Whining Is Not a Strategy

I’ve spent my fair share of time at trade shows and conferences over the years – attending, covering, and staffing. I’ve read, and written, a fair number of reports from these events. As I was thinking about personas for a client yesterday, I recalled a sponsor wrap up that had struck me as clueless at the time.

After looking at my notes again – yep, as clueless as I recall. And that gives me an excuse for a short rant.

The wrap up started with “My customers are worried.” From there, the post went on to bemoan continual confusion amongst the professionals this company targets about the possibilities presented by the technology the vendor offers.

To be fair, there is a percentage of this target customer base that remains locked in a decades-past mindset.

But still.

My initial thought when I read the post was “well, then, maybe you’ve just done a shit poor job of overcoming customer fears.”

Don’t complain and whine that your target audience “just doesn’t get it.” They don’t give a damn about you. It’s your job to make sure they care by providing a kick-ass product and then shouting from the (right) rooftops about it (in the context of being a trusted partner, of course). Bitching that your target audience is “worried” about how your product fits technologically and within regulatory regimes is just stupid, blind, short-sighted, and self-defeating.

Maybe your product is THAT ADVANCED that it is all that AND a bag of chips.

Awesome.

You still need to educate your audience about both the product and the context so that they’ll buy it.

Whining about your customers ain’t gonna get that done.

Your customers are worried. I’ve got an idea: figure out why the hell they’re worried and then address that in your marketing and educational efforts.