During the pilot of “Cougar Town” (Judge me. It’s OK. I think it’s a funny show!) Courtney Cox gets angry at one of her co-stars and holds up six fingers. Five on one hand and just the thumb on her other. Her co-star quickly retorts, “Oh, what? So now we’re not talking for six minutes?” And, the silence ensues…
I laughed and my husband just shook his head. Probably because he knew at some point in the near future he’d be subject to the “six finger silence” method. I had laughed too hard to let it just pass by without using it!
It got me thinking, though, about all the different situations in which I could use the six finger silence method — and the six minutes of silence I often wished I got from marketers. Communities and social medias allow us the luxury of doing our own research on a company or product and I wish that companies respected this new order of things. Prospective customers need the six hypothetical minutes of radio silence while they process all the information available to them and before they start being marketed at. I say “at” instead of “to” because as Brian Halligan at a recent AMA Boston event said, “we’re all just sick and tired of being marketed at.” We no longer have to sit on a couch and watch a TV commercial because we’re too lazy to get up. We have remote controls now and we can change the channel.
I wish some companies (you know who they are – the obnoxious ones sending you repeated email blasts and call you several times a week when you’ve never even indicated an interest in their products) waited until I raised my hand and asked for direct information. I wish instead of marketing at me, they observed six minutes of radio silence and focused their time and energy on creating content that the masses could consume, react to, and provide context for all of the rest of us doing our research. Then, when we were ready, we could raise our hand and receive their marketing information.
- They could preserve their highly-valued prospect database and only market when they had important things to say
- They could take advantage of using the lower cost community and social medias to create and propagate content that encourages people to raise their hand as a prospect
- I am a happier customer because I’m receiving the types of content and marketing information that works for me
So, to all those companies that market at me – with no regard to frequency or how disruptive your marketing techniques are — I give you the six finger silent treatment while I go off and talk to your existing customers to see if you’re worth it.
PS – I am a Marketer.
