Most companies, brands and marketing departments are not used to having a conversation with their consumers. Although humans have been conversing since before Socrates, it has been more of a “we talk about our product, you listen, (and hopefully) you buy” structure for the greater part of modern marketing’s 100+ year history.
But in more recent years, technology has taken what was an asymmetrical control of the communication and marketing mix, and spread it evenly between consumers and marketers. If you like a product or service, consumers can become “brand evangelists” and spread their message to message to the world, sometimes showing higher on a Google search than the actual brand.
Of course, the same can happen with a negative experience. Frankly, frustration, disappointment or the feeling of being ripped-off tends to motivate people start talking much more than a positive experience. (Please see Dell Hell)
Brands and companies have reacted in several different ways to this shift in power. Some operate in a state of denial, choosing neither to acknowledge or participate in a dialogue that might run the risk of saying something negative about their product.
Others have taken a different approach, taking an active roll in the conversation with their clients. And if it is genuine interaction (which is not always a guarantee), it can be very powerful for both parties.
I would argue that every company that has something to sell to someone (i.e. every company) has to participate in a conversation with its clients if it truly wants to evolve for the following 3 reasons:
1) People are already talking about your brand or product, so sitting in the boardroom denying that this is happening around you and refusing to participate may lead to some regrettable decisions that could have been avoided if someone was listing.
2) Involvement does not equal just another location to handle complaints. There are lots of ways that ongoing, honest and genuine communication can increase brand affinity. If these consumers are already willing to engage in dialogs, why not give them insight into information beyond the typical campaign.
I am not suggesting throwing intellectual property out the window. But people have a strong desire to be a source of authority on any given topic, so if you as a company are satisfying that need, then we start to enter into a much more meaningful relationship with our customers.
3) To cite Join the Conversation by Joseph Jaffe: Good Conversation is Productive. Conversation gets stuff done. “By interfacing with the blogosphere, [The Company] fundamentally changes how it looked at treating all their primary customers.” Why fight to resist something that is happening and instead work with it to grow together? Conversation seems to lead to collaboration and isn’t that what we all want to have with our customers?
This blog is simply another product, tell us what you think…
