Smarter Customer Relationships
"Treat me as a person not as a consumer"
My very first blog, written under the banner of O'Connor and Kelly Ltd (O'C&K), now MX-3, discussed the topic of people being human beings rather than consumers.
I wrote it, not as a confession as a marketing professional but as a rationale as to why all of us in business need to be smarter about marketing.
In it, I referred to the societal change that was underway and how it was affecting much more than the traditional marketing we practitioners knew and loved so well.
I thought I would reproduce most of it here and see how matters have changed. You know what I’m talking about – the MadMen thingy. The funnels of love, big campaigns, slick TV ads telling the customer why they’d be better off with your product / service.
It was all about agreeing a message with the client, broadcasting it to a target audience and promoting it ‘through-the-line’. Sure, a lot of it worked and most still does, but working to a different online/offline ratio. Let's face it though, it wasn’t really about building any real relationship with the consumer, if we’re to be honest.
Authentic Relationships
October 2013.
"As I mentioned, the change that’s happening right now is affecting much more than marketing but it may have serious implications for it and thereby clients, if not addressed. Look at what’s happened to the music industry, what’s happening in traditional media and even what’s happening to TV viewership.
After decades of broadcasting messages at people, we need to take off our blinkers and realise that society’s attitude, to almost everything, is different. Not only from a geopolitical or economic point of view (which they are) but the individuals that we so badly want to ‘sell’ to, are changing, big time.
They don’t want to be sold to anymore – they want relationships.
This is important for business because it is through relationships that purchase decisions are now been guided and made. So if business can develop the kind of authentic relationships that last, we have a chance of survival. Today, the public wants what they want; business can adjust to the new reality or fool ourselves into oblivion.
So if the essence of business has not changed and is still all about relationships with people – what do we need to change? Our attitude, that’s what. There are loads of new and better tools available to enable businesses to be smarter about their relationships. Let’s use them properly and everybody will be a winner."
Looking Back
Wow - it is scary looking back at that piece. That was written almost eight years ago. Not only does it make me feel old but how the world has changed in the meantime. Add to that the changed public attitude to brands and their service expectations. Also we've had Brexit, a changed USA President and many geo-political upheavals.
Driving this changing environment for marketers is almost total connectivity, and people focused technology. So what hasn't changed since that first blog post? The fact that people want to be treated as persons and not numbers - that's what.
Thanks for sticking with me on this one. From time to time I intend delving back into the annals of O'C&K blog posts to see how the marketing environment has changed. We'll also see posts from my colleagues and maybe even a few guest posts.
Staysafe - Jim.
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