Mikel brings up a good point and that is if you build a great brand or product traditional advertising becomes less important. The Google piece on 60 Minutes last week said that Google does not advertise. They don’t need to. They created a terrific brand and product and everyone talks about it. Their success has come through word of mouth advertising.
Amazon doesn’t need to buy advertising space in Wired Magazine. They spent time making a great product and so Wired gives them free space in their magazine (and in the form of an article instead of an ad which more people will read).
So few companies understand the concept of viral marketing and that by providing a great customer experience they’re leading their company to the forefront.
Many Internet companies feel that they are exempt from providing quality customer experiences. I’m dealing with a problem with my Paypal account right now that is four months old. The bottom line is Paypal does not provide quality customer service. If the subject of Paypal comes up in any of my conversations I bash ‘em. I’ve been a customer of Paypal for over six years, which is almost a lifetime in Internet years, and my problem could of been resolved in days instead of months if Paypal valued me as a customer.
With the blogosphere growing exponentially, word of mouth advertising is going to become even more critical to businesses offline and online alike.
Welcome to johnhesch.com, a blog about my life, projects, and interests. I have been blogging for over 10 years in one form or another.