So what’s really going on?

Chris Heuer, Market Catalyst

Scott Becker

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Kristie Wells

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Kris Krug

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Business is Personal Again

It’s nothing personal, it’s just business.

• For a very long time, we have tried to separate our emotions from our work life, but the world is evolving towards greater and greater personal expression - think about what the MySpace generation will do when it enters the workforce

• Have you ever tried to ‘manage’ a relationship with a spouse or loved one? Perhaps that is why it doesn’t work with customers either

• Abstract terms like audiences and targets are designed to remove our humanity from business, but more and more people are tiring of being called users and audiences and are demanding their humanity be respected

• Do you want to work with anyone you personally don’t like or respect? Me neither.

In the beginning

the baker sold directly to his customer

Then we started to organize companies

companies sold directly to customers

As the market evolved, ‘middle-men’ optimized trade

the company sold to customers and also through intermediaries

This ‘industrialization’ grew with ‘broadcast media’

the company broadcast its messages throughmedia companies to reach customers

The DotCom era brought “disintermediation”

but there were still those who providedadded value and they continued

The Web lets you go direct with your story - 1 to 1

but the perspective of editors are stillvery valuable, with social mediathere are simply more of them

But Social Media does something more important

Social Media is tearing down the walls that keep us apart and changing the rules that have kept us from being human inside our companies.

People, having conversations

we can connect to each other directly,as humans talking with other humans

as it was in the beginning...

Some Rules for Human Organizations

• Start with the presumption of trust

• Make clear your intentions

• Give people a chance

• Provide power for people’s passions

• “Live the life, love the life” (as Jake McKee said earlier)

• Participate in your market’s conversations

• Personal Pronouns are ok!

• Social Media creates opportunities to be found and to connect

• Trust the conversation

How we learn and develop understanding

Experience Conversation

Media

In the beginning...

Fire is hot

Meat is good

Caves are shelter

Sex makes babies

Grunts

Cave Paintings=

Storytelling

In the broadcast era...

Push messages at people through tv, radio and print

Free Trials

The Product

Sales ++

Support --

In the conversation era...

The Experience

Relationships Matter

Trust

Transparency

Authenticity

Intentions

Create media to connect with your market and serve your community

Changing the Marketing Perspective

• Help people buy, don’t sell

• Stop spending marketing dollars only to the point of sale, invest in getting to the point of satisfaction

• “Customer service is the new marketing” Thor Muller

• “The brands with the best story tellers win” CEO of iProspect

• Participate in the community, give without expectations of getting

• 50% of all advertising doesn’t work, more often then not, the other 50% doesn’t either

• Help people save time, make money, get more done, be happy, find meaning, connect with others, and find greater satisfaction

Discussion Chris Heuerhttp://www.chrisheuer.com/