Marketers & the "us vs. them" illusion... take 3

Another helpful tool for marketers to use to further undermine the "us vs. them" illusion is as easy as a few Google searches and a couple of mouse clicks.

Open your web browser, hop onto Google or your favorite search engine, and track down some discussion boards or social networking sites that pertain to your industry and read away. You'll gain instance access to the voice of the customer, free of charge... no need for focus groups or expensive surveys.

Now, of course, I'm cognizant of the bias factors involved in this approach (e.g., reading the words of a self-selecting population). I would never suggest that a marketer take what she hears on some discussion boards and draw firm conclusions about customers - their current concerns, needs, friction points, etc. However, it's a heck of a solid way for generating hypotheses that can then be validated quickly using relevant market-research technologies.

Start doing this immediately. Block out 30 minutes a week on your calendar for "cruising" industry-relevant discussion boards. It's such a small investment, which over time will pay you back major dividends.