Good article from AdWeek covering some of the reasons why Zappo's didn't need traditional advertising to create a company with $1 Billion (with a "B") dollars a year in sales.
Some insight from Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh...
"One of our core values is being open and honest. It ends up creating more trust with our customers... It's the opposite of what most businesses do."
"One disgruntled or happy employee can write something on a blog and have that read by millions. It's the same thing with a customer. Our belief is a company's culture and brand are two sides of the same coin. You can't control every touch point like you could 50 years ago."
"About 75 percent of our orders are from repeat customers. We've grown from zero to $1 billion in gross sales in 9.5 years. The No. 1 driver has been from repeat customers and word of mouth. It lets us to spend less on customer acquisition."
"There will be less reliance on advertising for a long-term, enduring brand. Word of mouth is so effective right now."
"If you go to twitter.zappos.com, you'll see all the employee Tweets. We have lots of stories of employees meeting up with each other outside of work because of Twitter. With customers we find it's good for building a more personal, emotional connection with them."
"With most Web sites, it's hard to find any contact information. We put our 1-800 number at the top of every Web page because we want to talk to our customers. It's our best branding opportunity. We have 5-10 minutes of our customer's attention where we can let our true personality shine and develop that personal connection."
The scary part?
Zappos just started a consulting group specifically created to teach other companies their method of growing business using their (proven!) non-traditional means.
The takeaway?
It's more important than ever to be perceived as a marketing and promotions expert/consultant/resource rather than a plain old media salesperson.
Facebook is free.
Twitter is free.
Domain names are less than $10 each.
Site hosting can be had for $5/month.
YouTube hosts videos for free and a myriad of sites offer podcasting and blogging options at no cost. (And we all know traditional media costs are falling like a rock.)
Your value comes from having a sound strategy to grow profits and build business for your client.
Everyone has access to the same tools.
It's what you do with them that counts.
Monday, December 22, 2008
$1 Billion in Sales. No Advertising Required.
Labels:
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