Click on image to enlarge. Source: Customer Engagement Strategies

By Elaine Cummings, Principal

Each year, Eastwick commissions a survey of our clients to get feedback on how we’re doing.

We try to ask all the tough questions about what we can and should be doing better. It’s not always fun to hear the answers but it is always valuable. We get direct feedback that helps us fine tune our plans and services, polish any rough edges.

This year, we heard something we haven’t heard before. Several clients, mostly CEOs, told us they wanted Eastwick to help them get closer to their customers in the coming year.

It wasn’t, “get us more customer coverage,” but rather, “help us do a better job of staying connected to the customers we have.”

In a climate when it can be harder than ever to get new customers, clients are, not surprisingly, eager to keep their current customers on board and happy.

Fortunately, we saw the writing on the wall some time ago and have a robust customer engagement program in play.

Thanks to clients like Vyatta, with its vibrant, vocal online community of customers, we’ve seen first-hand the power of that direct connection to customers and the role PR can play in nurturing those relationships.

It starts with listening carefully to figure out what customers really care about, where they gather (online or offline) and whose opinions matter to them. Only then can we engage in a way that is meaningful.

With all the channels for communicating — online communities, virtual events, user generated content and social networks — it’s easy to get carried away and forget the basics. A good story and compelling content are essential for connecting with customers, just as they are for working with journalists.

But even with the best of stories, we counsel clients that they have to toughen up and get ready to take the criticism (hopefully constructive) as well as the positive feedback that comes with engaging directly with customers.

In some instances, we’ve worked with clients to help them turn those critics into ardent supporters through open, honest dialog.

And we can’t be so preoccupied with what we’re going to say next that we miss listening for cues about what our customers think, whether anyone really cares. Only then does it actually become a conversation.

And it’s a lot easier to build a relationship with someone when you’re talking with them, rather than at them.