I was pleased to see Greg Selkoe's Karmaloop featured in the cover story of Business Week's Small Biz edition in December. Amy Barrett was interested enough in my Karmaloop case study to spend some time with Greg and to feature Karmaloop in her article entitled True Believers: "Passionate customers can transform your company. Here's how to make them your secret weapon."
There are a couple of great pictures of Greg Selkoe in action in this issue of Business Week!
Amy mentions a number of other interesting examples in her story, including software firm TechSmith, educational gaming firm Tabula Digita , and sports apparel retailer On the Run--each of which have nurtured vibrant customer communities.
Amy also underscores a number of the key themes from my book, including:
- Customers creating products
- Customer nominating products
- Customers voting on which products to offer
- Customers as your sales force (customers as promoters)
- Lead customers as designers and influencers
- Creating and nurturing customer communities
- Mining customers' suggestions for new product ideas
It's a nice story that reinforces the strategic importance of true customer engagement--not just surveys and focus groups.
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