Everyone knows the three C’s of online marketing – content, community, and commerce. While it’s quite important that any company uses these three C’s to their benefit, they don’t work alone. To get something out of the three C’s, you need a fourth – Communication. Without Communication, everything else fails to work.
Taking a look at what Communication brings to the rest of the package can help you understand better why it’s so important, as can looking at how one case study has put Communication to work.
Content Without Communication is Quiet
It seems like every business out there has a blog now. If you haven’t noticed, though, most of them are terrible. They’re full of corporate double speak and they appeal to no one. These blogs hit all the right notes when it comes to search engine optimization, but the lack of soul means that no one reads them.
If you’re going to offer a platform through which you can engage a community, you have to be willing to meet them halfway.
You can promote your products, but you have to give your customers a reason to show up. This basic kind of communication is a given in the brick and mortar world, yet it is easily forgotten in the online space.
Community Without Communication is Unengaged
It’s fantastically easy to set up an online community. Running a forum costs you pennies a month and setting up a fan page on social media is usually free. If you go through the motions, though, you’ll notice that no one shows up. There’s not a person out there that wants you to advertise with them. Instead, they want to be engaged. They want you to solve problems and talk to them like adults.
With good communication, a company can grow a community. Without it, it can only waste its time.
Commerce Without Communication Can’t Last
Commerce – the buying and selling of products or services – is what makes the entire world of online marketing run. Without a product or service, you can’t make a profit. Unfortunately, though, just having the right product isn’t enough.
There are countless stories of fantastic products that have failed to sell, and they all tend to have one thing in common – the people offering the product forgot to communicate with the customers. If you don’t communicate with your customers, you won’t know what they need. You won’t know what changes to make to your products or services that can bring in new blood and you certainly won’t know when to pivot before the market completely collapses.
Communication is what lets you know how to make commerce work and how to get the most from what you are selling.
One Company’s Example
To see how to do things right, though, you need look only as far as Online Equine Supplies Trail Riding a company that’s used that fourth C to its benefit. This company operates in a very niche industry, one where communicating with customers is a must. It’s an industry in which it is easy to fail, but this company has become a success through the use of successful communication.
How do they do it? By communicating through the content by creating a highly informative, highly useful blog. They succeed by listening to their target audience and creating the products they actually want. Perhaps more than anything, they engage their community with focused customer service that makes use of real people. In all that it does, Online Equine Supplies stays true to the fourth C and makes sure that communication is a priority.
Takeaway
Always remember that Communication is the glue that holds the Three C’s together. Without it, everything else will begin to fall apart. Stay in contact with your customers and make sure you know what they want and how they want it delivered. If you can, make sure that you can anticipate what they want by keeping your ear close to the ground.
With a little work on your end, you can make communication the watchword by which your business operates. It’s not always easy to communicate, but doing so will add value to all the work that you’ve already done. Once you have engagement, you can count on your customers to support you.
Resources:
http://www.oestrailriding.com/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/danreich/2014/07/29/the-2-3-billion-business-model-how-content-community-and-commerce-are-fueling-these-companies/#67a1b1d74648
https://www.2thetopmarketing.com/online-marketing-consultant-services/