INGRID RILEY

On Living and Doing Business in the Digital Age and all of the ideas and trends in between

From the Traditional to the Digital..change your mindset to win with your customers.

Posted on | July 25, 2010 | 3 Comments

Traditional companies and people who’ve been in business for a while can’t seem to wrap their heads around the fact that,they don’t control the message of their brand anymore, that it’s their fans and consumers who do. I’ve been saying it for a while in workshops and client meetings and will say it again here. The Customer is in Control. The Customer has more Choices than every before, so you need to listen to them so they can tell you how you can attract and retain their attention, get their cash and recommendations. Traditional companies need to now understand that’s it’s how you respond to it all, is what matters.

So stop asking me, other social media strategists and agencies to make your video go viral and get  a million hits in 60 days ( yes people still use the word hits when we moved on to views and unique viewers years ago). How about asking yourself, WHY do you want a million views and WHAT will it mean when you do? How about asking yourself if your video could be classified as great content that will engage the audience you are targeting. Note the phrases ” great content” and “targeting.”

Please stop asking me why the 3 page spread you got in that newspaper that has a circulation of 1.7 million people, didn’t translate into you getting 1 million new Facebook fans for your brand. Usain Bolt got his world records in front of a worldwide audience of just under a billion people, yet he “only” has about 3 million Facebook Fans. So I guess he “failed” right? Lol.

And beg you do, stop expecting that if you pay to have your brand new artiste’s video on a pay-for-play chart, that fans through repetition overkill, will instantly love and crave them and instantly want to pay money to download their music or see them at the next concert. Plus Payola is so 80s/90s, doesn’t work anymore and clearly you missed the memo – the music industry has been in a hell hole because of jackass tactics like that.

That’s not the way things work now and no, we’re never going back to those halcyon days of yours. Thank God!

Welcome to the age of quality content, quality products, quality service, caring about your customers, building relationships with them, listening more than you talk, responding in a timely manner to their needs and their feedback. It is the age of transparency, authenticity and building trust with all of that. Consumers want to touch and feel your brand, they want you to listen to them. And yes it’s so much more work than sitting and spitting out meaningless mass market messages and hoping something sticks, then getting a well fed focus group to prove you right.

So if all you still care about, is to push what you have to sell, to score big numbers and see how you can manipulate this social media “thing”, this digital space thing- because you’re still in a traditional mass marketing mindset – then you are already becoming irrelevant, you headed for the loser’s circle. Good luck !

Category: Thoughts
Tags: >

Comments

3 Responses to “From the Traditional to the Digital..change your mindset to win with your customers.”

  1. David Mullings
    July 25th, 2010 @ 9:08 pm

    Spot on Ingrid.

    Too many people are yet to make the transition to the digital age thinking and unfortunately they often control the purse strings as well.

  2. Tweets that mention From the Traditional to the Digital..change your mindset to win with your customers. : INGRID RILEY -- Topsy.com
    July 25th, 2010 @ 9:14 pm

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by davidmullings and Ingrid Riley, Ingrid Riley. Ingrid Riley said: Fresh Post: From the Traditional to the Digital..change your mindset to win with your customers. http://bit.ly/cVskA3 [...]

  3. ingridjm
    July 26th, 2010 @ 12:27 am

    Yes David, it’s such a process for us the practitioners, which is why it is important to be selective in choosing which clients to work with.

Leave a Reply








  • My company ConnectiMass is a digital communications company focused on Marketing, Media and Events for tech companies, tech products, services and initiatives. Our Mission is to facilitate and partner with the next generation of Digital movers and shakers who through their innovations and businesses will put a dent in the universe.

  • Kingston BETA


    Our Bimonthly meetup that brings together Jamaican/Caribbean entrepreneurs, developers, designers,tech professionals and those aspiring, To Learn. Be Inspired. To Network.

  • Caribbean BETA


    Our annual Caribbean Tech Entrepreneurship Conference

  • Silicon Caribe


    Our award-winning Caribbean Technology Blog

  • Archives