Talk to Me So I Can Talk to You

Here’s a nutty idea – listen to your consumer! But listening requires asking questions in the first place, and that could get messy. In what could be mistaken for a Mars/Venus debate, today’s most e-mailed story on NYTimes.com has the headline: What Do Women Want? Just Ask Look a little closer and you’ll find a great article about the steps some companies are taking to tailor their offerings and marketing campaigns to the female consumer. Seems like a no-brainer to ask your customer base what they like (and dislike) about your product, but more often than not it’s Mars making assumptions about what Venus wants to buy. A smart marketer knows that success comes not from saying what you want to say but what your consumer wants to hear. There’s enough clutter in the marketplace. Make your product – and your message – relevant if you want to standout and reach your target audience.

And that this story is so popular on NYTimes.com tells me that a lot of people find this topic interesting. I bet a lot of marketers haven’t thought of having a two-way conversation with their target audience. What do you think?