Remain Relevant in Changing Times

Has the Internet given customers too much power?

On Friday night, ABC's 20/20 attempted to find an answer to the question, "Do consumers have too much control?" The segment featured the head of The Consumerist, a popular blog site where unhappy consumers can blog about negative experiences they've had with various companies.

To tell you the truth, the show seemed almost stale to me. It featured the YouTube video we've all seen a hundred times about the sleeping Comcast repairman, then went on to show the recording of the guy who tried for 20 minutes to get his AOL account disconnected. Ironically, the show proved the very point it was exploring; that is, the Internet is lightening fast - so much so, by the time we see something on the "real" news, we've already heard about it elsewhere.

Consumers do have more control than ever before, thanks to the proliferation of blogs in particular. Bloggers love to link to one another (it drives up their Google Juice, which sounds more like a movie title than a legitimate marketing strategy). And here's the rub: bloggers aren't bound by the same ethical standards as journalists. We can call them Citizen Journalists or Influencers or any other clever name we can come up with, but it doesn't change the fact that they don't have to corroborate a thing before they publish it. Moreover, as the show noted, sometimes even after a company has righted a wrong that has been outted by a blogger, Google's memory is a long one and keyword searches can often mislead the searcher to old information, further making a situation worse.

So, what's a company to do? Well, first off, smart companies monitor cyberspace to find out what people are saying about it. The blogosphere is much like having a gigantic, anonymous focus group where you can learn what people really think about your company. It's the best listening device/spy available since the invention of the little sister. Edelman's study of bloggers showed that most care about accuracy and would be willing to correct mistakes that are called to their attention. A majority also said they were interested in hearing directly from companies. And yet, I routinely hear company officials dismiss bloggers as not important targets of the company's communications efforts.

It's a mistake to think that bloggers are just bored nerds with nothing better to do than post their every thought. Most have legitimate complaints that deserve addressing. Companies that engage them, rather than fear or loathe them, will come out ahead. Bloggers won't go away. If anything, their voices will become louder.

There are some great tools in place now that let companies monitor the blogosphere ( with Technorati being the best, in my opinion) and make intelligent decisions on how and if to respond. I strongly encourage you to check them out and start thinking about how your company can engage bloggers to neutralize problems or, better yet, create brand enthusiasts.

How to stay top-of-mind with potential customers

I just returned tonight from my annual vacation with girlfriends. This year, we had an especially good time. We went to the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN. Talk about a lesson in remaining relevant!

The tellers varied tremendously, from my all-time favorite, Donald Davis, to Syd Liberman and Sheila Kay Adams. Each has a unique telling style, but what they all (and dozens of other tellers) have in common is a remarkable ability to tell an old story in a way that seems so fresh you feel certain they created it just for you in that moment. It's not easy to tell a story that keeps 1,500 people on the edge of their seats laughing, crying and connecting, whether they're 6 or 86 years old.

How do they do it? First, they know their audience. They know that a majority of the people at this particular even are educators who not only want to be entertained, but are there to study how captivating stories are crafted. The tellers seize the opportunity to incorporate a point that enables any listener to, in effect, re-tell the story to friends and relatives who didn't get to hear it. In other words, by merely telling stories well, they make it possible for everyone in their audience to become tellers too. We can - and should - do this when telling our corporate stories too. People love to share with others. Our job is to make it easy for them to do just that. It's how we become - and remain - relevant.

Connecting with the audience expanded beyond the tents, though. I couldn't help but smile, marvel really, at how local retailers tried to make themselves relevant to the 10,000 people who poured into Tennessee's oldest city for four days. One women's store on Main Street really went all out. As is often the case this time of year, the weather ranged from the low 40's to the 70's within a matter of hours. Practically everyone who attended the festival passed by the store a couple of times a day. So what did they do? They changed the window display based on the temperature. When it was chilly, the window contained beautiful sweaters and jackets. As it warmed up, lightweight blouses and long flowing skirts appeared. Traffic was heavy in the store every time I passed by.

Another store display made me chuckle aloud. Called Intimate Treasures (no, I won't provide a link), it was on a busy road that many visitors drove to get to the storytelling festival. As the name implies, the store specializes in sex toys and adult games. So how did they attempt to draw attention from visitors? By featuring skimpy costumes in the window. Not so unusual, right? But remember - people were headed to a storytelling festival.... so the costumes were storybook characters, such as X-rated Hansel and Gretel one day, Cinderella and her prince another day. Clever, huh?

Whether you are trying to connect directly with a particular audience, or merely benefit from the spillover effect of an interest in a specific product, it's important to consider the mindset of your target audience. People respond best to things that are top of mind for them. What are you doing to ensure YOUR company is at the forefront of your customers' minds?