I’ve been struggling this past week to find focus and inspiration to write something. I was sitting down to read a book and enjoy a copy of coffee from newly opened Nervosa in downtown Milwaukee when it found me.
I’m finally reading the Cluetrain Manifesto. I’m sorry that as a digital marketer that it has taken me this long to get to it. On the bottom of page 8, Christopher Locke makes the following statement:
"But this whole gamut of conversation, from infinite jest to point-specific expertise: who needs it?
Companies need it. Without it they cannot innovate, build consensus or go to market. Markets need it. Without it they don’t know what works and what doesn’t"
BAM! Right in the face. In the context of The Age of Conversation and my attempt to explore expressive branding it’s all right there. All the conversation the book has created and the experience of taking those learnings to applications in my work, personally and with clients; the statement is simple, powerful and pure truth.
To express your brand you need to engage in conversation. You cannot innovate, you cannot grow, you can not understand what works and what doesn’t. In this digital age, it is a requirement to converse.
