Is Jeff Jarvis right to say ‘your customers are your ad agency?'

I have just started reading an excellent book called ‘‘What Would Google Do?’ by Jeff Jarvis.

In chapter 3 there is a section called ‘Your customers are your ad agency.’ In it Jarvis says: “Customer service is the new marketing,” citing Dell and Google as evidence of the vital role customer services plays in building a successful brand.

I think he is half right.

There is no doubt that customer service is a critical stage of the consumer path to advocacy. Delighting consumers must be the goal. However, it is not the whole story, particularly for a lot of low involvement brands (Fast moving package goods, financial, white goods, etc).

The brand promise (to get noticed and encourage trial) is a start-point for these brands.

Then there is brand delivery (at 1^st and 2^nd moment of truth) which also has to be brilliant [read previous posting about Apple stores and service is marketing].

If you are working in a brand organisation look for others involved in delivering brand experience and find ways to work with them to break-down silos. It is a business imperative in this new connected world to ensure all parts of the Brand Promise, Delivery and Delight (PDD framework) are joined-up.