The Tendo View

From the highest levels of government to the world of corporate marketing, we’re seeing that transparency and accessibility may be the watch words for 2009. Last month, one of the first moves by the Obama administration was to increase government transparency, including a memo directing government agencies to “adopt a presumption in favor” of Freedom of Information Act requests. The president also hired a director of citizen participation, who will focus on moderating online forums and facilitating the administration’s dialogue with the public.

These two actions demonstrate the president’s commitment to transparency and accessibility, and highlight some differences between the Bush and Obama administrations. They also illustrate how the conversation between the government and the public is shifting, which reflects a trend in the corporate marketing world, too: We’re all tired of spin, and we can sniff it out with increasing ease. Trust is at a premium.

The old way, both in government and marketing, was a monologue–a stream of messages that spun the truth and interrupted our lives. The new approach is a dialogue in which consumers have more choice and can dismiss anything that smacks of a sales pitch. In a world in which conversational marketing trumps traditional marketing, what do corporate marketers need to know? Here are five things to keep in mind:

Interruption marketing is dead.

Just as DVRs allow us to watch TV shows when we want to watch them, we also buy things when we need them. Sure, we may need a reminder once in a while (say, in the form of an enticing email newsletter), but those reminders need to provide more than just coupons. As Joe Pulizzi explains in his book, Get Content. Get Customers., “Content marketing is about getting customers to invite you to interact with them. It’s about creating relationships that transcend transactions.” He cites as an example the viral videos on willitblend.com that drove up sales 400 percent in one year. These were not straightforward videos rattling off the merits of Blendtec products; instead, they were hilarious spots that you wanted to pass along to your friends.

Your customers are talking to each other about you.

Whether or not you join the conversation, it’s definitely happening online. Customers trust other customers’ opinions more than they trust your marketing message. MediaPost noted, for instance, that in 1977, 67 percent of people surveyed said they were motivated to take some sort of action because of “word-of-mouth” influence. By 2003 that number was 92 percent. The 2008 Edelman Trust Barometer indicated that 58 percent of respondents believe what “a person like me” says about an organization is a more credible source of company or product information than the company itself (or its product advertising). Joining the conversation by providing information of value will help you gain trust; joining it with spin, messaging, or a sales pitch will get you ignored.

Talk authentically and offer value.

At its core, conversational marketing is about forgoing jargon and company-speak and talking in a real voice that your customers can relate to and trust; this form of marketing offers useful information so that both parties benefit from the relationship. Last month I joined a webinar on social media and one auto executive on the call discussed a recent experience. He had engaged in an online dialogue with a woman whose son was paralyzed after an accident in one of his company’s vehicles. While he knew he wasn’t going to change her mind about the car, he treated her with respect, got more information about her situation, and listened. He cared enough to have a dialogue with her rather than defend his product, and that kind of message gets passed along. In addition to approaching conversations with authenticity, corporate marketers need to deliver content of value (and content that speaks to their customers’ needs) to gain the attention and trust of their audience. I might be interested in a hybrid car, but if the difference between Honda and Toyota is that the Honda website offers articles on the mechanics of hybrid technology, why maintenance matters, and case studies that tell me more about the customer experience, I’d gain more from a relationship with Honda than I would from a competitor that just tries to sell me.

Lose control to get a grip.

Marketers often have a hard time being conversational because it requires relinquishing some control over the message. But part of being successful at conversational marketing is allowing the conversation to develop a life of its own. This also separates the wheat from the chaff: If you don’t have a product or service worth selling, you can no longer hide (see point #2). That said, you don’t have to relinquish all control–consider blogs, for example. “Blogs represent the best chance for companies to inform the conversation,” said Richard Edelman, president and CEO of Edelman Public Relations, on Technorati. Though a recent Forrester report acknowledged that only 16 percent of adults surveyed trust corporate blogs, I suspect the number would be higher if corporate blogs focused less on spin and more on facts. With a blog, you can connect directly to your customers, you get valuable feedback, and you can humanize your company. Sure, you can’t–and shouldn’t–control every posted comment, but by engaging in a real dialogue, you can build trust.

Marketing is not a numbers game anymore.

While traditional marketing focused on volume and eyeballs, conversational marketing focuses on the quality of your dialogue–and showing up for the dialogue in the first place. Whether you’re talking to 60 people who follow a specific blogger or a Twitter community, you have to pay attention. Find out what conversations are going on out there. You can start with a basic tool like Google Alerts to help you get clued in–and then figure out to what extent you’re going to get involved in the dialogue.

The bottom line is that engaging in a conversation with your customers requires you to rethink your entire approach to marketing, from outbound monologue to full engagement. Building trust requires you to offer information and content of value rather than a message that interrupts your customers on their way to finding what they want. If you spend more time understanding customer needs and interacting authentically, you’ll earn your audience’s trust. And today, trust drives preference and transactions.