ChasNote

Catching up on my marketing-gurus reading today, I came across an interesting post by Best Buy’s Barry Judge, Marketing In a Tough Economy:

“Principle 3: Invest in the brand experience and the brand story

“Find ways to improve the brand experience and tell the story of how the brand is differentiated during a time when price becomes more important to many customers.

“For Best Buy, marketing investments in the brand experience have included initiatives like improvements to our Web site to support a better customer experience at the first touchpoint of the brand…..”

• Birds of America the movie

Hmmm. The ecommerce giants like Best Buy understood the web’s potential before anyone else, but they usually get credit only for mastering the web as a commerce platform, a transaction engine at the other end of heavy direct marketing campaigns and affiliate programs. I think Judge is talking about something else here: He’s talking like a publisher. Providing visitors a “better customer experience” sounds very similar to “add value first, sell them something later.”

Best Buy’s main website is still primarily about products and an efficient commerce experience. But check this out: Best Buy’s Support-o-pedia. And listen to this Best Buy video, “Open For Business,” where Best Buy execs are talking about a new approach to online retail, where you won’t need to go to Best Buy’s website, it will come to you.

Best Buy is creating content that its customers need, knowing that the transactions will follow. The brand is paying attention to how its customers are using the web, and it’s going native to spend some quality time with those customers.