Week 2r. Make a difference by Talking or “Marketing”?

                           

                        Make a difference by Talking or “Marketing”?

It is a universal topic for companies to gain consumers’ attention and satisfy their wants & needs. The problem arises immediately. How to make customers trust and support their brands and products consistently? 

        

Groundswell gives a sincere tip for companies in Chapter 6. That is talking with the groundswell. Taking, by its nature, is a different process comparing with “marketing”. Traditionally, marketing is an official way to speak to audience to gain customers’ attention. The most common methods they use are advertising and public relations. Conversely, talking is narrowing public space to private dialogue in order to meet each customer’s requirements carefully.

       

As groundswell records: “Worldwide, marketers spent more than $400 billion on advertising in 2006”. Advertising, especially television commercials, is more like shouting, which aims at forcing TV audiences to notice their brand mechanically and physically. Even though it works, television commercials can not build loyal consumers group.

So does public relation. Acting as a reporter or influencer, PR could hardly win consumers’ trust by frequently appearing on screen or free media. More importantly, with so many products trying to get awareness by Ad and PR, marketing methods are not as effective as it used to be.

Neither Ad nor PR. How to make a difference for companies’ further development?

Talking! Start a conversation is the first step. Marketers are involved in a complex process mixed with people, comments and feedbacks. They need to train theirs skills comprehensively, including listening patiently, responding appropriately and solving problems efficiently. The main talking channels are listed as following:

 1.Using visal videos. (like Youtube) It is an effective way to gain small group of people’s attention. Also marketers could create a discussion section to share opinions with consumers.

 2.Building social network

Social media are popular. Companies could post its latest new products, free samples and discounts information on Facebook or twitter to attract consumers. For example, Amway is a direct selling company and manufacturer that use network marketing to sell a variety of products, primarily in the health, beauty, and home care markets. Amway use social media widely to target its customers. Besides, Amway also hold weekly or monthly meetings in local company to keep a close tie with its customers. By using different channels to expand social net, Amway is ranked No.32 among the largest private companies in the U.S. by Forbes in 2012.

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3.Blogging

The prerequisite for starting a blog for a company is to have a clear mind about the people and objectives. Determine a goal for the blog is necessary. Routine event or planning is excellent. However, the most import part is to listen to your consumers. To be a successful bloger, one must monitor the blogsphere overall and talking with consumers to gain comments no matter they are positive or negative.

Talking is being a forever companion with consumers. The purpose of talking is more than business. It is a person-to-person relation, which is based on trust and reliability. By doing so, customers are willing to support you even without repeatedly shouting on screen.