Isn’t Your Company Intelligence Worth Something?

As I work with B-to-B direct marketing clients all over the world, I’m struck by how much knowledge they have within their companies. Specifically, I’m referring to product and application knowledge that is, or could be, useful to customers. It’s garnered from years of selling and servicing customers, and working in a specific industry or market segment. In fact, such intelligence is not just useful to customers, but it’s also valuable. Customers are willing to pay for it as it often saves time or helps avoid a potential problem. I encourage you to look around your company and think about what knowledge or intelligence you have that your customers would value if it were presented at the right time, in the right format or in the right place. By packaging such knowledge and delivering it when and where the customer wants it, you not only will increase the loyalty to your brand, but you also might find a new revenue source. This opportunity comes into very clear focus if you’ve had a chance to play with the new iPhone, which makes searching the Net on the go and portable video a reality. Other such devices are sure to follow; combined with the onslaught of useful and usable local content, including GPS and eventually voice activation, this only will enhance the emerging practice of getting information in any format when and where you need it. (Does this sound like Star Trek yet?) Searching the Web, reading an online document, listening to audio or watching a video on the go will become as commonplace as making a phone call on the go is today. (Incidentally, a recent New York Times article about text advertising confirmed that of the 230 million Americans with cell phones, half currently are using text messaging, while only 32 million use their cell phone to browse the Web.) You know that number will grow with improved devices and content.