Listen more, react intelligently. Incorporate social media insights into your marketing. Hyundai responded to customer needs by using the Hyundai Think Tank to understand customer needs. Thanks to the Think Tank, Hyundai introduced a gas lock program promising consumers more efficient performance from their cars. And Hyundai sales grew during a recession. Meantime, Razorfish client Mercedes-Benz adapted its brand to stress innovation instead of the Mercedes-Benz heritage.
Target people, not statistics. Focus on consumer behaviors, not demographic data.
So what can marketers do today?
Adapt your approach to new ideas. Watch for, and be ready to adapt to, major groundswell events (like the emergence of Foursquare occurring now).
2. Adapt the roles of your team. Brand managers need to consider the role of brand advocates, or people who share your brand every day on multiple platforms and communities — invaluable sources of customer insight for the brand strategist.
3. Adapt your process. Plan iteratively and frequently. Don’t think of planning as a one-time process. Partner for creativity, not durability. Use predictive metrics in addition to descriptive ones.
4. Adapt your mix of media. Think in terms of owned media for the portable brand and paid media as a brand catalyst.
In summary . . . remember that customers always evolve. Be ready to innovate on their terms as CNN has done. And marketers need to change the pace at which we learn and adapt. We must constantly learn — and quickly.
