Companies far too often ignore a critical element of the marketing communications mix - public relations (or more commonly just known as PR). Or if not ignored, this area is not given enough attention. This is the case with the latest Progressive social media fiasco (read more about it here). As a quick summary, a customer of Progressive died due to a car crash where the customer was not at fault. The brother of the lady who died filed a lawsuit against the person who killed his sister. When in court, Progressive was actually defending the killer rather than the customer's sibling. Progressive didn't want to have to pay out on the claim. Then, to top it off, Progressive posted on Twitter that they felt they sufficiently responded to the claim within their required contractual obligations.
What companies don't realize is that good PR truly manages the image of your company and ultimately the number of customers you have. Bad PR, customers and sales decrease. Good PR, customers and sales increase. Progressive should have responded with a sympathetic response and say that they were actively going to do something to help out the brother of the crash victim. But rather, they give a response that directly references only their level of obligation and nothing beyond that. What does that tell the customer? It tells the customer that in the event that you are in an accident or need anything from Progressive that you won't get anything more than what they are required to give you. And that, my friends, is enough to cause you to find another insurance agency.
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