Marketing MentorToolbox’s Ilise Benunrecently posted something on Jim Dougherty’s LeadersWest.com entitled “Say You Are the Best Advocate for Your Business (and here’s proof)!”
Have you ever seen a really bad web site (or brochure, or wine label, etc.) and wish you could tell the company how bad it is and how much better it would be if they hired you to fix it?
But you can’t just call them and say, “Your materials need help” — right?
Well, maybe you can, although you’d have to be more diplomatic about it. And you’d have to be fearless and know you have nothing to lose, if you do it right.
The difference between a complaint and a criticism is the desire to help
That’s the lesson Jeff Tara of BrandVue Design in Rochester NY learned when he did just that. And he got a new client with ongoing work as a result.
I’ll be posting a podcast with him later this week in which he tells the story of how he was laid off 4 weeks ago (!) but because he bought the Freelancer Essentials Collection a year ago and had been reading through the materials little by little, he was prepared and landed on his feet.
Here’s the text of the message he sent to the winery whose label needed help.
Dear CL Vineyards,
I’ve been a fan of your brand for years, and actually grew up with your wine on our family dinner table. I would like nothing more than to see great brands such as yours to succeed in Rochester, so I’ve chosen to share my opinion of your recent label redesign of “Name of Wine”.
Recently I was given a bottle of “Name of Wine” and didn’t recognize it to be your bottle or label design. With all due respect, I believed it to be a price-fighter brand, meant to compete from a shopping cart with fluorescent sale signs hung around it. Without your company logo on the front, along with the change from a screen printed bottle to a paper label, too much change happened at once for me to make the connection that this was your product.
I believe there is a difference between a complaint and a criticism, and the difference reflects the desire to help. CL has a great line of wine products, and you deserve to do well. Your “Name of Wine” happens to be my favorite, so I was passionate enough about it to write to you today. I also happen to be a designer, and would be happy to talk with you more about this if you have time.
They thought they deserved to do well, too.
On a Friday night, Jeff sent this message to the “info@” address since he didn’t know who to send it to. Before the weekend was over, he’d heard back from the winery and got an appointment to meet shortly thereafter.
Obviously, this isn’t going to happen every time, but there’s no reason not to do it, especially when you have strong feelings about a brand or a product.
Have you tried to do anything like that? If so, share your story!
The original post, “How to Say Your (Blank) Needs Help.” by Ilise Benun was originally published on the Creative Freelancer Blog
Illustration by –Antar2 01:47, 14 January 2008 (UTC)Antar2 (own work – reconstruction of the historical print) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Thanks to Ilise Benun for great content!
Thanks to Jim Dougherty for sharing it!
http://www.creativefreelancerblog.com
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www.leaderswest.com
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Stevie Wilson,
LA-Story.com
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