Apple Inc. sold more iPhones in its first 3 days than the first month of sales of Motorola Razr phones. How? Motorola spent a lot of money on traditional marketing and advertising. But Apple leveraged word-of-mouth and the power of networked communities of interest to create customer based buzz.
One week after the iPhone hit the market a spontaneous community of engineers, designers, entrepreneurs and iPhone users are meeting to add features and functionality that customers want to the technology. Dubbed “iPhone Developers Camp”, the event is not sponsored by Apple. It is supported by many other businesses. Adobe Systems is providing space for about 300 people to meet in their San Francisco office. Red Bull and Kettle Chips will provide nourishment. Yahoo will be buying some of the meals and other local businesses are kicking in.
This should be a big wake-up call to business leaders and marketers who are not proactively leveraging online and offline communities of interest. The message should be clear. When customers are engaged they fuel desire, passion and conviction.
Traditional advertising and product-centered marketing cannot compete. But it doesn’t engage customers, nor does it ignite passion, commitment, and advocacy.
Check out our new enewsletter: Hooked: The Psychology of the Customer Experience where we will be covering this topic in more detail in the coming weeks.
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