PR Pros as Eyes and Ears for Customer Service

BusinessWeek covers the whole Dell v. Jarvis saga with a full blow-by-blow account. However, more importantly, Stephen Baker is asking a darn good question...

Is this a lesson for how companies should deal with bloggers? Or simply with big bloggers? Jarvis, after all, launched nothing less than a media campaign against Dell, one that spread to hundreds of other blogs. 386 by this count at IceRocket. But compare that to this blog post that complains of a problem with an HP printer. That seems more the domain of customer relations. But why dwell on these differences? We're heading into a world where customer and media relations are merging.

Steve, over time I think you're going to see blog search and Web search tools integrated into CRM systems. This will give customer service the tools they need to manage individual issues that bubble on blogs. However, you are right. PR professionals will increasingly need to not only serve as an organization's mouthpiece (one of them at least), but also its eyes and ears. The best PR pros have done this for years. Blogging just makes it easier to keep our finger on the public pulse.

This is how we operate at CooperKatz. We monitor the blogosphere for all of our clients. If we spot a customer issue, we route it to the right party to manage. Occasionally, we also reach out ourselves to begin the dialogue. But don't take my word for it. Read what Jeff himself told Sue MacDonald.

Technorati Tags: BusinessWeek, CRM, Customer, CustomerService, Dell, DellHell, JeffJarvis