Do you crave the human touch? Prefer live bodies to tweets?
Pandora rocks, right? Doesn't everyone love www.Pandora.com? My students don't listen to the radio anymore. I asked them "how do you find out about new music"? The answer was Pandora. It's also one of the most popular smart phone apps. It's a genius music application which fascinates me. Mapping music DNA. How to begin to do that? An article from the Wall Street Journal's Magazine which came out Saturday (March 2010) had an interview with Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora which answered how they map music DNA. The tiny little blurb that caught my attention was this:
"With increasing technology, people will actually go to concerts more than ever. The irony of technology is you become on one hand more connected, on the other hand more disconnected. People are going to yearn for that real live human engagement."
My friend, Jim Matorin, will LOVE that quote. Technology is fabulous for connecting, reconnecting, & keeping in touch. But can you build a relationship from technology? THAT can be debated. I keep in touch with friends through email and Facebook. But I knew them, personally, live, flesh and blood, first. The relationship was crafted and technology helps me stay in touch. Think: Would Lagy Gaga be all the rage by music only without her personality and character?
Marketers shouldn't forget this lesson. The best way to develop a relationship is from personal contact. Use technology to stay top-of-mind and build word-of-mouth. B2B marketers should have a leg-up here given the importance of sales and client service.
Another case in point: Marketing Charts recently published information that 'Consumers Don't Strongly Identify with Brands' (anymore). Scary and surprising is that retailer lead the pack of brands consumers don't trust. Surprising to me is that retailers have physical people in stores able to make connections. And they are not doing it well.
More on this topic to come. I'm providing the reminder to not loose sight of personal connections, face to face. Hugs and kisses.
Let me know what you think.
Jackie
"With increasing technology, people will actually go to concerts more than ever. The irony of technology is you become on one hand more connected, on the other hand more disconnected. People are going to yearn for that real live human engagement."
My friend, Jim Matorin, will LOVE that quote. Technology is fabulous for connecting, reconnecting, & keeping in touch. But can you build a relationship from technology? THAT can be debated. I keep in touch with friends through email and Facebook. But I knew them, personally, live, flesh and blood, first. The relationship was crafted and technology helps me stay in touch. Think: Would Lagy Gaga be all the rage by music only without her personality and character?
Marketers shouldn't forget this lesson. The best way to develop a relationship is from personal contact. Use technology to stay top-of-mind and build word-of-mouth. B2B marketers should have a leg-up here given the importance of sales and client service.
Another case in point: Marketing Charts recently published information that 'Consumers Don't Strongly Identify with Brands' (anymore). Scary and surprising is that retailer lead the pack of brands consumers don't trust. Surprising to me is that retailers have physical people in stores able to make connections. And they are not doing it well.
More on this topic to come. I'm providing the reminder to not loose sight of personal connections, face to face. Hugs and kisses.
Let me know what you think.
Jackie
Posted by Jackie Kuehl at 3/16/2010 8:36 AM 
Categories: marketing tips, strategies, social media
Tags: brand marketing B2B marketing relationship marketing Pandora
Categories: marketing tips, strategies, social media
Tags: brand marketing B2B marketing relationship marketing Pandora
You are dead on, Jackie. Technology is fabulous, but one must remember that the real magic lies in a BLEND of High Tech/High Touch (shades of John Naisbitt and his Megatrends from 1988!); and in homage to Marshall McLuhan's "The Medium is the Message" from 1964, the medium IS the message: How it is delivered is as important as its content. How brilliant were these two thought leaders? These are concepts that should be revisited and explored to develop the right mix of mass customization with a sense of interpersonal contact. Its no surprise that despite advances in data and information access thru the web, that live on-site conferences have had a resurgence in participation. People crave the interaction. You nailed it.
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Dude.. I am not much into reading, but somehow I got to read lots of articles on your blog. Its amazing how interesting it is for me to visit you very often.
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Technology has always given us more efficient and easier-to-use tools for communicating and building relationships--from stone tablets to Twitter! Some in-person contact though remains the most crucial factor in creating and maintaining our most meaningful business and personal connections. The challenge: Strategically choosing, subject to constraints, the right options at the best times to maximize the benefits we want from specific relationships.
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This is possible by only god to crave the human body
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Just returned from a conference and again further validated that there is no substitution for one on one interaction, but candidly after looking at the business cards I collected, I realized that the numbers will be similiar to what I experience via LinkedIn in terms of who I really connect with. Why? People aren't really listening to each other these days. Everyone is so wired on their own business agenda. I was also amazed that the new booth duty facilitates sales people on their crackberry tapping away vs. connecting with potential customers passing by. My conclusion: the concept of connecting is morphing, but I will continue doing it the classic way which starts with an in depth conversation, listening is key.
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Thanks for this reminder! I had an interesting conversation with Jonathan Baskin yesterday (blogger, author and weekly writer for Ad Age CMO Strategy) his premise is all of this whizbangery is all for naught unless we have the basics and fundamentals of the customer and brand relationship right. I really liked this article (http://bit.ly/aD7zYj) about why surrendering your brand to social media conversations doesn't mean surrendering.
Best,
Parissa Behnia
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Right on, Jackie. I remember when Tom Peters first talked about the concept of hi tech and hi touch. The more we use one, the more we need the other. Those ideas have never gone out of style. Human beings are social creatures. Technology is a tool, a very powerful one, at that. It is not a substitution for face to face.
Notice how happy people are when they finally meet "in person" after having connected on Facebook or Linkedin? Why is that so? Goes to reinforce human interaction, emotions, and sharing our stories and experiences.
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Hey Jackie,
Reading this makes me feel normal!!! Thank you -
With all the "Social Media" that I am using/learning and utilizing to keep touch and reach out, I'm straining to "feel" the client. In the past year I have been flat out told to stay away, because clients only wanted to work through email or social media. I like to interact, to find out what somebody wants through face to face communication. It seems that may make me old school. Your article was right on - USing the newer techno tools is perfect for pre-existing relationships. Establishing them however is another side of it all. I do know plenty of folks that have gained much success. Only time will tell.
Thanks Jackie - Ciao'
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Hey goo marketing strategies this will really help us to capture the market at the fast speed also meeting the needs of the consumers...thanks a lot...keep on posting such article ...great work...
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Consumers are not totally aware about the product information the best strategy for the marketers is to advertise the product in such a way that the consumer need the product so the consumer is satisfied and marketer can definitely earn their profit.
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Yes I agree pandora rocks as well as your site....Its a great idea of using technology for marketing purpose...Thank for posting...
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Hey there listerners, how u doing? I am tuned to Life Radio 99.5fm load and clear in NY on my vacation.. Continue the good work and look forward to being in yr company again.. Love Karen
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Hi. Really Nice job. I did not expect this until now. This is a great story.
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If you can't beat em, join em
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