Organization

 In contrast to the one-way media that characterized mass marketing, the future of customer relationships will be interactive. Not “I talk, you listen” but “You talk, I listen,” and vice versa, and “We all talk, and everybody can listen in.” Likewise, more and more media are “addressable.” That means I can send a particular message to a particular individual at a known “address,” whether that address is a geographic address on a street, or an e-mail address, or Facebook account, or telephone number, or text address, or a combination of these and other new interactive, addressable media available every day. 

         World Wide Web. The Web has become one of the most effective media to engage a customer in an individual interaction. An enterprise’s Web site is a highly customizable platform for collaborating with customers and learning about their individual needs effectively and inexpensively.

          Social media. While technically just one aspect of the Web, the Web sites and online services that have been constructed to allow people simply to create content for other people and to share conversations and comments with others who have similar or intersecting interests— sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and LinkedIn— represent a major change in how consumers acquire information and interact with their environments. The social media phenomenon is complex and rich enough all by itself to require a customer-strategy enterprise to plan deliberate strategies for dealing with social media, in an effort to build and strengthen its customer relationships. 

         Wireless. The increasing proliferation of wireless technology is promising to “unhook” people from the network of cables and wires that used to connect them to the ground, freeing them not just to surf the Web using their iPhones, BlackBerries, and other smart phones but to connect their devices wirelessly to the Internet in coffee shops, hamburger outlets, universities, airliners, and even many major cities, where ubiquitous WiFi technology has been installed for everybody. It is becoming clear that in the twenty-first century, not just in developed countries but across the whole world, people are going to be connected to the network and able to interact electronically with companies and other people more often than they will be offline.  

         Voicemail. Enterprises have established voicemail systems for their customers that enable them to phone in a question or comment and leave a message. Voicemail has many different potential dialogue applications. 

         E-mail. Enterprises are using e-mail to write personalized messages to customers about their latest product offerings, sales promotions, customer inquiries, and many other important topics.

         Texting (SMS— Short Message Service) and instant messaging (IM). Texting from a mobile phone and using the instant messaging feature of various e-mail and online services is another mechanism for quick, highly efficient interactions. Although it’s a more common business practice outside the United States, marketers can incorporate text-back codes to encourage customers to interact with them wherever they are, at any time— because everyone always has their mobile phone with them. Always. 

         Fax. Fax machines are a highly interactive medium. The customer can fax an order to the enterprise. Or the enterprise can use a fax-on-demand service to enable customers to request product or service information via their fax machines. The enterprise also can fax customized catalogs, product information sheets, newsletters, and other documents to the customer on request. Fax also makes it easy to reach those who do not have online capability. 

         Digital video recorders. The digital recording device, such as TiVo and others like it, has revolutionized television by enabling audiences to create highly personalized TV-viewing experiences. Digital video recorders (DVRs) are also changing television advertising. Instead of bombarding viewers with commercials that are not relevant, advertisers now have the opportunity to personalize their messages. Knowing the viewers’ demographics and viewing preferences, advertisers will be better able to match their ads to the right people. 

         Interactive voice response. Now a feature at most call centers, interactive voice response (IVR) software provides instructions for callers to “push one to check your current balance, push two to transfer funds,” and so forth. One frequent problem with IVRs is that companies tend to use them more to reduce their costs than to improve their service, with the result that customers often are frustrated if the choice they want is not offered or if it becomes difficult to contact a “live” human. 

         More new media every week. No print listing can keep up with the myriad of ways popular and esoteric that people of different generations and technical expertise will use and adapt to connect with each other and the companies they do business with.

Consider two factors when using multiple two-way media options:  (1) The message across all media outlets should be consistent and (2) because each customer is unique, each may have a different preference for how they receive information from your organization.