Sunday, February 24, 2013

Can you name a major industry that rarely if ever works with its paying customers?

Think about it.

Big box stores seek to attract customers by offering compelling deals, drive them to the store, greet them, listen to their needs, identify the products they may be looking for, then seek to maintain and improve that relationship over time. They send out surveys, send you offers, call you on the phone, trying to support an overall exceptional experience to win more of your business.

If they want your business, they realize they have to work for you. They want to make it easy for you to do business with them.

Internet retails do the same in cyberspace, where they use complex (and sometimes disturbing) data collection and analytics to understand who you are, your buying habits, your interests, all to better sell what you want. They may ask you for product reviews, email you offers based on your interests, offer an incredibly wide selection of products, and ship the product to your doorstep in a day or two, then ask you what you thought about it.


Car dealers deal with the customer. Small mom and pops deal with the customer. Restaurants need to please the customer if they want repeat business.

Doctors and the medical profession deal with the customer, although there are problems that the customer … the patient, rarely pays the doctor directly. Will save that for another time...

Similarly, educators deal with the customer... their students, but similar to medical professions, the public educators are not paid directly by the customer, so there are negative side effects.

Which major industry in rarely if ever works with its paying customers?

The media.

You pay for the media with your newspaper subscriptions, cable TV bills, and advertising.

When was the last time the media reached out you and asked if you were satisfied with their service?

Think about it.

If the media is not working for you, who does the media work for?

Where do they spend their time?

They spend their time with the “news makers”. These are the power brokers, politicians, big business, PR masquerading as news. Those with something to win... or lose... by channeling their message through the media.

The media needs the news makers to produce their new product, which must be produced on a tight schedule, every day, all day, all year long. They need access to news makers to be able to produce their product. Easy access. Supportive, easy access. Non-confrontational access. No challenging questions. No investigation.

They want to make it easy for news makers to do business with them, and repeat business.

Rinse, lather, repeat.

We can layer upon that the vast range of topics the media covers... government policies and politics alone – budget priorities, welfare, housing policy, transportation policy, land use ordinances, energy policies, local and regional development, health care, retirement, public safety. Then add on the national and international dimensions, science, the arts, entertainment, religion, …. etc. etc. How does the intrepid reporter keep up? Are they smart enough and well versed enough to understand, analyze and criticize these topics? Probably not... most of them went to Journalism school.

Yet, they have to get the news out every day, all day, all year long. They don't necessarily understand what they are reporting on, especially the consequences or side effects, who it affects, and even if they wanted to they don't have the time. So the media takes the news makers words and ends up reporting on the news makers words... word for word. Then the media go back for more.

They're not talking to you.

Remember, keep your customers happy.

Who are the media's real customers?

Its not you.

We'll try to take a different perspective.


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