MARKETING: In Defense of Free Speech (On the Part of Your Consumer).

The interaction that consumers now have today with advertisers — via web logs, shared videos and much more — should impart this lesson for all of us: you can't hide your head in the sand anymore.

The fact is, according to a fine essay in Marketing Management that NOISE thoroughly endorses, "marketing is not a one-way lecture anymore; it's a two-way conversation. Receipt of the (branding, advertising or public relations) message is no longer the endpoint of media communications; rather, it's the beginning of a reaction by those at the receiving end."

The essay goes on to point out that marketers who choose to ignore comments or criticism by their consumers are living in a fantasy world, and that any company that tries to stifle criticism will only engender more criticism and mistrust. Those customers are going to air those comments or criticisms anyway — so why not encourage them to interact with you, via your website or other customer touch points? — where you can control their diatribes or damage, and (ideally) turn a negative into a positive, gaining you the most valuable, positive word-of-mouth-or-keyboard customer of all (the one who receives "above and beyond" care and has had their underwhelming overwhelmed).

As the essay concludes, "the messages of every brand are now filtered and remade...from consumers as much as from competitors. New approaches to marketing communications are imperative. Marketers must learn to listen to others, not simply revel in hearing themselves talk."

Amen to that.

So marketers, look to your websites and customer service centers — and make it easy for your consumers to opine, while being prepared to respond positively.

SOURCE: Marketing Management, NOISE