I’ve been following a huge block of text online lately. Since I can’t afford the book, I just decided to download its pertinent parts. Welcome to The Cluetrain Manifesto,
Imagine for a moment: millions of people sitting in their shuttered homes at night, bathed in that ghostly blue television aura. They’re passive, yeah, but more than that: they’re isolated from each other.
Now imagine another magic wire strung from house to house, hooking all these poor bastards up. They’re still watching the same old crap. Then, during the touching love scene, some joker lobs an off-color aside — and everybody hears it. Whoa! What was that? People are rolling on the floor laughing. And it begins to happen so often, it gets abbreviated: ROTFL. The audience is suddenly connected to itself.
excerpt from The Cluetrain
One of the core statements of the manifesto is that markets shouldn’t be seen as segments or demographics, but as individuals who have needs. There has been a rogue campaign of putting a face to your market.
With the dawn of the Internet (I’m making it sound like the web came yesterday), anybody can post anything about whatever. But more than that, people who work for companies are using the Internet as a voice to say what they wish, albeit with some regulation.
Some developments over the past year:
1. Companies themselves are shifting from impersonal corporate websites to a more personal blog-like CMS. We’re tired of reading your corporate mission-vision. Somehow, blog like content at least seems more sincere. I want a face to associate with a brand and I dont want a sexy booth chick.
2. Companies are reviewing blogging policies. I mean, look at Scoble. Microsoft doesn’t seem to care what he writes. You know a company is paranoid when they have strict blogging rules for their employees.
3. Open source marketing via blogs, forums, et al – I’d rather have a maven market my stuff than the sales guy in the retail outlet. On a personal note, I’m glad the local tech groups (for Palm, Apple and even Windows Mobile) aren’t being ignored by Microwarehouse. Investing in industry mavens attracts other mavens, reduces marketing costs, and reaches a more targeted market.
