Communities: To Create or Cultivate?

Marketing today is taking a different shape than ever before—or is it? Social media, bi-directional communication, and the latest in interactive marketing strategies—Community Marketing—all share a common thread: the involvement of the customer in communication. Community marketing is based on the premise that customers, if given the opportunity to connect with each other, will collectively become an authoritative voice evangelizing your product and speeding technology adoption, market growth, etc. Yet as I was discussing this concept with a colleague, it was astutely pointed out to me that this is not a new concept, its exactly how consumers always behaved—several centuries ago, that is.

Centuries ago, communities formed around water sources and railways based not on any compelling persuasion to do so, but out of a natural inclination to fill their basic needs. A product at the general store became successful when it was found to be of particularly high value, not hype. One pleased customer in the community told the others in the church, lodge, or saloon. No doubt, the most successful products learned to leverage this phenomenon—today called word-of-mouth—to their benefit.

Given the customer-centric nature of a product community, how can it be “created” in the traditional sense that we “create” an advertising campaign? Consider the X-Box online gaming community. If Microsoft had not created the platform for internet activity within the 360, the community would still have formed. Their tech-savvy customers would have, and indeed still have, created their own online communities. In essence, their customers do for free what some companies would spend millions to “create.”

Vibrant communities that revolve around a product or service are not created by any compelling persuasion. Just as historical communities, today’s communities form out of the market’s natural inclination to fill a basic need. To leverage Community Marketing, then, is not the creation of a community, but the cultivation. Cultivating a community is done through the offering of value-added channels for communication such as a product wiki, forums, and even social components.

The catalyzing factor that we must all consider in Community Marketing is the fulfillment of a customer’s basic needs. Regardless of budget or strategy, a community cannot be formed around a bad product or useless service. By contrast, companies who demonstrate their investment in the product development and quality service will realize a direct correlation in the success of their communities.

We’re on the bandwagon

With my company’s recent launch of a web 2.0 community portal, www.mycadmash.com, I thought I would take this opportunity to share some thoughts on web 2.0 from a marketing perspective. Why not? Everyone else is. I mean, it is the hottest buzz word, right?

It seems that this ambiguous term has begun to permeate every advertising and PR agency's board room, and rightfully so. But how much do the heavy-hitters in technology marketing really understand about web 2.0? How much does anyone understand about it, or are we simply seeking to find a one-word definition to encapsulate what seems to me to be the very nature of human behavior in the presence of an unbridled communication and information world?

A couple of things I do know. Web 2.0 is not a new venue for advertising. Online advertising, e-mail advertising, even forum sponsorship and moderating, are all forms of e-media that play a part in web 2.0, but they don’t define it. For that matter, nor does blogging or video blogging define web 2.0. Again, these are aspects of effective communication within a web 2.0 culture.

And that word, culture, really is the essence of web 2.0. When considering a marketing strategy in web 2.0, approach it as though you were entering a foreign market with your domestic product. Everything has to be reconsidered, from the language and customs to the common methods of communication in that country. Web 2.0 is a new way of human behavior where limitless information is demanded, censorship is taboo, and hype is an archaic language that society has all but forgotten how to interpret.

Using mycadmash.com as an example, the concept is simple. We provide a community, you (as a so-called advertiser to the members) participate as one of them. Become their peer. Admit product faults, and offer real solutions. Banner ads that pray for clicks and try to ‘covert’ have no place in a culture where people buy from people they know and trust.

Winds of Change: Q4 Technology Forecast

Press rooms and trade shows are littered with so-called innovations that either fix existing issues or add functionality to existing solutions. Amidst these glamorous product releases and heralded technology unveilings, I have made my picks for the top three emerging innovations that are most likely to catalyze changes in the design and engineering industries during the coming quarter.

#3: Browser Applications.
This new breed of software can range from simple word processors to online file management tools. They have been favored for using less system resources and offering wider platform compatibility than desktop alternatives. However, their fatal flaw has been their inability to operate when internet connection is disconnected or interrupted... until now. The latest development, Google Gears, enables web applications to provide offline functionality. Expect to see this new development give rise to breakthroughs in project collaboration, project management, and cross-platform CAD viewers and editors. See http://gears.google.com/ to learn more.

#2: iPhone Applications.
While the legal battles are still being sorted out regarding the “hacking” of the iPhone operating system, the implications of iPhone technology in the design and engineering industry is still overwhelming. ArchiCAD, a widely used Mac-based BIM solution, lends itself well to interaction with the iPhone’s Mac-based system. In August, Graphisoft reported on an architecture firm in Florida already leveraging this connection (press release). Expect to see this capability become a major battle-ground for market share among leading BIM technology vendors as developers scramble to create iPhone applications for the AEC industry.

#1: Iterative Prototyping.
Major advances are poised for impact in Q4 concerning prototyping technology. A concept known as iterative prototyping, which allows verification and testing phases to become more integrated in the design process, is becoming a reality. Autodesk recently completed their acquisition of PlassoTech, creators of cutting-edge analysis and simulation software. Autodesk has since rolled-out a wide-scale marketing campaign promoting their “Digital Prototyping” solution (press release). Simultaneously, the world awaits 3D Systems’ release of their V-Flash Desktop Modeler—announced in January and slated for release this fall. This system will make rapid prototyping available on engineers’ desktops as easily as pushing “print” and for under $10,000 (press release). Expect to see major changes in prototyping procedures within engineering and design firms with the adoption of these new low-cost, high-speed alternatives to out-sourced prototyping.

Do you have personal experience with these technologies? Please feel free to share your thoughts and feedback by leaving a comment.