For hundreds of years (maybe longer), the standard customer acquisition model was based on interruption marketing. In days of old when the medicine came to town, he arrived with drums and hoopla interrupting the townfolk’s daily routine with the good news that he was now here to heal their ills.
Then newspaper ads interrupted our reading. As time passed, advertisers added more tools to their interruption arsenal. Our television shows were interrupted by commercials. Our evening meals were interrupted by telemarketers.
But technology has a funny way of turning on you. And the Internet has turned the interruption based advertising model on its head. With the maturation of the Internet, a different way of buyers finding sellers emerged. Now the consumer could publish as easily as the advertiser. The consumers now entered into “conversations” with each other about the sellers. The consumers even entered into conversations with potential sellers. This conversation component is now an essential element in nearly every sales process.
These conversations contain something very valuable that most traditional advertising has always lacked: the unvarnished truth.
If you sell goods or services this new reality is something you are going to have to face in your efforts to promote your business.
Of course,you are going to have the face the ugly side of this new paradigm: your publishing-empowered customers might say some bad things about their experience with your company.
Already, some business Goliaths have been made to look very foolish by a keyboard-wielding David. These big companies, unfamiliar with the rules of this brave new world, have made the classic “Nixon” mistake: upon receiving negative press, they immediately went into counter attack and denial mode compounding the problem.
Many companies have expressed to me their concern about this vulnerablity inherent on this new conversation style business promotion.
But their concern is unfounded. With the right approach even criticisms and complaints can be turned to the company’s advantage.
There is nowhere to hide anyway. Statistics and observation demonstrate that the new model is here to stay and will only gain acceptance over time.
Embrace the change now. Late adopters might soon find themselves in a hole that will prove very difficult to climb out of.