Jeff Jarvis has come up with an interesting idea about advertising. He argues that ideally there should be no need to advertise as people should love the product so much they rave about it to their peers and thus promote sales. Advertising, he suggests, points out that the direct relationship has broken down somehow.
http://www.buzzmachine.com/2009/05/30/advertising-as-failure/
I think there is an element of truth in what Jarvis is saying particularly in an online context. Some companies seem to have already given up on entering into conversations with their customers online. They just allow complaints to carry on without saying anything. They feel they cannot change anything. Why are they so pessimistic? So instead they resort to ads to try to blast the message out that everything is alright really but if it is in effect just brash make- up on a pig then it ain't going to work. And people will continue to trash the company's reputation online. Motto of the story is listen to what your customers are saying online, involve them in your products, take their criticisms on board, collaborate with them and then you are more likely to be successful. Your customers will do the advertising for you by word of mouth.
www.itsopen.co.uk
