Photo credit, Steve Wampler

This weekend my father and I were discussing purchasing a digital SLR camera to step up our photography hobby from point and shoot to something with more substance. A step which is significant both in price, features and the variety in models. Given my modest knowledge it was important to do my homework before recommending a purchase.

The way I research most of my purchases is online first, checking the major retailers and specialty stores looking at the all the options, specs and prices. For this purchase I visited several online retailers including Best Buy, Black’s Photography and Henry’s and quickly learned that as an uninitiated customer the 500 word feature outline can be overwhelming, intimidating (you can check it out over here) and if anything confused me, making me less confident in coming to a decision.

Then I went off to the blogs and found some great articles from Ken Rockwell who gave a great technical outline of how to buy a camera (hint: half of those specs on the website were BS) but still I wasn’t sure how the advice he was giving related to me personally and my unique needs.

So I went to twitter:

Within minutes of sending of the message to my network of about 1,000, I got great responses from some good friends and trusted online connections I have developed over the last few months. Their responses gave me a great ‘real’ idea of how the camera is used and shared their own experiences from using both products themselves.

Their input was great and edged me closer to the buying decision more than any other of the marketing channels.

All the while through my information search I wondered, shouldn’t the brands be here? Is there value in them assisting me im the purchase of a $500+ piece of equipment?

Black’s has great offline programs to educate consumers on how to use and buy cameras but they are virtually silent online. Currently I am not brand loyal to either Henry’s or Black’s and I will most likely buy the camera from the store closest to me barring terrible service or a ridiculous price difference.

However if someone from the companies were to reach out and engage my questions, they would have themselves a sure sale.

Personally I would welcome either brands into the conversation of my buying decision, how about you?

Would you find the attention from the brand overbearing, intrusive or helpful?

What if they offered you a 10% coupon on the purchase if you bought it from them instead of the competitor?

Intrusive or an extension of great customer service?