Who says you cannot learn a lesson from an icon, one many consider the great success story of American commerce? From a week of trending (and non-trending) events, people, places and hash tags (check out Hootsuite’s Top USA Twitter Trends of the Week, Vol. 89), we selected a post on Sears, the once dominant iconic retailer, for a bit of insight to maximize your marketing momentum.
Sears (formerly Sears, Roebuck & Co.) has survived longer than most since its mail order heyday; however, the retailer finds itself in the social vortex of real-time engagement. Declining sales, widespread and mounting sentiment on its merchandise and store conditions have not been favorable to the 121-year-old brand. In the midst of a blizzard of negative online comments, as reported by Advertising Age, the company launched a corporate blog. The timing, they claim, was purely coincidental.
There are a few takeaways that immediately come to mind:
- Launch a blog for the right reasons: engagement, transparency, information, education, reputation, not as a platform to hard sell or plead your case in the court of public opinion.
- Your corporate identity is not your corporate reputation. Identity is how you define yourself; reputation is how others perceive you. A periodic image and reputation assessment can help you define areas of strengths, weaknesses and steps for improvement.
- Corporate reputation, built over time, can be destroyed in seconds. Be ready and have a plan in place for threats and events that may have a negative reputation impact.
- Be proactive and responsive. Build relationships, listen to your customers and clients and engage in social dialogue. [In all fairness, according to the Ad Age article, Sears launched a customer-centric campaign, Shop Your Way, four years ago. It has done little to offset the recent backlash.]
- Develop brand advocates internally (employees, management) and externally (customers).
- Toot your horn. Leverage advertising and marketing, including public relations, efforts to create long-term and favorable impressions.
For additional insight, check out this article on reputation management for small businesses on Forbes.com and this LGK YouTube playlist video pick on reputation repair from the Reputation Institute.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIFY_QNFsUs&feature=youtu.be
Do you have any takeaways to add from our stream pick? What marketing lessons can we learn? Comment below or visit us on LinkedIn, Twitter , Facebook, G+ and share!
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