Recommended Marketing Reads for Monday, 9-7

Today is Labor Day for my US readers. If you have the day off, enjoy the unofficial end to summer. And if you sit down to relax and read a bit, check out some of the posts I have run across this week. As always, if you see some fabulous reading, please share in the comments.

Where’s Your Fortune Cookie Moment?
I love this. Not only does John mention one of my favorite stores (REI), he shares a great marketing practice. Who wouldn’t love to find an unexpected — and pleasant — surprise when buying something new? And it hopefully makes you think about ways you can surprise your customers.

What #maytag & @dooce says about customer service in America… and it’s NOT good
I didn’t see Susan’s post about twitter complaints when I wrote on the same topic last week. She talks about the underlying problem: poor customer service. Consumers are mad as hell and they’re not going to take it anymore! Better yet, they’ll tell everyone they know about their experiences.

Organizing customers
This is awesome. Seth talks about leveraging buying power by forming a buying cartel. He has some great suggestions for consumers. And what about businesses? If they encouraged consumers to band together and purchase something at a steep discount, it’s possible they’d have more business than they know what to do with. And that brings up an interesting question. Which would people be more likely to do, form a group to get an already offered discount, or form a group that demands one that doesn’t yet exist? And yes, I really wish colleges would do this.

Local Sandwich Shop Scores on Facebook
Yes, you can talk to your local customers, drive traffic to your business, and create some sales, all via Facebook. One small company is doing it. Can you?

NFL Commits Marketing Fumble by Blacking Out Fans
As a San Diego Chargers fan, I can attest to how frustrating the black outs are. We’ve dealt with them for several years now. Instead of watching at home, we’ve had to find a restaurant or bar that is broadcasting the game if we want to see it. Good for the establishments, but not as easy on our wallets as staying home. I really wish the NFL would realize that these stunts make us find other things to do besides watch football. And really, that only hurts them. Or in reality, the local team. And that’s too bad. Especially since so much of our city money went toward building that stadium. This is certainly an example of what NOT to do if you want to keep loyal customers.

image: sxc.hu