Why Bother Connecting With Empowered Consumers?
Everywhere I turn I see the signs that the consumer's in charge. And yet, I continue to encounter people who don't believe it. They don't appreciate that there truly is a new Marketsphere that is turning traditional marketing upside down.
And although it's more obvious in some industries than others more technologically attuned, no one is immune. From church-going experiences, to choosing a phone carrier, the consumer makes the decision.
Only by stepping back and observing ourselves in consumer-mode do we begin to taste and feel that new Marketsphere, maybe even appreciate its dimension and essence.
If consumers are empowered, what do we as marketers do?
We listen.
That doesn't mean we become passive. Oh, no. Rather it means that we shift our perspective from a traditional, hierarchical, standoffish one where we routinely make pronouncements - mostly irrelevant to the consumer - about the magnificence of our brand, to a more humble and curious perspective where we listen intensely to what our customers have to say about us and the problems they face and then respond. Ideally with solutions to their issues.
In so doing, we make a connection and then begin to establish a relationship with our customer. In so doing, our empowered consumer empowers us
So why not?
Another post on the subject is Mplanet 2009: How Do You Connect With Empowered Consumers.
Christine B. Whittemore is passionate about the customer experience, marketing to women and social media as conversation enabler. The director of in-store innovation for Solutia’s Wear-Dated carpet fiber division, Christine also sets and oversees social media and communications strategy for the brand. Also blogging at Flooring The Consumer (about marketing to women and the retail experience) and The Carpetology Blog (about all things carpet related), her participation in this expanding world of social networking is not only a passion, but a pleasure, as it offers the opportunity to observe, study, research and write about the consumer experience.
Posted by Contributor on January 9, 2009 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
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