Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Digital influence - can you afford to ignore it?

A lot of companies have realised that they need a website and even use it as a channel for selling/publishing. But how many companies actually understand influence online?

Well....I've come to realise, perhaps not many.

Customers now participate online and enter into dialogue about companies & brands with others. They only involve the actual product owners when either that company gets involved positively (such as participating in discussions, etc.) or negatively (e.g. when 'cease & desist' notices get delivered).

Surely its agencies or consultants and not companies/brands that drive a lot of online engagement models? It also makes sense for the specialist to... errr... specialise in this sort of thing. Online is still quite mysterious to a lot of tradional marketers or internal corporate PR people, who have been trained in traditional methods or gained their experience in that way... so far. But for how long can they afford to ignore it?

Oh, and if your agency isn't cutting it, don't fire them immediately.

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