Technology: The Relationship Accelerator
 | The speed at which technology is bringing people and companies together continually amazes me. It is difficult to imagine what the world was like just a decade or so ago, without the many online resources we now count on every day (and take for granted). Let's take Google as an example. Now it is the gateway for finding and establishing relationships. The ability to find answers, identify resources and get solutions can happen in just moments. And Google simplified the process so it is accessible to anyone with even the most basic computer skills. Perhaps that's why so many companies we deal with at Oxiem have found the web their most effective and efficient means of connecting with customers and advocates. Then there's the ability to collaborate almost effortlessly. Here's an amazing example. A few weeks ago we received a call from a company in Paris who wanted our help in branding an amazing consumer product for the U.S. market. Using everyday business tools - GoToMeeting, InDesign, Illustrator and other common resources - we were able to create a stunning brand concept in just days. A collaboration between the Paris Industrial Designer, Harvard business enterprise, Chicago sales representative and the production houses. I cannot imagine this happening in this short a period of time just a decade ago. Now there's "people". We meet, get to know each other and share our thoughts and images online. Whether it's "following" each other on Twitter, posting pictures on Flickr, keeping up with each other's lives on Facebook or communicating our views on a Wordpress blog. And it's also something savvy marketers are tapping into through social media programs. Although the business benefit is still relatively unproven, companies intuitively understand that when they engage in social media or influencer marketing, they are establishing an important business practice and creating a foundation in the online world. So what does all this mean? It simply means that companies need to understand, embrace and build their competence as marketers that embrace the web as an environment for marketing and exchange. Many senior level managers (even at large organizations) still hold to convention, all the while the world is doing things differently. One typical example is the President of a company who walks into the Marketing Director's office holding a full page ad from a competitor saying "how will we respond", all the while what is happening "unseen" in the online environment is doing much more damage to their business. Change is evident in the rapid decline of newspapers and splintering decline of TV as a medium for the emerging generation of future customers. Simply put, I believe today's most efficient, agile and accountable marketing efforts are happening online. Now is the time for companies not to just refine, but re-think how they go to market. |
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