ColinAke.com…until I write a book.

How are you branded? What do people think about you, your blog, your facebook, your picture, the way you dress, your overall image? We’ve always wondered what other people think about us, and this is just another way of asking that same question, except in this case I’d like to emphasize that you have control over your brand.

I started thinking a bit about this last week and I have found myself wondering how I’m perceived at work, online, etc. My twitter account says something about me. My blog says something. My work says something, my clothes say something, the way I talk to people says something.

So here’s the challenge - how do you want to be portrayed?  Are you doing everything you can to be portrayed that way?

It’s hard enough for me to figure out how I want to be portrayed, let alone make sure everything I do is in line with that line of thought.  How do you view me?  If someone says “define Colin” - what are the first words that HONESTLY come to mind?

Just something to think about (but I want your feedback!). Take care.

Colin

One of my classes this semester is Services Marketing - an elective for management majors persuing a marketing certificate. The class is taught by one of my all time favorite professors at Tech, Peter Vantine. Professor Vantine has some extensive history in the services marketing industry and his experience contributes to a course that encourages us to treat the marketing of services differently than traditional product marketing.

How is a service different from a product? Customers usually don’t obtain ownership of the service. They cannot be inventories and sold later - this they’re very perishable. Often there is a level of service variability that depends on the person performing the service. Services are subjective to the opinion of the customer.

One of the things I have to turn in is a Service Journal - a series of entries documenting my service experiences, both good and bad. I’ve already done a little bit of that here with my rantings against AT&T, so I believe I’ll continue the trend and post some service journal entries for you all to enjoy. I’d also love to hear from you as I post the entries to determine if you’ve had a different experience with the same company, or if you feel my interaction typifies the company’s customer service.

Sit back, enjoy, and feel free to critique the ride.

Take care,

Colin

You know all those Domino’s commercials, the ones that push “You’ve got 30 minutes” over and over again?

Well, turns out, you have at least 30 minutes.  Sure, they’ve gotten pizza to me in 20 minutes before, that’s why this was so strange to me.

I ordered my pizza at 6:33 PM last night.  Have an email to prove it.  I even got this message at 6:47 in my “Pizza Watch” window.

Now, Domino’s is up the hill a mile, take a left, and it’s another half mile.  Google Maps says it should take them 5-6 minutes to get to my house.  There’s between 2 and 5 stoplights, depending on the route you take.  But they didn’t get to my house until 7:19 PM - that’s 46 minutes if you’re counting (which I was, because of their ad campaign).  22 minutes after my pizza got put into a hot HeatWave™ bag, it got here.  Sure, it was still hot, but I find an issue with companies who advertise one thing and then back off it when they don’t deliver.

It’s not a guarantee for safety reasons.  I get safety reasons - but I would have made the 5 minute drive to Domino’s and back in 12 minutes less than it took them to drive it once.  But why would you advertise something so often and then not deliver on it?  That’s creating ill-will among consumers.  And it’s hurting your delivery people - the delivery woman was really pleasant about it when I asked her - and I tipped her OK, but you better believe it crossed my mind to not tip, since I was already paying a $1.50 delivery fee.

This “You’ve got 30 minutes” stuff is bad marketing juju, I say.  I’d back off fast if I were Domino’s corporate.  What say you?  Am I off my rocker or have you had similar experiences?

Colin