Changing Times
Escapable Logic blog, Britt Blaser's post, The Packets Kept Flowing, "...so why the breathless amazement? The Economist's cover story last week broke the news that the Internet is now officially the vehicle for customer decision making:" "Media choice has exploded, and consumers select what they want from a far greater variety of sources–especially with a few clicks of a computer mouse. Thanks to the Internet, the consumer is finally seizing power."
Anyway, Mr. Blaser writes about a new business model with authority. " The Economist's point is illustrated by a virtual company in a field I know a lot about, performing miracles that should be literally impossible. I've been an audio geek forever. Perpetual Technologies' business, you discover at AV123.com, is a shopping cart wrapped around a discussion forum... a stero manufacturer that is "selling a 40 foot container of high value gear every week" over the net.
So, you have a net-based business that actually listens and interacts with people in a real voice using community forums. The owner, ..."and his small staff commune with the customers intermittently, while the customers commune with each other 24/7/365."
Church of the Customer, "Creating sustainable word of the mouth", Ben McConnell writes, "Long-term, sustainable word of mouth that translates into recognizable revenue growth results when organizations focus on giving their evangelists reasons to spread their individual doctrines of emotional connection or ownership." I believe that a business will do well with "word of mouth" when they open up, speak with a real voice, and provide real value.
On BusinessPundit Strategy, Ron muses over "Open Source Business and ask, "Can a company be entirely open about it's strategy and still be #1 in a market? Could upper management blog each day about decisions they have made and still run a good company?"
With a different twist, Infineon tries to turn their external blog inwards.
[Sponsor Watch] InfineonWatch tries to draw internal and external audiences in a novel approach to corporate communications - Infineon Technologies, a founding sponsor of SiliconValley Watcher, is doing some interesting things at InfineonWatch.com. Today, it began to promote the site internally, hoping to... [silicon valley watcher]
