The BIG Kahuna

I saw a post over at Andy Sernovitz’s blog on how companies have express lines backwards. Check it out, makes a lot of sense.

When you?re looking to buy a product do you read reviews online? I do. And it most certainly drives my decision making process. Reviews are a form of word of mouth and people value word of mouth. ?

I just bought my wife an Olympus E-Volt 510. I read reviews and compared it to the Nikon. For the features and cost the

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So now I feel confident because reviews were good. Now I need to decide where to buy my product? I notice I can buy it for far less at no-name internet stores. But have you ever checked their return policies or tried to call them? Off to Amazon I go and pay and extra $50 and feel confident in my purchase. ?

Moral of this blog??

1. Get people reviewing your products/services
2. Review the reviews of your product/service
3. Work on obtaining great reviews by interacting with customers and reviewers
4. Keep conversation alive by setting up tools like message boards and blogs
5. Build credibility/trust (like Amazon)
6. Word of mouth is an important part of branding

I know that MLB is trying to spread the word with opening day in Japan but this is just ridiculous. Isn?t baseball America?s pastime? To rob us of opening day is not cool. Especially for the fans of the World Champion Boston Red Sox.

As a Bostonian I?m wicked pissed that the first Red Sox game didn?t come at Fenway

MLB definitely dropped the ball on this one.

For every time I heard a client or prospect tell me their product/service wasn?t sexy enough I?d be super rich. It?s not about the product/service it?s about the brand and what it represents. Here?s an example of how you can take a mundane commodity, a rubberband, and turn it into something special and meaningful. Value.

You just have to step outside your box.

Hey that?s me. All kidding aside I will be writing a chapter in the second version of The Age Of Conversation. There are 275 authors in this year?s book. So how will I stand out? Well, here?s a hint. 274 authors will be rambling on about Social Media, New Marketing and Word of Mouth Marketing.?

I?ll be talking about something completely different. Once again, I?m king of the world!

I went out to dinner the other night to a nice restaurant. A restaurant that charges $25 for a lamb dish. You know a nice type restaurant. Not a ?family? restaurant, more like a fine dinning restaurant.

While we were eating a 3 year old started to scream at a table nearby ours. The parents of the child did nothing of course (most parents take the attitude of this YouTube video).

So we politely asked to be moved to an outside table. This should have been the first hint to our waitress that we were unhappy.The 3 year old proceeded to scream for 5 minutes. Then finally the mother of this demon child decided to walk the child around the restaurant to stop it from crying. This happened repeatedly throughout the course of our dinner. More screaming, more walking?.you get the point.

Our night was miserable. And our bill was $125.

We?ve decided that if this happens again that it?s our right to complain to the manger and demand that the restaurant take responsibility. And you know what? Restaurants should be proactive in this respect. They should go to a table and say; ?I?m sorry but your table is disturbing the other tables, please take your child outside the restaurant?. But they never do. Or at least I?ve never seen it happen. They?re too afraid I think.

Hey restaurant managers?.take responsibility!

We are having 20 foot waves on the north side of St. Thomas right now. I live in Caret Bay on the northwest side.?

Ever wonder what 20 foot waves look like in St Thomas? Here’s the live webcam?view from my deck:

http://148.64.99.252:8080 ?(this is for today only).

Type in scott for the user name?no password is required.

If you get a bad screen just refresh it until it works. May take a minute.

Take this test and see what you think.

There is a reason I haven?t blogged for over a week. Thanks to Starband my ISP I haven?t been able to log onto our company website or branding blog. For whatever reason Starband has blocked our URL.

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Here is the saga of what not to do to a client.? I called Starband on Friday March 7^th to fix the problem. For three days they denied that it was their error. Finally I got my IT guy Jeff Sutton on it. He proved that it was in fact Starband?s error.?

Monday March 10^th and still nothing. I call Starband and speak to Rob Beck (tech supervisor) and then Ken Kate (engineer). Still nothing for 3 more days. They didn?t even have the courtesy to call back. Finally I ask to speak to he director Wayne. He ?looks? into the problem and once again denies that it Starband?s fault.?

The following day my IT guy Jeff speaks with Ken Kate and he promises to fix the problem. Next day I can?t even log on to the internet. Thanks Ken for making the problem worse.?

I call back on Saturday March 15^th. Their technically support is basically incompetent. They tell me I have to wait until Ken returns on Monday to repair what he has supposedly fixed.??

Thank God for my Sprint PCS card otherwise I would be dead in the water. Bottom line; don?t use Starband if you can help it!

Here are some other bad reviews on Starband:

Starband Bad Service

Starband Horrible Service

Starband Bad Reviews

Yesterday was my one year wedding anniversary. We spent the day boating over to the British Virgin Islands, Jost Van Dyke, and then finally some snorkeling on

St Thomas Blog

Here?s a tip to ensure branding success.

Make sure your freakin product works!

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Thanks Airborne!

By the way did anyone catch the video on Yahoo where the reporter went to the address where Airborne did its research? Wow, that was some sleazy false advertising huh?

I?ve preached about naming here on the branding?blog for a while. A great product or corporate name can propel you while a bad name can kill you.

The other day we stopped at a convenience store and bought some cookies.??

Here?s an example of what not to name a product:

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So, how many people want some Bimbo cookies?

Wow, we?ve and by we?ve I mean our kick ass, controversial in your face branding?blog (the one who openly takes on other marketing, advertising and branding agency blogs) has been nominated for the best business blog logo of what appears to be the universe.

It?s the web for crying sakes.

? So, put down the coffee and click this link and check it out ? you my loyal readers. Vote for the tiny blog that makes you laugh in the morning over a cup of price reduced Starbucks coffee. Vote for making it easy (or in Magellan?s case ?HARD) to navigate through the streets on your way to work. Vote for making customer service harder for you as a customer by companies outsourcing to India??

You get the message right?Click the link below.

http://www.logodesignlove.com/logo-awards-business-blogs

Hey check out my wife’s new venture the St Thomas Blog. She’ll be writing and posting everyday about living in St. Thomas. She’s got a witty sense of humor (a must to be with me) and a real passion for photography.