I don’t think we are under any illusions here. Moving from a pre dominant offline marketing strategy to an online one is going to be tough. Not least because we have to go back to the drawing board and start again, forgetting almost everything we have been taught about marketing.

That’s not a bad idea though is it? Structurally things are shifting and essentially we have to move from a transactional relationship with our customers to one of engagement. In 2007, Forrester offered the definition of ‘engagement’ which included four elements; involvement, interaction, initimacy and influence. Now there’s a start. For me ‘influence’ is probably the most significant and exciting. Scott Gould has posted a fab article that’s a must read on influencers and translators. Catch it here at� http://scottgould.me/influencers-and-translators/

There are three challenges here. Design a strategy that incorporates the four elements and embeds them in the culture of the organisation. Secondly, that those elements are implemented at every stage of the customer process and, thirdly, that you measure them to ensure it translates into meaning for you and your customers.

Tom Peters, is a bit of a hero of mine. I’ve read his stuff ever since an ex boss got me a copy of “In Search of Excellence” for my 21st birthday….boy was that a long time ago!!

Tom’s still got it! Read his blog here www.tompeters.com Recently, for old times sake, I read a couple of his old books. In reality, it was to go over old ground to see how much we had listened and possibly progressed. My word was he making sense. Stuff we still haven’t got our heads around but, maybe now, with the advent of social media, we can see the first rays of light. Some of Tom’s nuggets:

- “Humanise the relationship with our customers.”
- “People can smell emotional commitment from a mile away.”
- “Competitive businesses must lead their customers.”
- “Hire curious people – the gumption to do something exciting, something extraordinary, something that breaks the mould.”
- “Bringing clients into the process early makes them co-conspiritors in the creation adventure, which often edges them towards embracing exciting (and risky) ventures that promise a wow-scale payoff.”

If you are reading some leading edge books and are starting to play with social media, these phrases will sound all too familiar. Times are changing and for good. Whole sweeps of business models are broken. Lots of what we learnt at college, university or, that course we went on last week are outdated and outmoded.

The walls are breaking down; in many cases the opposite of what we have been taught is now the way of doing business. Shifting sands yes, troubled times yes, exciting times yes and, opportunist times, you bet!

Yep little old me, because of the web, social media and technology has a voice. I perhaps have a lot to thank� Tim Berners-Lee� for! I have a voice that can not only be heard around the world but its one a few people are interested in listening too. How cool is that? Not only that, but it allows me to converse with the likes of Tom Peters, Seth Godin, Patrick Dixon, Colin Shaw and Trey Pennington.

Ten years ago this would have been impossible. I’d have had to go the traditional route, through a publisher, or, turned up to the ‘guru gigs’ and been that annoying person who hands out business cards to everyone and anyone.

I look around me a lot, it’s the fascinating part of my job, being able to observe. I spot a lot of people who have lost their own voice and thereby, to some degree, their individuality. They’ve adopted their corporate BS speak hook line and sinker which is as attractive as a fish wife in a small tin room.

This ‘groundswell’ of change in how we communicate can be seen as a threat or an opportunity. Small businesses have the distinct of advantage of seeing it only as an opportunity. They tend to be set up for this change far better than corporate businesses. They tend to have more intimate relationships with their customers and staff, so making the jump is more like a hop and a skip really.

Some time ago John McMahon from www.forum21.co.uk professed that there were nine competitive advantages ranging from production cost to marketing to R & D. I still think he is right but those nine can be honed down into two differentiating factors; the price you charge and doing something definably different/innovative.

Realistically, if you’re in the price sensitive market, price in some ways is all you’ve got and we know where that leads. More price reductions, more price promotions, more sales deals, less margins. People want quality but have low expectations of customer service. Let’s be honest, if I go into Primark, I’m not that bothered about having a meaningful, long term relationship with the people in there. I want my t-shirt for £1 and then I want to leave.

If you’re delivering something different and innovative, now that’s a different ball game all together. Expectations from the start are critically higher. We demand undivided attention if we are buying a premium product. We desire a mutually respectful relationship that’s full of trust. Our motivations to purchase are just as much about the product as the service and its emotional too. The focus has got to be the unrelenting exceptional customer experience.

Or, you can just be in that very vulnerable, very competitive place, the middle like Next, River Island, Debenhams and Marks and Spencer where you have to look good, be good and deliver a good price too. In fact, you have to hit both competitive advantages simultaneously, continuously, everyday! Now that’s difficult.

Well not quite literally! In the past we have imposed ourselves on our customers through advertising, selling and ‘interruption’ marketing tactics. Are we now entering an era of invitation only? I’m not talking about ‘if your names not down, you’re not getting in’ but is the web not enabling us to communicate the true us, targeted effectively to those that are listening?

Should our marketing now be about communicating distinguishing information that exposes our grace, humility and expertise?� Our customers can find us easier than we can find them nowadays. We don’t need vast amounts of info in our head when we can get the answer via a few clicks. If we have a clearly definable presence on the web, that’s highly focused, is that all we need? If we have that high profile and what we talk about is intriguing enough, interesting and based on an honest relationship, perhaps it will be inviting enough!

Businesses all over the world are reinventing their strategic models and considering new ways to deliver success. Some of the most innovative are doing it from the start. Take www.threadless.com A company started in 2000 by two young entrepreneurs. Setting up a t-shirt business could have been one of the most ‘me too’ projects ever undertaken but Jake Nicholl and Jacob DeHart have delivered a return on investment most of us would break a leg for.

The business is simple. The site sells t-shirts. People submit t-shirt designs, others vote on which one is best and the winner gets free t-shirts for the winning design. The successful t-shirts are sold for between £10 and $25. In 2006 Threadless turned over $17 million. They don’t have or need a marketing budget as their business works via word of mouth. And, all growth is driven by an online strategy.

Right from the start in 2000, they recognised that one t-shirt is very much like another t-shirt. So instead of focusing their creativity and imagination on the product, they focused their action on the relationship with the customer, fan or, what is rapidly becoming known as the ‘crowd.’ They literally built a system that could deliver that.

Not one of their products has been a flop. By using followers/customers to vote on the best designs and rate new designs, Threadless have effectively exploited technology to build an unrivalled relationship with people and turn market research on it’s head. The cost in cash terms, very little and they get a higher validity rating on their research.

Threadless has allowed its customers to create the product, to contribute to the designs, to be involved in the product selection process and to have a voice. In some ways, many of us are busting a gut trying to grow our businesses using old school models when the answer to doing something differently is right there under our nose.