Engaged Markets: Conversations
Moderator Tara Hunt of Citizen Agency reminds us that The Cluetrain Manifesto defined markets as conversations.
Christopher Carfi of Cerado, the social customer manifesto, suggests that we think about customer relationships as groups of conversations linked over time. What can we do to engage customers and facilitate these conversations?
Francois Gossieaux of Corante declares that the old rules of product development and marketing have dissolved. As we rebuild new, we need to co-create our products/services with customers, partners and competitors. The challenge is to launch new products when attention is scarce in the value chain.
Brett Hurt of Bazaarvoice (nod to cluetrain manifesto authors for the name) says that by tapping into customer relationships, we can learn what products to sell and how to improve them.
Robert Scoble, formerly of Microsoft and now with Podtech.net (and author of the Scobleizer blog, among others) says that old school PR was about pushing messages out. New school PR demonstrates listening skills and learning from customers. Word of mouth networks are hyper-efficient.
Here’s the question at hand: If people are empowered to act, would they? Given these tools, they can use their individual power to make that choice. Blogging allows us to build evangelistic behavior in customers.
The workshop broke out into groups to brainstorm solutions to four marketing challenge scenarios. Here’s what they came up with:
Project No. 1: An established company with heavy market penetration has a public image you need to change. How?
Companies don’t have a choice when it comes to listening to the consumer, whether what they have to say is positive or negative. The key is the follow-up. You can understand what people are saying about you and react. Or you can be proactive, and tap into the online community to create trust. You have to be authentic in your interactions with customers. Don’t ignore the bad stuff. Mine the blogs and social networks for the conversation threads. Don’t deny, their concern. Respond to them.
Project No. 2: How do you build a community from scratch when you are not an established company and are in a crowded space?
If your boss says, build a community. Where do you start?
1. Define who you are [your brand/UVP]
2. Define who your community is [the audience/your customers]
3. Define what they care about [the conversation threads]
If you’re a startup up, the three things you can do to start a new community are:
1. Know your passion
2. Think about how people will find you (e.g., Google keywords)
3. Make people stars in your community by rewarding them for participation.
The challenges are: Narrowing your focus to a unifying idea/theme, changing course when the community takes the conversation in unexpected directions, rising to the level of competition in your area of passion, involving experts who may not be the best communicators
Project No. 3: You’re a startup with a B2B product you haven’t launched. You have no marketing budget. How to you reach the market?
Marketing is marketing, whether it’s for B2B or B2C. You have to do the same things, only better, by using new tools and channels. Target niche delivery systems, just like you’d target big advertising. Create a web persona. Cross sell customers in existing markets. Use super connectors to build buzz that distributes to the broader news channels.
Know your customers and who monitors the info for them. Hit the influencers, who will filter it up to the buyers. Build your expertise in the industry, then pitch your product as a solution. Organize your marketing so that everyone in the company is a marketer. Affiliate yourself with other players who will add value to what you’re doing.
Project No. 4: You’re a startup in a market dominated by a giant. What can you do?
Engage with early adopters. Understand that the conversations have to happen at a human scale, not with 18 million people. Push it out to the masses. Be authentic. Be on your customers’ side. Innovate. Create a loyal employee base.
Follow the old school rules: Create unique customer value and compete on the product innovation. Interact with the customer, listen and build relationships. Fight for distribution by forming alliances.
And use the new school rules: Use digital tools to enable interaction. Use web 2.0 to speed word of mouth. Use your relationships as a source of innovation so you can be better than your competitor. Building an architecture of collaboration, and always be part of the community you serve.
