PR 101

The Cole household needed a plumber last week.  The sewer lateral from our house to our village’s sewer lines was clogged. This happens to be a job that I cannot do myself. It calls for a specialized tool that I would use about once every 20 years. So I needed outside help.

Blogger’s note: One of the keys to a successful home repair is knowing your limitations.

Because I do most of my own home repair I did not have the name of reliable plumber. So how did I find someone who I knew was skilled and trustworthy? Google? An online directory? Online reviews?

Nope, Nyet, Nein.

I called some friends who I knew had recently had plumbing work done on their houses. I asked them what company they’d used and what their experience was. After a few phone calls, I settled on which company I was going to use and called them up.

What I availed myself of was the most basic, and probably oldest, form of marketing – word-of-mouth. I have a feeling when Oog wanted to trade for a snazzy fur for Mrs. Oog, he asked around the cave to find out who had the best pelts.

Remember, social media is just word-of-mouth writ large. Instead of talking to a few of your friends, you can now broadcast your opinions all over the Internet. Others can read them and make a decision.

That brings me to another point about word-of-mouth; the issue of trust. I called people who like me who know something about plumbing. I knew their opinions were of a value because they could evaluate the quality of work.

There’s one of the problem with social media – it is often hard to decide who to trust. There have been several instances of individuals creating false identities to tout their own companies or products. Obviously they are not providing an objective opinion.

So the key to is identify those people who are objective and honest. It is the same thing as talking to your friends about a store or a company. You soon learn who knows what they are talking about and can be trusted. Read enough on-line reviews and you’ll know who to believe.

Which brings to why marketers should care about this.

I grew up in a very small town in the Adirondack Mountains in northern New York State. My father was one of a small group of community leaders. Anyone wanting to do something in our village would usually run it by this group. These were the men – in the was early ‘60s, so they were all men – who could convince the rest of the community to go along with a project.

Those groups still exist. They have just moved on line. They are called influencers or early adopters now, but their role is the same as those men who sat around our kitchen table drinking coffee. Convince these people that your product is something worth buying and have your race is run. They will tell others who will tell still others, etc.

One advantage that these people provide is they are often looking for new things. You just have to dangle the bait for them to bite. It is how I found a good plumber.

So my son just got married and my daughter is getting married soon. For both big events, I decided to buy suits. We are not a tuxedo kind of family, but for such major events, I didn’t think my normal summer uniform of a t-shirt, cargo shorts and sandals would cut it.

For my son’s wedding, I went to my local Kohl’s Department Store. Kohl’s is a Wisconsin-based company and I like to support the locals. I was pleasantly surprised by helpful the people at Kohl’s were. I could not find pants in my size. A helpful sales woman I flagged down was able to help me. Remember, Kohl’s touts itself as low cost store that sells quality merchandise. Usually that means fewer employees on the floor. Not at Kohl’s though.

Sadly, finding a sales person who was both helpful and knew what she was talking about is getting to be a rare experience. That’s why I shop on line more and more. My experience with customer service at online retailers such as Amazon, Performance Bike and REI has been pretty extraordinary – extraordinarily good.

I cannot say the same thing for many of the experiences I have when I shop. When it came time to buy a suit for my daughter’s upcoming nuptials, my wife and I watched the sales. The lowest price was at a Milwaukee-based traditional department store. So, we drove over to look at suits.

In the hour we were there, we were completely ignored by the sales people. One walked by my wife and asked how she was doing. Now, what he should have asked is if we needed help. A salesman stationed the register seemed to be half asleep. I had the feeling we woke him up when we went to check out.

Yes, we did a buy a suit. The salesman screwed up there too. The suit was unfinished and needed to be altered. He should have asked if we wanted department store’s tailors to do it. I have to believe that’s a profit center. The guy cost his company an extra $60 or so.

It gets even more interesting. I also bought a pair of dress shoes at the same store to go with the suit. When I got them home, I discovered a flaw. So, I trundled back to exchange them. What should have taken 10 minutes took 45 minutes. There was no one staffing men’s shoes. I eventually had to go the store’s offices to get a manager to help me.

Sadly, that experience is becoming all too common. I rarely go to most large stores anymore because there is no one there to provide help. I don’t mind paying a bit more if I am getting exactly what I want and need.

For instance, I do most of my shopping for tools and other hardware at my local Ace Hardware. It is a much smaller store than the three big box hardware stores that operate in Milwaukee. But, I can always find someone to help me who knows what they are talking about. I don’t have to wander through plumbing if I need an electrical part.

That’s why I like online shopping. Every time I have a question, I can reach someone. So far, everyone I have talked to seems to be knowledgeable. It is just a much more pleasant experience. Yes, I sometimes pay a bit more that I would if I bought it from a physical location. But, I will do that for the service and selection.

Which brings me to another point. It is easy to find what I want when I shop on line. Google is very helpful in finding just the right item. I don’t have to ask some know-nothing-doesn’t care clerk if something is in stock.

It seems odd to me that on-line retailers have solved the customer service conundrum at the same time retailers have forgotten it. But, that’s way it goes.

There has been a debate raging over the future of the Internet for the last year or so. However, I don’t most people have even heard the term net neutrality, let alone had the time to delve into the subject. Yet in my opinion, if the debate goes one way, it will change the way all of us use the Internet. It will divide the web into groups of haves and have-nots.

Some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) want to create a two-tiered web. According to Wikipedia “neutrality proponents claim that telecom companies seek to impose a tiered service model in order to control the pipeline and thereby remove competition, create artificial scarcity, and oblige subscribers to buy their otherwise uncompetitive services. Many believe net neutrality to be primarily important as a preservation of current freedoms. Vinton Cerf, considered a ‘father of the Internet’ and co-inventor of the Internet Protocol, Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the Web, and many others have spoken out in favor of network neutrality.”

Wikipedia goes on to define net neutrality as follows: “Network neutrality (also net neutrality, Internet neutrality) is a principle proposed for user access networks participating in the Internet that advocates no restrictions by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and governments on content, sites, platforms, on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, and no restrictions on the modes of communication allowed.” Ian Paul wrote in the online edition of PC World that “Network neutrality is the principle that broadband providers should not be allowed to discriminate or restrict Web traffic based on its content.”

The bottom of those advocating net neutrality is that the Internet should remain like it is currently. Open access and no restrictions whether you are paying $10 a month for your access or $100 a month.

Paul goes on to note that what ISPs are asking for is the right to maintain a so-called private Internet to provide new services. Some examples of what private broadband services could be include health care monitoring, educational services, gaming and other forms of entertainment. This private service would be separate from the regular Internet.

What that means in practice, at least to me, is that some people are going to find that they cannot afford the new services. And that ain’t right.

Think about this from a social media point-of-view. A lot of social media involves video. What happens to a small company who finds that video is the best way to get out their message? Videos take a lot of bandwidth. A lot of ISPS don’t like video because its bandwidth demands. There are discussions about charging more for sending large files. Could a new company afford to market itself with a higher priced web?

One of the great things about the Internet is how it has given people who have never had a voice before a chance to say something. Think of all the governments that have been overthrown because people had ways outside of official channels to communicate. Look how people in this country has used the ‘Net to make themselves heard.

Or it could be as simple as finding out it will cost you more to download music because of the amount of bandwidth it takes. Online gamers might find themselves paying more to access such things as World of Warcraft.

What is particularly scary to me is how wireless access is being left out of the discussion. Earlier this month Google and Verizon released a proposal to maintain an open Internet while creating room for a broadband network of premium services. (my emphasis.) It left wireless out of the verbiage.

Doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. Morgan Stanley analysts predict that in five years more people will be going line via wireless access (smart phones) than computers. As the New York Times reported, as ISPs earn more revenue from private services, “they might have less incentive to invest in Internet capacity, pushing more content providers to these special services and creating alternative networks that look similar to cable TV.” And cutting many people out of the best parts of the Internet.

This scares me. It should scare you too.