LISTEN FIRST! Shhh… Listen. Hear that? That's the sound of your business. The conversations taking place online and in the marketplace tell you nearly everything you need to know about your company and your customerswhat people are saying about you, how they use your products, whether they'll buy or recommend your product, and how they respond to your marketing and advertising. Listening provides unrivaled insight. If you do it right, you'll have a decisive edge over your competition as you adapt faster to customer needs and market changes. Listening is ultimately about gaining business advantage. Based on authoritative research from the Adver-tising Research Foundation, Listen First! delivers a playbook for marketing and advertising success-fully in our conversational era. This book explains what listening is, how to do it, how it's used, and where it's headed. Done well, social media listening uncovers pivotal insights that guide marketing as well as product development, customer service, and just about all business functions that touch customers and other stakeholders. You'll learn the tools, winning plays, and proven tactics for listening so that you can: Understand what customers are thinking, feeling, and doing in their lives that affect demand and interest in your products or services Identify threats to your reputation See how customers position competing brands in their minds, not as advertisers position them Sense market shifts that threaten existing business or present new opportunities Develop new products or refine your current lineup by bringing customer voices into R&D, innovation, and concept testing Make your messages more relevant and sharpen targeting by directing messages to people according to their conversational interests Keep sales humming, even when business conditions might be unfavorableor better predict short-term sales based on the volume and specifics of conversational activity Determine competitors' strengths and weaknesses Plan and
Synthesizes the industry's best thinking on the massive upside of listening. This title is suitable for marketing executives and helps organizations create real competitive advantage. It provides examples and practical ideas for creatively listening to your customers.
