Saturday, August 17, 2013

Don't Make the J.C. Penney Mistake!

Today I want to talk about the J.C. Penney mistake. Marketers will use the J.C. Penney brand for years to come when teaching students what NOT to do. So, what is the mistake and how do you avoid it?

Well, the first thing you need to learn NOT to do is apologize for change as a company. Yes, you should apologize if you provided a service that wasn't up to standards or made a mistake. But, you should never ever apologize for going in a different direction or rebranding as a company. J.C. Penney did this and it was a disaster. Shareholers were mad, the public didn't care about the change but more that they had to hear about it so many times (apology included), and so forth. Companies change, it happens. You shouldn't ever apologize for moving into a new direction or going with a new look or logo.

You should always keep the customer's perspective in mind. Another hole that J.C. Penney has to climb out of is ignoring what their customers wants and desires were. The company has spent the last two years focused on their needs and not the needs of the customers. This means the needs of the customers were not met- perhaps why their customer database has shrunk by such a large margin.

When you're in business there are going to be times when you need to change direction, rebrand and ask yourself if you're making decisions based on your needs or that of your customer. Try to spend today pondering these points and addressing on what side of the fence you currently stand.

Until next time,

Twyla

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