Closing the Loop
Noah asked me to write a few thoughts on marketing while he’s off gallivanting around Israel. So I thought I’d ask if anyone else is getting a bit disillusioned with all this talk about marketers “creating dialogue� and “sparking conversation� with consumers. Don’t get me wrong, I totally believe in brand dialogue, but I think a lot of folks are focusing their energy in the wrong place.
To me, the challenge isn’t about sparking a dialogue; it’s about closing the loop on the conversation. Marketers and agencies are actually really good at creating sparks. Let’s face it, a decent ad is all about generating interest. People have been telling their friends, “I saw this great ad last night…� for decades.
A company’s communication is really just the first pitch of the ballgame. The problem is that no one wants to throw the ball back. And you can’t really blame consumers. When was the last time you got an email from a company that said “Do not reply to this address� at the bottom of it? It’s hard to start a conversation if the other party openly admits that they aren’t going to listen to you.
Before creating any tactics to start a dialogue, marketers need to create a mechanism so that consumers know:
a) Someone is actually listening to them and
b) They’re creating an impact
Perceived lack of impact is often cited as the reason behind low voter turnout and it’s no different in the business world. Everyone wants to be acknowledged, but marketers are often too concerned with pushing out the start of the next dialogue than to think about how they can close the loop on the last one.
Imagine this- after conducting focus groups around the country to develop a new ad campaign, a company shared the final version with those consumers, thanking them for their feedback and explaining how the final spot evolved out of their comments. Better yet, let them know the first week of the media buy so they can tell their friends about the ad “they helped to make.�
The funny thing is that it’s a lot easier to close the loop on a conversation than it is to spark a new one. It could be as simple as including an opt-in for any market research participant to learn how their comments had an impact on the company. Or it could be ensuring that the marketing staff rotates the role of consumer relations manager to read and respond to consumer emails.
Love to hear your ideas. And yes, I promise that I’ll read any comments you write.
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There are some terrific ideas in that post. Great community conversation building thoughts.
Another idea: What about marketers tapping into the conversations consumers are already having about their products and services? It’s easier to lend a listening ear and then acknowledge those things in the development of products and campaigns; of course, a heavy dose of sincerity is necessary to develop and maintain that all-so-necessary trust from your consumer.
As the younger sister of the the owner of this blog, conversations about marketers finishing what they start is something we have discussed. i am currently working at a social media relations firm and I am asking similar questions. Does posting on discussion boards, myspace pages and facebook groups about clients/products create a closed loop of attention–and more importantly adoption? One of the things that I think is so interesting about blogging is that bloggers are really creating their own brands by closing the loop with commenting and responding as well as following threads to other people’s blogs.
Interacting with ongoing consumer discussions could be a great way to let people know that you’re listening, however the company would have to be careful how it crashed the conversation. One simple step could be to post a thank you note on people’s blogs after they give a product/service a nice call out.
Blogging is an interesting point. It definitely allows for an individual to close the loop. Of course the key then becomes for a company to understand how to effectively run a blog, but that’s a whole other topic.
A quote from Douglas Rushkoff feels appropriate:
“No matter how sleek the phones or colorful the pictures on their little screens, nobody wants to have sex with either. They want to have sex with each other. Either help them, or get out of the way. ”
People want to interact with each other more than they do with brands or even products. The most powerful brands are often those which fuel dialogue between their customers, not ‘necessarily’ with them. (Last.fm; NikePlus)
It may seem like I’m digressing.
However, it’s worth considering that focussing too much at all on a dialogue that a brand is trying to control (or close) is perhaps missing greater opportunities.
It might be worth distinguishing long-term dialogues from ‘sub-plots’ with brands. The former is more powerful when it grows organically, not when it’s closed. The latter is where your ‘closing the loop’ observations are much more valuable. And if it concerns feedback or recognition for participating, then I am all for it.
Forgive the pedantic slant to my thoughts. I realise that the discussion was around a fairly specific set of circumstances. I just think we can slip into brand-centric habits easily and it’s always worth taking a few steps back. To modify your ballgame anaology, brands should be providing the ball and letting people play with each other. The game’s over when they say it is.
I think the research follow-up is a lovely idea. I’ve noticed in the past that after I’ve given my time as a consumer in a group or trial I am much more interested in the brand and likely to buy it.
This creates the opportunity for brands to think about communication via questioning – for want of a better term – what kind of research experiences can we create to help facilitate successful closing of the loop?
Going back to the 3rd paragraph, I can’t count the number of times I’ve written a snitchy email back to a company saying ‘Thanks for your email, when I approached you 3 WEEKS AGO…’ thanks but no thanks. As always companies need to be able to deliver if they’re going to invite consumers into conversations.
I love Andy’s observation on shifting the focus from brand-consumer dialogue to consumer-consumer dialogue. Totally agree that the strongest brands are the ones that simply act as facilitators. Just go on Apple’s help page and you’ve got thousands of Apple users helping each other out. A random thought is that monitoring how many consumer-to-consumer conversations are going on at a given time would be a great brand health metric.
Nice way to reframe the conversation.
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