Then you have companies who create products of an excellent quality. They are clear about who their customer is and they ensure that the customer is always happy.

I have been a Moleskin convert for 3 years now and use their notebooks as well as their smaller pocket diary. Not once have the pages come loose, the elastic snapped, that wonderful back pocket split at the seams – in fact it has lived up to it’s excellence everytime. I have not, and do not expect to be disappointed by a shoddy Moleskin product.

So for companies who ‘desire’ citizen marketers – I have some advice for you:

- Don’t resort to setting up sneaky blogs masquerading as one set up by your product’s fans.

- Don’t bullshit us – don’t dress your product up in emperor’s clothes.

- Do pay attention to giving us a quality product which consistently delivers on what you promise us.

- Be quick to support me (as a purchaser of your product) with wonderful aftersales service – being put on hold or given a smorgasbord of numbers to press in search of a human voice in a relevant department does not engender feelings of warmth or love towards you or your product.

- Make sure your product is always accessible – time spent hunting down something in a supermarket or mall only to find out that it is out of stock is time wasted.

- Don’t spend big marketing bucks trying to convince me to buy an inferior, second-rate product. The sense of disappointment I feel when I suspect that I’ve been ‘conned’ will ensure that I will never again try another product from you – once bitten, forever shy.

Simply, create a brilliant product, care about your customer and look after them.

And then your customer will market your product for you – free of charge and with passion!!!

I also wrote a blog entry last year about this, take a look at: http://www.tmtd.biz/2005/11/02/is-pen-and-paper-on-the-rise/

It seems the trend is growing!