Are You Ready to Rock?
Rock stars are, in actuality, fantastic marketers. According to Mack Collier, in a recent post at The Viral Garden, "[M]usicians do such an amazing job of exciting the people that buy their music, and turning them into fans." If your company has an inner Gwen Stefani just begging to break out, here are a couple steps Collier suggests you can take:
Think of your customers as a community to which you belong. Tori Amos fills front rows and interacts with her fans throughout her energetic performances. She makes it clear she's one of them. In the business world, Collier points to Willie Davidson of Harley-Davidson, who conducts in-the-trenches market research by hitting the open road with enthusiasts. "Since the company is participating in the customers' community," writes Collier, "they better understand their customers, and as a result market to them more effectively."
Align your perceptions of a product or service with those of your customers. Rock stars see themselves as cool—and so do their fans, who become cool by association. When the iPhone launched, there were long lines at Apple stores although the item was easily obtained at any (less fashionable) Cingular/AT&T store. As Collier explains, "But it was 'cool' to stand in line to wait for an iPhone at the Apple store. Apple thinks the iPhone is cool, and Apple's customers agree."
The Po!nt: "Marketing doesn't have to be viewed as just a necessary business function, but instead could be seen as a way to excite your customers into becoming fans," writes Collier. "Besides, don't we all really want to be rock stars?"
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