You have probably seen or heard of the classic scene from The Godfather where they say, "It's not personal. It's business." Businesses love this line because it keeps them distant and guilt-free. It lets them think of consumers as nameless, faceless masses that just need to be enticed with the right offer. This used to work pretty well. Used to.
Today it's all personal. In fact, it's always been personal to the consumer, only now it's more obvious that it's all personal, all the time. The businesses that get this win. The businesses that don't lose.
If you need proof, just do a Google search on AOL's customer service. You'll find videos and blog posts from consumers talking about how difficult it is cancel their subscriptions. They took AOL's business approach to service termination very personally.
Or ask the executives at Motrin about baby carrying moms. Last November, Motrin offended a segment of highly connected moms, the moms took to Twitter, YouTube, and their blogs and shut the Motrin site down in less than 48 hours. It was personal, not business.
Consumers today live in a new culture. It's a hyper-personal, conversational, always-on, highly aware, information in my pocket, find the people like me, start a revolution kind of a culture. That may not sound like business, but it is.
Consumers are smarter than ever about the brands and products they love and hate. Consumers seem fickle, and sometimes they are, but most often they're passionate, aware, connected, and willing to talk about everything they love and everything they hate. They speak the new language of smart, informed consumers. It's the language of smart.
The good news is you don't have to be perfect. You do, however, have to be personal.
If your business doesn't speak the language of smart, who's still listening to you?