experience matters

Toyota reminds me of a guy who buys flood insurance the day after the big rain.

In a recent post on my personal blog, I proposed that an effective ethical strategy required speaking to the emotions of your audience. Watching this car maker’s mounting mistakes and the continuing ethical violations still coming to light, I’m reminded about one of the keys to a successful crisis management strategy:

Crisis management begins before the crisis.

In January (the same month the Toyota debacle really hit the fan, incidentally), clothing retailer H&M was hit with a story claiming that their employees were slashing up clothes before they were discarded. While some brand protection can be understood by some, it looked dastardly in the midst of a recession.

H&M responded to the hubbub immediately, issuing a 5-tweet salvo that concisely stated their case: They gave their brand statement, contact information, a promise to resolve the problem, and a link to a robust corporate social responsibility page. (Here is a history of the incident and the Twitter effect.)

You’d be forgiven if you missed this story. At the time, H&M’s 30K Twitter followers got out the message, mostly defended the brand (or at least stopped disparaging it), and pretty much quashed the story. Compare this to Toyota’s handling of their ethical crisis.

Toyota Goes The Old Route: Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems

Toyota spent a lot of money on ads in newspapers (yes, they still exist) and on television. They had very few Twitter followers. They have no blog that I know of (and certainly not one I heard about developed after the story broke).

No customer communication channels. No tools for dialogue. No presence in a community where fans could defend them.

Consider Joseph Jaffe’s admonition of Toyota:

“Toyota did not have a direct line…with their customers, with their advocates, with their loyalists, with their influencers. They weren’t able to go to their community and say, ‘Help us, we need your help, we need your advice…’

You can’t expect to miraculously turn to your customers if you haven’t been building up that relationship with them in advance… You’ve got to anticipate this stuff because it’s going to happen.”

And Toyota’s crisis grew and grew and grew. Now, executives are testifying in front of Congress. The brand has taken a huge hit. Toyota had few means to defend itself, and none where brand loyalists could contribute. Instead, it poured money into old media venues in an attempt to change public opinion. I dare say it failed.

And yet, people still question the value of social media?

Not Apples To Apples, But Close

Sure, the crises fostered by Toyota and H&M are different. No one died because H&M slashed clothes (allegedly).

But the lessons to be garnered are very much the same. If you’re used to talking at your customers, you will be stuck with doing just that whenever a crisis hits. And only that.

Over a decade ago, The Cluetrain Manifesto claimed that “markets are conversations.” Yet, clearly many companies aren’t listening. A Complaint Is A Gift expounds upon this idea as one of customer dialogue:

“People get angry only about things that are important to them. If they sense you don’t find their issue important, they will get louder…They want you to hear. Your acceptance can help them change and soften their tone.” (page 167)

Notice that the authors didn’t say “appease” or “fix everything all at once.” They said that customers want to be heard.

It’s this process of being heard that gives companies the opportunity to speak to customer emotions. After all, this is empathy. This is a chance to change an ethical crisis into a recommitment to good behavior.

An open dialogue might just allow your brand loyalists to save you during a crisis. Imagine that.

Last 5 posts by DJ Francis

• Let’s Get Down to (Content Strategy) Business – June 28th, 2010
• 3 Books You Aren’t Reading… But Should. – May 11th, 2010
• Why Content Strategy? And Why Now? – April 29th, 2010
• Forget 2010: Ten Marketing Predictions for the Next Decade – January 7th, 2010
• How Can A Mustache Help Cure Cancer? – November 20th, 2009

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