You have probably heard that after Google identified repeated hacking attacks on Chinese human rights activists Gmail accounts, the company decided, in direct opposition to the Government’s wishes, to stop censoring its search results in China. Besides being an interesting news story, does this have anything to do with your business? We believe it is relevant to your business by re-enforcing the need to move to a new model marketing strategy. We’ve discussed in previous posts that new model marketing involves developing a conversation with your customers to find out specific details of their problems that you can solve. Old model marketing is pushing your product and services on your customers with advertisements and PR blasts.

How does Google’s challenge to China’s censorship rules relate to new model marketing?

China is like the business that rigidly defends its corporate image and content. It (tries to) maintain absolute control over its image in its content and the media. This is “me” centered marketing where it cares only about its believes, ideals, and its services to its citizens. The problem with “me” centered marketing is that Chinese citizens don’t really care about their government. They care about themselves and about the problems they face every day in their lives. I had a conversation with a young woman from Beijing, China the other day and I asked her what she and her people think about the censorship. She pointed out that 80% of the Chinese population lives in a state of poverty. She challenged me “How can they care about censorship, when they can barely feed themselves?” She went on to point out that as people become less focused on their own survival then they start to challenge (or try to ignore) the control of their information.

So what’s created here is a competition between the citizens and hte government. This situation is very similar to old style marketing where a company that maintains a strong market share by force, comes into a position of competition with its own customers. Modern examples of this include tobacco companies, Enron, and some mining operations. These companies engaged in forcefully upholding a corporate image because they were hiding aspects of their companies that were hurting their customers. Another interesting modern example is Microsoft that negotiated deals with computer manufacturers that required its operating system and IE browser to be installed on the computer. This practice ended up getting them in trouble with the courts for establishing a monopoly to ultimately fix the price of their products against the best interests of its customers.

Old model marketing works under the assumption that there is a limited amount of market share and that you have to pull money from your customer’s pockets, whether they like it or not! New model marketing works on helping your customers put more money in their pockets which thereby puts more money in yours. A very different approach. As a small business owner, new model marketing works in your favor because it is cheap, fast, easy, fun, and puts you where your customers are. It also encourages your customers to take a stake in the success of your business. The biggest cost from you is courage. The courage to let go of absolute control. In exchange for letting go, you will grow as your customers grow.

Related Posts

• March 5, 2011 -- Ever wonder how Google has evolved over the past decade?
• January 22, 2011 -- Beware of the Boomerang
• January 14, 2011 -- Updating Google Product Feed for Network Solutions Ecommerce Cart
• January 6, 2011 -- 6 Tips to Smart Online Ecommerce
• November 10, 2010 -- Google in your TV

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general by Chris