Think New, Act New, And Gain New.

The video below shares what customers really need, from Joseph Pine, on Ted Talk Jan 16, 2009.

One of the most well-known lines in Hamlet should be, “To be, or not to be, that is the question. “ After reading the new sections of Groundswell, this sentence comes up to my mind.

Since the market nowadays has stepped into an entirely new world, compared to 50 years ago. It means that the measurements which used to be effective in the past would become gradually limited for now. Thus, changes should be made to build new marketing concepts. To communicate, or self-stuffy, that is the question.

First, let’s see what were useful measurements in the past decades.

Celebrity spokespersons? Check. √
Repeating? Check.√
Fancy contents? Check. √

Why are these works in the past but are limited now? It is because the consumers are changed. On the one hand, compared with the products appeared in old promoting styles, mass social media makes a product hard to stand out within tons of related goods. There are always many similar things existing, and launch advertisements at the same time. It is no doubt that the attention of consumers spreads around. On the other hand, in order not to get lost in such massive information, consumers begin to think critically and huddle around. They prefer to listen to opinions from family members, friends, and colleagues. They prefer to choose what they want, other than what companies provide. These changes of consumers revealed that the market is no longer the same anyway.

Then, how to stand out and attract consumers’ eyeballs from hundreds or even thousands of related products? The answer, the author of Groundswell, gives us is to listen and to talk. In other words, get to know the consumers desire.

What do we mean by listening? Listening, or we call it market researching. As I already mentioned above, consumers’ behavior is tending to be reasonable. They aware more information from kinds of media and become more calm and picky. So knowing what the consumer truly need is the most important for companies. There are several good ways to understand customers’ thoughts. For instants, syndicated research sources, surveys, focus groups. However, as the author of Groundswell stated, although listening to the groundswell surges new insights, companies should be careful. It is because you can not assume that the people you hear from are fully representative. A good listening plan will provide good changes to your company. Furthermore, it will keep encouraging your company to focus on consumers. Consumers can be an excellent guide for you to figure the problems that exist for long or even some potential issues. The moment when you start listening, the door of talking will be opened soon.

So, what do we mean by talking? For example, advertising, one of the most familiar ways of how companies speak to customers. But the question is, there are millions of advertisement, how could one catch customers successfully? Unique, make your product itself unique. One suggestion is like this:

First, you may use all kinds of popular social media. Posting exciting or fancy contents, such as short videos, which related to your products. Once the video was shared, the first step is complete.

Second, join the social networks and interact with the audience. Make your brand alive.

Third, begin your blogosphere. Make your brand and your product directly to be seen.

Last but not least, create a community that communicates and interacts with your customers immediately. This is helpful to build customer loyalty.

This is what I learned from Charp 5 and 6 from Groundswell. I picked some of the points and write down my understanding. Hope the content can be helpful.