As I was watching the women’s mogul skiing competition at the Winter Olympics on Saturday, I saw how they bounced down the moguls, taking great care to maintain the correct form. Then they would flip head over heels with in layout positions or skis crossed or spin 360º, only to land and ski through more bumps. I thought about how companies struggle to integrate digital media solutions into a 360º interaction with customers. What do I mean by this? I’m thinking about how companies reach out to their customers or business partners via their website, press releases, events, in-person or online training or customer support. There are new solutions for managing your access to or accessibility by customers, emerging every day.
Does digital media make this easier? Harder? Or just more confusing? Hopefully it makes it easier, but it does require some thinking on several topics. First, think about who your customers are and how they prefer to consume content. While face to face meetings are always preferred, depending on the information being shared it can be equally effective, and less costly, to reach a geographically dispersed or broad range of customers through live and on-demand webinars. What level of interaction do they prefer? While some webinar solution allow for instant messaging or audio interaction, others don’t. Or, perhaps a webinar is too broad and complementing in person meetings with video conferencing makes more sense.
Second, think about the kind of information you are sharing. We have been in the mode of pushing content, through formal, relatively static channels, to our customer and business partners. With the variety of solutions now available, we are increasingly sharing content in a more casual manner. How can the information being shared be best presented? A simple, concise press release can inform a very wide audience, but does not allow for interaction. On the other hand, using social networking platforms, to reinforce the press release and listen for feedback, does enable interaction. The goal is to strike a balance across the variety of communication channels.
Simplistically, you can consider the following
- How do you connect with your customers and partners? Who and where are they? Where are your competitors and how are they connecting? How does each element of a communication strategy enable you to connect or collaborate more effectively? Think about developing a strategy to allow your customers or partners to get a 360º perspective of your business. In return, you will gain a 360º view of your customers and their needs.
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What’s your perspective?
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