Web 2.0 and the User

I came across a great article today about how large companies are moving to more of a one-to-one relationship with their customers.

P&G Primes Its Pinpoint Marketing

In the article, Elva Lewis explains how she will build 60 million relationships. This is a great example of how companies are changing their thinking regarding users and customers. What is interesting is how P&G plans to use multiple avenues to make customers feel like friends. They plan to use traditional marketing as well as new technologies to advance their strategies.

One thing that is clear from the article is that companies need to use relationship technologies such as online, web 2.0 and others to cost-effectively communicate with customers. By building new and enhanced websites, email, feedback and marketing solutions, companies such as P&G can be proactive and reach out to their customers.

Technology companies can learn a great lesson from this type of relationship building.

On a side note. I used the product box.net recently and was very impressed with the features and functions. Because I have a background in both applications and communications, I find it interesting whether large organizations will use this file sharing technology that resides outside the firewall. However, it was one of the easiest web applications to start using and the interface is clear. I started using it within my organization and I think that it is a great way to replace traditional file sharing techniques. The fact that I do not need a server and software to run this application, is fantastic. I remember spending months trying to purchase a server and then use Share-point to create this type of sharing. Not anymore.