75% of our business is referral-based…word-of-mouth marketingas a direct result of grassroots efforts to reach out to community and organizational leadership. This constant practice has given us a competitive edge in the local marketplace because traditional companies are not saavy enough to talk to their customers. The brief article below talks about the importance of building value-baed relationships with the customers you seek to service as a prerequisite to selling a product or service; and how social media has taken this art of communication to the next level.

The Cluetrain Manifesto outlined the following theses that essentially looked at how marketing has been done all these years and said, “Where is the consideration of the people? What about the audience? They should matter first.”

1. Markets are conversations.

2. Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors.

3. Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice.

16. Already, companies that speak in the language of the pitch, the dog-and-pony show, are no longer speaking to anyone.

26. Public Relations does not relate to the public. Companies are deeply afraid of their markets.

25. Companies need to come down from their Ivory Towers and talk to the people with whom they hope to create relationships.