Ogres Are Like Onions, Marketing is Like Cake

First layer marketing is marketing aimed at getting customers to buy your product, but not remain customers. First layer marketing develops no brand loyalty or viral value.

Holistic marketing has to move past the first layer to engage the customer in areas between advertising, sales, and pitches. One of the important features of second layer marketing is customer service. I sat with my friend Nate Evans today at Coffee Station, a local coffee shop where we like to get work done, as he went through a long and drawn out phone call with Toshiba customer service that ended without resolution. Toshiba customer service sucks. They dragged him through about an hour of phone calls, transfers, holds, and tedious discussions. Because Toshiba's internal marketing has failed so badly and they outsource their customer service, the result is that Nate has discouraged me to buy a Toshiba. If they had been able to address his problems, he'd probably be trying to convince me to buy one. Quite a turn around.

BL Ochman, a well-respected blogger and social media consultant, documented her recent experience with Amazon customer service on Twitter in real time and on her blog. Appropriately, Amazon customer service sucks.

First layer marketing wants to sell something. Second layer marketing wants to sell something too, but it also wants to sell something that has not even been made yet. Second layer marketing makes sales on non-persistent products, the product, with brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. Second layer marketing sells products to people who will sell the product for you.

Ogres are like onions. Marketing is like a cake. They both have layers, but people like cakes.

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