Some things you just need to get right

Today at 1pm, I went to collect the Euros that I'd ordered using the Post Office's Travel Money service. The online experience had all gone very smoothly, I got a decent enough exchange rate and the service guaranteed to have my money round the corner at my local post office by 1pm the next day.

Yes, you've guessed it, when I got to the post office my Euros hadn't arrived. The guy behind the counter could barely conceal his embarassment when he explained: "Sorry, we've been having a bit of a problem with our guaranteed next day deliveries. They're supposed to be here by 1pm but they haven't been getting here until about half three."

Luckily, I can go back tomorrow. Unfortunately for the Post Office, assuming today's failure is not untypical, everytime they fail to keep their promises, they do massive damage to their brand. I now know that the Travel Money service can't be relied on (and so do you because I just told you) and I now know that the Post Office can't even rely on its own 'guaranteed' next day by 1pm delivery service. Considering that their whole business is about being trusted to deliver items within an agreed timeframe, you'd think they'd make sure that they got this one right.

How things work these days

On Tuesday afternoon I received an email out of the blue from a member of the Brand Republic online community saying that she’d read my blog and thought I would like to read (and possibly review) a book called Soul Traders by Jonathan Gabay. It’s sub-titled ‘How honest people lost out to hard sell’ and my new chum, Fiona, went on to say that “Jonathan’s take is that while history is once again repeating itself, as the book graphically illustrates, corruption and the use of spin to justify erroneous action is nothing new - politicians and marketers will need to radically alter their modus operandi if they want to be trusted by a jaded and increasingly disengaged electorate. Transparency and admitting personal responsibility are only the first steps.”

Nodding in agreement, I emailed back and, within three minutes, Fiona had arranged to send me Jonathan’s new book. It turned up in the post on Wednesday so, naturally, I posted a Tweet to say that I’d received it.

On Thursday evening, the author himself started following me on Twitter and by Friday I’d reciprocated and checked out his website.

Now, in a matter of days, we’re all connected. And when I start telling my friends and ‘followers’ about the book (or anything for that matter) they can be connected too.

For anyone who doesn’t get it yet, the future of marketing is lots of little conversations. Not necessarily 140 characters, but short exchanges all the same. That may not suit everyone (especially those who still prefer to try to shout largely irrelevant messages at lots of people in the hope that someone may actually be listening) but it is, undoubtedly, how things work these days.