Nano-Marketing

I picked this up the other day from the Wearesmarter website...Take it or leave it...Its what they've called 'We Spin': taking into account what your customers really want...
It links up with a recent article in the HBR On Point on how to turn customer input into innovation ...by asking customers for outcomes rather than solutions...ask them what they want a new product or solution to do for them. Thereafter the form the solution should take is up to the innovation specialists...The article quotes Dorothy Leonard (a Harvard Professor of Business Admin) on the Limitations of Listening and I'll quote her in turn : "How important is the voice of the customer ? Very. But discerning the difference between what customers are able to say and what they want, and then acting on those unspoken desires, demands that comanies learn to go beyond listening...."

• YOUR COMPANY IS INSIDE-OUT IN AN OUTSIDE-IN WORLD
  
  Translation: your customers, not you , now have the power. Ignore them at your peril.
  We Spin: your customers not only have the power, they have the answers. Learn from them, partner with them and the benefits will be many.
  
  
• YOUR COMPANY HAS A BAD WEB SITE
  Translation: of the 1,000 sites that Forrester has reviewed through it's proprietary screening process, only 3% pass muster. Most that fail do so because they are confusing, poorly designed or do a poor job at representing their brand .
  We Spin: Take Colony's recommendation a step further and let your customers help you redesign your site.
  
  
• YOU SHOULD BE ASKING YOUR CUSTOMER ONE QUESTION (for marketing professionals in particular)
  Translation: Throw away your old ways of surveying customers and ask them one vital question i.e. “Would you recommend this product or service to a friend or colleague?” The answer to that question will provide something called a "Net Promoter" score -- a tool many of today's most customer friendly companies like Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Intuit use to understand and improve satisfaction.
  We Spin: If your customers are willing to recommend you , give them a place to tell their friends i.e. in your community.
  
  
• YOU DON’T OWN YOUR CUSTOMER; YOUR CUSTOMER OWNS YOU
  Translation: Similar to Colony's first pearl of wisdom, the Internet and peer reviews have created complete transparency around products. If your products stink, people already know it and they'll tell other people.
  We Spin: Take a page out of Dell's play book (a case study featured in We Are Smarter) and create a feedback mechanism like their Ideastorm tool.
  
  
• BITS WANT TO BE FREE — BITS WANT TO BREAK THE LAW
  Translation: Digital assets belong in the public domain. You can try and control them but at the end of the day, netizens will will do with them what they want. Smart companies are figuring out ways to use digital assets (hello Youtube!) for viral marketing and brand building.
  We Spin: Communitize all of your digital assets. Your customers will give back to you in spades.
  
  
• GREAT MARKETING + GREAT TECHNOLOGY = THE ONLY WAY FORWARD
  Translation: Marketing and IT have not always "played nice" in the sandbox. In today's world, they must. Web 2.0 technologies are crossing deep into the marketers' worlds.
  We Spin: In a "we" world, everyone contributes. It doesn't matter if you 're a marketer, technologist, or communist. All opinions matter and everyone is