As the ANA's 2008 Annual Conference, Masters of Marketing, approaches, we will be posting Q&As with some of the speakers right here on Marketing Musings. They will be glimpses into what attendees can expect to hear from the podium in Orlando - so keep checking in. First up, Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos.com:
Q: What can you tell us about your presentation at the Masters of Marketing?
The presentation that I'll be giving, "Building a Brand that Matters", will talk about building a brand in a completely different way: by focusing on company culture and customer service, instead of on traditional marketing and advertising. In the long run, our belief is that your culture and your brand are just two sides of the same coin. By focusing on company culture and customer service, Zappos.com has grown rapidly over the past 9 years. In 1999, we had virtually no sales. This year, we are on track to do a little over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales. The #1 driver of our growth has been from repeat customers and word of mouth, and I'll be sharing our philosophies and growth strategies.
Q: What do you see ahead in terms of growth for e-commerce? What are the challenges and opportunities ahead?
I think e-commerce will continue to see a lot of growth over the next 5 years, and a lot of web sites will dominate different niches because they are focused on the best customer experience for those niches. This is a huge opportunity for niche Web sites, and a big challenge for larger web sites because it will be hard for larger web sites to serve all the different niche web sites well.
Q: How do you see your own organization evolving over the next decade, especially as it relates to fueling growth?
I think with any growing organization, making sure that the company culture doesn't go downhill as it grows is the biggest challenge, and the same will be true for us at Zappos. This is why we've made focusing on company culture our #1 priority. Our belief is that if we get the culture right, most of the other stuff (including great customer service and our brand equity) will fall into place on its own.
Q: What companies, in your mind, have been the most effective at growing brand equity?
I think that In-N-Out Burger and Apple have both done a really good job at growing their brands by focusing relentlessly on the customer experience. Both of those companies also have really strong cultures.
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