Reflection: Chapter 5-8
Listening to, Talking to, Energizing & Sustaining the Groundswell Many companies listen and react to their customers in the form of “market research.” They look to learn and map the most popular trends so that they can adjust their marketing strategies accordingly. Many companies use tools such as surveys to learn more about their customers, although they have their boundaries. While you may think of the most innovative questions, surveys can’t tell you what you never thought to ask. Unlike a personal interaction, surveys can’t give you much qualitative data that might be exactly what you're looking for, no matter how much you listen. There are two strategies that Li and Bernoff cite as being the best professional tools for listening to the groundswell—private communities and brand monitoring. The first, private communities, can often be very expensive but the ROI can be great, if a company acts on what they learn from the community. Li & Bernoff state “...