It's the Conversation Economy, Stupid

As consumer markets fragment, marketers and designers must understand how platforms evolve and influence human behavior

by David Armano

Armano created this series of images to illustrate his thesis of "conversation architecture". Click the thumbnail to view the full image.

A Dell representative responded to a post about the company Armano had written on his blog. Is this marketing? Armano asks. "If you think of marketing as facilitation as opposed to communication, it is".

"Conversation leads to relationships and relationships lead to affinity," Armano continues. Affinity, in turn, results in communities. "This is why anyone who plays a role in growing brands needs to become a conversation architect," he concludes.

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Once upon a time, we were consumers. We consumed things. We took in the messages that were communicated to us. We didn't really get to talk back. If we had a good or bad experience with a product or service—we told a friend. Maybe that friend told a friend. Maybe, just like the shampoo commercial from advertising's golden age, "They'll tell two friends, and they'll tell two friends, and so on, and so on…."

Marketers are finding themselves in an increasingly frantic race to get people talking about their brands. The desire to produce something "viral" is nearly ubiquitous in the marketing world. But it's unclear who exactly "consumers" are these days. We don't even know what that word means any more. Can consumers be producers? Yes. Can they be users? Yes. Can they be active participants, members of niche communities, or even critics capable of effectively mobilizing others? Yes, yes, and yes.

Therein lies the problem. A consumer can be any number of things—sometimes all at once. And that fact is driving marketers, businesspeople, and brand managers nuts. So what do we do? I propose we become conversation architects.

The Medium Is the Message

This is not about creating a snazzy new job title—we've got enough of those. This is a shift in mindset, in how we think about connecting with "consumers," for lack of a better word. Here's how I break this down: Marketing has traditionally been about messages. If your messages were really good, they became a form of storytelling (think Marlboro Man or Apple's (AAPL) 1984 ad).

Enter the Web. Already, online technologies have evolved from simple, brochure-like representations of our businesses to rich, interactive experiences that mimic or simulate how we interact with brands in the real world. Think Nike (NKE) iD, which allowed site users to create and customize their own running shoes—and broadcast the designs in Times Square.

But great experiences aren't enough. It's entirely possible to design and develop a rich, immersive, experiential Web site, only to have light traffic and little return on investment. Bud.TV, for example, is falling short of its goal of 2 million to 3 million monthly visits. Many fault the registration process. In spite of a slick interface and highly produced video, Anheuser-Busch (BUD) doesn't seem to be reaping what was sown. Why?

Creating Affinity

It's the conversation economy, stupid. One of the engines that is driving "2.0" growth is the fact that communities are forming around popular social platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, Ning, Twitter—the list goes on and on. These platforms facilitate conversation. Conversation leads to relationships and relationships lead to affinity.

Brand affinity, as companies such as Harley-Davidson (HOG) have proven, often drives communities to form around them. This is why anyone who plays a role in branding needs to become a conversation architect. Marketers, businesses, and designers must have an intimate understanding of how these platforms are evolving and influencing human behavior. There has to be an in-depth understanding of why some us of love to incorporate these services in our digital lives.

Case in point: I hardly watch TV, and when I do it's pre-recorded through TiVo (TIVO). In addition to maintaining my blog and keeping up with the demands of life, family, and career, I've been spending time on the much-hyped Twitter service. But why is Twitter so hyped? Why all the fuss? I believe it's because Twitter has evolved from a simple service that initially allowed users to express mundane thoughts into a robust "conversation ecosystem."