Tom Asacker

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Are you confused?

Here are just a few of the tweets and email headlines, which have appeared in my very limited stream during the past 8 hours.  There are many, many more where those came from, and I haven't even considered my RSS feed:

• Consumers Only Want Green Cars If They Are Superior in Every Possible Way
• Recalls haven't affected Toyota's brand image with its customers
• Facebook is preparing a location-based feature it hopes to launch next month at f8
• 17 Terrific Tactics to Inspire Customer Love (and Get New Business)
• Affluent shoppers not buying into social media
• 6 Keys to Creating Customer Connection: Who, What, Where, When, Why and How
• When Best-Practices Aren't: Five Ways to Break the Rules of Email Marketing and Still Win
• 11 unbreakable rules for corporate Twitter users
• How do you know whether your company is doing well?
• Consumers shift focus from watch to wallet
• For retailers, green is the new black this spring
• Are you ready for your next brand crisis?
• What's your business referral idea? Share it here
• Why advertising needs behavioral economics
• Content Strategy: Secret to Writing for Buyers Consideration Phase
• CMOs Guide to Social media

So, it's official.  The answer to every possible question about the marketplace is a click away and free to one and all.  The internet is choked with information and advice.  Who is doing what and why.  What works and what doesn't.  Trends and predictions.  10 steps to this, 6 keys to that, how to, how not to, when to, whether to, and on and on and on.

Unfortunately, no one knows anything.  So unless your mind is "strong enough to bear the weight of its ignorance [Emile Durkheim]," filling your head with all of this noise will only confuse you (or confuse you more).

You can't learn to play baseball by reading books and blogs about baseball.  And you can't succeed in the rapidly evolving 21st century marketplace by choking down information about the marketplace. 

You learn by being with the people you're hoping to attract and serve.  You get insights by finding their feelings deep inside of yourself.  You succeed by crusading and experimenting for them, to add comfort, excitement and meaning to their lives.

If and when you find yourself confused, get out of your office. Leave your store. Step away from the factory. Turn off your computer.  Heaven forbid, power off your cell phone.  Then saturate yourself and your ideas into their daily grind.

The answers are not here.  They're out there.

Posted March 9, 2010
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