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People are finally realizing that their most powerful assets are not their buildings, bank accounts, or even technologies. It’s their relationships with their audiences. The problems arise when they try to be all things to all people.
Instead, they should develop a core attitude with their core audiences and be as many things as possible to them.
Conventional wisdom resists most attempts to develop a business concept around an attitude.
“We need a defensible position. We need to own a space in the customer’s mind.”
Unfortunately, that’s why more than half of the businesses on the Fortune 500 list when I was in college are no longer in business. They stuck to their knitting while their audiences moved on.
New and improved products and services will continue to appear at a mind-numbing rate. You'll never keep up as an outsider; by watching and reacting.
The future is about being an insider. It's about co-creating with - and for - a passionate subculture of like-minded people.
It's time to go deep and discover their hopes, dreams and concerns. And lead them and educate them to new value propositions, new possibilities, for their benefit and for yours.
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Tom is timely, thought provoking and all about the new brand vision packaged as a Seinfeld stand up. I went to school on his ideas.
Jeff Taylor, Founder, Monster.com and CEO, Eons.
Very interesting. Are you referring to brand extensions here or reinforcing relationships with core customers through communication and non-purchase (at least immediate) related activity.
I agree that now's the time to increase the focus on customer relationships. The tools and opportunities we've had at our fingertips have never been as great as they have now.
Posted by: Andy Wright | November 16, 2009 at 08:30 PM