Engage Your Customers or Die Bridging the Gap between the Marketers and the Market

76% don’t believe companies tell the truth in advertisements (Yankelovich 2006) 68% trust other people “like themselves” up from 22% in 2003 (Edelman Trust Barometer) Consumers don’t Trust us

Technology Enables People are Empowered Share & Communicate Blogs Chat Rooms Discussion Boards Email Social Bookmarking Rating/Referrals Shut out Marketers Tivo/DVR On-demand Cable Satellite Radio Pop-up Blockers Plugins Widgets

Share & Communicate

Blogs

Chat Rooms

Discussion Boards

Email

Social Bookmarking

Rating/Referrals

Shut out Marketers

Tivo/DVR

On-demand Cable

Satellite Radio

Pop-up Blockers

Plugins

Widgets

100 million+ blogs 120,000 new blogs created today 1.4 new blogs every second 1.5 million blog posts today Adult blog usage grew 163% in 2006 The Blogosphere is on Fire

User Adoption is Gaining Steam Consumers with high-speed broadband spend 48% of their spare time online. In Q1, more than 3 mm new broadband customers; 56 mm households total. MySpace grew 163% this year. Facebook grew 1300% this year.

Customers , Clients and Employees are Talking 1 out of every 5 adults will comment online 80% of all consumers read online recommendations 75% do online research before making a decision 1 out of every 30 comments online is an employee discussing the company they work for (Jupiter Research)

What’s this all about? Community

Why is this Important? These discussions can and will become branding issues. Google: 82% of 1 st pages have blog/discussion posts. Yahoo: 63% of 1 st pages have blog/discussion posts.

“ When marketers took the life out of the messages , audiences started looking for ways to take us out of their lives .” – Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point

Examples: Successes & Failures

Dell Hell People have unprecedented power. Jeff Jarvis started it all on June 21, 2005. Within 1 month of post: Dell received over 300 emails a day in complaints. Over 100 new posts a day with tags “Dell Hell”. First time, Dell was not #1 in customer service.

People have unprecedented power.

Jeff Jarvis started it all on June 21, 2005.

Within 1 month of post:

Dell received over 300 emails a day in complaints.

Over 100 new posts a day with tags “Dell Hell”.

First time, Dell was not #1 in customer service.

Dell Hell

Dell Hell

Launched October 06. Viewed over 2 million times. Commented over 1000 times. Favored over 10,000 times. Over 1 mil searches in Google. Launched a phase 2 & 3. Dove Evolution

Launched October 06.

Viewed over 2 million times.

Commented over 1000 times.

Favored over 10,000 times.

Over 1 mil searches in Google.

Launched a phase 2 & 3.

Did everything right. Huge buzz Blogosphere fully engaged. Disappointing revenues. Opening weekend is about hype, the second weekend is about word of mouth. Snakes on a Plane

Did everything right.

Huge buzz

Blogosphere fully engaged.

Disappointing revenues.

Opening weekend is about

hype, the second weekend is

about word of mouth.

They lied. Flippant when caught. Another PR nightmare. Will be forever linked to agency. Huge backlash Sony – All I want for Xmas is a PSP “ Busted. Nailed. Snagged. As many of you have figured out (maybe our speech was a little too funky fresh???), Peter isn’t a real hip-hop maven and this site was actually developed by Sony…..”

They lied.

Flippant when caught.

Another PR nightmare.

Will be forever linked to agency.

Huge backlash

Pretended to be something that it is not Blogosphere attacked Bad PR for Wal-Mart and Edelman Steve Rubel Wal-Mart – Wal-Marting Across America "The moment you hide something, you will end up being exposed and picked apart."

Pretended to be something that it is not

Blogosphere attacked

Bad PR for Wal-Mart and Edelman

Steve Rubel

Control – It’s time to accept we don’t have it Power to the people! Don’t be afraid of it, embrace it. Pretending it is not there will not make it go away. Your own focus groups

Power to the people!

Don’t be afraid of it, embrace it.

Pretending it is not there will not

make it go away.

Your own focus groups

Honesty is rewarded Gain people’s trust back Speak to people not at them Mitigate risk DON’T BE AFRAID TO FAIL! It’s Ok to Admit Your Wrong

Honesty is rewarded

Gain people’s trust back

Speak to people not at them

Mitigate risk

DON’T BE AFRAID TO FAIL!

Where do we Start?

Connecting with users causes them to want to engage stimulating demand . Marketers must connect with their target market and be better listeners .

Begin by Listening Find where our clients’ customers are talking Locate Listen Monitor Plan Action

Locate

Listen

Monitor

Plan

Action

Monitor

Create something worth talking about . DO SOMETHING REMARKABLE

How can we be Remarkable?

Where does the target market congregate? What kind of message will resonate best? Online, offline, internal and/or external. The medium is the facilitator not the differentiator. Pick the campaign , not the medium

Can only be done online. Only works for B2C. Poor tracking and metrics. Cannot deliver ROI. Requires large company. Needs huge budget. Myths = Misunderstanding

Impressions/click-through’s. Purchases and/or leads. Customer behavior. Blogosphere. Chat rooms/message boards. Immediate feedback Tracking and Analytics

Final Thoughts It is not about brands , products or services; It’s about people. Embrace the possibilities of what we can accomplish. Voice to the voiceless .

It is not about brands , products or

services;

It’s about people.

Embrace the possibilities of

what we can accomplish.

Voice to the voiceless .

Thank You Questions [email_address]