THIS IS A CLICKBAIT TITLE

 Yikes, that title was loud! Almost as loud as those OxiClean commercials (check out this awesome blog post by my fellow classmate Dan for his hot take). Loud titles, loud marketing strategies - we're not about that life anymore. We're about the listening life nowadays.

Listening is the second most important thing that groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernof teach us. (To learn about the first most important thing, check out this previous blog post of mine all about relationships and power in the groundswell)

"Your brand is whatever your customers say it is. And in the groundswell where they communicate with each other, they decide."

Yikes. No pressure or anything! Actually, lots of pressure. Lots and lots and lots of it because we need to get this right.

Meme via QuickMeme

Li and Bernof tell us that "the value of a brand belongs to the market, and not to the company." 

Does anyone watch Million Dollar Listing? Okay, let's chat about our fav agents in the comments (mine's Josh Flagg), but those of us obsessed with watching these types of real estate shows know that a house is only worth what someone will pay for it. 

That sounds a lot like a company is only worth what the market says it is. We have no say. It's in the hands of the groundswell. We should know what people are saying though because that market knowledge is super important for us to understand what people think.

So no, let's not shout (we can still twist though - wait, does this joke still work on a Gen Z/Millenial audience or is the dad joke lost on us?). We can't go the traditional advertising way because it just doesn't work anymore.

Let's listen to what people are saying and develop a plan to talk to them, get them excited about what we do, and find ways to keep the cycle going. Let's do what Erin Condren did when updating their Daily Duo planners.

Image via Doodlebug

I am a planner junkie. I love planners. They're so planner-y, make me feel like I can get my life together, and the stickers! Oh I love the stickers. I have so much going on in my life that if I don't have everything properly organized and planned out I will never be able to find anything. 

After reading and watching lots of reviews (my classmate Tereza wrote an amazing post about reviews in the groundswell), I decided that my first real planner purchase was going to be an Erin Condren Daily Duo planner. These were daily planners that allowed you to fill in time slots and to-do's by day. I purchased my first one in June 2020 and absolutely loved it as soon as I got it. The paper felt luxurious, I was able to plan my day down to the minute, it was great. 

Going into it, based on reviews that I had seen, I knew that although every weekday received its own separate day sheet, Saturday and Sunday shared a sheet. 

Image via PlanningInspired

While many planner fanatics raved about the planner overall, the shared weekend page was across the board a negative.

I know this video is like an hour long, but I watched it when trying to decide if I should buy the Daily Duo and the creator does an amazing job of breaking it all down, especially the feedback about the weekends sharing one page. It's honestly so relaxing, but that's a topic for another blog. 

We see in this video, though, the power of the groundswell in the comments section. (My classmate Anzhe wrote a fantastic blog all about harnessing the power of comments in the groundswell). This review was not the only review to say what a negative having the weekends share a page was. Multiple YouTube and blog reviews said the same and their comments sections echoed the sentiment. 

In April 2021, Erin Condren was set to launch their 2021 version of the Daily Duo. Li and Bernof tell us that "people expect you to respond and listen to them." And that's exactly what Erin Condren did.

Screenshot from Erin Condren's Daily Duo website

Erin Condren launched their updated Daily Duo planners with "separate planning pages" for Saturday and Sunday because of the feedback from their customers. Erin Condren listened to their audience, underwent market research to see what their customer base really wanted, and enacted a plan to do something about the feedback instead of sitting by passively and ignoring it. That then energized customers to buy the Daily Duo again this year which led to a dedicated consumer base who bought the new version because Erin Condren listened to what they had to say. Customers can feel confident that the company will listen to their feedback and make the changes they request in their planners.

This is the perfect example of not being clickbaity - Erin Condren didn't bother shouting or posting things its consumer base didn't care about. It took the time to listen, developed a strategy, and created a loyal customer base. 

What are your thoughts on how Erin Condren reacted to the planner fiasco? What can we learn as marketing and PR professionals from this strategy? Would you have done something differently? Let me know in the comments below!