Learning is Not Compulsory

I’m reading Seth Godin’s new book, Meatball Sundae, and I am seeing some similar themes as outlined in Oren Harrari’s  book, Break from the Pack.  Both illustrate that in the new marketplace, you must  not  only differentiate your offering, you must also differentiate the delivery of your message. 

    

    

As the customer becomes bombarded with messages through email, social media and a multitude of websites, you need to generate creative marketing messages in order to stand out.  Godin explains that “innovations have not only created new ways to spread ideas, but have also made some of the old ways far less effective.”

    

    

As we try to adjust our message to be relevant in this changing medium, Harari warns that we run the risk of simply being a “me too” and fail to truly differentiate ourselves in not only how we promote our message, but also in the substance of what we have to offer.  He believes that delivering both good service and good products is not enough. 

    

    

The business environment today is one of websites and drop-ship (3^rd party logistics) networks.  The guy down the street, who runs a business out of his basement, is competing with the big players.  From the customer’s point of view, they can’t tell a difference.  If the guy down the street has a sister-in-law or cousin who is a website designer, your company (as it lumbers through its monthly “go-to-market” process) could actually be at a distinct disadvantage.

    

    

Who doesn’t offer Free Shipping? 

 

         

         

Who doesn’t deliver in 2-3 working days (if not next day)? 

 

    

         

      

    

Who doesn’t claim to have a 100% Guarantee?

      

   

    

      

Web 2.0

    

    

Every time I read someone’s blog or listen to a webinar, I hear of the importance of driving the web 2.0 experience.  As web merchants, not only do we struggle to keep the product data accurate and meaningful, create promotions that resonate with our customers and ensure the day-to-day activities of our websites are under control, now we must provide a fuller, richer customer experience.

    

    

Streaming media, customer reviews and blogs are quickly changing from being differentiators to simply being the cost of doing business.  In the last five years, we have stopped being “broad-line retailers” and started being “long-tail e-tailers”.  Now we must take the same steps with our marketing message. In order to compete, we must embrace the emerging social and rich media in order to ensure our message is heard.

    

    

The well known quality guru, W. Edwards Deming, once said "Learning is not compulsory . . . neither is survival."  What survival techniques are you learning in order to compete in today's Web 2.0 environment?

    

      

Until next time,

    

    

Dan