How marketing, case studies and the NDA moves forward
Over the months, I’ve been concerned, not so much with how consumer marketing changes but how the current raft of social software technologies impact enterprise tech vendors and their marketing/PR strategies.
It’s clear the game has changed. It’s because the nature of reporting has changed. And I don’t mean citizen style blogs. The annhilation of the traditional case study as a credible tool, combined with the sterile nature of much current reporting is coming home to roost. It’s no longer believable. Put aside the gossip elements like The Inquirer Or the valuable contribution of people like Robert Scoble, whom I think will be succeeded by a new breed of commentator comprised of interest communities that coalesce around industries looking to solve industry problems. You start to get a different picture. There’s already the rudiments of this happening over at IT Toolbox.
I’m wondering how long it will be before case studies start to appear on these sites. They won’t be the professionally written, canned offerings we see today. They’ll be authentic to a point. They will leave the reader tantalised. They will tell it warts and all. Why? Because it’s what they would do if they were on the butt end of a site reference visit. It won’t happen tomorrow but gradually as vendors realise there is value in being open from the get go. It fits the board room mood of ‘value’ as opposed to ‘technology.’
This has huge implications for the concept of the NDA. Whenever I’ve prepared case studies, they’ve always been built to a formula that excludes anything negative. Nowadays, I record those interviews, slice out any negative sections and pass them back to marketing as an MP3 - a private podcast if you will. Often, I wish I could write up some of the ‘issues’ because they matter to customers enough to have talked about them. In one case for nearly 40 minutes. But I’m almost always under NDA and must respect that when being rewarded for that kind of service. The issues may not be showstoppers to all potential buyers, but everyone has the right to know that enterprise software isn’t perfect and where it might need attention.
We’ve all known it for years but only a very few cases ever hit the headlines. Now, we’ll find out just how imperfect enterprise software really is. But it won’t stop there. In traditional reporting, there is a right of reply. The same will apply here. With one important exception. The replies will be uncensored. That’s when the conversation starts.
This has huge implications for the way PR and marketing is both organised and executes. It won’t be consigned to damage limitation but in facilitating conversations between all parties. Some will say that already happens. Wrong, wrong, wrong. PRs arrange interviews or phone calls. This is completely different. I’m talking about conversations where real views are exchanged between the vendor, customer, PR and ‘expert.’ Where there is little or no rehearsal. (That’s a cost saver!) But one where trainers in how to communicate messages (not just being ‘on’ message) will have an increasingly important role. Where experienced journalists will sit alongside their customer experienced brethren and share experience and learning for the benefit of all. This will be a very differernt form of citizen journalism - it will be ‘enterprise citizen journalism.’
Which leaves the golden question: “If print and traditional online media is not being read then what’s to say blog style cases will get any more attention?” Two reasons:
1. Blogs are going up the food chain. Even if CEOs do fall off the edge of writing them, that’s not to say they won’t read them.
2. These cases and other comments are going to be part of the RSS world. That means they’ll be near instantly visible to anyone with an RSS reader. These will be a fully integrated part of your browser experience, like Google search before long. So there’s no point in hiding because vendors will look very silly indeed.
What happens to competitive intelligence? It just got enriched 500%.