we're not in a recession, we're in a revolution

[bizalchemist]

We’re not it a recession... We’re in a REVOLUTION. Unfortunately, this revolution isn’t being lead by business it’s being lead by consumers who are dumping the proverbial tea in the harbor of our economy.

Let me start by dispelling four ideas that I frequently hear about today’s economy. In my opinion, they’re all four myths:
Myth number 1: “I can wait this economy out”. No you can’t. Everything has changed. We’re not in a slump. Were in a new world.
Myth number 2 is related to the first: “The economy will go back to ‘NORMAL’” What we’re experiencing right now is the new normal. If you’re waiting for the old days to come back —they won’t. They never do.
Myth number 3 is” “I can retract to a reasonable level and return to profitability.” Doing less of the same thing won’t fix the problem. Being a smaller version of the same business won’t fix the problem, either.
4. And finally, ”No one is succeeding right now.” Not so. Some companies are getting this figured out and others are flourishing.

I believe that the universe of business has undergone a revolution in the last year. Marketing and advertising, as we know them, are done. Stick a fork in them. What used to work to attract new customers no longer works. The same efforts don’t pull the same results. What we once did to sell our stuff now falls flat. The old standard of products, services, customer service and value is no longer acceptable.

But you shouldn’t write me off as a “doomsdayer” yet.I’m pretty sure that I’m an off-the-hook optimist. I believe we’ll see the biggest increase in productivity and the largest leap toward excellence in history over the next few years. It’s being demanded in this revolution and enough companies are hearing this call that the clock cannot be turned back. The big question is will YOU hear the call.

[Carlos™]

Yes, we're in the state of a revolution.

I see the shift happening from the "usual" marketing channels, but now the internet's exposure has given marketing a new "name" and then some more.

My company will be on the forefront of this revolution. CarlosX360 Co. Ltd. will lead the new revolution into the new world.



Are you ready?

[akula]

i don't understand what you guys are talking about
..for example, i work in cleantech. solar power. now that's a big change..the idea of households changing from being energy consumers to energy producers. but so what. i say business as usual.

[Tzarkov]

i don't understand what you guys are talking about
..for example, i work in cleantech. solar power. now that's a big change..the idea of households changing from energy consumers to energy producers. but so what. i say business as usual.

They talk about US economy. In Uruguay, median annual income is about 7000 dollars. It has been less. Nevertheless people here do not complain too much since the economy is growing at about 7% annual.

Contractions in the economy are always painful but you will still be far better than much of the rest of the world if you guys manage to retaining productive capital in your territory.

Wishing the best for you guys.

[DerekS]

I believe that the universe of business has undergone a revolution in the last year. Marketing and advertising, as we know them, are done. Stick a fork in them. What used to work to attract new customers no longer works. The same efforts don’t pull the same results. What we once did to sell our stuff now falls flat. The old standard of products, services, customer service and value is no longer acceptable.

Umm, evidence? Can you cite examples for any of this conjecture? What has lead you to these conclusions? I'm not saying that you're wrong- I just don't see it. Please enlighten me.

[bizalchemist]

Consumers are screaming for Authenticity from businesses. Authenticity creates trust, and trust is like an oasis in today’s economy. But plenty of businesses are trying to figure out how to sound authentic without doing the deep work of putting their whole soul “out there.” It’s not about the words you use, nor is it about being blunt. Authenticity lives at the center of you as a human being, and then it transmits itself into your company. . It involves feedback and massive amounts of dialogue between YOU and your customers. Notice that I didn’t say “your employees and your customers.” YOU and your customers. It’s a critical distinction.

Some companies are figuring this out. Consumers are rewarding them. One shining example in this economy of authenticity and Transparency is Apple. They’re booming. Their very brand is that of authenticity. Just watch their commercials as they make fun of all the spin and confusion that surrounds PC. Microsoft’s response, of course, is commercials with lots of cool people claiming that they are PC. We notice the sidestep from the issues that we’ve all experienced. Apple’s open platform and easy entrance for app developers is largely credited with their resurgence. They’ve become the “peoples” computer. The result... record shattering profits, 17% year over year increase in MAC sales, and unprecedented growth in market share. All this with a significantly more expensive product in the middle of the poorest economy in decades. I know personally, because after years of laughing at my slowly growing group of Mac friends, I finally switched sides and find myself scratching my head wondering what I was thinking before.

I know that Microsoft recently beat it's profit record from its Windows 7 sales. However, it did that because Vista was had so many problems that consumers migrated enmasse to the new option. It's unlikely to be repeated, where Apple is likely to have record shattering revenues for years to come.

Some other examples, Dominos pizza is crushing it with their new marketing campaign that centers around how their pizza crust tastes like cardboard and their sauce takes like catsup. Shell Oils tellshell.com website opened new levels of authenticity for major oil companies that has paid off for Shell oil while other oil companies are being punished by public perception.

On top of that I have several hundred clients across diverse industries such as banking, manufacturing, construction, retail, and even online sales and services. We've applied 5 principles of transparency with marked improvement in results in almost all cases across hundreds of case studies. This includes hard hit sectors like construction and hospitality. We teach people to do things like include their worst customer experience in their sales pitch, and provide online tools for customers to complain publically as well as rave about their experiences.

Thanks for your reply, does this explain it more?

[bizalchemist]

For most of us, authenticity is terrifying. It requires transparency, and that scares the hell out of the typical business leader. It exposes our secrets, our problems, and our self-doubt. On the other hand, we’re real and it’s a huge relief to be totally real – and it’s a big market advantage. These days, people can tell the difference between marketing-speak and real-speak. It’s like telling the difference between gourmet Italian food and Spaghetti O’s. One whiff and we know exactly what kind of person and what kind of business we’re dealing with. It’s time that businesses relearn how to be authentic. I know that sounds like an oxymoron. How does someone learn to be real or authentic? You’re either being authentic or you’re not, right?

We’ve been taught for generations to be inauthentic. We’ve been taught to carefully craft the image we want others to see. Here are 5 traditional business rules that revolutionists (consumers) are demanding that we change:

Keep problems close to the vest. This includes building walls between customers and tightly controlling what information people have on both the inside and outside of the company. We don’t talk about the unhappy customers, the mistakes we’ve made, or the areas we need to improve. We figure things out behind closed doors, encrypted emails, and low level employees that can only generate stop gap solutions.

Small group decisions. Problem solving and product design are relegated to one person, small groups or departments, or focus groups. Decisions are made in board rooms based more on marketing and promotion tactics than actual value. The are based more on “educated” guesses and assumptions than real information. Once a product or service is designed it becomes fixed and the status quo rarely changes. Innovation comes to a crawl, and large investments are made to “sell” customers that the product as developed is what they want. Suggestions and complaints are met with resistance and client relationships are largely treated as adversarial once they have made their purchase.

Communication is confusing and decision making segmented. Often we’re dealing with complex phone menus, automated responses and even online processes that are less than intuitive. It’s funny how simple businesses have made ordering product or giving them money, those steps are usually crystal clear. If you have a problem on the other hand, It’s not nearly as clear, much of the time ending because of frustration not because of resolution. Communication must happen not only within normal “Business Hours”, but only using prescribed methods; “your request must be submitted in writing”. Not only does this apply to complaints, but also to suggestions, success stories and other feedback that all get caught in the same meat grinder of information flow. Customer service in most companies is often comprised of the bottom feeder positions which garner the lowest wages and skill sets deferring the much higher compensation to those in marketing and sales. In other words, we’ll pay people lots of money to convince you to give us your money, but once we have it, you’ll be relegated to someone making $7/hour, or even worse someone in India who doesn’t speak good english, to try and make you happy.

Lack of trust. Businesses don’t trust that their customers can make decisions given good information. They don’t trust that if they were to tear down the walls they’ve built between customers and even employees, that those people wouldn’t destroy their company. When products don’t work as sold, businesses are quick to point the finger at “dumb” consumers, even to the point of having an almost adversarial relationship with their own customer. The arrogance of businesses thinking they know better than the customer about what the customer should want is amazing. On the customer side, this lack of trust shows up as we try to unspin everything a business says and separate truth from smoke and mirrors.

Spin. As I mentioned in the first four rules, spin trumps reality in most current businesses. It’s not even as if business all have the same image they are spinning toward. Many businesses present themselves in opposing ways with their spin. Big businesses position themselves as small, small businesses as much bigger than they are. Chains focus on appearing independent and independents on appearing like a chain. In traditional business all to often the question becomes how do we spin this in our favor rather than how do we do whats right or best for our customer. We live in a world of illusions, so much so that as consumers we’ve become programed to immediately recognize the spin that businesses put on things. We reject out of hand things which appear too good to be true. We discount words like best, quality, and customer service as pat pitches with little to back them up. We all know that even testimonials are often fabricated and coached to sound a certain way.

These old rules have been replaced with a new set of rules that will make even the best businesses have knots in their stomach. It takes guts, commitment and often a bruised ego to thrive in this revolution. Here are some of the new Rules:

Open communication. Customers and even non-customers want to be part of the process. Spending as much time simplifying the feedback process as we have the purchase process is critical. Trusting that customers will not only provide good feedback, but when happy will play critical roles in support, sales and marketing that is authentic to those looking at purchasing what you make. Imagine a world of unpaid customer service or even sales people who will gladly perform the service in exchange for having a voice with your company. This requires that we tear down the walls we’ve so carefully crafted and provide simple and easy tools for customer feedback, complaints, and just plain old communication.

Trust. This is perhaps the most difficult new rule. I mean what might happen if we were to just open ourselves up for feedback, acknowledge our mistakes and short comings, and openly commit to what we are changing. I believe that consumers are almost endlessly forgiving. Notice the difference of how we treat those public figures who are authentic and acknowledge their mistakes and those who sidestep, mislead and often blatantly lie. We’re much more forgiving of those who openly say “I screwed up!” even though it doesn’t feel like that when we’re faced with prospect of being exposed. Those who deny, justify or avoid those conversations simply fan the flames of consumer resentment, anger and mistrust. Trusting people to be smart, to distinguish between irrational complaining and relevant complaining or suggestions, is critical. It means trusting that if someone says something completely untrue about you that your customers will rally to your defense perhaps providing an even more compelling argument for your product or service. I’ve seen it over and over again with companies who play buy these rules. It keeps businesses honest.

Transparency. This means that we tell others why we are doing something. We can’t just say we’re going to give you this product for free with no obligation. That statement reeks of obligation and consequently dishonesty. Instead we must say “We’ll give you a sample for free because we think you’ll love our product and buy more from us.” It may sound small but it’s important. It also means we tell others clearly what we do, the days of magic wand processes that aren’t fully explained are coming to an end. Consumers want you to tell them exactly what you or your product will do for them and how you will accomplish what you say. This brings up the next area of transparency which is with results. Consumers don’t expect perfect results. They do want to know what your results are, and even more important, that YOU know what your results are and that you learn, acknowledge and change when results are less than you desire.

Partnership. More than ever, as consumers we are buying into our role in the business process. We recognize that our contributions not only make products and services better for us, but also for anyone else. We’ve become accustomed to rating companies and products, providing user reviews, and overall satisfaction ratings. I recently purchased some new luggage online. Although the pictures and spin provided by the various luggage manufacturers made each piece of luggage seem amazing, the customer reviews were what ultimately tipped my purchase decision. Even though some people had given the luggage I eventually purchased some very low ratings, the hight ratings and commentary resonated with what I was looking for. I appreciated the time that other customers had taken to comment on their satisfaction. There were also some great suggestions for the manufacturer if they were to read those reviews. Consumers are recognizing that they have to be part of the process in order to fix the problem and not end up less than satisfied with their purchases.

Simplify. As I’ve spoken to at least hundreds of people about what’s changing for them in this economy, one of the most common responses involves the word simplify. Businesses that focus on making it simple for customers in every respect. Simplified information, products, features, purchasing, delivery, service, complaining, refunds, and suggestions. Even in technology, an industry know for its ever expanding feature set, some companies have started a trend of removing features and simplifying operations, leaving (and trusting) other companies to provide for more complex specific individual needs. The current apps tidal wave we are experiencing is a perfect example. Most apps are simple and provide a very limited operation vs the old enterprise software bundles to which we’ve become accustomed

[bizalchemist]

even in green industries they have abused consumer confidence. There is a backlash against anything that doesn't seem real or that puts a marketing spin on something. At least that's been my experience across the businesses that I've worked with.

[DerekS]

I get what you're saying, but more or less, you've just described the fundamentals of marketing. This is how it's always been done, there are just a multitude of mediums through which the message can now be delivered.

Some products are sold with an "in your face" marketing style, others are sold with more subtlety. Apple chases Microsoft because Microsoft is king. Yeah their ads are funny, but it's because they're appealing to a certain demographic. Pepsi chases Coke, Apple chases Microsoft. #2 always chases #1.

The concept of a "loss leader" has been around forever. Giving away something at little to no profit (or sometimes at a loss) to build brand equity and get people in the door. You're right that in most cases they have to be subtle about the fact that they're hooking you, but in most cases, they say nothing at all. They sell people on FREE and people like FREE. Hell, look at the crap that they sell on infomercials. Some of that stuff has got to seriously suck if they're giving away 2 for the price of 1. (Yes I know that they make you pay a "processing fee" but the truth is, if the product was THAT good, they'd be able to sell singular items at full price.)

I guess my point is that marketers have always been saavy. They know what people want and will be there to deliver it. You're absolutely right that consumers are changing their expectations. My argument is that they always have been, and always will be. We just need to keep our eyes open and try to keep ahead of the curve.

[akula]

dude u're just repeating the cluetrain manifesto
again, so what?

[bizalchemist]

I don't know what the cluetrain manifesto is. What is it?

[bizalchemist]

DerekS
I'm not sure I follow. I get that traditional marketing is about positioning a product in a favorable light with the consumer. I'm also saying that something fundamental has changed with consumers and how they think. I've spoken with thousands of them. I ask them specific questions. Here's a personal example of what I'm talking about. A couple weeks ago I was staying at a hotel in Las Vegas Speaking and the Internation Builders Conference. On the second day of my stay I walked out of my room and there was a postcard with a key taped to it. It said I could go buy the concierges desk and if my key opened the chest then I would win a $100 gift card. A year ago, I would have taken the bait. Today I didn't even think about it. I'm convinced you could stand on a street corner and hand out $20 dollar bills and most people wouldn't take them because they are so skeptical.

Television and Radio Response rates are down significantly, as much as 75% for some products. Online responses to tradiotional online offers are off significantly. I work with guys like Alex Mandosian, Robin Robins and others who have ditched traditional marketing for the approach I've described.

I suppose you're right that whatever works could be considered marketing. I'm saying that it has shifted radically in this economy. Consumers are sceptical and don't trust business. I read a statistic in December that said that less than 3% of Americans trust business and marketing in specific and less than 2% trust sales people. I tried to find the article to post the link, but couldn't find it. Anyway, most of my clients are making radical overhauls to their marketing, disclosing weaknesses and mistakes and generally cleaning up the over promising and underdelivering that most businesses tend to make a common practice.

There is something really different that people are responding to that is not traditional marketing.

[bizalchemist]

Btw, I'm a speaker and author by trade, so this forum stuff is really different for me. I love it that people will actually disagree. Should be really interesting.

[akula]

I don't know what the cluetrain manifesto is. What is it?

it's marketing book. it theorises that "markets are conversations".
it served as a catalyst for the web 2.0 movement in 2004, which created social media, social marketing etc etc
cluetrain's major contribution was an argument that in today's attention scarce economy, the sucessful marketers will be those who engage in bidirectional dialogue with consumers rather than those who continue to push unidirectional advertising messages
it basically talks what you're talking about..trust etc

[akula]

btw, don't write so much. be succinct.