Even in this current economic times, even brands that have strong reputations are facing challenges and other issues that is impacting how they are perceived. A case in point is Toyota – which was the world’s most reputable company in 2008. According to a recent AdAge article, Toyota is facing several marketing and PR issues due to online criticism from its customers on how they have to replace the headlights on their Prius Hybrid models – which could possibly result in more than a $1000 bill. Ouch!
What has happened in this case is that Toyota customers have taken their frustration and concerns about this issue to various discussion boards. Plus, it appears that the customer relations at Toyota is one of the key issues that these customers are raising – and some have said that they will not buy another Toyota because of this one issue.
Large corporations such as Toyota cannot afford to have these types of issues come up because of the dramatic impact that it has on their customer relations and their overall brand reputation. People are not going to buy a product from a corporation that does not have good relations with one of their key publics in this current economic climate. Toyota should look at how other brands have successfully used social media (ex. Ford) to address issues and concerns, and tailor these strategies for their own corporation. In other words – Toyota needs to really look at what it is doing with social media and immediately address these concerns raised by their customers regarding the headlamps for their Prius model.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
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