Elaine Fogel

Marketing

When Technology Fails Your Marketing Tactics

Cartoon lady angry at computer

Tell me you never wanted to throw a technology device out the window. Or take a hammer to it. Of course you have. It’s inevitable.

But, what happens when failed technology affects your marketing tactics? Now, that’s serious!

Yes, it happened to me recently, hence this cathartic post. When the Windows 10 anniversary update came out, my computer spit it out. My Dell XPS 8700 (with 24 GB of RAM and a 228 GB solid state drive) decided it wasn’t going to cooperate. This computer is a workhorse and it acted like a big baby. 👶🏻

This wasn’t just happening to me. I did the research. The update affected millions of computers!

For days after the update, software froze, the computer crashed incessantly, and I simply couldn’t work without shutting it down manually every 10 minutes or so. I tried hundreds of solutions including a complete re-install of Windows, but nothing worked.

And, what do most of us do when this happens?

SCREAM!!!!

Some of you may have an IT specialist you use periodically or keep on retainer. Lucky you. All I have is little old me. So, I sacrificed days of productivity plus an entire weekend to troubleshoot and resolve the problem.

And, what happened to my usual marketing tactics?

Absolutely nothing. Nada. I couldn’t do anything. No social media marketing. No reading or sharing valuable marketing content. No writing. No lead generation. I was 100% engrossed in fixing the computer.

Thank goodness I have a laptop I used for the most important tasks… like checking and responding to emails and re-scheduling appointments. It also came in handy for researching Windows and technology forums to see what others were doing. Without it, I don’t know what I’d have done.

After consulting two Microsoft tech experts with no resolution, I finally contacted a Dell tech specialist who was very helpful. He took me as far as I could go before the next step would be opening the CPU. At that point, he told me that I’d have to pay a $120 fee to move on as the computer was off warranty.

What could I do? I agreed and rebooted, ready for his next instructions.happy cartoon lady

But, then a very strange thing happened. After rebooting, lo and behold, the Windows 10 re-installation worked, taking me back to the first prompt screen.

Was it karma? Was it luck? Who cares? I rejoiced!

That was last Friday. Today, I finally completed re-installing my software, recovering my data, and entering new settings.

So, when failed technology affects your marketing tactics, you have a few choices:

  • Get someone else to take over your tactics while you work on a resolution (if there are other people in your organization).
  • Get someone else to fix your technology device while you use another one to do your work.
  • However, if you work alone, you’re s-t out of luck. Take care of fixing the technology first - as quickly as you can - so you can get back to marketing. Then, have a drink (or two). 🍸 🍷

Happy marketing!

OK, time to share your technology horror stories!


Forgive My 7 Marketing Sins

businesswoman with eyes closed

In 2007, I wrote a Yom Kippur blog post for MarketingProfs seeking repentance for my marketing sins.* I posted something similar on my blog in 2012 and 2015. Now, it’s time for a new version.

So, here goes:

  1. Forgive me for losing patience with content that has grammatical errors. I admit that this is one of my marketing pet peeves and I have been critical. When I write blog posts about this, my intent is to educate and inform others of the common boo-boos they make.
  2. Forgive me for occasionally zigzagging on my marketing strategy and being drawn into new tactics.
  3. Forgive me for inconsistent engagement with my social media followers. “Real” work takes time and social media marketing has to take a back seat.
  4. Forgive me for wasting time with early technology adoption. I don’t need to investigate every new marketing-related release or program.
  5. Forgive me for feeling entitled at times. Just because I have lots of marketing experience and expertise does not mean that others will pay attention to me.
  6. Forgive me for feeling discouraged when results take longer than expected. Marketing is not an overnight sensation.
  7. Forgive me for procrastinating on the items at the bottom of my marketing to-do list. These represent the administrative things I need to do that are tedious or boring.

So, there you have it. You don’t need to be Jewish to ask for marketing forgiveness.

What marketing sins would you add to this list?

*During Yom Kippur, Jews ask forgiveness from God for the sins they have committed in the past year. 

Why It’s Important to Engage Angry Customers on Twitter

angry Twitter bird

Haven’t you ever tweeted about a poor customer experience, product, or service? I know I have. There’s something cathartic about sharing it in the Twittersphere.

Well, now there’s a new study that shows how important it is for businesses and organizations to respond to complaints and angry Tweeps. It will affect your bottom line! Continue reading

Here are the Top Colors for Spring 2017!

color chart

Every time Pantone comes out with their top color choices, I like to share them with you. Even though the colors are more indicative of what we’ll see in fashion and home decor next spring, it’s always good to keep on top of what’s trending for graphic design purposes.

If your business or organization has an existing brand color scheme, you’re obviously not going to rush out and change it. But, if you’re considering brand identity revisions, you may want to take a look to see what’s “in.” Continue reading

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