most impactful messages really can be the simplest ones. By leveraging strengths they may have otherwise taken for granted, UPS built one special friendship into an impactful publicity wave.

Let’s talk about what strengths you may be overlooking as you plan your next PR campaign. Together we might just be able to find the Carson in your story!

Give us a call at 203.762.8833. Happy Holidays!

– BML

 

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December 8, 2014

Effective PR from Start to Finish: Building the Sizzle Around the Perfect Steak

There is an old adage in marketing: Sell the Sizzle, Not the Steak. But as PR professionals, we know that all the sizzle in the world isn’t going to sell mass market corn-fed beef. The steak has to be cooked to perfection and presented not just as a product but as an experience.

Today’s Special: Steak

Within PR, that steak is the foundation of traditional public relations activities; strategizing cohesive campaigns which incorporate the creation and distribution of news releases, liaising with the media to facilitate interviews and article placement, opening opportunities for presence at events and speaking engagements. All remain critical to a successful PR campaign, yet with such longstanding presence in the publicity world, some of these standards can be detrimentally treated as a reflex action rather than a precision tool.

Let’s take press releases. An oversimplified headline (think: XYZ Company Announces…) will have editors and writers snoozing in the first five seconds. An undercrafted headline will miss valuable SEO opportunities. The body of the release also needs to address the shrinking attention span and rushed pace of its recipient; numbers are old hat, while infographics make statistics pop off the page.

Directing a release properly is also a different game today than it once was. The old cropdusting approach – spread the word everywhere and hope someone picks it up – is a gamble at best. Pitching by the masses doesn’t fit today’s marketplace. In PR it used to be called “smile and dial” – the obligatory phonecall following the mass market release. Despite the seemingly endless number of media outlets today – the majority digital – content is still king. We need to know the editors well – not to mention the beat reporters, writers and bloggers – and tailor the pitch to best capture their attention and make their job easier. They need content; giving them the best fit possible puts yours ahead of the pack.

Creating the best quality steak also means sending it out of the kitchen in the best way possible. Just as it’s crucial to create press releases tailored to varied targets, the spokespeople who will back those releases up must be prepped in a similar fashion. For example, an interviewer writing for NPR will need answers to background questions to educate and inform their audience; a reporter for a trade magazine will most likely be able to surpass or minimize the background and jump further into the details for a B2B audience. Preparing a spokesperson for each individual interview will ensure the best presentation.

Sizzling Social

Now that you’ve crafted the highest quality steak possible, let’s get back to that sizzle.

The sizzle today is social media. At lightening fast speed, messages are posted, tweeted, retweeted and pinned…all in the name of drawing attention to that steak. As PR professionals, we need to be both masters and students of social media. Trends are constantly changing, and tracking them well means staying on top of the ways in which social media can be used, presented and leveraged.

Social media has also transformed publicity into a two-way street; one in which as much as traditional means can push a message out, the recipients of that message can respond directly and out loud. Relationship marketing has become crucial; knowing not only what a target customer buys, for example, but what they do for fun, where they live, what their priorities are – these are the keys to connecting. The opposite is a true danger zone as well; all the sizzle in the world is great, but if in the end you are serving up a lackluster steak, you will hear about it. Most likely at the same time everyone in the social media sphere is hearing it.

The Perfect Combo

We’ve defined the steak and the sizzle. The question now is:

How is social media integrated with the foundational components of PR so as to deliver the ideal campaign?

  • Be compelling – don’t just push generic content. Create searchable press releases with no fluff and quickly digestible information.
  • Be visual – Numbers in a press release make people yawn…infographics catch the eye, and make for much more viewable social media posts, tweets, and retweets.
  • Know who you’re talking to every time.  Via every channel and in every instance, know your editors, writers, freelancers, bloggers…and tailor information for them that they can truly use.
  • Engage in multiple ways; presenting information through a twitter feed and through a LinkedIn post, for example, will draw different factions into the conversation.
  • Stay in school. Continue to be both a master and a student of social media and of journalism so that your two-way communications remain relevant in the long run.

When the sizzle around your steak is crafted for not only the best presentation, but is introducing the most delicious meal on the menu, you’ve created a successful campaign. To find out how to do both for your product or service, let’s talk. Call 203.762.8833 to start making your steak.

– BML

 

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November 26, 2014

To Open Or Not To Open…Families vs. Super Consumers

They are a strange breed, to be sure. Those who would rise before the sun on the day after Thanksgiving, race to a strip mall and barrel past a sea of fellow humans, wildly hunting for a flat screen TV.

For the more seasoned Black Friday shoppers, strategizing comes weeks in advance; this is their ‘Super Bowl’ after all, and as such can’t be taken on half-heartedly. The push has driven stores to open earlier and earlier on Black Friday, with some going so far in recent years as to open on Thanksgiving Day just to get a jump on the action.

But at what cost? For some of these businesses, opening on Thursday has been seen as the blatant dismissal of the holiday to make way for the onslaught of super consumers. Social media is filled with posts and tweets from those who plan to boycott companies they see as devaluing family time in the name of making their cash registers ring through the night.

On the other hand, numbers don’t lie. According to a recent Accenture study, 55 percent of shoppers polled across the country say they will hit stores on Black Friday, while 45 percent plan to get a jump start by heading out Thanksgiving Day.

Retailers are in business to make money, but one wrong publicity move can cost more than the revenue numbers generated in one day; even the biggest shopping day of the year. So how do the big names decide which way to go on the Thanksgiving debate?

For Costco, the answer is simple; they say they close to give their employees a break during a time of year which already requires a lot from them. Barnes & Noble announced on its website that it would be closed on Thanksgiving so that booksellers could be with their family and friends.

On the other end of the scale, Kmart issued a statement saying they will be open from 6:00 a.m. on Thanksgiving to midnight on Black Friday in an effort to offer early bird shopping and a place to run for last minute entertaining needs. Best Buy said it considered the position of its employees, but ultimately catered to customers who clearly want to start shopping earlier.

Regardless of which side of the fence a retailer falls on when it comes to this issue, the key is to know the customer. Nordstrom has determined that their target shoppers would rather be home on Thanksgiving and would feel better about frequenting a department store that agrees with them. Best Buy knows that bargain electronics shoppers can barely be held out by a locked door, so they might as well open it.

Starbucks took another position, opening in some locations to act as gathering spots for the community. Not a bad option for those who may not have formal holiday plans, and appreciated by those who would choose a chai latte with friends over a turkeyfest somewhere else.

The case for early holiday shopping is just another twist on a well established theme: know your customer. Really know them; not just what they buy, but how they live, what they prioritize, and how they see you within the context of those factors. In the interactive world of social media and two-way marketing, there are more ways than ever to tune in and deliver what your target customer needs.

If you are ready to start with the basics and get to know your target client well, we can help. Give us a call at 203.762.8833 and let us take you through the questions that need answers and the resources available to generate them. From there, we can help you build a real relationship with your customer base. Almost like a family at Thanksgiving dinner.

– BML

 

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November 12, 2014

Does This PR Campaign Taste Funny to You?

Every once in awhile, we at Kovak-Likly see a PR campaign which has us scratching our heads, wondering, “How many approval meetings were there before this got the green light?”

Such is the case with a recent social media campaign launched by McDonald’s, entitled “Our Food. Your Questions.” Rolled out as part of a multi-pronged campaign cycle which included simplified menus, custom ordering options and mobile services, OFYQ was intended to address misinformed – and sometimes bizarre – rumors about their food.

It seemed like a good idea at the time…

In an effort to attract the much sought after Millennial demographic and reinforce their current customer base, McDonald’s took to online channels, answering questions ranging from “Why doesn’t your food rot?” to “Do you use ‘pink slime’ in your chicken McNuggets?”

To reinforce the campaign, the restaurant chain – which reported a significant drop in net profit over the third quarter –  enlisted the help of former Discovery Channel “Myth Busters” host Grant Imahara, who was featured in promotional videos uncovering “real answers to tough questions” about McDonald’s food and production practices.

Survey data quoted in a recent Reuters.com article show that overall, though the campaign may have slightly lifted quality perception, it seems to have missed the mark with the restaurant’s key demographic, frequent fast-food eaters.

But also introduced a cringe factor…

Add to that a certain backfire component to what was supposed to be a social media exercise in transparency.

What if we didn’t even know that there were rumors of pink slime? Now we sure do. And believe me, that’s a visual that will stick the next time one of our kids is munching a McNugget. The food doesn’t rot? It never occurred to me to test that concept. Now I’m curious.

The problem with trying to be hip and direct by addressing rumors is that you risk making a new group of current and potential customers aware of those rumors for the first time. While some may feel reassured by McDonald’s approach, others may very well be turned off.

It’s important to look at a PR plan from all angles before jumping in full steam. Sometimes that requires an outside viewpoint, such as is offered by our specialists at Kovak-Likly. If you are ready to make a bold move, and could benefit from our expertise to strategize it for optimum outcome, we would love to work with you. Give us a call at 203.762.8833.

– BML

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October 30, 2014

Talking About the Weather…Or Anything But

weather channelThe Weather Channel, since its start in 1982, has certainly earned some hard core fans. Weather addicts, if you will, who can’t get enough of watching every system come through. The network has even launched a superstar or two. Face it – if you see that Jim Cantore is coming to report live from your town, you know you’re in for a serious storm.

However, viewers are becoming surfers; foregoing the 24-hour network and choosing instead to jump online to get their forecasts, storm updates, and radar graphics. To keep up with the shift, the channel’s website, weatherchannel.com, has had to become its own moving front, finding new ways to attract and keep visitors. So far, they have been able to succeed; in a recent Bloomberg Businessweek article, it’s said that traffic to the site has doubled thanks to the creativity of their editorial staff.

Creativity? Writing about weather? Yes and no. New ideas are introduced daily, but more often than not they have nothing to do with the weather. The concepts are called “weather adjacent” according to the site’s editor-in-chief, Neil Katz, who is quoted in the article as saying that while the network has always struggled with the issue of generating compelling content on non-weather-event days, they are now pointing resources toward the problem.

The answer has come in the forms of special features like “A Gallery of City Skylines, Then and Now” and “What Does Mars Smell Like?” Topics whose visuals and catchy headlines provide clickable material for even the casual forecast checker.

In adapting so successfully, weather.com has proven what many businesses know; that to stay relevant in a competitive market – and to hang on to shrinking attention spans – changes need to be strategically planned and executed.

Know Your Weaknesses

Strengths are great, but if weather.com had simply accepted the diminishing interest in their traditional content as part of the ever changing media landscape and chosen to stay the course, they would have been left out in the rain (pun intended). By acknowledging that their content alone was not enough to compete, they were able to troubleshoot the issue.

Don’t Be Afraid to Test the Borders

A feature on “12 Spooky Abandoned Hospitals and Asylums” might not be the first to come to mind for a weather channel, but it sure got attention for them. By thinking weather – fall – Halloween – spooky places, the site’s writers didn’t hesitate to push the content to its limits, capturing views in the process.

Dedicate Resources

According to the Bloomberg Businessweek article, weather.com content producers are not meteorologists, they are writers. They gather for editorial meetings and pitch stories like a news staff whose creativity is not only welcomed but encouraged. In addition to the editor-in-chief, there is a health editor, a travel editor, and other specialized staffers who each bring something to the table. When weather.com decided to switch gears and bring new content to the site, they didn’t do it half-heartedly. See a problem, put some resources against it.

If you are struggling with the challenges posed by an ever-changing media landscape, we can help. Our PR specialists can help you strategize the best route to take and regenerate the creativity needed to travel it successfully. Give us a call at 203.762.8833 and let’s get started.

– BML

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October 20, 2014

A Lesson in Doing the Right Thing

CVS quits for goodWhat was the old expression? Smoke ’em if you got ’em? Not anymore. As of last month, CVS Health has held true to its promise: we had ’em, but we dumped ’em. As of September, all cigarettes and smoking supplies have been removed from CVS’s 7,700 stores. In addition, the company has stated that they will not carry e-cigarettes as an alternative. The bold move was the final step in a plan that was announced last February; it was widely covered by the media then, and a second wave of publicity followed this fall. In addition, a social media campaign, #onegoodreason, has continued the conversation, engaging customers to interact and transition the company into a source of support and education in the area of smoking cessation. Despite forfeiting an estimated $2 billion in sales, CVS is counting on a long term win. According to CEO Larry Merlo, success will come in several forms:

  • Strategic partnerships which had been held back due to the company’s tobacco sales can now be formed, including those with healthcare systems.
  • A corporate rebrand from CVS Pharmacy to CVS Health is more aptly supported by the move, showing that the company “walks the walk” when it comes to promoting healthy living for its customers.
  • Support from consumers has been overwhelmingly positive, indicating that lost tobacco sales may be replaced by other purchases made from a new or reenergized customer base.
  • Emptying the shelves of cigarettes is in line with efforts in many major cities, where the cost of a pack has soared and where regulatory guidelines are continually changing to limit smoking in public areas.

Knowing the right thing to do is often easy, but can also be in direct conflict with a company’s bottom line. As PurpleAmerica.us founder and CEO Stuart Muszynski wrote in a blog for the Huffington Post shortly after CVS Health’s announcement last winter, “While many corporations are admired for taking on risk to launch new products, most managers are not rewarded for courage in advocating to do good.” Thankfully, as CVS has demonstrated, it may be a growing trend. If you’d like to find out how you can turn a risk into a win for all the right reasons, we’d love to talk and work with you. Kovak-Likly’s PR specialists are ready; give us a call at 203.762.8833 . – BML

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October 10, 2014

Can NFL Sponsors Survive the Media Blitz?


Football season is well underway, and while much of the NFL’s media coverage includes actual scores, stats, and highlights, a large portion has centered on the real life crime drama playing out off the field.

The downward spiral began with the surfacing of a shocking video of domestic abuse between Baltimore Ravens player Ray Rice and his then-fiancée. Then, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson made headlines when he was charged with child abuse for physically punishing his 4-year-old son. Lastly, Arizona Cardinals running back Jonathan Dwyer was recently accused of head-butting his wife and breaking her nose one day and then punching her the next.

While the NFL nurses the big black eye its players have delivered the league this season we can’t help but wonder what this all means for the sponsors who collectively spend billions of dollars to be associated with them?

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, while many NFL sponsors have issued statements condemning the actions of the players and the response of Commissioner Roger Goodell, most will keep their partnerships intact as a vital marketing component. In an age of on-demand video accessible through a multitude of channels, it has become increasingly difficult for advertisers to reach a large audience in real time, without the ability to fast forward through commercials. NFL Football provides that.

Then there’s the money. Many major NFL sponsors are on the hook for a lot more than just advertising dollars. Multi-year contracts commit partnerships which run in the millions and can’t simply be dropped. Nike, for example, advertises during games, sponsors individual athletes (including Peterson and Rice, though both sponsorships have been suspended) and supplies jerseys for all 32 NFL teams.

When a topic is so controversial and the potential business ramifications of any response so disastrous, what is a sponsor to do?

So far, most advertisers linked to the NFL are staying put – but being quite vocal about their condemnation of player behavior. Some have taken the opportunity to publically urge action within the NFL leadership and our communities against the overall issue of domestic violence. Others have quietly shifted their TV ad schedules to stay away from games featuring the most controversial players.

Both sides are hoping to weather this storm without too much damage, but it won’t be easy. NFL sponsors and advertisers generate more revenue than other streams such as ticket sales, and many of those ad campaigns rely on thematic, and player-specific, tie-ins. Without confidence in the men who wear the jerseys, those campaigns could be at risk.  Fans may become disenfranchised and sponsors may be forced to walk.  To counter this risk and to assure sponsors and fans, Commissioner Goodell has announced plans for a tougher domestic abuse policy among players and increased educational efforts around the problem.   Only time will tell if his plan is appropriate and if it’s effective.

As certain as I am that on February 1, 2015, we’ll have a new Super Bowl Champion,  I’m certain there will be heavy losses within the league and its sponsors if the powers that be can’t effectively tackle this year’s troubling issues.

Your PR partner should know how to handle the good, the bad, and yes, sometimes the very ugly. At Kovak-Likly, we have that kind of experience and will work with you to build a plan which highlights your strengths and turns your challenges into opportunities. Give us a call at 203.762.8833.

– BML

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September 22, 2014

This Tearful Goodbye Sponsored by…

Summer officially ends this week, taking with it beach days, barbecues and soon enough, baseball. (Our offices contain Yankees, Mets and Red Sox fans so let’s face it: there is no October for us this year.)

While we fans never like to see our boys of summer put the tarp down on another season, one player in particular has captured our attention, provoking a pensive sigh or even a tear or two (from some) as he finishes out the last days of his tremendous career. I’m talking, of course, about Derek Jeter.

And, from a publicity point of view, no company has benefited from the captain’s pending retirement more than Gatorade has this past week.

In case you haven’t been near a television, a computer, a magazine or a newspaper, Gatorade unveiled a 90-second commercial focused entirely on Jeter’s goodbye to his city and his fans. Shot in black and white and featuring music chosen by the iconic player himself – “My Way” by Frank Sinatra – the spot evokes emotion from the opening scene and has become a leading topic of conversation via almost every media channel available, social or otherwise.

Within 18 hours of being posted on YouTube, the farewell ad had already garnered more than two million views. Days later, the spot appeared on television. Next week, an accompanying print ad, also produced with full input from Jeter, will run in Sports Illustrated and the New York Daily News. See that? A print ad of all things; on actual paper. And not only do we know about it ahead of time, many of us are going to actively seek it out next week.

It’s no wonder those in the industry are calling the Gatorade ad, and the campaign around it, a home run. There are several take away points which other advertisers can gather from the drink company’s success.

Seize Opportunities

Gatorade immediately approached Jeter about shooting the ad in March of this year, when the captain first announced his plans to retire. While fans were shaking their fists at the sky at the idea of losing their beloved number 2, Gatorade was already ramping up to ride the inevitable end of season wave (no baseball stadium pun intended).

Tell A Story

We’ve seen plenty of wistful photos of Jeter since that announcement last spring. We’ve even seen other ads built around the theme of his legacy. The Gatorade ad was different. Our hero, walking through the streets of the Bronx, genuinely surprising fans and business owners, shaking hands with those who until then had only dreamed of doing so. By capturing the true, raw emotion of these real life moments, the ad hooked us. Who could look away? Yankee lover or hater, every one of us wanted to see that story play out.

 Stay Out of the Way

The only appearance of Gatorade in the ad is a moderate logo placed mid-screen in its final seconds. The company does not attempt to take ownership of the moment, nor of the legend, but to present both with the subdued respect their subject’s fans would not only seek but demand. Was the impact diminished? Just the opposite. Any mention of the ad includes the name Gatorade, which means spreading the word several million times over.

Subject, tone, and approach are vitally important for any publicity campaign to be successful. If you are stepping up to the marketing bat and need some coaching along the way, we’d love to help. The seasoned professionals at Kovak-Likly can work with you to build a plan which takes advantage of what your audience wants, presents it in the right way, and sets you up for your own PR home run. Give us a call at 203.762.8833 or visit www.klcpr.com.

– BML

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September 17, 2014

A Social Media Makeover for Used Car Sales

If you’ve gone through the process of selling a used car in recent years, you’ve more than likely taken the traditional steps. Check the value on Kelly Blue Book, post on Craigslist, maybe run a classified ad in the paper (does anyone look at those anymore?) then hope for a response. If you’ve been the buyer, you’ve probably followed the same channels.

What you may not know is that Kelly Blue Book has taken used car sales beyond the traditional reach by putting multichannel marketing tools in the hands of sellers. With an advantage normally reserved for those with marketing savvy, both sellers and buyers can interact in a fast and informative way which speeds the sales process.

By using the KBB Seller’s Toolkit, users can post available vehicles across multiple social media channels and blogs in one step. According to a report in Social Media Today, posts can also include a direct link to KBB’s pre-configured pricing report, giving buyers real time access to Blue Book Values from KBB.com. In conjunction with the system’s smartphone app, quick access to key buying and selling information is instantly available to those on either side of the negotiating table.

In creating a useful, integrated tool, Kelly Blue Book has not only maximized their social media presence but also addressed a genuine consumer need. For a non-traditional company (not pushing a new product, for example) it represents smart, strategic thinking.

Get in the Game

Marketers know they need to be on social media, including those in the second hand product arena. By finding a way to incorporate all major social media channels, Kelly Blue Book is in keeping with the trend and staying at the forefront in a competitive digital space.

Address A Need

Once there, KBB could have easily gone the content route, posting handy tips on buying or selling, or re-posting reports on the car market. Yet they took it one step further by thinking about what their target customer needs. Do they need information on the used car market or sales trends as a whole? Maybe. Do they need access to information that can help them execute a successful sale quickly or to act as an informed buyer? Absolutely.

Promote Interaction

By creating a Sales Toolkit which combines social media channels and easy access to competitive value information, Kelly Blue Book has insured that not only will they be present in the social media sphere, they will be consistently interacting with their target customers. Researchers about to sell or buy, as well as active buyers and sellers, can use the KBB resources on the fly to gather and share information anywhere. By providing what their customers genuinely need, KBB has built a productive relationship with lasting power.

Simply showing up on social media is not enough. To determine the best presence for your company, the experts at Kovak-Likly can work with you to build a comprehensive PR plan which defines your niche, engages your target customer base and solidifies your role as a true resource. To get started, give us a call at 203.762.8833 or visit www.klcpr.com.

– BML

 

 

 

 

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August 28, 2014

Customer Service Clean Up

It’s been a rough time for Comcast. Already pinged for frequently making “Worst Company in America” lists, the cable giant has had some serious tap-dancing to do around a viral PR nightmare.

If you haven’t heard it, clear about eight minutes out of your day. Ryan Block, a product developer at AOL, and his writer wife called Comcast to cancel their service. What followed was a virtual haranguing by the Comcast customer service rep, who all but refused to help them, choosing instead to repeatedly question their decision. By about two minutes into the diatribe, it becomes clear that the rep will not budge, all but begging Block to stay with Comcast and insisting that the only way he could circumvent the call center would be to walk into a Comcast location to enact the cancelation.

I should back up and say the eight minute recording was actually preceded by ten minutes of similar foolishness. At the ten minute mark, Block and his wife were past the initial incredulity and decided to record the speakerphone conversation. That recording has since flown around the social media sphere at lightning speed, prompting a hasty apology from Comcast, assuring that quick action would be taken with regard to the employee involved and that they will be reinforcing their practice of treating customers with utmost respect.

The problem is, this isn’t the first time that Comcast has battled a negative customer service image. In articles going back to more than a year ago, the company has been called out for everything from proposing on-demand programming carry the same commercial load as regular programming, slowly tightening broadband data usage caps, and blaming a perceived high complaint level on a large customer base, essentially calling it a ratio issue.

It’s no wonder that Comcast’s apology elicited the proverbial eye roll across the board. For a company to apologize, its customers need to believe in them.

Size Doesn’t Matter

Part of Comcast’s image problem is that they are seen as a corporate behemoth whose lack of competition has put them in an unprecedented position of strength. Certainly not a favorable light, and one which should have been addressed seriously by the company’s PR team months if not years ago. No matter the size of a company, the target customer base should be lead to see them as focused on service and quality. If there is a dent in that image, it must be fixed. Quickly.

Transparency Isn’t a Choice

In discussing Comcast’s move toward tighter broadband usage caps – and subsequent increased overage fees – one article says that trials of the new model were rolled out in less competitive markets such as those in Augusta, Georgia and other parts of the south. While customers there reported being surprised at the slight increases in their bills, the bigger message was spread immediately: Comcast is squeezing customers. Rolling out a plan – especially one which doesn’t benefit the customer – doesn’t slide by based on geographical strategy; we are a world of instantly shared information, and companies need to operate within that scope.

Give Honesty, Earn Trust

When cost structures are shared openly, and concerns over near-monopolies are addressed quickly and well, companies will continue to retain customers and their trust, plain and simple. Speed, transparency, fairness and professionalism are valuable cornerstones in building customer trust and loyalty. You don’t have to understand the intricacies of the cable industry to grasp this one; just listen to Ryan Block’s recording. If you can stand it.

At Kovak-Likly, we will work with you to build a reputation your company can be proud of, and we’ll be there to keep it that way as well. To find out how we can work together, give us a call at 203.762.8833 or visit www.klcpr.com.

– BML

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