NOTE: This item is cross-posted on the Media Center's We Influence blog where every so often I will contribute to the conversation.
"What can companies do to invite the customer in?" sez Ogilvy PR's John Bell. The answer is really simple. Marketers need to stop thinking about themselves. They need to decipher what their customers want to achieve in life and then help them realize their dreams.
This is hardly a new idea. Some of the most successful marketers over the years have - gasp - used TV advertising to convince consumers that they had their best interests in mind. Take Apple's iconic 1984 commercial, directed by Ridley Scott. The ad told consumers: "Hey, we know you hate PCs. They suck. So come join our revolution and we'll squash them together." Apple used its advertising to tell consumers a story. It illustrated that Apple can make their dreams come true.
Flash forward 22 years. Today you can't do what Apple did with advertising anymore. Consumers are suspicious of not only marketing, but corporations overall. Their BS detector is on red alert. They only trust each other.
So what marketers need to do is empower. They need to help their best customers literally achieve their dreams and then shower them with so much genuine love, that they go out and spread the gospel to others. Marketing is no longer like carpet bombing, but more like gardening. Grow a tree and hopefully it will plant seeds and become a forest.
