The End of the Three Martini Lunch With Social Media Branding and Customer Service PR Expert Eric Blinderman

Eric Blinderman thinks we are sitting at the crossroads of customer service and social media. Blinderman, Managing Director at public relations firm Cubitt, Jacobs, and Prosek Communications, presented at the American Teleservices Association’s New York chapter on Social Media and customer service and further shared these ideas in this podcast interview with Customer Management IQ’s Blake Landau.

Gone are the days of three martini lunches and spending on branding at golf tournaments because the CEO likes to golf. Now companies need to re-focus on creating a brand that customers trust and delivering on that brand promise.

Blinderman wants companies to focus on marrying their corporate branding efforts with their customer service offerings. He is concerned that companies segment customer service, branding and marketing and that departments should focus on finding synergy.

By delivering on the brand promise and taking care of the customer, you improve your customer retention rates. This is not rocket science; however, the path to customer creation can appear convoluted. People shop Nordstrom for the experience, not because of products that are superior to Neiman Marcus or Saks Fifth Avenue. It’s the customer experience. There is no more intimate experience than with the company’s customer relations program. It’s the ultimate opportunity.

With the advent of social media tracking services any given brand can act as a giant listening booth to become organically part of the conversation. But before you set out to measure what is being said a company must question their social media strategy. What about the strategy does the company want to bring alive? A company needs to have the stomach to give up control in the name of social media. Customer conversations will unfold whether the company is there for the conversation or not. In this podcast Blinderman gives a forward-thinking perspective on PR, branding and becoming a part of the customer service conversation.