As an experiment, I followed the world’s twitters during the first Obama-Romney presidential debate. Amidst the flurry of messages passing by my eyes, I finally understood in my gut and not just my head how social media has changed the balance of power when it comes to controlling brand image. In an era when everyone single one of your customers can shout their opinions from an easily accessible “bloody pulpit,” how do you influence what these customers will say? They certainly aren’t going to copy messages from your mass market advertisements! The answer lies in making sure that your company’s actions live out the brand image you want to build. That is the only way to have an authentic message that will be repeated by customers you cannot control. How do you do that? Lessons about leadership apply. Leaderhip gurus Jim Kouzes and…
Best experience business models drive customer expectations
I did not see my name on the Hertz’s Gold Car screen at Washington, DC’s Reagan International Airport on Saturday morning, the day before Mother’s Day. Securing a car quickly was one of the linchpins of my 950-miles-in-a-morning trip that I needed to make in order to catch my godson’s exhibit at Maryland College of the Arts (an hour drive away), have lunch with him, and still make it to my mom’s house (another 4.5 hours drive away) in time for dinner. Yes, the scheduling was tight with crazy connections, but the airlines came through and I could have arrived to dinner right on time had Hertz delivered on its promise of a “no frustration” car rental. With Hertz unprepared for my arrival and offering a route recommendation that unnecessarily added an hour to my driving time, my trip assumptions (and timeline) were…