Friday, 3 September 2010
Relationship Marketing Trumps Privacy – Even in a Facebook World
Saturday, 29 May 2010 at 14:08, By Ian Gilyeat, Chief Marketing Officer - I.R. Gilyeat & Company
Privacy is a big deal in the online world. Multiple “watchdog” groups exist simply to protect the privacy of Internet users around the globe.
Although I appreciate their interest in protecting you and me from marketers, I am here to tell you that relationship marketing will trump privacy concerns every time.
This is important because customers buy from who they want to buy from. Likewise, your company has a right to build long-standing and trusted relationships with your customers – even if the privacy police don’t like it.
I use Facebook as the example because many watchdog groups don’t like their approach to privacy and every move they make comes under scrutiny. Facebook encourages the open sharing of information to friends, fans and others through their network.
The company also attempts to give each user the tools they need to manage their own personal settings for information sharing. The user decides how much to share, not the company. Think of it as a dual position – sharing and user enablement.
These two positions require an informed and educated user base and because many users are casual, lazy or ill-informed about their own privacy settings the watchdog groups take the position that they must protect users from the business practices of Facebook and other marketers like them.
This is important to understand because it impacts your relationships with your customers. This dual position of sharing and user enablement is at the foundation of marketing in today’s information driven world. Electronic transactions permeate our business and personal lives.
The amount of information that is created from nearly everything we do is mind boggling. Customers know this and want to deal with companies they can trust. Trust is the key factor and how you interact with customers will determine whether or not they continue to do business with you – not the privacy police.
This is why relationship marketing is so critical. As a company, you must focus on the value of the relationship and understand how your customers feel and think about the information you have about them. When you do this, and your customers trust you and how you use this information, privacy concerns dissipate. Let me say it again, when customers trust you – and they trust how you will use their private information – privacy concerns dissipate.
Marketers today must recognize they are in the business of building and maintaining relationships and that trust is a cornerstone of their business.
As they do this the sharing of information will increase and they will be better marketers – better marketers because customers will gladly tell them everything they need to know to meet their needs.
Email the writer: i.Gilyeat@alrroya.com
Although I appreciate their interest in protecting you and me from marketers, I am here to tell you that relationship marketing will trump privacy concerns every time.
This is important because customers buy from who they want to buy from. Likewise, your company has a right to build long-standing and trusted relationships with your customers – even if the privacy police don’t like it.
I use Facebook as the example because many watchdog groups don’t like their approach to privacy and every move they make comes under scrutiny. Facebook encourages the open sharing of information to friends, fans and others through their network.
The company also attempts to give each user the tools they need to manage their own personal settings for information sharing. The user decides how much to share, not the company. Think of it as a dual position – sharing and user enablement.
These two positions require an informed and educated user base and because many users are casual, lazy or ill-informed about their own privacy settings the watchdog groups take the position that they must protect users from the business practices of Facebook and other marketers like them.
This is important to understand because it impacts your relationships with your customers. This dual position of sharing and user enablement is at the foundation of marketing in today’s information driven world. Electronic transactions permeate our business and personal lives.
The amount of information that is created from nearly everything we do is mind boggling. Customers know this and want to deal with companies they can trust. Trust is the key factor and how you interact with customers will determine whether or not they continue to do business with you – not the privacy police.
This is why relationship marketing is so critical. As a company, you must focus on the value of the relationship and understand how your customers feel and think about the information you have about them. When you do this, and your customers trust you and how you use this information, privacy concerns dissipate. Let me say it again, when customers trust you – and they trust how you will use their private information – privacy concerns dissipate.
Marketers today must recognize they are in the business of building and maintaining relationships and that trust is a cornerstone of their business.
As they do this the sharing of information will increase and they will be better marketers – better marketers because customers will gladly tell them everything they need to know to meet their needs.
Email the writer: i.Gilyeat@alrroya.com
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