Consumers are more empowered than ever before. They have more choices available to them, more options, and more alternatives. Thanks to technological advances and the growth of the Internet, and more recently social media, customers can now even perform most of a company's core marketing functions.

And, increasingly, companies are beginning to reach out to their customers to help them with their marketing efforts; in some cases, companies are actually turning some marketing functions over to their customers entirely.

Many companies are discovering that their customers have a much bigger impact on each other, in a marketing sense, than the company ever could by attempting to market to the customer directly.

This article will cover some examples of how companies have successfully turned at least one of the 4 Ps of Marketing over to their customers, as well as some ways that your company can do the same; and, finally, it will discuss why giving away your marketing can greatly improve it.

Giving Away the 4 Ps of Marketing

Anyone who's taken Marketing 101 has heard of the 4 Ps of Marketing: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. But what you may not know is that some companies are turning these Ps over to their customers. Here are some examples. 

Product

Threadless, an online T-shirt printer and seller, has created an incredibly loyal and vibrant community at its Web site, where customers submit their ideas for images that they would like to see printed on T-shirts. The site's users then vote on each image, and the company selects which images will be printed—and sold. Members are awarded cash and sometimes other prizes if their designs are selected. Threadless's online community not only creates the product but also tells Threadless whether they would be willing to buy the product.

Price

The rock band Radiohead recently conducted a groundbreaking marketing experiment. The band released its new album, "In Rainbows," for sale at its Web site, with one big difference: The buyer got to set the price. Any amount that buyers wanted to pay was acceptable; they could even download the entire album for free.

The move looks to be a rousing success, as early projections had the band selling 1.2 million album downloads on its first day, at an average price paid of $8.00. In response, other bands have already announced that they are going to either give away or let their fans set the price for their latest albums.

Place

Flickr is an extremely popular photo-sharing site that allows users to post their photos. Users can then comment on the photos, and "tag" them so that they can be sorted by subject and topic via search results. One way that Flickr has grown in popularity is by allowing its members to become partners in distributing the site's content.

The company created a "widget"—a small piece of code that can be inserted into a site's or blog's template—that allows Flickr users to show their photos on their blog or site. Visitors can then click on the widget and visit the Flickr main site. The widget has a viral component, too: Visitors will want to add it to their own sites in order to display their own pictures.

Promotion

Maker's Mark enjoyed incredible growth in the 1980s and '90s, and by 2000 the distillery had found that its customers had begun to complain to the company that they were having difficulty finding its products for sale. So Maker's Mark reached out to its most loyal customers and created a brand ambassador program. If customers agreed to join the program, they took it upon themselves to encourage their local establishments to stock Maker's Mark bourbon; they also agreed to promote the product to their friends. In return, Maker's Mark would stamp a barrel of its whiskey with the name of the ambassador. The program is another rousing success, and the distillery has had to hire extra workers whose only job is to handle registering members for the brand ambassador program.

Why Would Your Company Want to Give Away Its Marketing?

More than likely, you're reading this article with a fair amount of skepticism. After all, many companies want firm control over all marketing and messaging processes. The idea of turning any control over to customers can be a bit intimidating. But here's why turning your marketing over to your customers can make good sense:

1. Customers don't trust marketing, they trust each other. Customers trust the opinions of friends and family members about products and services far more than they trust marketing communications from a company. A company wants you to buy its product so that it can make money, but fellow customers or friends recommend a product because they believe in it. The product works for them, and they believe it can work for others. Those others, therefore, have more trust in the recommendation.
2. It's more efficient. Think about the people who make up your target market. What's the most efficient way to reach this group: Mass-marketing—or can members of this target market more efficiently market to each other? The target market will always be better at marketing your product than you will, simply because these are the target market. If your target market is single mothers in their mid-30s, can a national marketing campaign created in New York City better reach this market than single mothers themselves who are in their mid-30s? The key, though, is to find members of this group who are passionate about your products, then empower them to market for you.
3. It's cheaper. When you turn your marketing over to the people who are most passionate about your company, they can more effectively and efficiently market to each other. This means that your marketing becomes much cheaper, because you aren't wasting money talking to people who don't want to hear from you.
4. It's risky. Giving up some or all control of marketing to your customers is very risky. When it happens, customers will begin to speak in their voice, not yours. And that voice won't always say the things you want. But it will resonate with your target audience. Which is why you should be in constant communication with your customers: so that your evangelists know how to best promote your products, and also so that you can become aware of your customers' thoughts and concerns.

But perhaps one of the biggest reasons you should turn your marketing over to your customers is that your competitors likely aren't. If you can embrace and empower your customers as partners, and even as owners of your company's marketing, that's incredibly powerful. When your customers sense that they share ownership for promoting a company that they care about, they see that as a show of trust by the company. And that trust serves as an incredibly powerful incentive for them to promote you to as many people as they can.

The alternative is to create a sort of "us versus them"—company vs. customer—mentality, which is far too often the business norm. And if you think about it, nothing is riskier than that.

How Can Your Company Give Away Its Marketing?

Now that we've covered how other companies are turning their marketing functions over to customers, as well as the advantages of doing so, let's explore some ways that your company can give away its marketing.

• Brand Ambassador programs. These help you reach out to your customers who are the most passionate about your company, and empower them to market for you. These special customers are already actively promoting you to other customers; what you want to do is to create ways to help them promote you and spread your message, but to also reward them for their efforts. Create the rewards so that they help these customers feel as if they have a greater ownership in the brand, such as what Maker's Mark did by stamping the name of each of its brand ambassadors on a barrel of whiskey. The idea can be summed up as this: Find your passionate customers who are already marketing for you in their communities, and empower them to do even more.
• Widgets. Widgets are a relatively new online creation that allow users to take content from a source and distribute it via their site or blog or profile page, so that other people can interact with it. Branded widgets do the same thing, taking content related to a brand and letting customers distribute that content on their sites. These online tools are a way for your customers to help promote and distribute information about your company.
• Customer-created products. The Threadless example shows the power of letting customers create your product. Jones Soda takes a similar route by letting customers submit photos that are included on the product's packaging. This approach gives customers a sense or ownership in the brand and greatly increases its relevance with its target market. It also is a great way to boost word-of-mouth among customers.

Lessons Learned

The idea of letting your customers have a say, or even take over your marketing efforts, can be intimidating. But there are several advantages in doing so: For one, your customers can more effectively and efficiently reach your customers than you can; that efficiency also means that your marketing costs decrease, perhaps significantly.

There are risks involved. Letting your marketing speak in the customer's voice instead of your own can mean that sometimes your intended message isn't communicated as you would prefer. But if your marketing is spoken with the customer's voice, it will be more authentic and will better resonate with your target market.

And, finally, companies that are willing to embrace their customers as marketing partners create incredibly powerful barriers to entry for competitors.

Customers want to promote brands and companies that they believe in and trust. Giving customers a sense of ownership in your brand is a wonderful way to not only improve your marketing but also better reach your target market.

Perhaps your riskiest move would be to continue doing business as usual.