In a great interview with the Marketer magazine, Kevin Roberts of Saatchi and Saatchi, talks about the need for “lovemarks” – or emotional connectivity with customers. He asserts that business is not B2B or B2C, but that it is a people business. Small business owners may not have the option of scale or price but can gain an edge over the competition by having a strong relationship with customers. Creating an emotional bond with customers places a business apart from its competitors and enables them to cultivate huge customer loyalty.
Marketers help facilitate such differentiation. They bring ideas and innovation which allow a business to be seen as different from the rest. Companies need to involve their customers in what they are doing. It is no longer a question of vying for attention trying to break through the “noise” of the market. It is a question of connecting with customers to the extent that they forward things that they like onto their friends, that they write testimonials and recommend you to others. In essence, if you don’t have a mouthpiece to engage with your followers, your “tribe”, you are more likely to fail in winning new customers .
In today’s economy one person can pass messages from one source to many people through the myriad of social networking opportunities, or from the many to the many through viral marketing activities. Old fashioned marketing activity will not survive in this participation cauldron.
Read more about Kevin Roberts vision here