People Run from Giant Robots
July 22, 2008 in General Information
Your marketing needs to have a human voice. Or, to put it another way, your marketing must have a human voice!
Don’t spool out the “Marketing Department Approved” corporate answer to a negative post or review. When the robots come out to speak the pre-recorded gobbledy-gook, people run. Or point and stare.
Speak with a human voice
For that matter, don’t send a form letter to someone who takes the time to write about (or to) you and your business in a positive way. Be a real person. Make a sincere contribution to the conversation.
Because a conversation is a two-way interaction, you get to put something in, and you get to take something out. The robots just push the answers out to the masses, and who cares if these are the answers that the people are looking for. They are the answers that the robots like, and don’t make the robot’s jobs any harder.
It is hard work
That is the dirty secret of marketing, and especially for Word of Mouth. It’s easy for someone to angrily attack a faceless corporation — but when Daria or Natalie replies there is a name, a human name. The anger gets a chance to dissipate, the argument gets a chance to transform. It can turn into a discussion.
You have to take the first step, and let the angry (or disappointed or whatever) customer tell you what is really bothering them. Then fix it, not to your satisfaction, to theirs. You will have to work harder, at first. But keep in mind that the conversation will transform your business and make it easier. Make it more successful.
Give you more time for fishin’. Give your customers a reason to write something like this [link].
