Marketing 101: Let Consumer take Control

A recent article in the The New York Times had this to say about today’s consumers and how to market effectively to them. Ironically, marketing to today’s “myspace Gen”, as I like to call them, is much easier than one might think. Forget the gimmicks, tricks, and endless brainstorm sessions – give the power to them.
I’ve summarized the article and made some edits – let’s face it, who has time to read fluff these days, so here it is straight up, on the rocks! Or in this case, on the bullets!

• Replace decades worth of top-down marketing tactics with bottom-up, grass-roots approaches
• Accept the fact that the power is with the consumer
• Let go and embrace trends like commercials created by consumers and online communities built around favorite products
• Most of the experiments won’t work, but you have to be out there, trying
• Whoever is best at putting the customer in charge will make all the money
• Sometimes is ok to be more provocative than pleasant
• Find a way get brand-management control freaks comfortable with relinquishing control
• Tap into that consumer desire to have a piece
• Content is no longer something you push out. Content is an invitation to engage with your brand
  
  Fact: About 60 percent of the estimated 40,000 Minis sold each year are customized
  Point: You don’t really have control anyway, they’ll pimp them out, they’ll trick ‘em out - let go