Following on yesterday's post about the Authentic Web, I read Amy Auerbach's (VP, Group Account Director at Media Contacts) column OnlineSpin where she writes today about "The New Authenticity" (you may have to register to read it). Auerbach writes about the challenge that some brands face because they don't want their products advertised on tier-two and tier-three sites. She uses Bumperdumper.com as a prime example.
Auerbach's assertion is that brands need to "get over it" (I paraphrase) and realise that customers are creating their own authentic conversations through CGM and further defining authenticity by their own personal media choices. To advertisers, Auerbach says ...
Consumers are continually redefining authenticity and what really matters to them by the media choices they are making. In the online world, we must embrace this and have a little faith that the medium is the message and that the consumer made the choice for the medium, so the message that accompanies it is OK, too. Online ad networks and other arbiters of this inventory are redefining their authenticity, too. They are well positioned to help marketers reach these consumers as they spread out across blogs, video download sites, community sites and the like. We need their aggregation skills to reach these folks more than one at a time. How else are we going to get the long tail?
It's a great lesson for marketers, especially MSM marketers who want to buy adspace on the one hit show (website) and be done with it. It just doesn't work that way anymore. It's NICHE not REACH. The requirement for marketers to know their customer's media habits and reach them on their own terms is a tough one for traditional marketers to swallow - but we're going to have to.
Auerbach addresses this as well: a warning for those who think they *know* their customers ...
We need to be more open-minded about what consumers are really interested in, versus what we as marketers think our consumers are interested in. It is a tender trap, thinking that everyone thinks like you. And for a marketer, likening yourself to your target audience is even more dangerous. You know how you feel about diapers as a 25-year-old man, and how you consume media--but I can assure you, busy moms are not logging in to check their fantasy team five times per day.
The importance of knowing our customers is being touted as the mantra de jour ... but not everyone really understands it. Assumptions do not equal Knowing. Assumptions do not equal Authenticity. Assumptions are great things to write on the white board and then cross out as you start to realise the truth of your customer.
For more reading about how to try to understand your customers and design for them, I highly recommend Creating Passionate Users; no one does it better than Kathy Sierra and the Headrush crew! One of her recent posts is all about challenging your assumptions about your customers and four tips for doing so.
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