Mike’s Points

There seemed to be a lot of talk this morning on Twitter about Dell listening.

Okay, actually Dell and Radian6 listening. But, that’s Radian6’s job so that should be no big deal. And, hasn’t Dell been listening? It’s made great, positive headway for how it has become involved in social media — and connecting with and listening to its marketplace.

Within a short time span, I counted six tweets about the Dell listening post.

• http://twitter.com/mmanuel/statuses/892189084
• http://twitter.com/kamichat/statuses/892178331
• http://twitter.com/lebrun/statuses/892154310 (Okay, that’s from Radian6 CEO Marcel Lebrun. So, that one is rightfully expected.)
• http://twitter.com/jowyang/statuses/892143804
• http://twitter.com/zenaweist/statuses/892132780
• http://twitter.com/conniereece/statuses/892128590

And, I’m sure there are others I missed.

My point is about why Dell needs to tell me how it’s listening. Should we really care about the how?

I know it is listening because I’ve experienced it* and have read about it. (*Shortly after I noted my wife and I purchased a Dell Dimension E510 in a comment a couple years ago, a rep or two contacted me.)

I’m not picking on Dell. Essentially, do we really need to know what vendors any company uses?

Some years ago, I coordinated a client meeting and new product demonstration with a bunch of publications at Meredith. The morning of the meeting, the client’s VP of marketing ask me how everything was going. I replied, “Perfect — as far as you know.”

As I do, he understood that it didn’t matter what last-second tasks and other issues I had to deal with to get the job done. Just as long as everything was perfect for the meeting. And, it was.

Hey, if companies want talk publicly about their vendors, go ahead. But, to me, unless there’s another point, it’s a waste of  resources.

In the end, it doesn’t matter how you do it, just get the job done – ethically, legally and morally.

-Mike

(In the big scheme of things, Dell’s post was no big deal. It just struck me funny how many people gave a link to a post announcing a company’s vendor and why Dell would even publish it. And, I in no way mean to rag on Radian6. My company doesn’t use it, but from the demo I saw earlier this year, it’s a worthwhile service. Relatedly, if you are looking at social media monitoring tools, have a look at a rundown I did in March, which was picked up by Media Bullseye.)

UPDATED 9/21/2008, approx. 9:30 p.m.: Microsoft is finally taking on Apple with its new “I’m a PC” commercial. First time I saw it the other day, I was pleasantly surprised. Sends a good message of what you can do with a PC, though it doesn’t directly address any issues Apple’s Mac raises. Still, great message.
Let me give Dell, Gateway, HP/Compaq, IBM, Sony and even Microsoft some free advice: Team up, co-op and go after Apple. (While there’s still enough of you left.)

It’s eating your lunch and it’ll be the worm that eats into a sizeable amount of your profits, unless you do something about it.

International Herald Tribune, Oct. 22, 2007:

Driven in part by what analysts call a halo effect from the iPod and the iPhone, the market share of the company’s personal computers is surging.

Two research firms that track the computer market said last week that Apple would move into third place in the United States behind Hewlett-Packard and Dell on Monday, when it reports product shipments in the fiscal fourth quarter as part of its earnings announcement.

PC World, Dec. 3, 2007:

Apple has jumped to 6.81 percent market share of the OS market, according to the latest research from Net Applications.

The figures confirm a slowdown in market share in October, which quickly became an increase once Leopard reached retail, driving Apple’s slice of the online client market up 3.34 percent.

Industry watchers may note that 6.81 percent is Apple’s largest slice of the market for a decade, putting the company in second place behind systems from Microsoft.

Though, to the credit of the  gang noted above, Apple is not playing fair. In its Apple vs. PC ads, it’s going after an industry, not a specific corporation (for the most part). It’s playing the David to the collective Goliaths.

Really, as I’m sure others have noted, it’s a smart move. Do you really expect the others to take time away from marketing against each other to go after Apple — a move that, if successful, would help their competitors. Can’t have that!

Since Apple, the Mac and even Steve Jobs seem to have a bit of a cult following, guess it’s Apple vs. PC ads is more of cause marketing, than out-right, profit-motivated marketing.

So, whenever you can, don’t market against a competitor; go after a faceless, substance-lacking industy. Like the PC industry.

– Mike (who typed this post on his Dell Dimension E510 desktop)

P.S.

It’d be a good reference piece to name similar corporation vs. a collective marketing efforts. Can you name some?