Companies' Community Initiatives an Example of "Soft Power"
An interesting article appeared in the Financial Times on Monday regarding business' growing propensity to use so-called "soft power" vs. a more military-inspired approach toward their customer bases. ("How Soft Power is Winning Hearts and Minds", by John Quelch.) The following excerpt gives an idea of the main theme of the article:
"US foreign policy debates pit hard power, the exertion of military muscle, against soft power and public diplomacy – what Joseph Nye of Harvard calls 'the ability to get what you want through attraction, not coercion'. This same tension is evident in the corporate world. But in this world soft power is winning."
Of particular interest was the analogy of Ebay's view that its customers are not "military targets" but rather as its "most important assets," which underscores the move toward creating lifetime relationships with customers while trending away from single transactions. In addition, companies that are more "culturally resilient and willing to adapt" are in a better position to create these long-term connections with its customers.
These ideas are also present in our efforts around building a sustainable community of Windows Mobile and Embedded users and developers, and it's my belief that the trend toward soft power will continue as other companies recognize its success. Of greater effect, however, will be customers' demands that companies create and sustain relationships with them as individuals, recognizing and responding to their needs in real-time, or as close as possible. I'm not talking about the rote implementation of CRM platforms or the bandying about of other buzz words relating to marketing strategy. Rather, it's my assertion that those companies that recognize the value in providing their customers with a voice, analyzing what's being said and then acting on it, will create for themselves a sustainable competitive advantage that becomes increasingly more difficult to replicate by competitors as those customer relationships become stronger and more numerous.
Furthermore, companies must recognize the necessary follow-on effort of responding to customers regarding their feedback in as close to real-time as possible. It's critical to tell our customers what we're doing after receiving their commentary; otherwise, from their point of view they may as well have never expressed themselves in the first place. It's only by asking, acting and advising that we will gain the trust of our customers in the long run.
Are we there yet? I'll be first to say that MED, and Microsoft as a whole, have a long way to go in creating community programs that play a key role in meeting customer needs in real-time. Nevertheless, this FT article is representative of the kind of thinking that's taking hold here, and I'll wager that this change in approach toward our customers will be a welcome one indeed. Let me know what you think.
