11-27-2006, 10:27 AM
Quote:t would be easy to look at your latest online display ad report and come to the conclusion that many people simply dont want a deeper relationship with your company. However, the opposite is usually true. In the age of big box stores and marketing strategies that keep customers at a polite distance, people crave the type of business relationships of yesteryear, where they had special relationships with the companies from which they bought things. We crave "Mom and Pop-ness," but find few successful marketers that have the time or inclination to celebrate our enthusiasm for brands and products.
We want to hack the ivory tower, deliberately avoiding the mechanisms companies set up to keep us at arms length. We feel special when our enthusiasm, criticism and importance to a companys business is acknowledged and celebrated. Some companies are realizing this, and theyre setting up scalable ways of speaking directly to the market through the internet.
Along with these new programs comes the realization that this direct dialogue is critical. Customers expect it, and prospects are looking for it, too, particularly when theyre in a business relationship theyre unhappy with...
full article: http://imediaconnection.com/content/12540.asp