What We Can Learn From PR in Today’s World: Toyota Recall Questions Answered on Digg

I own a 2008 Toyota Sienna.  My wife is the primary driver and she shuttles my 3 little children around to school, shopping and activities on a daily basis.  I received an email from Toyota-1172824-3696821z@toyotamail.com today and the subject line was, “Toyota Motor Sales President Answers Consumers’ Questions”.  Obviously, I didn’t expect a reply if I emailed back, so I went on to examine the email in further detail.

 I visited Toyota.com and found that they had linked the recall information on the bottom left, in a red background (but somewhat offset by the Shop Special Offers tab on the bottom right).

After clicking on the recall information tab, I came to the Digg interview:  http://bit.ly/bQw7Al

Digg received thousands of questions to ask the U.S. President of Toyota, Jim Lentz.  I was a bit disappointed with the amount of “diggs” for topics like:

“It has been years since Toyota had a sports car (Supra) available for sale in North America.  Are there any plans to bring back the Supra or come out with a new afordable sports car? –FAHQ2

And “How far along is Toyota on moving into some truly gas free cars in the future? Are these kinds of vehicles even possible or feasible in our current lifetime?” – adamr107

Let’s not let the guy off that easy.  However, there were some very poignant questions such as, “I was a General Manager of one of your largest dealerships in the US. I was aware that this problem dates back to 2004. In fact, there was a death involved in a sudden acceleration incident at an Atlantic City Hotel in a Camry that our dealership sold. At this point is Toyota’s position going to chage as to the dates involved? – rulov

If you can’t afford (or don’t have the swagger) to pull off an interview with Katie Couric an hour before the Super Bowl to talk about your Health Plan, I suppose it makes sense to engage with an email campaign to customers followed up by a Digg interview.  In addition to the seemingly seeded questions about the future of exciting Toyota vehicles, I couldn’t help but being reminded that this is the company that made the environment hug each other into bliss over the Prius.  How quickly things change, (Tiger, anyone?). 

However well done or not this PR strategy was conducted, I do believe it illustrates the importance of being able to communicate efficiently to your customers when issues do arise that will compromise the integrity of your brand. 

Oh, and for those of you in my situation (Sienna owners), fear not:

 

Google’s Experiment for the Future of News, “Living Stories” Promises to Serve Updated Content to Previously Read Articles

Google announces their plans to serve publishing industry content with the ”Living Stories” experiment.   They hope to enhance the online media user-experience by prioritizing new updates to news articles, saving readers time in sifting through previously read content.  http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/exploring-new-more-dynamic-way-of.html

Does Your Marketing Campaign Influence Consumers through all Stages of Buying?

What’s the value of an excellent price or concierge-level service if no one knows about it?  Are most people likely to take a chance on a “50% off Lunch” special at a Mexican restaurant they’ve never heard of?  Understanding and explaining basic consumer behavior and controllable influences on that behavior are an important part of a marketer’s role.  While each situation is unique, I’ve found that in creating and evaluating marketing strategies, it’s a good idea to categorize initiatives to ensure the client is allocating resources appropriate to their objectives.

Chart A Clear Internet Marketing Strategy for 2010 with The Internet Marketing Audit

THE INTERNET MARKETING AUDIT 

A Clear Action Plan to Build on Your Internet Marketing from Code to Client

Are you just getting started marketing online or do you have a developed web presence?  Either way, you likely want to be certain you’re getting most out of your internet marketing investment.  Before you dream up your next blog post, think about what social media channel you’re missing out on or call your web designer to ask them to “make a change”, consider an Internet Marketing Audit from Meriam Media.

Co-op Dollars – Don’t Let That Money Get Away

I’m a little late in the season, but this is a reminder to businesses who purchase products from manufacturers and distributors, check your co-op dollar balance!  You may be pleasantly surprised at what is available and you may lose access to the money if it’s not spent before the end of the year.

Trick or Treating or Hot Leads?

First off, Happy Halloween to everyone!  Please be sure to have fun and be safe.

While you’re having fun and being safe, I ask you to think about the following.  Whether you are taking your kids out and knocking on doors in the neighborhood, opening your door for the local trick-or-treaters, or partying it up at your friend’s annual Halloween Party; what makes it a different day than the one before or the one after?  I mean on this particular day, why is it acceptable to knock on as many of your neighbor’s doors as you can get to and ask for candy?  Why do you feel the neccessity to open your door many times to people you may not even know and give them candy?

Diablo magazine’s 2009 Food Awards Presentation (video)

(Most of) The Diablo magazine 2009 Food Awards presentation on Monday, October 26, 2009.

The Benefit of a Marketing Review

As a part of the process of approaching new relationships at Meriam Media Solutions, we often begin with a review and analysis of our clients’ marketing strategies.  We try to put ourselves in the shoes of the business owner, their customers and their prospects in order to effectively evaluate current and past endeavors.  Our goal is to provide options to save time, save money and optimize their marketing strategy to meet objectives. 

The Online Marketing “Tipping Point” for Many Small Businesses

For small businesses, there is a fine distinction between having a “digital presence” and leveraging your online presence to ring up sales.  In many cases, it only takes a small push to start seeing real results.  We recently helped a San Francisco Bay Area client make the transition.

Diablo magazine’s 2009 Food Award Winners

View of Mt. Diablo from 555 YVR rooftop

 

On Monday, October 26, I attended Diablo magazine’s 2009 Food Award presentation on the rooftop of 555 YVR in downtown Walnut Creek.  I respect the approach that Diablo magazine takes to recognizing the top SF East Bay restaurants.  They don’t just pick their favorites or focus on the latest fad.  The process starts where it should, with the magazine’s readers who submit their favorite restaurant picks way back in July.  Then, Diablo sends out judges to review the restaurants which received the most reader votes.  This year’s judges were:  Bruce Aidells, Lynne Char Bennett, Nicholas Boer, Gene Burns, Dorothy Calimeris, Michaela Jarvis, Mollie Katzen, Leslie Sbrocco and Josh Sens.  That’s a pretty solid representation from Bay Area media.