southparc.

Good day sir, can ik help you? - Martini, please. - Would you like some ice? - Yes, please. - Cubes or crushed? - Cubes. - Lemon? - No, thanx. - Olive? - Yep. - Tumbler, long-drink or cocktail glass? - Tumbler, please. - Anything else? - Some of those peanuts would be great. - Of course sir, here you go…

Thanks, buddy. That was a great Martini. Next time I’ll bring my friends…

Although modern technology offers us a lot of new channels and tools, the nature of marketing has not changed. You still have to make a serious effort to find out what your customers (or fans, or friends) really want. Ask, listen, respond. It’s not about all you have to offer or all you want to tell. It’s only about what’s relevant to them.

In my opinion, a solid 2.o strategy is based on relevance. Do you agree?

Ben

Nice to meet you mr Jones. Likewise. Got a website? Yes, of course! Why? Uhhh, what do you mean? Well, what’s the purpose of your website? Uhhh… be out there and tell our story! I see. Any other targets set? Uhhh, no. Okay, so your website is more or less a digital brochure, right? Uhhh, yeah. Does anybody care about your story? Uhhh, I don’t know, to be honest… Do your visitors ever return? Uhhh…

Are you relevant to them? Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…

Ben

In the past marketeers and business developers knew what was best for their customers. They had the training. They had the experience. They had the knowledge, based on surveys and statistics.

Question: Is that still the case? What if the customer knows what’s best? Scary idea! And hard to accept for a lot of traditional die-hards.

Nevertheless, embracing this thought is the only way to start using the wisdom of the crowds. Marketeers just have to let go of their pride and fear, changing their position from analyst to communicator. Replacing classical observation and segmentation by initiating and joining dialogues, with all who want to be involved with their brand-services-products. From this new perspective there’s only one key issue to focus on: how intense will our dialogues be?

Social media marketeer. New business cards please…

Ben