So have you worked out what the connection is between CustomerStreet, Paul McCartney and Guns N’ Roses yet? Well you may be able to get the connection between the last two but where does Customer Street fit in?
Chatting with friends at the weekend the talk turned round to the recent Brits awards. Everyone passed comment about how well the Osborne’s had done as hosts for the night, how Amy Winehouse wasn’t quite back on form but everyone loved her anyway, and how fantastic the set by Paul McCartney was at the end of the show.
It was at this point that someone chips in with the fact that they found it a bit weird that he was singing a Guns N’ Roses song. The conversation livened up a little more with a bit of a debate about the fact it was actually Macca and Wings who released Live and Let Die as the title track to the 8th Bond film way back in 1973.
Obviously, as anyone will know, Axl, Slash et al didn’t cover the song until 1991.
It occurred to me that whilst this conversation was light hearted superficial nonsense there were some parallels to be drawn with Customer Street. It is only a few weeks ago that I was talking to a customer who was insistent we hadn’t done anything for them in the six months they had been with us.
Whilst I’m not proposing that new media advertising is right for every business there is no denying that with record levels of internet traffic using our directories (UFindUs was given an industry award for Q4 of 2007) they do hold a very valid place in business promotion.
On questioning the customer further she admitted that she did get business from the internet but not from any of our directories like Smile Local, More Uk or UFindUs. I decided a few more questions were in order, “So you dont feel you are getting any business from the internet that you are aware?” The response was “Of course I do, but I haven’t had any from you.”
Ten minutes later the customer had a very different picture of Customer Street. It turns out that she doesn’t actually advertise on the internet anywhere else other than her package with us. All her internet presence was as a result of ourselves and it was not Google that had put her there on it’s own. She had never really thought about it in those terms, because her customers mention Google or “the internet” she had not made an association with Customer Street or any of our directories.
I am pleased to say that we both found the funny side of it. Sometimes what seems immediately obvious can be pretty wide of the mark. It’s no ones fault, “the internet” or “Google” are probably some of the widest used terms on the planet.
Misunderstanding is easy but it still doesn’t alter the facts.
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