Adaptive Path: The Long Wow

I just read a great article by by Brandon Schauer, President & Managing Director of Adaptive Path.

Here's a quick snip-it:

... Few companies consistently translate rich insights from their customers’ lives into new and better offerings. The few that do can achieve a Long Wow, continuously delivering wow moments and building a true, deep loyalty that transcends traditional loyalty programs...

I highly recommend you read the entire The Long Wow article.

Your brand has an online community ..... now what?

I’m pretty lucky to have the opportunity to meet with lots of different types of company’s and learn about their brand from the inside out. Creating a plan for the online community requires an intimate knowledge of how the business is setup. It could be likened to a nutritionist providing a client with a meal plan- there’s no use in prescribing food options that are hard to find at the local grocery store or tasty to the person who has to eat it.

A common mistake is to create a community strategy that doesn’t fit within the business framework. An online community needs to be an extension of existing systems and values. As much as I’d love to fit into a size 6 I know that I will never have the willpower or drive to work hard enough to achieve that goal. I could eat a raw food diet and workout for a few hours every day, but that isn’t realistic. Your community strategy needs to follow the same logic.

The first thing you need to think about is why you want an online community. What purpose is it serving your customers and your business?

Just like a diet, make choices based on the needs and not lofty ambitions that aren’t true to your natural way of doing things. Many businesses need ideas being generated by passionate brand advocates. Other businesses need to discuss pitfalls and challenges to improve their customer service. Some communities are open and public, but others are limited to private members. But regardless of the type of community they should be providing the business with insights and information.

Having an online community is not a one size fits all exercise. Every brand has unique requirements. And each social media platform has its own rules of engagement. Spend time thinking about the messages you need to communicate and where the right audience is located in order to positively receive these messages. Individual motivations are commonly dictated by where a person spends the majority of their time online. Although we’re speaking the same language we don’t all share the same vocabulary.

The way to attack your brand’s strategy for cultivating an online community is to break down barriers and provide the flexibility for users to define their own terms of use. A great example is Polyvore, a fashion portal that invites users to create their own ‘sets’. The barriers are broken down, in that, users can mix and match brands and products. Technically, the products within the sets are sold through different websites and if someone is inspired by a set they can’t buy it via Polyvore.

The genius is that users are able to merchandise products on their own terms. Most shopping portals try to be a print magazine defining the use and purpose of products using out-dated advertising methodology. The community doesn’t want to be sold to. The community wants to create, share, explore, build, compose and once they’re exhausted of mixing and matching they’re ready to make informed purchase choices.

Polyvore doesn’t need to worry about advertising because the entire platform is advertising. The community provide critical data informing brands about popularity and trends. Engagement is a metric that affects your bottom line because it provides a glimpse of your brands longevity. A community isn’t a gimmick – it’s a product. Analytics is information and information is power.

I'm now blogging on Tumblr!

Even though I enjoy blogging on blogger I'm a big fan of Tumblr and I've started a blog that focuses more on my consulting services. Blogger will still be the place where I share general musings and ideas, but Tumblr will outline how I can help businesses with their digital strategy.

Please check it out and share your feedback: http://customerexperiencestrategy.tumblr.com/

Defining Brand Experience

Lately, I’ve been researching the concept of ‘brand experience’. First off, what are we talking about when we intellectualise the notion that we can experience a brand?

According to the clever peeps at Wikipedia:

A brand can take many forms, including a name, sign, symbol, color combination or slogan. The word brand has evolved to encompass identity - it affects the personality of a product, company or service.

Brand experience isn't just the design; it's also the usability of a website, the intuitive functionality of a phone app or the approachability of customer service. Our perception as consumers is formed by how we’re able to interact with a brand.

The web is information tapas; a tasting menu for ideas. The function of a brand website is to provide the building blocks for a user to form an opinion about the brand. It is our internalised perception of a brand that motivates us to endorse it. No matter how convincingly an ad tries to persuade us when it comes to online we are in search of convenient information wrapped within an engaging environment.

So how does a brand create an experience? The answer is to get inside the head of the brand's biggest fan. We are defined by our actions. If the majority of your site’s returning visitors are heading to the same page(s) or entering specific terms into the search box the experience needs to reflect this behaviour. The most important expert on consumer behaviour is your site’s regular visitors. Listen to them by studying their actions.

Another element is the experience is the look and feel. Women tend to view the web as a service; while men typically interpret the web as a tool. How does your website represent both the male and female perspectives?

If a website doesn't live up to our expectations than our preception of the brand can become tarnished. As an example, Nike.com is a flash website that is sleek and stylish, but it doesn’t feel like a shopping website. Whereas, Zappos.com is not half as pretty, but it feels like both a service and a tool to use. If the only way to buy Nike shoes was on Nike.com the experience would need to change. But Nike.com doesn't exist to sell; it exists for fans to experience the brand.

Utilitarian shoppers are interested in e-tailing because of four specific attributes: convenience and accessibility, selection, availability of information and lack of sociality (Wolfinbarger and Gilly, 2001).

Most consumers' online purchase decision is based on their motivation and goals. I don’t think Nike.com exists to sell shoes. I believe it exists to promote the brand. The experience on Nike.com is all about exploration and appreciation of design. This is why it has the ability for users to design their own custom shoes, learn about shoe performance, get training tips and fantasise about how their lives might be different with a pair of Nike’s on their feet.

Compared with conventional utilitarian shopping motivations, the merit of hedonic motivation is experiential and emotional. The reason why hedonic consumers do shopping is not for physical objective but for the shopping process instead. (Huang Jen-Hung and Yang Yi-Chun 2010)

The purpose of the website is just as important as observing user behaviour. Many websites intend to be all things to all people and it’s not possible and could damage the brand.

Nike.com is able to remain focused on its goal of creating a unique brand experience because their products are sold through 3^rd party websites and their own bricks and mortar stores. Nike.com is all about the brand experience and not about buying shoes; however, there are a select few who are motivated by exclusivity and design. These consumers will take the risk of paying more because they are hardcore fans of the brand. But most consumers will look for the best price on eBay, Zappos or some other 3^rd party seller. Nike doesn’t care because the brand website is serving its purpose of engaging with its fans.

Online Community ROI

Occasionally I’m asked to explain what the purpose of social media is for individuals and businesses. Too often I’m greeted by sceptical views and a strong belief that social media encourages people to waste time. First of all, TV wastes time. Social media enables participation.

As Clay Skirky points out in Cognitive Surplus, “Someone born in 1960 has watched something like 50,000 hours of TV already, and may watch another 30,000 hours before she dies.”

Clearly, we have an excess of time. We are idle when taking the train to work. We are idle after dinner and once the kids are in bed. Despite our good intentions of maximizing our twilight years we tend to find other things to do rather than build that boat or write a novel. As much as we’d like to believe that we are all making the most of all of the hours in the day we do have some form of down time and it’s within this time that people chose to participate online.

The return on investment is the part that many businesses struggle to define. In meetings online community advocates are shouted at by finance to, “show me the money!” Top dogs want proof before business as usual gets derailed.

Here are a few quick facts to throw into your next presentation:

• Community users remain customers 50% longer than non-community users. (AT&T, 2002)
• 43% of support forums visits are in lieu of opening up a support case. (Cisco, 2004).
• Community users spend 54% more than non-community users (EBay, 2006)
• In customer support, live interaction costs 87% more per transaction on average than forums and other web self-service options. (ASP, 2002)
• Cost per interaction in customers support averages $12 via the contact center versus $0.25 via self-service options. (Forrester, 2006)
• Community users visit nine times more often than non-community users (McKInsey, 2000).
• Community users have four times as many page views as non-community users (McKInsey, 2000).
• 56% percent of online community members log in once a day or more (Annenberg, 2007)
• Customers report good experiences in forums more than twice as often as they do via calls or mail. (Jupiter, 2006)

Statistics provided by Bill Johnston

The simple truth is that consumers don’t want to be passive. We don’t buy something these days without doing a little research. We ask our friends and family what they recommend. We ask our co-workers and post on Facebook or forums. We have access to our own “experts” who know us better than any marketer. In a world overwrought with too many products and services competing for our attention we need more information as consumers to make informed decisions.

Image by Creating Passionate Users

The psychology of the consumer can no longer be assumed. How a product is used is not always how it’s advertised and the ROI of opening up a dialogue is discovering the true potential and reach of a commodity. Brand longevity is a result of faster processes to address customer service issues and quicker innovation. Customer loyalty is possible when brands are transparent and stop taking their customers for granted. By inviting consumers into the production space fewer advertising costs are incurred.

Think about how an online community could improve your business:

• How many customers do you lose because your current processes don’t allow you to respond fast enough?
• How much do you spend on advertising to new customers?
• What would change if you focused on empowering existing customers to spread the word instead of expensive TV or print campaigns?
• Can your community members answer customer’s questions for you?

Thinking about becoming an online moderator? Are you ready for parenthood?

There are all kinds of excellent resources out there about community moderation, but the absolute best practice is effective parenting. Both kids and community members need to know where their limits are in terms of their behaviour. Rules make us feel safe. As much as we like to think all we want is freedom the limitless unknown doesn’t bring out the best in most people.

The role of a moderator is not to spend their time hunting down every instance of bad behaviour. Just like the role of a good parent isn’t to monitor their children 24/7. The best way to teach is to lead by example. When a person is micro-managed they learn that they aren’t perceived to be capable of making good decisions. Consequently a person who is suppressed from forming their own better judgement hasn’t any.

Modelling is by far the best way to lead a community. Instead of focusing all the moderation time on tracking down rule-breakers look for the best examples of community participation. Spend your time reinforcing these members and rewarding their contributions. The more you push forward good behaviour the less reward there is for members to abuse the community. Just like teaching a toddler not to throw a fit community members need to learn the right way to voice their frustrations.

Time-outs are effective. The time to intervene is when negative behaviour affects you personally. Only when a child’s problem becomes a parent’s problem should they get involved. Members need to learn how to manage issues on their own and shouldn’t be encouraged to report abuse instead of speaking up for themselves. If a child hits another child it’s important for a parent not to take on the anger or emotion of the victim. Instead hitting should be discussed and use leading questions to allow the child to reach their own decisions about how to react. By reacting on behalf of the child a parent is taking the child’s ability to think for themselves away from them. No one learns from lectures or emotional reactions. We all learn best when able to form our own opinions through supportive guidance.

We guide and lead as moderators. We’re not a Gestapo or private police force. Raising responsible kids who are considerate and thoughtful isn’t hard when parents get out of the way and let kids learn from their mistakes. Swooping in to rescue members doesn’t teach them how to take care of themselves and moderators waste too much time solving other people’s problems. Managing an online community is extremely rewarding – just like being a parent, but the value isn’t from how strictly you enforce the rules. The value is from enabling empowered individuals with common values to work together to solve problems for themselves.

Your Community Manager is an Artist: Let’s Celebrate CMAD

January 24^th, was Community Management Appreciation Day (otherwise known as CMAD). It’s a new role in many companies and there isn’t lots of information out there about best practice, etc. Many companies hide their online community team for fear of disgruntled customers pulling a Travis Bickle. (I’ve never heard of anything like that happening, but it seems to be a common ‘security’ measure.) So it’s really important to celebrate these vital individuals who are commonly unseen.

An interesting thing about being a community manager, or a moderator, is that every company views this role in their own unique way. A community manager might be a part of the marketing or PR team at one company and a part of the customer service team at another. Jeremiah Owyang has created a great post about the corporate view of a community manager.

In truth, the community manager is neither marketing nor customer service. The community manager is something entirely unique from traditional departments. I believe that the community manager is a storyteller and an artist. A storyteller who understands how to lead groups of people down a common thought. An artist who inspires people to participate and share their own content.

If the community manager is to sit in any particular department it should be within an innovation team. Thought leadership is very important because too often the tools cripple an online community to reach greater heights. It’s sometimes hard to see the dollars and cents behind registered users the tools provided are minimal and horrible to use. Businesses are thinking, “now that I have an email address I can push products and potentially sell something”- wrong. This assumes that you know what the registered user wants, but in actuality; the registered user is a guide to brand longevity.

For a community to work there has to be a purpose for it, i.e. cultivating trust (sharing personal information), collaborating on editorial content, creating a tool, designing products, brainstorming ways to improve software, sell something, etc. The community manager’s job is to spot the top contributors and give them support. To build new chapters of the story which inspires members to flesh out details and develop the plot.

When regular users get bored of the same old conversation things turn negative quite fast. Regular members need another layer of engagement. Too often the loudest and most negative members end up sucking all of the energy and inspiration out the community. The focus gets lost in the reports of bad behaviour, spam and negative feedback. The individuals who are contributing to the story are the heart of the community.

Community management is about setting up a plot for fans to role play. Once the rules are outlined participation becomes a game. As an example, one of the first forums I managed was for a short lived Canadian TV series called Falcon Beach. Fans of the show loved to chat in the forum, but there needed to be a subtext–otherwise; the discussions quickly inflamed into arguments about who knew the most about the show and its stars. I decided to create a section for fan fiction; which gave the die-hard members a project that other members could rate and comment. Following my analogy I gave the fans a new chapter to write on their own. Although we don’t know what the story will be about we know the rules of creating the story. This made the fans feel like their participation was leading them to uncovering the unspoken thoughts of the show’s characters and helped the writers see their characters through the eyes of the audience.

Communities need a purpose- this is why Wikipedia is such a success. There has to be a common link beyond the initial motivation to participate; as well as, recognition for quality contributions. Otherwise, the vibe of the community turns feral and you’ll have a Lord of the Flies scenario on your hands. With the example of Falcon Beach it was very important to use the ideas from fan fiction and explore ways to involve the fans into the storyline of the show.

A community is a story that is never really finished; the real-time version of The Never Ending Story. This is why marketing or public relations cannot “own” an online community- you can’t influence it with promotions. Essentially, the community guidelines are the prelude to the story. The purpose of the community must be clear and sandboxes need to exist to house members who don’t expand the plot. The intention has to be very clear and the community manager becomes a gardener attending to the weeds and beautiful flowers. The result is a story that has a pulse and its own unique purpose.

Oprah, the Ultimate Community Leader

Oprah Winfrey is a name that people know all over the world. Her reach is so pervasive that even people who have never watched her show know her name and who she is. I say, she is the ultimate community leader. If you're curious about how to cultivate an online community for your brand, networking group or linking like-minded people together- look no further then the queen of daytime.

I started watching Oprah back in the days of Donohue (the original Phil). In the 80's, The Oprah Winfrey Show was young and the content was pretty different then current trips to Australia (partnership with Telstra), dresses for worthy brides and houses for single mum's who've sacrificed everything to improve the lives of their children.

Back in the early days, Oprah was talking to people about their lives - just like she does now, but it was a different type of sensationalism. In order for people to trust Oprah and set her show apart from all of the other daytime talk shows Ms. Winfrey did something very different- she talked about herself and her personal challenges. Most notably her battle to find peace with her mind and body was a hot topic for a very long time for Oprah and her audience. She admitted having experienced physical abuse and explored her body image issues.

An energy sprang out of these omissions and sometime in the 90's the show shifted format focusing on forging commonalities. Oprah wasn't the interviewer standing with a mic in the audience any more she was centre square talking directly to her audience from the stage.

The lesson for community development is that it's not just about entertainment. It takes time to form relationships and all relationships begin with questions being answered. The Oprah show of today would not be the same if it hadn't gone through the evolution of asking questions and listening BEFORE the gifts and book club. Without the personal connections Oprah has forged between herself and her audience any recommendation or endorsement she made would fall on deaf ears. The audience goes out and buys an Oprah book club selection because they trust her- NOT because she commands them to read it. The 'Oprah Effect' is not something that just happens.

The Oprah audience can relate to the host as a human and because she doesn't come across like a perfect, untouchable celebrity. Empathy is powerful, and it's the human experience that makes us care about each other. As a fan who has invited Oprah into my living room for over 20 years I don't believe she is a gimmick. I have witnesses her evolve in front of my eyes. I've seen her struggle and learned from her journey.

This is what community is all about- sharing, acceptance and support. The subject matter is irrelevant- communities are formed by commonalities not force. Do not cut corners and don't try to fake it. Using tricks like auto-follow on Twitter or too many automated emails is unappreciated and won't get you very far. Know your audience inside and out and celebrate them through relevant content. Show them they matter by singling out the best examples of community participation. Celebrate your community and they will show their appreciation by supporting you in return.

Oprah has used every type of media to allow her fans to connect with her on their own terms- she does not push her own products, but rather; maximises the freedom of choice. She stands for her own set of values that are inline with her audience. I am very excited to see how she manages her network Own in the new year.

Digital Marketing, Design and Development – Who Trumps Who?

The other day, someone in my network on Twitter tweeted a link to a very interesting article on Business Week titled The Value of Design to Startups. “Design and marketing are way more important than engineering for consumer Internet companies, argues angel investor Dave McClure”

I really enjoyed the article because since my career has shifted into the online marketing side of things from the user experience side I’ve realised that many people within the digital media industry consider online marketing the weaker element of the online product.

I can’t even count how many times I’ve been in a meeting where a web developer has lectured me on how it’s impossible for someone in marketing to understand the complexity of the software or platform. No matter how many times the idea has been presented to me that I’m thick because I can’t write code I’ve never backed down or felt my contribution was insignificant. I might not code, but I am capable of understanding limitations as well as ways to exploit existing digital technologies. The idea that online marketing isn’t really tech is repugnant and ignorant.

Truth be told, there are a lot of bad marketers out there- especially within online because it’s so new and typically marketers tend to have a very rigid approach. Many marketers look at a project with assumptions based on proven strategies –which would be fine, but most new projects are entirely unique and there is no history for the marketer to use as a control.

I’ve worked on projects where the online marketing team has been invited into planning meetings in order to brainstorm requirements, and the best thing they could come up with was space for banner ads. I would argue that anyone who can’t come up with interactive and engaging elements is not an online marketer- they are an offline marketer that wasn’t able to get what they would consider a “real” job.

Anyway, back to Dave’s article and the point of this post.

Last night I was listening to Robin Goldberg speak at the Hive about Blurb. The technology on Blurb is not unique. Not even close to original. But the marketing is exceptional and the strategy to bring people together based on a passion, cause, creative spark or self promotion is genius. Walmart provides the same types of tools and there are lots of other places online to create your own photo book.

What makes Blurb different is the marketing and the brand positioning. Blurb is about community and expands into new territories as the community expands. When enough Australian’s started using Blurb, Robin got on a plane to make contacts and build up the community. The community on Blurb is the key to its success- not the technology.


I’m not entirely sure why there is snobbery amongst the digital media community regarding marketing. I’ve seen plenty of jokes about the hyper promotion of marketing and how we’re all being accosted by spam and badly run promotions, but I could equally throw stones in the other direction. I am so over badly organised websites. My pet hate is sites that are all style and no substance. The worst is landing on a page and thinking “how the hell do I find what I’m looking for and why the f*ck is every component riddled with bugs?”

There is good and bad in either side of the spectrum, but I will argue that we are all marketers. We market ourselves. We market our professions. We market our brands. Without marketing there would be no online business, and I would even venture as far to say that the Internet would not be half as significant in our daily lives.

How to Create an Online Network, part 2

It is always vital to conduct extensive market research prior to getting started. Within the early planning stage internal research and analysis needs to occur in conjunction with external research - all users including: moderators, admins and members will need to be thought through in terms of their unique perspective. Then decisions can be made as to the appropriate objectives to pursue, whether to keep membership restricted or open, and whether to recruit customers or prospects as moderators or external staff.

The community manager is the host of the community. This role requires a person who is able to rally online members to take action, complete their profile information, create their own content, and comment on other members’ content. The goal is not for the community manager to control member behaviour, but to teach them how to use the networks functionality.

Collecting feedback and observing how the members interact is vital for future enhancements and improvements to the functionality. The majority of testing should occur during a soft launch in order to trial the platform using a wide range of members in real-world scenarios.

Another aspect of the community manager’s role is to conduct real-time surveys by asking members questions about their experience. The aim is for members to take initiative in submitting feedback, but because the need for feedback is so high during the early stages the community manager will solicit feedback on a regular basis. Surveys should also be conducted using SurveyMonkey and Google Documents.

Recognise & Reward

Upon first arrival to the network a new user should become instantly aware that this is no ordinary network, but a community with a pulse. Before registering, a user will be presented to a barrage of positive examples for registering- most of these examples will be seen through a reward system; this could be both a financial incentive and a recognition incentive.

Each new member should receive a personalised email from the community manager welcoming them to network. Receiving some form of acknowledgement is the single most important factor in determining if someone returns or not. During the soft launch, the community manager never stops being the host for new members uncertain about how to participate.

The goal for every network is to be a vibrant and highly active community of content creators and content consumers. During the early stages, all of the rewards will likely be appointed by the community manager. These rewards are to recognise preferred behaviour and encourage members to participate on a regular basis.

Other benefits to encouraging members to take a personal interest in their fellow members is building brand advocacy. Members should develop a sense of ownership by submitting their opinions and sharing their time. This emotional investment translates into self-moderation. Self organisation will reduce the pressure on the Community Manager to be as highly active and visibly involved.

Online activities should always be transparent to the whole community; the rewards given for those activities need to be similarly transparent as well. Never act like Big Brother.

How to Create an Online Network

“A great city is that which has the greatest men and women.” – Walt Whitman

Experts in social media warn against creating a community with no purpose or specific intent. A thriving community needs a purpose and a positive, encouraging leader to evoke a sense of pride in participation. The greatest asset of a community is its members.


Community input offers marketers an intimate — and continuous — understanding of information important to consumers, but only if they’re willing to listen closely to what members have to say. You can use feedback to uncover what consumers really want or to design new enhancements, products and marketing programs. The key is to get the entire team to focus on what's important in a sea of open-ended responses: insights that matter to the business and marketing plans.

Listen, Don’t Control

It will be vital to conduct extensive market research prior to the launch of the community. Within the initial stage internal research and analysis will occur in conjunction with external research. Then decisions will be made as to the appropriate objectives to pursue, whether to keep membership restricted or open, and whether to recruit customers or prospects as moderators or external staff.

The community manager will be the host of the community. This role will require a person who is able to rally online members to take action, complete their profile information, create their own content, and review other members’ content. The goal is not for the community manager to control member behaviour, but to teach them how to use the platforms functionality.

Collecting feedback and observing how the members interact is vital for future enhancements and improvements to the functionality. The majority of testing will occur during the testing stage in order to trial the platform using a wide range of members in real-world scenarios.


Another aspect of the community manager’s role is to conduct real-time surveys by asking members questions about their experience using Meemeep. The aim is for members to take initiative in submitting feedback, but because the need for feedback is so high during the pilot the community manager will solicit feedback on a regular basis. Surveys will also be conducted using SurveyMonkey and Google Documents.

Selling Stuff Online

Recently a client came to us and asked how she could sell yoga DVDs online. We reviewed the category and looked at the competition and told our client that we could help her create a network in order to talk to people online about her style of yoga and the DVDs she produced.

The client wasn’t too thrilled initially, in fact, she downright hated the idea, but we held our ground. The thing of it is there is millions of yoga DVDs and differentiating one yoga DVD from the next is a hard nut to crack. I’ve tried a few yoga DVDs in my time, and I usually try the ones with the highest ratings on Amazon or whatever is being endorsed by celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow or Madonna. Years ago I bought the NYC Ballet Company fitness DVD because Sarah Jessica Parker swore by it.

Lame as it might be, word of mouth is how most consumers make their buying decisions. Even if the recommendation comes from a total stranger it’s better than nothing. At least a rating and review provides some form of context. I also like being able to try before I buy. Video samples and video podcasts are a brilliant way to give potential customers a digital taste.

Anyway, during this time I was browsing through Mashable, and noticed a banner for a CMS platform called SocialGo. On the SocialGo website I found a case study for a site called Earthlings.

When the owners of Earthlings started their SocialGO network, they weren’t yet ready to sell their baby clothing products. Even so, they persevered and built a healthy, online community so that when they were ready to sell, they had constant access to a specifically targeted consumer base. “We thought, why not start a community? We can have the ball rolling even before we get our products online,” says Hannah Shone, Co-Owner of Earthlings.

There are a lot of online communities out there, and I think it’s a mistake for any company to think their online community is going to rival Facebook or Twitter – I can guarantee you that a corporate or brand community will never, ever surpass a community based on real-life connections.

Anyway, the goal is to integrate into existing communities and start a dialogue about something you’re passionate about. For my client, it was yoga and living a healthy, balanced lifestyle. This is the perfect kind of conversational fodder, and I imagined she’d take to it like a yogi to a mat. But I was wrong. My client followed my directions and created her own network on SocialGo, and created profiles on Facebook and Twitter. We had custom backgrounds made and showed her how to communicate with people. As a few months passed she arrived at my house looking glum and defeated. When I asked her what was going on she told me that she felt disappointed that no one had bought a DVD and no one on her SocialGo network was interacting.

I was shocked. It never occurred to me that I needed to explain that setting everything up was only the first step. The web is not a field of dreams – there is no “build it and they will come” mantra happening in the background.

First you need to interrupt someone, get their attention by offering them something they’re interested in or looking for, and then provide them that ‘thing’. Once you’ve got the ability to communicate with them and they feel satisfied that you delivered what they were looking for you can then start communicating with them about the next thing they want. Then you deliver that next thing, and so on. This goes on for awhile, and then one day you tell them about something new you’ve got before they even have to ask- why do you do this? Because you’ve developed a relationship, and you aren’t offering them something random- but something relevant and right up their alley.

I'll be blogging about this client adventure more over the next few weeks. Please add a comment or send an email if you have any questions or want to share your own experience with selling products online.