Gerry Gaffney, Information & Design - "Too
much webspace is conceived in the marketing department, built in the lab,
approved in the boardroom, and inflicted on the 'target market', with never
a glance or thought for the human at the other end."
The
authors and supporters of the 95 point “Cluetrain Manifesto” feel it is important
to point out to businesses that the Internet is not a medium for the use
of traditional Mass Media Advertising techniques and hype. The one-to-many
communication model fails on the web because the buyer is not passive.
Theses #25. Companies need to come down from their
Ivory Towers and talk to the people with whom they hope to create relationships.
Mike Robinson states, “. . . It's time to realize,
my demographics do not equal me. Get to know me. Let me get to know you, and
we can help each other."
The
new medium reverses the marketing relationship to a many-to-one communication
model where the buyer is in control of the interaction and will click
away in a heartbeat to explore one of the other 5000 sites their search returned
if your web presence does not speak to the individual.
Theses #34 to #40.
To speak with a human voice, companies must share the concerns of
their communities.
But first, they must belong to a community.
Companies must ask themselves where their corporate cultures end.
If their cultures end before the community begins, they will have
no market.
Human communities are based on discourse—on human speech about human
concerns.
The community of discourse is
the market.
Companies that do not belong to a community of discourse will die.
"Examine
your rules, forms, policies, ethos. What possible relevance/benefits do they
have to me, your customer/partner? ( Tom
Williams, Chief Poobah, Messy Productions).
Recognizing
the human, coming to the realization that the Network is the People, not the
hardware, stupid . . . the content and the conversations are what matter.
It's about time that people woke up to the fact that mass media is going away.
Mass culture is being replaced by networked micro-cultures existing outside
of analog time and space. In a hyper-linked world, everyone is your next door
neighbor. (Sean Carton, Managing
Partner, Carton Donofrio Interactive)
The
web presence and the business must provide for meaningful communication
between the firm and the potential customer. The smart firms will become active
in helping their community, be responsive to e-mail, and even offer some other
personal services or interactive opportunity on their web site. By pleasing
the individual, the satisfied client will tell others in their community and
the business will become a partner in the hyper-linked world.
Essence
of the Web Presence Goal
"It's
about time that someone noticed how personal interaction is fueling the great
'Net successes. From Amazon's reader comments to Yahoo's find-it-yourself
freespace to eBay's hands-off but well-informed auctions (all now endangered
by traditional top-down marketing), the greatest commercial 'Net undertakings
are ones that understand that the customer is a peer and partner, not a puppet
or purchaser...." (Tom Davidson,
MRR, Wang Global)
"
. . . As we move forward into the world of e-business, the customer is transforming
the market from one of mass marketing to 'making meaning' -- creating personal
relevance. This manifesto understands that in the eyes of the consumer, e-business
is really 'Me-Business' -- my time, my place, my price, my way. Savvy organizations
that wish to lead in the future should pay attention to this statement --
or be roadkill!" (Loren Buhle, Consultant, PricewaterhouseCoopers)
Mark Patterson, Executive VP International
Operations, EOS International makes
the point I have always lived by and is the reason I have taken an active
part in closing the gap of the digital divide, “ . . . listening and responding
are the core of what we do. . . making money is not the goal but the result
-- the wake behind the ship.