It ain't Rocket Science - or is it?

I love this - today I didn't have to sign into my Blogger account. It seems Google figured out a way to recognize my initial sign in - for gmail - and apply it to all tendrils of Google that reach to my being. Probably just another form of cookie but I love cookies.

But thats not the why for this post - its here. Granted it's just shy of a month old - and we know how quickly things become stale in todays brave new world. Yet it is chock full of timely info. If charts and graphs are your flavor then this is the spot.

If you prefer the research highlights - click here. This brief rings my bell in light of reading "Citizen Marketers" and MarketingProfs book club extraordinaire. This brief from the Center for Media Research speaks directly to the importance of engaging the customer (item#5) in whatever we do. We all KNOW this and we all TRY to do this. We want happy customers. The question is HOW?

Here is an irony that just struck me. In many stories throughout the book a customer marketing crusade begins with the customer being upset, ticked off, or down right disappointed. None of us want that and yet it seems a common indicator for a crusade. Coke and Surge, Moleskin, Starbucks, Apple and iPod batteries - the authors document and interview individuals and groups who for one reason or another went to the edge and took a leap.

And - the customer does it for nothing but for the fact that they can. The voice of the people - sometimes the one person - makes a difference time and time again. Corporate culture is not easy to infiltrate yet we see a well researched book show example after example.

When the customer speaks, we gotta learn to listen. And do the research!