Are Your Strategies Customer-Driven?

The article, "Whose Logo is it Anyway?" by MP Mueller posted in the section entitled "You're the Boss, The Art of Running a Small Business," on the New York Times website does an excellent explanation of cautioning companies on making drastic changes without consulting customers and employees.

An excerpt of the article that I particularly wanted to share states the reality of customer impact on corporate or small business strategy and decisions:

"We may have started our own businesses to be the masters of our ships, charters of our own courses, but the new reality is that with technology, any misstep or misunderstanding can be broadcast because every one of our customers now has a channel with broad reach. We can no longer make moves simply because we think it’s a good idea. Today’s customer wants to be consulted, or at the very least kept in the know."

Prior to social media and email, a corporate decision might cause a stir with its customers and raise potential consumers' eyebrows, but a backlash took much longer to gain momentum. Today, within seconds of an announcement, customers (and employees) can act, react, share, and trample months-worth of company efforts. The article, "Whose Logo is it Anyway?" identifies the intense negativity Gap recently experienced when updating their logo. End result, Gap caved to customers and changed the logo back.

It is exciting to be innovative, to "charter" a new course ahead. So, who wants to hear that a ground-breaking idea is not desirable, needs more work? Perhaps company resources have been focused on overcoming regulatory and legal hurdles in order to make an announcement, product introduction or upgrade. Or, intense effort has been invested redesigning logos, marketing materials, corporate literature, webpages and video footage. It is hard to know whether customers will cling to the old or applaud change.

Companies are not guaranteed a winning strategy just by consulting customers. But it can be detrimental without. An ongoing dialogue with customers will help eliminate a surprise.

http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/whose-logo-is-it-anyway/?partner=rss&emc=rss