Significant shifts in society, accelerated by the internet, have meant that customers are getting better and better at not listening to polished marketing promises, so how can customers not listening to you be good news for marketers?

It’s because according to Nielsen (Global Online Consumer Survey, 2009) research, 35% more people trust the recommendations of friends than trust radio adverts.  Even 15% more people trust the opinions of strangers!  Therefore the thousands of customers-turned-salespeople which good businesses generate mathematically outweigh even the most impressive marketing budgets of companies with massive wallets and no advocates.

We have stopped trusting big business and started trusting “people like me”.  The comment, recommendation, endorsement, or anti-endorsement of a friend, or even a complete stranger, means more to us now than the words and promises of big business.  And nowhere is this more true than online, where the view of “people like me” is more easily found than ever before.

The quintessential bad day? Let down by your telecoms company and jeans just too short for your boxers.

Consider the plight of Verizon and their beleaguered marketing department seeking to communicate to America how the organisation is being true to its mission and why that matters to its customers.

“As a leader in communications, Verizon’s mission is to enable people and businesses to communicate with each other. We are also committed to providing full and open communication with our customers, employees and investors.”

Lofty stuff.

However their customers know that their bills are impossible to decipher, compulsory data plans are punishing, dropped calls are maddening, and customer care is not advisable for pregnant women and those of a delicate medical disposition.  And there’s not a damn thing the Verizon marketing team can do about it.  The only way Verizon can improve its marketing is for Verizon to improve its business.

It’s no longer just a cliché that your business is your marketing.

The Google search “Verizon Sucks” has over 17,000 results, “I Hate Verizon” has more than 7,500.  They are the fifth most hated brand online according to Less Everything.  That’s at least 22,500 “people like me” who are influencing what I think of Verizon.  It’s going to take a lot of marketing consultants, a lake of cappuccino, and an unthinkable amount of smiley facey stock photography for me to ignore what they’re saying to swallow the corporate line.

Struggling to work out how to hold both the tick and the briefcase.

None of this has gone unnoticed by the clever people at Google.  Their unquenchable obsession for relevancy has meant that in recent years, on top of their regular search results they have more closely integrated local search, social search, video search and image search.

Performing well on Google over its first ten years required an ability to identify key phrases, and simulate popularity via inbound link building.  As Google’s big brother department gets its paws on more and more data related to what our customers actually think of us, our online reputation will have an increasing impact on our search engine performance.  Simply put, what our customers say about us on UGC platforms will be more important than the number of inbound links to your website.

It’s official, the days of running a second rate business and papering over the cracks with first rate marketing are over forever.

The good people of this country have embraced the cause and I do believe we are witnessing the first truly organic, citizen-driven, social media campaign in Northern Ireland.

The message that the Maiden City should be recognised for this prestigious honour has been championed by the people of Derry and beyond. They have taken their passion online and it appears to have gone viral.

Facebook users showed their support by changing their profile pictures to the Derry 2013 logo.

Then came the Tweeters. Twitter avatars adopted the same logo and last night a Derry blogger created a Derry City of Culture Twibbon, an icon overlaying the profile avatar.

With more fans than the other finalists, Facebook is alive with chatter about the cause and on Twitter the #derry2013 hashtag is being added to tweets. Others are registering their support on the Derry/Londonderry City of Culture website as well.

The Derry/Londonderry City of Culture 2013 bid is now in the hands of the people.

We wish Derry/Londonderry the best of luck in their endeavour to win the UK City of Culture 2013 bid. We hope our fellow citizens continue to show their support for the bid.

Is this civic explosion of passion the element needed to push Derry ahead of its competitors and win the bid?

Get involved…..

Change your Facebook or Twitter profile pic.

Add a Twibbon to your Twitter avatar.

Add this badge to your website.

Register your support on the Derry/Londonderry City of Culture website.

Signposts To Clutter

“Sign Up To Our YouTube Channel” or “Join Us On Flickr” are often signposts on the homepage of our websites.  They are pointers telling customers that there is better content on someone else’s site – just not here.   In many cases these signposts should say “Go Here For Uncoordinated Video and Image Content”.

When we arrive at most of these channels the reality is that the content is out of context and meaningless.  Often the channel has few subscribers and the content viewed count low.  Out of context content is practically useless to the reader and distracts from their task in hand.  So why do we insist on putting these badges of dishonour on our sites inviting readers to sift through our non-task related content?

Our costly and well produced videos or pictures look great and mean a lot to us, that’s why we commissioned them.  It serves a purpose in our stories, messages and explanations while in context as part of a web journey.  Too often we forget that the majority of readers are on our site for a purpose, to solve a problem they may have or find the answer to a question. Pushing readers to content that is without context or answers their particular problem only serves as an irritant.

YouTube and Flickr have their function in many web strategies but for most they are simply broadcast tools allowing you to stream video and photography into your website. Isn’t it time that we put as much effort into paying attention to our customers information requirements as we speed on trying to get their attention in the first place?

Erinn McKeown not barbershop kid

A young boy enters a barbershop and the barber whispers to his customer, “This is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you.”

The barber puts £5 note in one hand and a £1 coin in the other, then calls the boy over and asks, “Which do you want, son?” The boy takes the £1 coin and leaves. “What did I tell you?” said the barber. “That kid never learns!”

Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the ice cream shop. “Hey, son! May I ask you a question? Why did you take the £1 instead of the fiver?” The boy licked his cone and replied, “Because the day I take the fiver, the game is over!”

If we use social media to shout our advertising message it is the same as accepting the £5 note.  We may see a short gain but we loose the prospect of ever tasting the ice cream in the future.  Creating the right online social media strategy is a hot topic for many orginisations right now.  Follow the young kids plan by playing the long game, refrain from taking the obvious route.