What really drives reputation? Customers!

In this article for Imediaconnection, Marian Salzman talk about products making their way to replace brands as reputation drivers.
I generally agree with her point of view about the fact that:

1. without product there is no brand
2. in the world of the web 2.0, this is far more crucial than in the past
3. if a brand is truly honest and transparent, this is perceived added value

But there is a missing point.
Reputation does no longer comes from your product or your brand: it's your customer that makes your reputation.
A terrific brand with an outstanding product can crash is perceived as not reliable by customers.
And reliability is not only a matter of how well is crafted the product, but it's made by several factor:

1. is this company honest to me and to my environment?
2. how this product impact on my environment?
3. are there any hidden issue in how the product is made (underpaid workforce? healthy concerns?)
4. am I paying a right price to purchase it?

It's customers that can push a product and a brand to the sky or drive them to hell.

Firefox 3 download day it's today

I can't resist to challenge.
So how can I resist to participate to the Firefox 3 Download day?

Seriously, this is a great viral activity for a software and a lesson for all marketers.

When you believe that the road to success is paved with money, well, think again.
When you believe that the path to be successful goes through complicated strategies and business plan, well, think again.

1. when thinking about a new product, be curious and creative
2. when launching a new product, show that you know your market and your customers
3. when planning a communication campaign, look for a simple strategy with a simple execution
4. when talking to your customers, be sure to listen for them and involve them

So, join the project here: it's fun.

Long live Plurk

I fell in love with Plurk.
I have never been so much found of Twitter.

I tried, really, I tried
But after having heard Twitter boss saying their path was not so clear to themselves (at Le Web3 conference in Paris, last December) I begun to think that maybe Twitter was a good idea with a poor execution.

Yesterday, we experienced several problems with a message saying Twitter had exceed its capacity so it was impossible to log in!!!!!
So we gathered on Plurk.

Maybe we will experience issue over there, too, sooner or later but until now it's pure fun.
If you are there, just become friends (our karma will benefit from this).
If you haven't try it, give a look at it.

What's your opinion about Plurk and Twitter?

Sales are a false goal

Yes, that's my point.
If you get into Web 2.0 pratices to generate sales, you may be on the wrong track.
I do not mean that at the end of the day, you are not generating sales, but this is not the goal you must have in mind when tackling this world.

We do not forget that sales are and will be more and more related to a brand or a company image, to the post sales experience, to several other factors that are influenced by the customers opinion.
An opinion crucial as never before because it travels across the web all over the world in few seconds, crushing space and language barrier.

So, set up your goal in a different way.
This is the thought I tried to deliver in the workshop about WOM and this is something I can see in this interesting post from Mediapost.

Metrics

Don't rely on metrics to claim your community is successfull.
Use metrics to understand your community better.