Hugh MacLeod never ceases to amaze me. Today, he coins the phrase “social marker” and discusses its importance for people to establish relationships. He also wants you to ask why your product isn’t a social marker. It’s a great question. And a critical one for small business.
Carmen Pirie quotes Mark Earls in the comments: “All mass behaviour is the result of interacting individuals within a specific context.” One obvious context for many small businesses is local. It’s not the only one and, for many customers, it may not be the most important social marker. But for certain customers, in certain contexts, it’s crucial. Why are some businesses landmarks? What did it take to get there? Why isn’t yours? Is it because you are invisible?
Read Hugh’s post. Read the comments, too. People are asking key questions about the difference between social markers and brands. To me, it’s a semantic distinction. The key remains, what are you doing to ensure you become a social marker?
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Hi Tim,
First off, thank you for the link… much appreciated.
I think even for small businesses serving a local market, attention to context and interaction is critical. Over at my blog, I recently posted about a local financial advisor and some advice I gave as the markets were tanking. You can view it here: http://pirie.typepad.com/1/2008/01/marketing-when.html
In any event, I think it is easy to see how this small move by the financial advisor would alter both context and interaction. Now, through an extended series of steps, I believe that this financial advisor could well become a ’social marker’… any business could with work… and the concept of social marker in my view moves well beyond brand attributes, benefits, etc.
Cheers, cp
Hi Carmen,
Great note and great post. I’ve put up a response on your blog, but I think you’re absolutely right. I’ll be putting up guidelines for emerging social markers here in the next week. Look for it, ‘K?
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