While this is no doubt true, I think it’s more valuable from a public relations standpoint to focus on what they’re doing now. And what they are doing is setting a good example for all companies large and small.

Their first example is an obvious one — don’t allow a crisis of this magnitude to happen in the first place.

But the second and more serious example is showing the importance of a full-throated mea culpa. They screwed up huge and it’s causing hundreds of thousands, even millions of customers worry, hassle, and in some cases serious injury.

Companies who suffer a breach of trust with their customers on such a mass scale simply cannot apologize often enough or in too many venues.

Toyota has kicked off their apology tour with a new commercial recounting the company’s long history of building dependable, quality products and apologizing for letting customers down.

You can look for this to be the first of many ‘apology’ ads soon to be blanketing the globe on radio, television, billboards, and the Internet.

The lesson all companies should take to heart is the importance of owning up to mistakes rather than playing the blame game. Don’t get angry and defensive or lash out at customers and critics.

The very worst thing any company can do in a situation like this is to come off looking arrogant. Instead, admit your mistakes fully and completely and promise to make it right — no matter what it takes.

Consumers understand that mistakes happen sometimes and even if they’re furious right now, your decision to be up front and honest with them will go a long way to winning them back.

Toyota is an amazingly strong brand. They really do have a long history of making quality automobiles. Even if you’ve never owned a Toyota or a Lexus you know their brand is synonymous with quality — and more recently for not taking bailout money (but that’s for another article).

So as disastrous as this recall is for Toyota, and I believe it will get much worse before it gets better, they will ultimately emerge on the other side intact. Their track record is simply too good for a single incident (even as cataclysmic as this) to sour consumers on the brand — at least in the long term.

Here’s my take:

You must have a business model that allows you to quickly shift gears when necessary and begin moving in a different direction.

For instance, companies that foolishly dismiss social media as nothing more than a fad are likely to find themselves out of business in five years.

Even well established brands known the world over are not immune from the winds of change. There is no greater modern day example of this than Playboy.

Playboy was an iconic brand. Hugh Hefner built a media empire that at one time included a magazine, TV show, nightclubs, movies, jazz festivals, and of course his world famous mansion parties.

Then the Internet happened — and it was all downhill from there. The once mighty empire is about to be sold off for a gruesomely low $300 million to Iconix.

Renay San Miguel has an excellent piece about the downfall of Playboy over at TechNewsWorld.

Everyone should carefully study what happened to Playboy and the mistakes that were made. If it can happen to Playboy it can sure as hell happen to you (unless you’re GM, Chrysler, or Ford).

(hat tip Adult FYI)

Tom thinks we’re moving towards a situation where artists will simply give away their records and focus on making money from touring, merchandizing, endorsements, etc.

I completely agree with Tom on this. Some musicians are still stuck in the old mind set and the old ways of doing business.

Most artists don’t make much off record sales anymore, because you can simply download music for free off the web. As a result, artists like 50 Cent routinely post new tracks on the web for free.

50 Cent makes millions of dollars from touring, merchandise, shoe endorsements, video games, movies, commercials, books, etc.

As an artist, you should want to spread your art to as many people as possible by every means possible. Suing fans because they illegally download your music is incredibly short-sighted and stupid.

Don’t keep doing something the same way just because it has always been done that way. Break free and think of new ways of doing business. In business, if you cannot adapt — you’re dead.

(hat tip Techdirt)

A lot of people are surprised to discover that Twitter is not popular with teenagers. I can’t tell you how many marketing guys I see wasting time and money marketing teen and tween products on Twitter. You may get the attention of a few parents, but there are other social networks much better for targeting the teenage demographic.

I happen to have a 13-year old sister so I’ve known for a long time that kiddies don’t use Twitter. I’ve asked my sister and her friends why they don’t use Twitter and they say it’s “boring” or “stupid” or they just don’t “get it.”

PC World has an interesting article about this very issue. They found that most teens feel like my little sister does about Twitter. Only 11% of Twitter users are between the ages of 12-17 according to the article. The largest chunk of the Twitter audience is a whopping 45-years old, and the rest fall somewhere between 25-54. When it comes to chatting the vast majority of kids still prefer Instant Messaging rather than Tweeting.

Teens like to chat within their select group of friends. They see no reason to broadcast their chats to thousands of “followers” on Twitter. Also, how many teenagers can keep their thoughts to 140 characters?

The overall point here is for Internet marketers and social media professionals to remember the importance of demographics. Before you waste your time and money or that of you clients — find out if you’re marketing in the right place to the right audience.

I haven’t been happy with my earnings from the typical ad service companies like AdBrite recently so I decided to try out a new PPC ad service. I’m about five days in and I’m quite pleased with what I’m seeing.

The company is called NetKlix and it allows you to either buy or sell text ads. It’s extremely easy to set-up and caters to both mainstream and adult websites.

Check them out and see what you think!

(hat tip ProBlogger)

If you hang around computer geeks at all you’ve likely heard people talking about Twitter. Twitter is an extremely popular micro-blogging service that allows you to quickly post what you’re doing every moment of the day.

At first glance Twitter seems like a colossaul waste of time. However, once you start using it you’ll see just how valuable it can be as a marketing tool.

Darren Rowse from ProBlogger has been singing Twitter’s praises for some time now, and has recently gone a step further and launched a new blog about Twitter. It’s called TwiTip and it’s all about how to utilize Twitter for marketing.

Darren has a habit of delivering some of the most useful tips around when it comes to blogging. I suspect his tips for Twitter will be no less valuable.