The Architecture of Participation

It’s time to reinvent how we do business.

Never in my 18 years of being in sales and marketing have I ever seen a market like we are currently in. I think that may be a good thing. Here are some observations and recommendations for how we do business and what will work today and in the future.

Business is all about relationships.

Now I know you can say that business has always been about relationships, however, in the past those “relationships” could be created with glitzy advertising campaigns and celebrity endorsements. Consumers were much quicker to accept what they were told by advertising and the media with little thought to the validity or cost of many of their claims.

Today consumers are so much more analytical and sensitive to marketing.  This completely influences the way we create and maintain a relationship with them. Our messages need to be compelling, transparent and honest. There is little to no tolerance for fluff or manipulation. You may get away with it once, but you’ll be hard pressed to get another chance.

Don’t mistake a message for communication.

When we were riding the wave of a healthy, growing economy, consumerism was at an all-time high. Companies were throwing out messages in every shape and media. It was a no-holds-barred competition for that miniscule moment when you could make any kind of impression on a consumer. Shock-based tactics were prevalent because there were so many messages out there that consumers just became numb to all of them. To overcome the numbness, marketing resorted to shocking people in an effort to be memorable. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. Just because consumers got the message didn’t mean that they got what we were trying to communicate.

Consumers vs. Producers

In the early 2000′s we, as Americans, were the poster children for consumerism. We consumed (and still do in a lot of categories) a large part of what we and the rest of the world produced. We had the money and the access to anything and everything money could buy. And buy we did. Much of the global economy was supported by our blatant consumerism. This allowed many of the “producing” countries and their economies to grow and thrive. China, India and many other emerging markets became extremely powerful players in the global economy. But when the bubble burst in America beginning with the financial and housing crisis, it impacted the entire global market as the consumers slowed their consuming and the markets based on producing had nowhere to go with their products. Now that we’re consuming less, the competition for what we choose to consume is so intense it’s completely changed the game.

So what can we as business people do to market ourselves and our wares in this advertising-adverse economy?

1. Create an “Architecture of Participation”

I believe it was Tim O’Riley that coined this term. You can find his write-up on this here. But I would like to expand this definition somewhat to cover all aspects of your sales and marketing efforts.

Consumers have begun the change from being defined by consumption and now are being more closely defined by their participation. With less disposable income available to consume, people are becoming producers. Not necessarily of physical products, but of opinions, ideas and feedback. Thanks to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and the many other “social media” networks, people are producing more than ever. Don’t be afraid of this participation. Sure, it will definitely change how sales and marketing traditionally works — it already has. But this participation is here to stay, even after the economic situation improves. This level of participation will allow truly open-minded business people to access information and feedback we never had before. And, in doing so, it will allow us to create an even better product or service. But, only if we allow our consumers to participate and, most definitely, only if we LISTEN.

If we start truly listening and implementing what we learn, we will build these much desired relationships with our customers — relationships that facilitate a true interaction with your product or brand. This, in turn, leads to happy customers and repeat business.

2. Realize that interactivity is not only on-line

True participation is not only an on-line experience. Even if you are amazon.com, eBay, or any other web-based business, the experience your customers have is not only on-line. It’s the entire experience from beginning to end.

Take, for example, Amazon. A customer goes to amazon.com and places an order. If the ordering and payment process is not simple and intuitive the “experience” of the Amazon brand will suffer. Continue on to the fulfillment process. If the item ordered arrives later than the customer expected in a tattered package, the perceived value of both the product, the service and the Amazon brand suffers. This is where having participation can become painful. Trust me, those consumers are going to participate in some serious conversations. Even if you as a company don’t facilitate the conversation, they will vocalize their opinions in one or many of the other avenues available. Even if they do have a negative experience, if you are willing to listen, communicate and make it right, you can create a life-long customer.

This thinking needs to expand into your personal customer interactions as well. Find ways to have your consumers interact personally with your people and product in the way it best benefits them. Allow them to have a voice — even when it’s an unhappy one. Again, if they don’t vocalize to you, they’ll vocalize to someone else. And that can hurt a lot more.

3. Balance your messages with unique ways of communicating

Advertising and sales are not a bad words. Improper tactics and messages are. To “advertise” is defined as “to promote or draw attention to”. People can’t interact with something they don’t know about. The true challenge lies in communicating with the right people with the right message at the right time in the right place. No one tactic or strategy is going to solve all of your marketing needs effectively. Work to develop a strategy, tactic and a message that is right for your audience and stay focused on it. Work with a solid, proven marketing partner who will be your eyes and ears into the best way to accomplish these goals. Work with them to develop these goals and hold them accountable for the results.

Sales and marketing is not rocket science, nor a walk in the park, nor does it have to be fantastically expensive to be effective. Smart thinking (strategy), the right message and medium (creativity), the right execution(s) (advertising, PR, social media, interactive, etc.) and the right participation by your customers will help you successfully reinvent how you do business.

Tim Scott
Executive Creative Director
THEM!

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Here is a really interesting video that is well worth 17 minutes of your time discussing consumerism, time and participation. We would love to hear you comments below.