Narrowing The Internet Marketing "Gap"
This week it occurred to me how far the Social Networking phenomenon has come from the early and what seems like prehistoric times of Myspace to the now much more dynamic Facebook and Twitter era. Maybe you heard this week in the news how the clothing giant Gap changed a more than forty year old logo much to the dismay of the general public. The public outcry was stiff and rigid about the new logo as they felt a tradition had been broken. It just didn’t sit well and through the likes of social media consumers made their voices heard.
In an attempt to appease negative publicity Gap halted the brakes on what quickly became a media and marketing blunder and reverted back to it’s old logo. The people spoke and Gap listened. In the ever competitive world of internet marketing let’s take a look at the dynamic role Facebook played between company and consumer and how social media became a perpetual ‘voice of reason’ in what turned into a win/win situation for all.
How?
In an effort to gage public opinion the first thing Gap did was launch a new logo press release on their Facebook page to gage public opinion. Negative reaction was more than immediate. Within hours Facebook was a buzzed with an overwhelmingly negative outcry of public dissatisfaction. This in turn lead to a media frenzy of other powerful media outlets launching countless articles on how unacceptable Gap’s decision was to change a four decade old logo that had built up such a loyal staple generation after generation. Let’s take a look at how the scope of social media internet marketing has changed the playing field for all businesses-big and small.
How did the consumer win?
“The people have spoken-In the arrogant world of corporate giants a gesture such as this makes us all feel as if our opinion still matters. The Gap snatched victory out of the jaws of defeat and reinvented their public relations image all the while giving us a voice that created a sense of camaraderie between the company and the quintessential heartbeat of universal commerce-the customer. The actions of the Gap spoke plainly to the people- “your opinion matters most.”
How did the company win?
Public Relations-They realized how much the original logo meant to it’s customer base and in the process made us (the consumers) feel as if our opinions really matter. By pumping their brakes they made themselves vulnerable in a way we can all relate. Let’s face it all of us have been wrong before and out of good conscience found ourselves apologizing; Right?. This was Gap’s way of admitting a mistake was made. Usually when a person makes a mistake and apologizes as long as we feel their intentions are in the right place we forgive but in that process we also renew the principles in which our respect is built upon. This moment of clarity brings fourth a new found respect and understanding amongst one another to renew the role each plays to ensure a productive relationship.
Marketing Tourniquet- Ten years ago; how many marketing dollars would Gap have hemorrhaged out before realizing their new logo was an utter failure? Likely tens of millions of dollars in new signs, clothing tags, pricing tags, billboards, commercials and who knows what else. This is where the social media platform, if leveraged properly can literally provide internet marketing testers free of advertising costs.
The point is integrating social networking for your business provides real time consensus for feedback amongst your network before spending gobs of marketing dollars on strategies unproven hence narrowing the marketing “Gap” (no pun intended). Thanks and have a great day!
Successfully,
Premier Pixels Dream Team
Related posts:
- Laser Internet Marketing-Part 1 Good afternoon from Premier Pixels Las Vegas web design and...
- Internet Marketing Pendulum Internet marketing success comes from creating a pendulum system that...
- Laser Internet Marketing-Part 2 Good afternoon from Premier Pixels Las Vegas web design company. Let’s...
- Premier Pixels Las Vegas Internet Marketing & SEO Welcome to our new category which include new content about...
- Inbound Marketing Landscape Good morning from Premier Pixels Las Vegas web design and...
