Customer Engagement in 2009
Paul Dumouchelle, Management Consultant, ADVISA
When I worked in brand management at SC Johnson in the early 1990’s I could only dream of having the tools available to marketers today. 15 years ago, brand managers spoke of creating a “relationship” with consumers but this was entirely one-way, unless you counted the sporadic, limited and often inscrutable feedback we got through our marketing research efforts. With the ever-expanding technologies and exploding bandwidth capabilities of the internet we will soon live with real-time, multi-user, multi-sensory, two-way interactions.
I’ve always been a believer in innovative test-marketing when in comes to business development and the proliferation of tools makes this easier than ever. As a relative late-comer to social media I’ve only been actively developing my LinkedIn network for about 6 months but it has paid bigger dividends, faster, than anything else I’ve invested time and effort into.
I’m in the middle of creating my first video series to be loaded on YouTube and anyone who isn’t using video in some big way is missing out. Risk taking and experimentation will be rewarded in this environment, especially given the upheaval caused by the recession and resettling of the economy that is taking place. In my own efforts, I’m rapidly learning what does and doesn’t work well. Trial and error, combined with LEARNING, is an effective approach in this market characterized by rapid change and new frontiers.
The report that unemployment declined in November is another sign that the recession is in the past and we need to be thinking about how to leverage customer engagement to maximize our opportunities. If you aren’t ahead of your competition in using the available tools for customer engagement you’re going to find yourself in a continuing recession for your own business that is of your own making.
