Comments on: Warming up to Marketing as Service

By: drew

drew — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 13:13:14 +0000

Rob–the irony of the hard sell is that it makes selling hard. Whether B2B or B2C, people are involved and as such appreciate a two-way exchange of value vs a one-way sales pitch. Even a “consultative” sales approach if done properly can fall into Marketing as Service.
Alan–hadn’t thought of the smaller city domination approach. You’re right, that would have been a PR bonanza.

By: Brands need to deliver value «

Brands need to deliver value « — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 23:03:05 +0000

[...] program to many more cities, not limiting it to a month, extending the program till the spring? As Drew pointed out in his post, Samsung didn’t offer the airport charge stations for a limited time or to only one terminal, [...]

By: Alan Sharavsky

Alan Sharavsky — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:27:22 +0000

Drew –
I just read your post, and had this thought: What about the OTHER bus shelters? And I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who saw the deficit first. Thus, I think this is going to have a negative effect in the end, as residents of other parts of the city feel slighted. To your point, if they had gone all out in just one smaller city, and heated all the shelters, the result would have been staggering. In fact, I would bet some cities would even offer to partner with them to make sure all their shelters were included. Thanks for taking the time to post this. Alan

By: Rob Leavitt

Rob Leavitt — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:00:49 +0000

Great post, Drew. Marketing as service is indeed the way to go, but it needs to be authentic. The Kraft initiative, as you say, is pretty thin. I’m more on the B2B side, and we’re inundated with similarly thin efforts to provide “value” to potential buyers in the guise of alleged thought leadership content and events that are really warmed over sales and lead generation pitches. And the downturn is pushing many marketers even further away from actual service in the direction of the harder sell. But the opportunity is absolutely there if you use a little creativity and have a little faith in the power of reciprocity from grateful customers and prospects.