Can you handle one more post about Target’s blog policy?
The New York Times wrote about it. The Social Times got me thinking about it again. I must weigh in here on Target’s non-participation policy toward blogs and a couple of related issues. To be clear, I am in no way interested in weighing in on the advertisement in question, the ad that brought this whole unfortunate situation to light. I’m strictly focused on the communication policy issue here and Target’s seemingly short-sighted response to a concerned consumer.
So let’s start right there: Did you notice my word choice - “consumer”? Target saw her as a blogger, someone likely to have “an agenda” but also likely to have too small of “an audience” to warrant a real response from a busy PR team.
The Social Times writes: “…basically Target doesn’t think anyone that goes to Target stores read blogs,” stemming from Target’s now notorious statement saying it doesn’t “participate with nontraditional media.” (Side note: Yes you do!)
In this case, it doesn’t seem to be an issue of “We’re big Target and you’re a little blogger and we’re not interested in whatever little audience you might have (and we’re ignoring the fact that you could incite a nice little blog storm).” To me, this is the important issue: The woman to whom Target sent this unfriendly response (likely a Target shopper or at least a model of Target’s “core guest”) had an issue with a Target ad, so she asked Target about it. And it seems as though Target blew her off because she’s a blogger.
The impression: To get a response from Target, you not only have to be a “core guest” but you also have to prove you’re not a “non-traditional media” outlet. Is that it?
I understand that there is a distinction to be made between the responsibilities of Target’s PR team and Target’s customer service department, but that’s not the consumer’s problem, nor does that distinction matter to the blogger who feels slighted. She’s slighted by Target, regardless of which department bears the blame.
Does every single inquiry a company might receive warrant an immediate, full-force response? No, of course, not. But this request for an explanation seems reasonable. Certainly, it seems to warrant more than a response along the lines of, “Oops! You said the B-word! No comment.”
If this woman had not identified herself as a blogger, it seems reasonable to assume she’d have been transferred from the PR folks to some sort of customer service representative and handled from there (hopefully in a more friendly manner). But in dropping the B-bomb, she was summarily rejected as not relevant to Target’s quest to reach the “core guest.”
Bloggers are people. People are bloggers. Some “core guests” are bloggers, and some “core guests” read blogs.
Photo courtesy of j.reed on Flickr. Thanks.
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I love the last paragraph! Sounds like the beginning of a manifesto.
Your explanation is plausible, I see how you can draw the conclusion that the PR person refused to cooperate *because* the person calling was a blogger. However, there’s still reasonable doubt, we can’t know for sure what that person was thinking… I wonder if that person is doing his/her thinking some place else now?
Anyway, I guess we owe this person for teaching us a valuable lesson: That she should have answered as if it were the NY Times calling!
I agree, but at the same time, I don’t dare pretend this is easy. I’d love to have had Target respond as if the NY Times were calling, but I don’t believe EVERY SINGLE inquiry warrants a substantial response. It’s a tough line to walk.
There’s a difference between a “substantial response” and a “respectful response.” I think every customer inquiry deserves the latter, don’t you?
That’s a good distinction, yes.
I think Target might want to keep in mind that for every Target there is an association offering press passes to a bloggers. For every Target there is an executive picking up the phone to talk with a blogger. For every Target there are PR departments busy with hundreds of other projects who respond with enthusiasm to a blogger’s request. How do I know this? Because we regularly contact companies, executives and PR departments and you’d be surprised how many of them generously give us a lot more than the time of day. Target might want to keep that in mind. Just our experience, but they’re the exception, not the rule.
Thanks for all of the comments, folks. Michael, that’s particularly insightful, a good look beyond this incident at the larger issue here: People who write blogs are increasingly welcomed into the fold of people who can help spread relevant ideas. Organizations like Target will come around eventually.