19
2007
Are You In It For the PR?
Earlier this week, Seth Godin had a short post about a woman’s blog called I Heart Zappos.
In the post, the woman details how she had ordered all of these shoes from Zappos for her ill mother, and then her mother dies and they never got around to sending back the shoes. When Zappos calls and she tells them what happened, not only do they arrange with UPS to pick up the shoes, but the next day she receives a huge floral arrangement from Zappos.
Now that’s good pr. Granted, as Seth Godin points out, it is one human being reaching out to another. And maybe they were moved by the customer’s circumstances, but they also did it to reach out to the public. They probably did it hoping they would get the reaction they’re getting — and it worked.
In the fast paced society that we live in today, very few organizations would go out of their way like that for a customer. It’s a rarity, and Zappos was probably banking on that.
Yet that’s exactly what we should be doing. <B>Bold Interactive says that when your organizations values are in tact there’s no need to worry about social media or blogging. I completely disagree. While Zappos made a nice gesture, there was an ulterior motive behind it. It doesn’t necessarily mean they are connected to their community, but what it does imply to me is that they’ve made a start.
As a result of their actions, and the customer placing her story on the blog, this is the best type of pr. It’s the kind of stuff that people will remember them for, and when it comes to pr, that’s what you want.
Spin Thicket Comments Says:
October 19th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
Josh Morgan Says:
October 19th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
Great to see this story. This story points out that at the core of good PR is ‘walking the walk.’ Zappos walks the walk every day with their customer service and the good PR happens. Empowering employees to ‘do the right thing,’ goes a long long way.
On a related note, I was in Las Vegas this week and actually had drinks with someone from Zappos. We talked about this story and from my understanding, they don’t have a formal PR department.
Nathania - Bold Interactive Says:
October 20th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
Just wanted to clarify that I wrote that when organizations have their values intact, they don’t have to *stress* about social media and blogging - not that they don’t have to do it.
Many organizations are worried about these types of marketing because of legal concerns or the fear of negative reviews. Most of my blogging is to help alleviate those fears.
Zappos is the perfect example of a company who has the right values and those values make social media and blogging easier.
Michele Says:
October 23rd, 2007 at 4:02 pm
I agree, empowering employees to do the right thing does go a long way. Thanks for commenting.
PR COUTURE » Blog Archive » Fashion PR Fridays Says:
October 27th, 2007 at 10:47 am
[...] Does good PR always come with an ulterior motive? [...]
freakymeister's drama posse Says:
October 27th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
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