Co-Creation and Marketing.

As company you can’t focus on everything. Asking other sources for ideas and innovation can help the marketing department to be omni-focussed. Co-creation involves the customer in the development of a product or brand experience and consequently perceived value.

Co-creation is a marketing tool that utilizes customer feedback. It results in ideas, policies and direction customers feel your business should go. This comes in many forms one being the review system. For example, as a business you list yourself on Yelp and customers leave feedback on what they liked, what they did not like and what they feel would make your business even better. Rather than pay thousands for consulting, you get valuable customer feedback on review sites. Other examples are Lay’s chips who asked customers for new tastes and snack manufacturer and Mora generated a brand-new croquet together with consumers.

Co-creation has become a tool for marketing experts. Co-creation means both the business and the customer are contributing to making the business the best it can possibly be. Many companies will interact with their customer on review sites whether to answer a concern a customer might have had or just say thanks. This opens the door to making the business more ‘human’ and  more attractive to the customer.

Another form of co-creation is the implementation of social media. Nearly all businesses have a Facebook page at this point. “Like us on Facebook” is probably the most common usage you are aware of. Companies can take it a step further and post events and ideas to get customers involved in the business processes. For example, recently Pepsi had fans take pictures with their product and submit the images to help be a part of a Super Bowl commercial. This involves the fans and gives them a voice. The emotional attachment made by this form of marketing is undeniable and while this might be a new concept to some, it resonates with the saying we all know: the customer is always right.

Measure impact

It’s important to track what influence your co-creation efforts have. Here are some Key Performance Indicators to take into consideration:

  • Number of idea’s and innovations;
  • Number of launches that succeed;
  • Development time;
  • Technology-acceptance;
  • What effect does a new product or improved product on revenue, market share and profitability;
  • Customer loyalty, are customers returning.

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Cindy Crijns

My passion is combining technology and marketing to reach potential clients & retain current customers. Specialities: B2B, B2C, SMB, Social media, demand generation, brand management, analytics & customer insight.

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