Buzz Word #1 :
Citizen marketers
Citizen marketers are customer evangelists who generate media on behalf of products, services, companies or people who generate inspiration. Most forms of media they create is shared across the web.
The number of citizen marketers in the wild is rather small but chances are, their numbers will grow as the number of blogs, camera phones, and faster and cheaper video cameras and editing systems proliferate.
As tools, technology, bandwith, and skills for citizen marketers expand, so too will the variety of products and services showcased. Already today, some citizen marketing is as good, if not better, than the marketing produced by companies and their agencies.
Why?
In many cases, citizen media is more authentic and believable than agency work. It's created by customers not schooled in the traditional means of advertising. Citizen marketers aren't required to shimmer the truth to meet a CMO's desire for pedantic common denominators. Citizen marketers aren't beholden to often-silly categories of customer profiles dreamed up by account planners. They are the account planners.
Citizen marketing is produced without the benefit of expense accounts, big budgets or pajama-clad creative directors (love that line from Sergio Zyman). Citizen marketing is more believable and impactful than the stuff being produced for mass media today. Their creative work is based on their intimate knowledge of the product, thereby making it authentic.
A better idea for companies is to adapt the open-source mindset of the software world and adopt the citizen marketers as your own. Give them the tools, the means and the permission to join your marketing department.
The marketers at Converse have embraced their citizen marketers. The 96-year old sneaker company asked loyal customers to create short films that showcase their love of the shoes. So far, they've received 700 films. [View the Converse Gallery of films here.] The best 13 entries are being shown as commercials on MTV and other cable channels.
As a result, sales are up. Online shoe sales doubled a month after the Converse Gallery was introduced, with much of those purchases occurring after people viewed the spots, Converse says.
Will citizen marketers work with you rather than against you? Yes, but they may not if they believe your existing marketing strategy is flawed, which may well be the case. Their willingness to follow your marketing guidance may hinge on how far you open the gates and invite them inside.
(via: ben mcconnell, jackie huba)
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