Marketing Tips: Lessons From Verizon's Marketing Machine
By Linda Sevier
Our company moved last Spring. We researched carriers and what services were available in our area and contracted with Verizon. To make a very long story short, when the installer arrived we were informed that the service didn't exist in our building and it would take months for it to be put in. We were left high and dry without phones and Internet for eight days waiting for another company to install service.
If the story ended there, you wouldn't be reading this post. Verizon's outbound marketing machine is unaware of the problem and continues to waste time and money bombarding us with their message. Is it any wonder "Outbound Marketing" is sometimes called "Interruption Marketing".
- A Verizon sales person visits every month to sell us the non-existent product. We ask them to never return and throw them out.
- A Verizon employee visits every few weeks to see "how everything is going". This is great if anyone in the office is having a bad day and needs to vent.
- We get several mailings a month. Some sale based and others welcoming us to Verizon. We shread them!
- Verizon continues to call asking us how they can win back our business but obviously isn't listening. We tried to give feedback, now we just hang up.
The lessons learned from this experience are obvious, except apparently to Verizon.
- Target to your marketing, don't spew your message to the masses.
- Don't waste your money sending mailings to everyone on a list.
- Keep your website accurate, up to date, and easy to navigate.
- Inform and educate through your website to draw people interested in your product or service.
- Educate your sales force.
- Solicit feedback from your customers and listen to what they have to say.