How Can I Put That? Applying Cybernetics to “Conversational Media”

For those engaged in the discipline of cybernetics, its relationship to business has long been discussed and desired. The recent explosion of digital communication channels affords an application domain for cybernetics that is itself potentially highly productive yet clearly in need of guidance. While Web 2.0 experiments abound, failure rather than design has been the primary mechanism for steering the development of marketplace conversations between and among brands and consumers. This paper proposes to replace natural selection with the application of conversation theory to marketing as a means of improving outcomes. Using cybernetics concepts of goal-directed systems, requisite variety, co-evolution and conversation, the author characterizes marketing conversations, offers examples of them, and provides prescriptions for improving them. The goal is to improve the conversational experiences delivered by digital technologies in order to better meet the goals of marketers and, especially, the goals of users/consumers/persons who are on the receiving end --and, more so every day, on the generating end -- of interaction channels enabled by digital technology. In practice, conversation is a requirement for commerce because any commerce transaction must be preceded by agreement, which must be preceded by conversation. Therefore, the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of conversation should be a focus for every business that offers products or services. Furthermore, conversation is a requirement for brands and consumers to create a relationship of trust, which is the foundation of lifetime customer value, which in turn is the single best measure of viability--the survival and thriving--of any brand.