Friday, September 21, 2007

Know New Marketing - What in the H are you talking about?

.....yes it's a play on words....I'm fond of those, and if we ever meet in person, or perhaps even in this blog, you'll have to endure some bad puns as well.

So what am I getting at? Well a growing number of us believe that marketing, as we currently know it, is dead. As consumers we are tired of the window dressing, snake oil, and spin. Tell us what is is, what is does, and why I should care. ...and make it quick, because I have an inbox full of spam like you wouldn't believe, or maybe you would.

Why did it die? Simple. Trust. What was that our scholar of a president tried to reiterate - Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...and that is where he lost it, but you know what comes next.

Collectively we are sick of the junk mail, the valueless untargeted commercials, the mailbox full of crap. In our limited time on this rock, we search for meaning and purpose and there are a whole bunch of direct marketers who want to waste that precious time. We trusted you, and you burned us one too many times. Like many folks, I've moved to triage mode on the tons of messages trying to reach me. If I can figure out what it is with reasonable certainty it gets deleted or thrown out without ever being opened. I am currently looking for a shredder big enough to accept those 20 page credit card offers poorly masquerading as important courier envelopes, unopened of course.

So as you can imagine, it produces a fair bit of cognitive dissonance for me to work as a marketer. Fortunately there are a growing number of us hell bent on leveraging new marketing techniques to prove the substantial ROI of marketing.

With the democratization of all of the media channels, marketing today is about conversations. Broadcasts and monologues are so yesteryear. This blog will explore how to reach your customers, members, constituents post Marketing 1.0 through the conversations that matter to them (and guess what, its almost never going to happen on your website).

So buckle up, java down and join me in this dialogue where we will chart the course for where we go from here. The good news is that the only way is up.

3 comments:

Jon Miller said...

Ken -- Welcome to the blogosphere. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on using Web 2.0 marketing to improve demand gen marketing.

Unknown said...

Ken,

I, too, will be looking forward to your insights on the subject of marketing. I think just about everyone in the field is starting to realize that it's not just about permission (as opposed to interruption). Permission, as they say, is table stakes.

What I find very interesting is the question of what will keep people engaged throughout a long sales cycle (or even a short one) and who does that well. I suspect B2B marketers will have to act more like (skilled) B2C marketers in some ways. They'll have to get into peoples' minds and move them...but they can't rely on impulses. They must also marshal a case -- much like a trial lawyer. We're dealing with both logic and emotions. We need both analysis and aesthetics -- left brain and right.

Best,

Britton

Unknown said...

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