The BIG Kahuna

So we purchase advertising on some branding blogs that we like and feel will work for us. We?ve been buying some advertising on Small Business Branding for a while now.??

Recently Google updated its PageRank and Small Business Branding went from a 6 to a 3.? Yaro Starak, I believe is the owner, emailed me to let me know that the price would go down to reflect this. He asked me if I would like to remain a loyal customer at the lower rate.? I agreed and remained a customer.

A week later I received a bill from Yaro that reflected the original higher priced bill. I emailed Yaro and asked him why. He told me it was a mistake and that I would receive the lower rate as promised by Small Business Branding.? Fast forward three days and I receive this email from Yaro Starak at Small Business Branding:?

Hi Scott,?

Since I lowered the price to $100 I’ve been hit with a lot of ad buyers again so I’m raising the price back to $150.?

If you don’t want to pay that price I understand, just let me know whether you want to cancel or keep your campaign active at $150.?

Cheers,?

Yaro

yazzas@gmail.com?

Wow, how unbelievably slimy is that? When times are looking dim he calls on his clients and offers them a lower rate so as to not lose clients. We agree and then within two weeks time things get better and Yaro re-raises the price?? This from a branding blog? Hey Yaro?that?s how you do business?

This is a dumb, greedy move. First and foremost you?re being dishonest and distrustful. This is the ultimate sin for anyone in branding. This is a brand killer.

Maybe you should take some advise from the people who write for you. Ask Ed Roach how he would have handled this.?Secondly your blog gives information on how to properly do business and brand. Is this the example you set?

We branding guys all know each other. It?s a small branding universe. And I?m one of the shit stirring loud mouths.?You?ve made a mistake. But you can recover. Send out a letter or email to any clients that you did this to and apologize. Tell them that YOU value them and this was a temporary lapse in judgement.?

Be a man an honor your word, or as we call it in the branding business, your promise! As a follow-up Yaro emailed me this:?

I usually bump the price every 6-12 months if the site’s traffic has increased during that time. So I don’t change it that frequently.?

The recent changes with PageRank prompted the price reduction, but since it hasn’t impacted demand I’m restoring the price back to what it was.? This is obviously an unusual situation.?

Yaro Yea Yaro, unusually bad Small Business Branding!

Update: Yaro cancelled our ads all together without the decency of even a notification. I guess he didn’t like someone pointing out his business methods. Sad, that a blog about branding would act this way.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 17th, 2007 at 12:06 am and is filed under Branding Blunders, The Brand Crap List. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.