Know Your Customers And The People Influencing Your Markets

Getting To Know The Monster.

It used to be easy – or at least easyish – to know about markets. A focus group here. A survey there. Markets were boring dull things that lumbered about occasionally. But, more often they slept like drugged Orks.

But markets are not like they once were. They’re a tad more active. They change and disappear. They reinvent themselves and replicate or splinter.

It’s all because of the blistering speed of global communications and a gargantuan increase in information sharing.

Markets can now be created overnight. Brands can come and go and be destroyed in the blink of an eye. But there’s a wonderful democracy about all of this. Big businesses find it no easier to deal with the deluge of data and opinions and social media than smaller companies. In fact small companies might just have competitive advantage. Because the social dialogue has a pulse – it’s a living breathing thing. And we can get to know living and breathing things if we just spend a bit of time investing in the relationship.

Social dialogue has a pulse – it’s a living breathing thingThe wonderful thing is that social media presents us with a head-spinning array of opportunities to know things about our new dynamic, hyperspeed markets – in real time.

Think about any topic. Let’s say you’re a vendor of apple seeds. Try typing “apple seeds” into Twitter search. Before your eyes you’ll see what people are saying about apple seeds in real time – or just seconds ago. Let’s say you provide medical equipment to people with dodgy knees. In seconds you can create a community around dodgy knee issues. In just a few days you’ll have built an international community of dodgy knee people – all of whom you can get to know by first name. You can ask them about knee stuff and get them to try your products. Or you might want to tap into an existing dodgy knee community on Facebook. Or you may want to feature photos of knees on your Tumblr account or WordPress blog.

In short, regardless of what products you peddle you can piggy-back on communities or create your own. You can act as a voyeur and easily listen in to conversations. Forget about “quantitative” research or “qualitative insight” – you can ride the roller-coaster of global customer conversations.

But, here’s the problem. You may end up knowing the beast or simply wrestling with it (fully greased). Because, just because information is vastly more accessible doesn’t mean it’s any more understandable. You may, in fact, end up with lots of information and no business. And by observing your markets you may end up influencing it. In fact you may make it angry.

The trick is to know what to listen for and adopt a humble attitude to knowledge. Pervasive, global and highly available knowledge is a great thing. If you choose to ignore social conversations about the markets and issues upon which you depend – well you’re missing a great opportunity. Moreover, you can jump in and participate in the debate. People often spread myth and nonsense via social media. You can seed the conversation and become a thought leader. But that requires investment of time. And you’ll need to think carefully about what you want to say and what you’ll be willing to hear.

SMEs now have the chance to get to know their customers and people who influence their markets.Some of the most successful SMEs do just that. If they have something interesting to say they participate in the conversation. They realise that there are two sides to the conversation bargain – giving and taking. They also know in advance what persona they want to adopt and what language they need to use.

Social consumers appreciate that. They don’t want some type of tell-sell. They want to reach their own conclusions – and they’ll respect organisations that treat them as thinking, rational adults rather than supine idiots. The marketing ego-rant of old simply doesn’t cut it anymore.

Business is now much more interesting and challenging than it used to be. SMEs now have the chance to get to know their customers and people who influence their markets. The companies that realise what a privilege that is will be the ones that most deserve their success. Read more here

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