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BuzzMachine blogger Jeff Jarvis writes about the rise of the transparent corporation in the Guardian.
Companies like Dell and Starbucks have taken the suggestion box into the digital era by asking their customers to generate ideas as to how they can run their businesses better, publishing these ideas on the web and encouraging fellow customers to vote on the ones that they'd like to see implemented.
This is content marketing with an edge. By inviting customers into the (virtual) organisation and by giving them the opportunity to drive the agenda - and allowing them to be constructive and critical in the process - Starbucks, at MyStarbucksIdea, has tapped into a rich vein of direct feedback whilst building a direct relationship with its coffee drinking constituency.
You may not care much about the differences between Venti and Grande but thousands of others evidently do. Which leads me to pose an interesting question - is content generated by customers more relevant and valued than content created by marketers? It reflects real rather than invented perceptions of the business, and by harnessing and acting on the feedback - which Starbucks is apparently doing - it could also represent a really efficient and cost effective way of growing brand equity.
Be relevant, be valued and get your customers to act.
