So, I get my monthly cell phone bill from Verizon (yeah, I’m naming names; maybe someone will forward this to them and they’ll get their act together…). So, in it were a few of these slick little inserts. One of them had this headline: “Get Mobile Broadband on the Nation’s Largest 3G Network!”
The copy went on to explain how I could get “lightning-fast Internet access” which would allow me to check email virtually anywhere. Hmmmm. Interesting. Sounds like something worth having. Let me go check it out…
So, they give a web link: www.verizonwireless.com/upgrade (yes, feel free to follow along in this exercise in futility just so you know I’m not making it up). OK, so while I’m a good commercial copywriter, I don’t exactly consider myself some “Landing Page Copywriting Guru” by any stretch. But, I know this much:
If you provide a link on a mail piece, email blast, or ad that purports to offer more detail on Widget A described on said mail piece, email blast, or ad, then make sure the link provided indeed takes them directly to a landing page providing more detail on Widget A.
Is this complicated?
So, click on over to the above link, and see what happens. Not a word about “Mobile Broadband.” They make me log into my account (first chance for me to lose interest). But, I’ll play along. I log in, and at next screen? STILL nary a peep about “Mobile Broadband.” Now, they’re asking me irrelevant questions about upgrading my phone.
It’s clear to me at this point that if I want to find any more information on Mobile Broadband, I’m going to have to go searching their site, which I have no interest in doing.
But get this: even if I was sooooo interested I was willing to do a site search for “Mobile Broadband,” you still basically get nowhere. One link takes you to a more detailed description (finally), but still doesn’t tell you how much it costs, nor provide further links to find out that info.
Who in the world is minding the store over there, for crying out loud? Just because there’s a big name on the door doesn’t mean they know what they’re doing. Examples like this are everywhere. Corporate marketing communications departments are often good at the big picture and are great at cranking out pretty stuff, but they’re often under such pressure (and I’m sure more so now than ever before) that a lot of the crucial “execution” details fall through the cracks.
It just underscores two things: 1) don’t put big companies on a pedestal as having it all figured out; and 2) there are a vast number of opportunities out there for commercial freelancers like us to help them clean up their act.
Why do you think so many companies get this stuff wrong so much of the time?
Have you come across similar examples like this? If so, can you share?
Have you been intimidated by big companies in the past, only to discover that they’re mighty flawed and human after all?
This is so true! I just had two such experiences in one week (which could make one weak). First, our phone company suddenly decided no more cable TV–and sent a horrible letter dripping with red caps like a splatter film saying things about how my TV would be turned off April 15, wise up, get with it…get with what…Finally I found a number…oh, yes, I was also getting DSL, so schedule another appt for that. Would this cost me? If it does, we will give you a credit card with $200 to pay it over the phone…what? I was in a coma…no computer, no TV…what? After many calls, appts, calls to me reminding me of appts, it sort of happened. Now, I don’t know any channel numbers and can barely watch TV, but it’s over. The second one was a new air conditioner. In AZ, we sorta need those. I got a couple of bids. They yakked, drew me charts, showed me bland pastel brochures, etc. I have no idea if I made the right decision, tho I checked BBB (which is now a crock, but that’s another story). Today, I got an email from the TV people…how to take off all the channels I don’t get. I punched the first number…what they said to “look for” was not there. Forget that!
It sounds like someone just gave the marketing department a link and said here, use this! So they did, without really investigating how that would appear from the customer side. I see that all the time. I was never one to take someone’s word for it (hey, I’m from Missouri – you have to show me) so I try to make sure that what I’m given really does fit the purpose and intent.
Big companies have people who don’t know what they’re doing just as much as smaller companies. That’s exactly why I don’t let the big guys intimidate me. The fact is that they probably need me.
I’m actually surprised when a company creates a URL that indeed provides tons of interesting information, just like they promised. This kind of lazy communications planning and execution happens all the time; it’s obvious that the insert team was just happy to finally get a unique URL created which they could use on their print piece. Apparently, they can’t do anything about the second half of this transaction, so the URL has now become pointless.
Also, since we’re picking on Verizon, I thought I’d share an example of how they need some marketing help. As a Verizon customer, I get an email newsletter from them. Here is the most recent subject line of their email: “Your April Newsletter from Verizon Wireless.” Can you guess I’ve never read one of these newsletters? I wonder if there are any studies that show generic subject lines to be more effective than specific subject lines. Meanwhile, there’s a little wine-and-cheese shop here in Michigan that sends me a lovely email every week and I read them quite often because they’re positive, fun and provide timely information (the emails always tie the new products to the changing seasons or upcoming holidays or whatever). How does a little retailer manage to accomplish what a corporate giant cannot (ie, persuade me to want to read their message)?
As manager of a website for a large organization of non-tech oriented people, this is a concept I’ve had to constantly talk to people about. I used to get lots of complaints from one department saying that their clients had a hard time finding things on our website. Turns out that when the department sent out notices about a new document on page 134 of the website, they were only including a link to the homepage and not to the actual page where the document was located. No wonder no one could find anything!
Thanks to all for weighing in. Obviously this is a pretty common problem (Rick, I loved your comment about being surprised when they DO get it right…that’s about the size of it). And Seattle Writer Girl, thanks for this insider’s viewpoint as further confirmation. I’m sorry, but it just seems so blindingly obvious to me that you don’t make people hunt around for something If You Want Them To Buy From You. But hey, that’s why there are people like us around to save the day… 😉
PB
I’m with PJ–many larger companies are dinosaurs when it comes to incorporating Internet apps into their marketing strategies. These companies don’t understand that there are differences between traditional and Web marketing, with different consumer expectations. Moreover, they do not urge or allow their marketing employees to stay current, and rarely listen to the ones that are. I actually think that’s what happened to newspapers–trying to use print thinking in an online world. Which gets me to thinking that I could use this knowledge edge to approach clients with–! Doh!
I have seen this a lot before. I nicknamed it “creating for creatives.” I see it a lot of with designers and web developers, and less so with writers, but that’s only my own experiences. People create things that they themselves can use easily and intuitively, and just don’t think that the average casual web surfer browsing a site would have a problem figuring out how to use/navigate their creation. Except that they do.
Albertsons, Albertsons, and Albertsons. The new ad campaign is “Your weekly list for less.” Which would be kinda okay, if only they hadn’t made poor color and font size choices on the banners. If you glance up at the banner, it announces, “list less.” I know things are tough, but is Albertsons really so depressed that they are “listless?”
Here’s something I know a little about. As an English teacher trying to break into the business I have found that my eyes naturally gravitate toward typos. I have written to many of these “bigs” to point out an error or two (or THREE) for two reasons. First, I wanted to show that I actually found something in their content in need of repair. Second, I offered them my services pro bono just for the opportunity to list them as “clients.” Alas, my words fell on ears that were, for the most part, deaf and uncaring. When I say big I mean major writers such as Tom Clancy, Army Archerd, and noted historian David McCullough. There are some nice people out there so I need to say Harvey Mackay and Tom Peters are princes and peopl I would absolutely follow to the ends of the Earth. They are as major as they come in the business world and they both took the time to at least encourage me to keep at it. The work is out there and the content needs improving. How do we fill that need
Ooops—just mocked Harvey Mackay on my Recession Blog… https://hopeycopey.blogspot.com.
Dale Dauten is nice to me, tho.
Don’t get me started on Verizon. They have zero customer service, all of their materials are wrong, and they’re infamous for bait-and-switch marketing. Not to mention that they’ve refused to stop the daily harrassing phone calls I’m getting or give me the necessary information so I can file a cease-and-desist order AND refuse to stop someoen from hacking in to my phone line and placing false orders with mail order companies. yeah, I’ve got complaints pending with the AG’s office and the BBB.
They have crap materials because they don’t care. They’re big enough so it doesn’t matter if they lose a couple of hundred customers here and there.
Intimidated? No way. Would I work for them? Maybe at double my usual rate. Plus aggravation fees.
Not my kind of company. Will dump them when I relocate.
Astonishing. Just…NO!!! What are you THINKing, Verizon??? Providing all my info to the Dept. of Homeland Security was bad enough. Now this????
Having worked for Fortune 500 firms, I have often seen the “left hand/right hand” mentality in action: the Marketing folks rush to meet their deadlines, while the IT people have a different set of priorities. Or, vice versa. Or, the respective groups simply drop the ball and deadline.
The “no customer service” caveat that consumer advocate/icon Clark Howard always mentions, is a direct result of the “bigs” trying to cut back on their staffs, and, while certain things may still run properly, more often than not, you get the above examples. Ditto to Devon: “they” don’t care about losing a few hundred customers. However, in today’s Twitter/Blog/LinkedIn world, this kind of news can spread like wildfire. Sadly, I am sure we can also come up with examples at the other phone companies, too, so where does one go?
In the “negative call to action” department: here’s a similar marketing fubar along the same lines that I saw recently. I subscribe to a Microsoft technology subscription for IT people. An inserted sheet was in the last update that I received from this program. The sheet described that MS wants feedback from users on a change to the program. They were using the web site “SurveyMonkey.com” to collect responses to a poll on this, which is a web site that provides free survey services online.
Microsoft printed the *actual* URL for the SurveyMonkey poll on this sheet. It looked like encrypted binary trash and was about 30 characters long: IE, something like: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=EKsGphkHK8i8uCZ9L8_2bQ_3d_3d
Being printed material, you would have to sit down and type every character in order to enter this survey.
I’m sorry, I have a life – I tossed it. Ludicrous. Whoever was responsible for this has no respect for their customers.
Thanks for sharing that, Don – truly amazing! And so monumentally unnecessary when services like tinyurl.com are out there. You have to ask yourself: what are these dummies thinking? Well, they’re NOT thinking, that’s the problem. But, as the examples above demonstrate, it’s pervasive…
Some of this is probably happening because of the recession. There are a lot of jobs that are now gone from corporate America, but in most cases the work still needs to be done so it falls on someone else. The new person who is “lucky” enough to get this assignment simply doesn’t know any better. They are trying to accomplish too much with too little.
The good news is this continues to spell opportunity for some of us. Hopefully as some of us discover these things we can find a way to break in and offer our expertise and make a few shillings as well.
Thanks Michael,
You may be right, but I (and probably most of the other folks weighing in here) have seen sloppiness like this for years – and in the best of times. But, staffs are no doubt leaner now and they can’t help but make it worse. I was mentioning this example to a friend the other day, and she basically said, “Bottom line, marketing isn’t talking to IT. Period.” But yes, it most certainly does offer opportunities and openings to approach companies like these.
PB
I’ve worked for Verizon(formerly Bell Atlantic) for twelve years.Your experience is not surprising at all.You have NO idea how clueless, mismanaged and apathetic they are, in all departments and functions. An irate customer, who happened to be of Asian descent, summed it all up when he asked me once, “How You Company Make Money?!?” The joy of being a monopoly.Anyone who is making a living without working in corporate America should thank God everyday.
Pobrecito
I’ll add my Verizon story to the collection. I got a direct mail piece advertising their FIOS service. When I called the number listed NO ONE answered the phone. The phone company sales staff wouldn’t answer the phone.
David