Trevor Young | PR Warrior blog | Where PR meets social media meets content marketing

Standing Up for Your Brand's Beliefs - Even if it Means Annoying Your Customers

One of the key things in business we don't want to do and that is deliberately antagonize the customer.

This is especially the case in today's hyper-connected marketplace where a displeased customer can easily snipe about a negative brand experience to hundreds, if not thousands, of their 'closest' friends on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

Company executives fear a customer rant might snowball into something larger and all of a sudden they have full-scale consumer negativity on their hands. That's why it takes real courage for a brand to do what it thinks is right, even if that means upsetting its customers.

Brands that attract strong, cult-like followings will often have a clear set of principles or beliefs they convey at every given chance.

Intelligentsia Coffee is one such brand that stands by what it believes in.

 

Espresso, Intelligentsia from Department of the 4th Dimension on Vimeo.

In 2008 Intelligentsia made the controversial decision to stop serving 20-ounce coffee and espresso beverages in its stores.

Here's how the Chicago Tribune reported it - 'Small. Medium. Gone.'

According to Wikipedia: (Founder, Doug) Zell stated that the proportions are altered at such large quantities and certain drinks become watered-down, arguing that 20-ounce drinks end up "masking and adulterating the pure, intense flavors we work hard to source, roast and produce. We don't want this to just be a caffeine delivery device."

Food for thought isn't it? Sometimes it can be quite a powerful marketing strategy to zig while everyone else zags. What about your brand?

• Does it live by its principles?
• Are you willing to lose customers by sticking by your core brand beliefs?

About Intelligensia Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea, colloquially known as Intelligentsia, is a coffee roasting company and retailer with its headquarters at 1850 W. Fulton Street in Chicago. Intelligentsia has several cafe retail locations throughout the Chicago area.

The company was founded in 1995 by Doug Zell and Emily Mange. They supply coffee to various Chicago-area cafes and restaurants, as well as other locations in the US and Canada. They generally buy their beans directly from growers in Central America, South America, East Africa, and Ethiopia. They use vintage German roasters to roast their beans daily.

SOURCE: Wikipedia

MORE READING: Interview with Doug Zell (Chicago Tribune)

How Social Media Stacks Up in the Australian Small Business Sector

Social media continues to grow in Australia, with close to 30% of small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) using the likes of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter in their day-to-day operations.

According to the Optus Social Media Index for SMBs:

• 1.88m SMBs are operating in Australia, of which 536,400 are using social media in their businesses, with another 300,800 planning to do so in the next 12 months. 
• Service-oriented businesses are the heaviest users of social media (31%) compared to the goods industry at 21%. 
• Social media decision-makers tend to be over 40 years old and in senior roles.
• Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn are the tools most used by SMBs, while Facebook is the most popular (used by over half of those Australian SMBs involved in social media).
• 80% of SMBs allocate - or plan to allocate - less than 20% of their marketing budget to social media.
• On average, 6.6 hours per week are invested in social media by Australian SMBs.

SMBs believe the benefits of social media include networking (78%) and increasing sales through customer engagement (82%).

Interestingly, 14% of those not planning to use social media believe it's a fad, while 53% think it's not appropriate to their industry.

SMB Versus Corporate Sector

These figures would suggest SMBs have embraced social media pretty quickly, which is understandable given Australians are the heaviest users of social networking sites in the world.

No doubt many entrepreneurs who actively participate personally in social media are also using it in their businesses.

I've tried to find recent statistics on social media uptake by Australia's corporate sector but to no avail (although this article might provide some indication of how our big brands are using it).

Intuitively though, having given many presentations on the subject to organisations and big companies these past 12-18 months, I'd say there is still strong reluctance at the big end of town to embrace social media in any significant way.

Click here for more on the Optus Social Media Index (note: you'll need to register first).

Hat-tip to Sam Mutimer for alerting me to this report.