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AKA - "Simple lessons learned from a morning coffee stop"

So, today, just like pretty much any other day I go into my local “McStarbucks”.  The barista made me totally the wrong drink and when she realized it she made a sigh and rolled her eyes.  Just as I was considering pointing this out to the store manager (Being somewhat grumpy  and customer relations obsessed too)  – the barista had a flash of inspiration and realized what she’d done  - suddenly there was a replacement drink ready for me, complete with an apology and a coupon for the next drink free.

It got me thinking – there’s a good lesson in there!  Yeah sure - she copped an attitude at her error – but no-ones perfect! We all have our “eye rolling moments” with customers or clients  - the key is to recognize the instant they happen and turn them round fast into positive experiences for the end user.  It seems there’s a brewing time (Excuse the pun) for a bad customer experience and at least some of the time you’ll have the opportunity to take the heat off of (Oh dear -  another one!) the situation before it escalates into a negative relationship that could potentially affect your business.

Anyone else got simple lessons like that?

As i said in my brief bio. - i recently moved back into the world of marketing, in particular online marketing, after a few years of being a graphic designer. It's been a crazy old few months, and i thought i'd put those thoughts down - for my own sanity as much as anything else.

Phew!  Phew!  Phew!  Did i say phew allready? I took on the role of "internet marketing genius" at a Colorado SMB where there wasn't any real marketing presence before. That in itself is a challenge - establishing my goals and also pushing to obtain the authority to empower those changes. (More about that another time perhaps) But what struck me in addition to my ongoing career challenges is this:

In many ways i picked the perfect time to rearrange my focus 100% onto web marketing. The changes in technologies, the blogging explosion, all things "2.0" and more importantly the trends guiding them  have made it a challenging time for us all out there. Part of my initial frustrations @ work were founded in not really realizing the scope of the problem. I thought I was a little marketing island and my company was the only one that wanted to be involved in "it" but didn't "get it" - as I started to read more and get more and more involved in the blogosphere and communities such as this I realize it's rife! - So many companies want a piece of the new marketing pie, but have no idea what that pie should taste like or indeed what they're going to do with it when they get it. Its all become one big "they're doing it  -so I should be doing it" festival.

So - persuading my employers how to become part of the dialog etc is one time consuming role.  Additionally, the environment is changing so fast that keeping up with how it not only affects my work environment, but me, personally and my development as a marketing genius (Which  I ain't BTW) is equally time consuming and challenging!

Add on top of that the ripples going out from the Social Media explosion down to conventional marketing - and assessing how the industry will change due to these changes and you end up right at the start of this posting - PHEW! PHEW! PHEW!

You know what though? All that said - I wouldn't change where i am for anything! It's exciting, extremely educational and enriching - it's where i knew i wanted to be when my family and i relocated here and i promised myself that i would move back firmly into the marketing universe. I admit my relative rookie status in the universe, but also say "IT'S GOOD TO BE ME"!
It's frantic and fun at the same time, i thrive on challenge and learning - and for the first time in a long time i can honestly say I am constantly learning new tricks and techniques that can only help both my professional career and the marketing presence of my current gig.

I'm sure I'll post some more of these thoughts as I progress and get a handle on this community. Hopefully this doesn't come across as purely rambling and might even help someone out thats in a similar boat.

I'm always open to communication - feel free to drop me a line or comment and tell me how I'm doing or whatever! (Consider this my "Hows my driving?" sticker :))

So, recently i've become somewhat addicted to Firefox add-ons. I mean, i've always used a few - but lately the amount i've been trying out is off the scale!

Anyway - the one that i really like and also find to be an interesting W.O.M tool is Foxytunes. Not only does it provide a little media bar within firefox, which with a single setting change ties into your iTunes (or WMP for non Apple fans), but this neat little tool also allows you, me or anyone else for that matter to become an instant music promoter! By adding "Twittytunes" you can instantly add what you're listening to into your twitter stream. The best part is what happens next.

Once anyone following your twitter ramblings comes across your posting about your current favorite tune - they're presented with a link to the foxytunes site - where they'll be bombarded with a mixture of media about the artist. Bio's, Youtube videos, lyrics, Flickr photosets, Last FM playlists and of course links to buy the CD if available - this is what makes it an interesting add on in my mind

If used appropriately - your twitter fanbase will see you really like certain tunes etc and potentially buy them, at very least listen to them and pass on valuable W.O.M. for any given artist. Of course, this could also backfire - there's always the risk that if you keep clicking on the same artist that people will turn away from your marketing efforts as you could somehow be getting paid (god forbid) to hype a certain band.

As a cool plug in to share your weird musical taste with others (or is it just me that has weird taste) its pretty good, but it's the potential to really carry valuable referral points for any given artist out there on the web that really interests me.

Oh yeah and in case you want to see it in action: twitter.com/asimpson

Excuse the relative lack of posts - i only recently switched twitter screen names and havent done much with this one yet.