UnMarketing

Imagine getting home after a stressful day on the job; all you want to do is relax on the couch with a delivery pizza and your current Netflix favorite. You order dinner and prepare to decompress, but 30 minutes go by, and your pizza still hasn’t arrived. Then it’s been an hour. And then, when the delivery guy finally does show up, he’s brought the wrong order.

Clearly, the restaurant is not doing well and could use a serious dose of unmarketing, a new take on how companies should interact with their customers.

In most companies, marketing is discussed in secret meetings run by specialized departments. But, actually, every single engagement your company has with current or prospective customers, including private conversations about your business, is a moment for marketing.

Just consider the pizza scenario. This actually happened to a customer in Chicago and, unsurprisingly, she complained about the frustrating experience on Twitter. When Domino’s saw her post, they sent a fresh pie and even made a personalized video of the manager apologizing for the mistake – and that video ended up getting over 100,000 views.

This is a great example of how good marketing focuses on interaction. But interaction in the service of what?

Well, your primary focus should be building relationships, specifically those that can last a lifetime. So rather than focusing on attention-grabbing ads, you should spend your limited resources on connecting with customers.

Then there’s the story of the guy who ordered nine pairs of shoes from Zappos for his sick mother because he didn’t know her size. When she eventually passed away, he kept forgetting to return them and, after several weeks, pleaded with the site to take them back.

Zappos arranged a UPS truck to pick them up, refunded the full purchase amount and offered their sincere condolences for his loss. Because of this special treatment, this customer will be loyal for life, spreading the word about Zappos to everyone he knows.